Art Events: Pleinairpril 2024
Painting on the Washington coast on Rialto Beach
In April earlier this year I participated in the Pleinairpril event. Pleinairpril is an instagram event with the simple challenge of painting en plein air every day in the month of April. Usually there are themes to guide your plein air decisions, but I just set the basic challenge of getting out everyday to paint outside.
En Plein Air: The act of painting direct to canvas in an outdoor setting (credited to Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750–1819)). This method of painting allows for the more direct and accurate capture of the changing light. As a landscape painter primarily, I rely heavily on my experiences painting en plein air. Being outside and practicing the capture of light and shadow, the shapes and values (light/dark) of outdoor locations, I am better able to see my surroundings and have more successful paintings. Having a portable painting setup allows me to paint in locations I wouldn’t normally be able to paint in.
My very compact plein air set up — not pictured is my very nasty old backpack that carries it all.
My compact set up of paints, brushes, a tripod, and my Strada paint box, makes it very easy to set up quick, and hike relatively far if I want to do so. This is the set up I used during this Pleinairpril challenge daily. The following are the paintings I created during this challenge. Some were successful, others were good learning experiences. But overall I was able to go out every single day and paint the landscape, which was my goal and I am very proud of myself for achieving it.
Day 1
The first day of April of course started out drizzly and grey, but with the thick clouds came some beautiful light on the mountains I could see from a trail nearby. I decided to paint the shifting clouds and try to highlight the old Provo Temple that had its days numbered, since it was soon going to be torn down. It was a fun challenge, as the light kept changing, but I found the light I liked and tried to remember exactly that moment as I added the final details.
Shifting Light, 5”x5” Oil on cradled panel Sold
Day 2
The next day was the polar opposite of the first. It was sunny and warm and reminded me why I absolutely love the spring in Utah. The Daffodils were out showing their faces and it really felt like spring! I like composing a painting to really zoom in and focus on the blooms, the contrast between the flower and the leaves is so beautiful and makes for some really cool negative space. Plus, it’s always a really good challenge!
White Daffodils 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 3
I was aware that there were plans to tear down and reconstruct the old Provo Temple, and I wanted to capture it one last time. It’s the one I’ve been going to as long as I’ve lived in Utah so I am sad to see it go. Its quirky design holds a special place in my heart, and I know many others as well. I will miss its familiar facade.
Provo Temple 5”x7” oil on cradled panel Sold
Day 4
The clouds came back on this day, and I just so happened to be up in Salt Lake for the day. So I decided to find something up there in the valley to paint. The view of the Draper temple caught my eye because of the dramatic clouds and the high contrast between the temple and the dark hillside behind it.
Draper Temple 5”x5” on cradled panel Sold
Day 5
Another cold day had me very unmotivated to go out and paint. So I compromised. I set up a still life of Daffodils on my back balcony and attempted the scene. I say attempted because I am not a still life painter. For some reason that makes no sense, I really struggle composing and finding interesting things to say with a still life. It is something I would like to work on more.
Daffodils 5”x5” oil on cradled board
Day 6
I was really feeling the slump this day. Painting everyday is a surprisingly hard feat to attempt. I feel like you can tell my mood in this painting, I was really not feeling it. My composition was uninteresting, my values were too dark, and my goal with this painting was unclear to me. I ended up scraping it off after taking the requisite picture for the challenge. I might have ended up with a dud, but what matters is that I made it out, and I put brush to panel and made something. I learned having a clear plan is important before starting a plein air painting, and having a message to tell to guide you as you work is necessary.
Day 7
Today we were in Saratoga Springs visiting family, and my cousin took me to a beautiful spot by a canal that had a great view of the mountains. I loved the intense cloud formations after several days of rain, so that is what I wanted to focus on in this quick study of Cascade Mountain.
Mountain Clouds 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 8
A day of sunshine finally came! Spring was also fully in, and I determined to paint the blossoms as much as I could during the month, and today was going to be the first instance of that. I love how the blue sky looks so dark next to the white blossoms, and all of the colors in the blossoms themselves. Even though they are white, other colors appear in the shadows and highlights that make painting white objects so interesting. I didn’t have as much time this day as others so the painting was pretty quick —which is also an interesting challenge!
White Blossoms 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 9
Forsythia is one of my favorite first signs of spring. The bright yellow flowers cover these bushes, they smell so delightful and are so bright and happy too look at. I love painting them too, the amount of other colors present in the deep yellow is intriguing to say the least, and the shape of the plant is almost abstract when captured up close in paint.
Forsythia 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 10
Another fun challenge was attempting to capture these plum trees in full bloom. At least I think they are plum trees. I found them on the side of the road, seemingly on their own. But their bright pink blossoms definitely add a splash of needed color after the grey winter. The challenge with this painting was distinguishing what information needed to be said in all of the chaos of branches and blossoms. I still would love practice in capturing and painting trees.
Plum Trees 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 11
The blossoms on our tree were even more full today than a few days before, so I decided to attempt painting the floral bundles again. This time I was really able to explore the temperature shifts within the white blossoms themselves. You can see the shadows are more blue, and as the light bounces around in the shadow side, they become more pink, with the blossoms facing the light pushed just the tiniest bit yellow to make them feel warm and sunlit.
Spring Blooms 5”x5” oil on cradled panel $80
Day 12
My mission to paint flowers this spring continued with these Bright red tulips in a neighbors garden. I love how the insides of the tulip flower are so incredibly saturated. It was a fun challenge to try to show saturation and shadow in the same space. I think I only achieved that by making the outside of the petals dull and light in comparison, creating the illusion I wanted.
Tulips 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 13
I had never really painted a hay bale before this day. I just had never been drawn to them before. But something about this stack that was half lit and half in shadow was intriguing. The shadowed bales appeared almost green, and the reflected light happening all throughout the nooks and crannies was so cool to look at. I don’t know who is going to be drawn to a tiny painting of a pile of hay bales, but I had a lot of fun puzzling out how to paint it.
Hay Bales 5”x5” oil on cradled panel $80
Day 14
Another tree blossom day! But this time I also wanted to include the mountain behind the trees. The only problem with that is the composition on the tiny board didn’t really allow for that. It was hard to try to fit enough information that the hillside read well, and the trees with their blossoms were visible. But I don’t think I was quite successful. I do love how this one seems to glow with the back lit trees though.
Spring Morning 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 15
Welcome to spring in Utah! One beautiful sunny spring day where I’m getting sunburned while painting turns into a drizzly and cold painting day the next that requires the awkward holding of an umbrella just to get paint to stick to the board. Everything got so wet I couldn’t get my paints to mix well (oil paint + water = no fun). But I got something down eventually, was asked by a very concerned neighbor if I was ok, and made it home in one piece. The nice lady probably thought I was insane for wanting to be outside in the deplorable weather.
Horses 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 16
The next five days were painted on a trip with friends to Washington state and Olympic National Park. I like planning painting challenges at the same time as trips because spending time painting is a really good way to cement the experience in my mind. I also am able to paint scenes I wouldn’t necessarily have access to normally. This first painting from that trip was painted by the docks in downtown Seattle. We had flown out very early and spent the day exploring the city and eating delicious food. I loved how the setting sun sent sparkles across the water and back lit the clouds.
Sparkling Water 5”x5” oil painting on panel
Day 17
My next day in Washington was our first day in Olympic National Park. There are a diverse range of environments within the boundaries of the park and on the Peninsula itself, so I was hoping to get a painting in each of them. This first painting was done on Hurricane Ridge overlooking the Olympic mountain range. It was cold and windy but the views over the never ending, towering mountains was incredible. I wish I could have painted more in that spot!
Olympic 8”x5” oil painting on panel
Day 18
Day three on our trip to Washington was spent exploring more of the trails, and then heading out to the coast. That was the next environment I wanted to capture. Painting on the beach during the sunset was an absolutely magical experience, and one that I will treasure. The Pacific Northwest coast is beautiful and one of my favorite places on planet earth.
Pacific Coast Oil painting on panel
Day 19
This day was spent in the forest. Specifically the Hoh Rainforest. This particular area of the forest is home to some spectacularly large Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock trees. It was incredibly to witness the ancient trees and the life cycles present all around. The beards of moss hanging from the branches added more incredible atmosphere. The place felt almost sacred with how quiet and peaceful it was. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. This painting is of a particularly beautiful Spruce tree growing from the remains of another. I loved the dappled light hitting the trunk and lighting up the spring greens.
Deep in the Forest 8”x3.5” oil painting on panel
Day 20
Our final day on the Olympic peninsula was going to be a short one. All we had left was to drive back too Seattle and fly home. I made sure to get up extra early so I could catch one last painting in that beautiful location. I stayed in the town and found a spot with a beautiful view of the mountains, for one last Olympic painting. I loved how the sunrise made the shadows so blue and the snow just light up! There are so many colors, it’s a beautiful part of the world and one that will increase your respect and love for this planet we live on.
Golden Glow 5”x8” oil painting on panel Sold
Day 21
getting back to painting the everyday was a little sad but also a little bit of a relief after being out and on the go for a week. I didn’t plan anything extravagant for today’s painting, I was just hoping to find something at my inlaws’ that stood out to me. thankfully, the neighbor cat came to hang out so nicely, he made for a great subject. His sandy orange fur contrasted beautifully with the grass. I pushed the saturation in the orange to add a little more interest. That is one of the great things about being a painter that I love—editing the scene to do what I want with it.
Cat in the Grass 5”x5” on cradled panel
Day 22
I decided to do something a little differently today. I was very busy during the day and didn’t have as much time to paint until later, so I decided to try my hand at painting a nocturne. Nocturnes are paintings done of the nighttime atmosphere and landscape and pose a real challenge trying to paint them en plein air. The most obvious issue is the lack of a light source to paint with, and second, is if you have a light source, like I did here with a streetlight, the color of the light is usually going to affect the colors you mix on your palette. It also can take more time to observe the landscape and then let your eyes adjust between looking at a dark scene to an lit scene, and vice versa. Click on the picture to see the finished version!
Nocturne 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 23
This day I determined to paint some more of the spring blossoms while they were still in bloom. This time I went with some pink flowers. The challenge I faced today was in the limitations of what my chosen palette, the pigments I choose to work with, could actually create. In this case, I learned that the saturation of my pinks that I could make with the Cadmium red paint that I normally use is not as intense as I needed it to be. It was frustrating because I was wanting a little bit more of a fuchsia pink, but ended up with a very muted pink, and nothing I added could make it the color that I wanted. That was maybe due to the quality of the paint I use, or maybe just a limitation of cad red to begin with. Either way, I have since added a cooler red to my plein air kit that is better at making pink.
Pink 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 24
The purpose of today’s painting was the sunset and golden light of evening. I wanted to try and capture that glow that comes when the sun is just starting to set. It was a beautiful evening spent painting, and one of my favorite times of day. The challenge with this painting was the light, obviously, affecting how I mixed my paints. The colors that I mixed on site looked a little different when I brought the painting home.
Early Spring 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 25
This day I had a lot of errands to run, so I decided to try and paint somewhere along the way. The clouds had been doing a lot of beautiful things with rainstorms and lots of wind so when I found myself out with a view of Mt Timpanogos I decided that would be my focus for the painting. The cows were a nice addition to my composition.
Incoming Storm 5”x5” oil on cradled panel Sold
Day 26
I have a very kind neighbor who has chickens and a pumpkin patch who lets me come paint in his yard. I decided today would be as good a time as any to try and tackle a chicken, in paint of course. This rooster obviously did not stay this still for the duration of creating this painting. I had to use multiple chickens to get the painting that I wanted. A lot of this process was really just making it up as I went.
Rooster 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 27
I cheated a little bit with this painting. It rained a lot of the day and my motivation for going out to try and paint in the rain was very hard to find. So I compromised and decided to just set up my paints inside and paint my cat. I loved how she was framed by the light coming from the window, and the pattern of her Tortie fur is always a fun challenge.
Contemplation 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 28
Back to the chickens! I wanted to try and put multiple chickens in a composition this time. My neighbor has so many beautifully colored and patterned chickens, I thought it would be fun to capture a group of them together. Again, a lot of the challenge with this painting was remembering the composition I wanted and creating a painting from constantly moving objects. It worked out, I think, and I had a fun time watching the silly antics that chickens get into.
The Flock 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 29
We were having such a wet spring, which really is not normal for Utah. We need the water, but it made plein air painting a little more complicated (remember, oil + water do not mix well). I managed to get this painting of the clouds over Utah Lake mostly finished by the time the first raindrops fell, though. That was very lucky!
Lake Clouds 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Day 30
We finally made it to the final day of Pleinaripril! The day dawned beautifully warm and fresh, after all the rain. I headed to a nearby orchard to catch more spring blossoms for the last time. This apple tree was so fun to paint. The dappled lighting from the leaves and challenge to compose the many twisting branches was a delightful experience that made for a great end to the month long challenge.
Apple Tree 5”x5” oil on cradled panel
Thank you for following along on this month long adventure. I really enjoy the challenge of painting everyday, and I find that I improve so much each time I attempt it. Pleinairpril specifically is great because it occurs at the beginning of plein air season and is a great warm up for the rest of the year. I inevitably paint outside less during the winter so I really get rusty and appreciate the natural improvement that occurs from daily practice. Some of these paintings may still be available for purchase. To see them in the shop, click on the photo and it will link you to the painting’s shop page if I still have them.