What is PleinAirpril?
Each year I partake in a month-long challenge called “Plein Air April” (shortened to #PleinAirpril on social media) – painting outside every day during April. Combining my loving for plein air with the excitement of spring is the perfect way to shake off the winter cobwebs and start the plein air season right!
You can see my results from the last couple of years here:
- 2022 PleinAirpril Recap
- 2023 PleinAirpril Recap
However painting outside every single day is a massive time and energy commitment. This year life is a bit different and I’ve had to make some adjustments to my schedule.
Why This Year is Different
This little bundle of joy is keeping me extremely busy. And as much as I appreciate Floki trying to babysit him, he requires constant supervision. 12 week old kittens have two modes: 1. Sleep, 2. Insanity
I happily submit to the requirements of Akira the Blue Eyed Babe. But it means I cannot go on as many adventures.
In addition, my husband has been recruited to help our neighbor with lambing season! Soon the fields of Scotland will be full of little lambs, which is an insanely busy time for sheep farmers. He offered to help, and it will require him to be away for long unpredictable hours, which leaves me home to babysit alone.
We also have a guest and his mother visiting in mid-April which means I’ll be hosting and driving them all over the Isle of Skye for a week (yay!) and most likely won’t be able to paint during that time. Of course I’ll use it as an opportunity to get inspired and take tons of reference images. I’ll try to sketch each night and keep my momentum going.
Anyways, now that spring is here and plein air season is beginning, I’m excited to get outside and paint. I just won’t have as much time this year as previous years. So rather than throw my hands up feeling defeated before I even begin or getting trapped by the thought that “it’s all or nothing” I am going to do things a little differently this year.
The Plan
With the understanding that my April will be very busy, I’m going to use #PleinAirpril 2024 as a way to ‘ease into’ the plein air season. Since I’ll be at home a lot and not adventuring all over the highlands like last year, I’ve come up with a study plan that will allow me some flexibility – but most importantly focus on aspects of plein air that I struggle with.
No matter what – the goal is to paint every day during April. Even if it’s 5 minutes!
I invite you to join me in this challenge.
Stay Connected!
Let’s keep each other motivated! Join my Discord chat to stay connected to myself and hundreds of other artists. Share what you’re working on, get advice or ideas. Or tag me on social media! @SarahBurnsStudio #sarahburnstutor
I love seeing what others are doing and it helps keep me motivated and inspired.
PleinAirpril 2024 Community Study Guide
Remember the whole point of a study guide is to follow some sort of structure in order to maintain commitment to your goals. That’s the key: YOUR goals. I recommend adjusting the guide to help you along your own path.
My specific goals this year are to work on color and creative mark making. Muted colors, grays, and browns play an important role in the mood of a scene and I’m trying to grow my sensitivity to them.
Creative mark making has always been a joyful part of my process. Using my brushes in as many ways as possible to achieve unique results is a passion in itself. While painting I like to ask myself “how few brush strokes do I need to do this?” or “What is the most simplified version of this mark that still reads well?” It’s fascinating to me. So during my studies, I will always keep these things at the forefront of my mind.
Week 1 – Play
For the first week I think it’s important to set ourselves up for success. Making a habit takes time and the first week of any challenge can be hard to get used to. But we have the benefit of inspiration on our side! We’ll always have the most enthusiasm at the start of a project. Let’s use that to build a bridge between “work” and “joy.” In this case I want to use play as a motivation.
The biggest thing for week 1: We’re not allowed to say that any of our choices are wrong or bad. After every study we will make a list of all the positive things we enjoyed (either about the process or the result).
So use this first week to draw or paint anything you want, in whatever way you want. Either from a reference photo or from life (preferable). Even if it’s 5 minutes. Even if it’s a 1 x 1 inch drawing on a napkin. It’s more about starting the habit.
I’ll be sticking close to home – walking around my neighborhood (or painting from the car if the weather is bad). You don’t have to choose an epic scene everyday.
Some ideas to start off:
- Work small – I like around 4×6″ or 5×7″
- Paint the view out of each of your windows. Include the window frame for added quirk.
- Walk or drive 1 mile from home. Wherever you end up, sit and paint the view.
- Pick 3-5 of your favorite photos from your last vacation and paint them.
- Ask your spouse, partner, sibling, parent, or neighbor to send you a photo of their favorite place in the world and paint it as a gift (or just for fun).
Week 2 – Finding Focus #1
Try to choose an area of focus you know you need improvement in but carry forward the fun you had in week 1. Were you playing with some colors that really excited you? Did you discover a new tool or way of using a brush that you want to explore some more? Think of how you can keep exploring those things while also narrowing your focus to a specific subject.
I am going to use flowers as my inspiration. They are packed with color and no two are the same so it’s easy to stay interested. Every time I paint a flower I learn a ton about color. But I find it extremely difficult to see subtle colors amidst the intense saturation of most flowers. Therefore my focus will be flowers but especially in finding the muted tones and mixing color so that it doesn’t look like a clown puked all over my paper.
I will go outside and paint from life as often as possible, but I will also use flower references if I’m short on time or the weather is bad. If you want to join in on flowers as a subject, I have a huge reference pack of flowers available on my Patreon page (it’s also a great way to support me!)
Before I settled on flowers as my focus, I had a lot of ideas. Feel free to use one of these if you need some inspiration:
- Boats (a great subject for practicing drawing, scale, and perspective. As for paint, try observing what the brightest areas are – sometimes it’s deceiving!)
- Animals (your own pets, farm animals, screenshots from National Geographic programs, or whatever you think would be interesting! Try using simplified versions of color and brush strokes to get the ‘essence’ of each animal without focusing on detail. Or zoom into their faces.)
- Moving water (capturing the sense of moving water with a combination of unique brush strokes and paint application is always a fun challenge. Try painting several types – waves, waterfalls, streams, even water running from a faucet or filling up a glass. Keep it simple: do lots of small studies of just the water, not full landscapes.)
- Structures (barns, sky scrapers, or whatever is around you! Drawing and painting architecture or cars is a challenge, but you can do it in a simplified way. Try honing in on small areas of the structures to start with. Try using only three values- light, medium, and dark- to paint it.)
- I joined a Facebook group called “Free Reference Photos for Artists” which is a goldmine of images to paint from. It’s a private group so you have to request to join, but it’s perfect if you don’t have a lot of references or want some new ideas. The bonus is that the photo albums are organized by subject.
Week 3 – Comfort
By week three many people are pushing their limit with staying committed to a daily art challenge (myself included). This is normal but hang in there! We are going to do something a little different this week.
First of all, do not use references this week.
Painting from life might be a little uncomfortable for some of you. If you need to ease into that, maybe start with painting a bowl of fruit in your dining room. Or paint the view out of your window from the comfort of your sofa. Or take a short stroll down the street until you find a quiet spot to sit and paint.
Once you find a suitable spot, commit. We are going to paint the same thing every day this week. Hear me out before you roll your eyes!
I know this might sound boring at first but trust me, you will learn SO much.
Look no further than Monet’s famous haystack series. In retrospect we see a collection of paintings of a seemingly “boring” subject – haystacks. But what makes them fascinating and beautiful is that you can see how he explored the effect of light – and thus color – day after day.
First of all by giving yourself more time with a single subject, you start to notice things you’ve never noticed before. You’re also going to observe it in different lighting conditions which is a way to learn about how light affects color.
Don’t paint what you think you see. Paint what you actually see. Keep it small, simple and loose. At the end of the week, compare them all side by side. Which one was your favorite and why?
There’s a spot down the road I like to sit and paint. I’ve painted the view dozens of times and every single time it’s different and challenging. Whether it’s the lighting or color or the way I use my brush, I always find it fascinating how each session makes me think differently.
Week 4 – Prompts
By now we might have some decision fatigue…I know I usually get this after a couple of weeks into the challenge. So let’s give our brains a rest and make decisions now about what to paint during week 4.
Prompt List:
- Day 1 – Ethereal: Suggesting ideas of delicate or light beauty, not of this world.
- Day 2 – Majestic: Inspiring awe or admiration through grandeur or beauty.
- Day 3 – Tranquil: Free from disturbance; calm and peaceful.
- Day 4 – Verdant: Rich with green, lush vegetation.
- Day 5 – Glimmering: Shining faintly with a wavering light.
- Day 6 – Solitude: The state or situation of being alone, often used to suggest a peaceful and serene environment.
- Day 7 – Mystic: Suggesting the presence of mystery, spirituality, or a sense of the beyond.
These are meant as inspiration for subject choice. For instance, In day 2 (majestic) I may find a view that captures the feeling of awe which is different for me than it would be for you.
In day 5 (glimmering) I may try to capture the effect of bright sun on the surface of the ocean.
In day 6 (solitude) I could find a lone tree in a field and try to capture the essence of peace in aloneness.
I hope that gives you plenty of inspiration to work with!
Reflect & Make a Plan
At the end of a month-long art challenge I am ready for a break. But it’s important to reflect on what we’ve done. Pat yourself on the back because that was a lot of work! And the best part is that every morsel of knowledge you absorbed (including any ‘failures’) are lessons ingrained into your artistic brain. You get to carry that knowledge forth and apply it to something new.
Share your excitement with someone. Join my Discord and share the fun.
Keep up the momentum. Usually my summer plan is to “go outside as often as possible.” And since there’s always a sketchbook in my bag and car it’s natural for me to paint wherever I go.
So maybe it’s that simple – make a commitment to yourself to always keep a sketchbook and pencil/paint kit in your car. Or backpack or purse. Once a week when you’re out and about take 10 minutes to sketch. You might be surprised how quickly 10 minutes can turn into 20..30..an hour.. The plein air bug is contagious!
Supplies
I’ve shared tons of advice about Plein Air supplies over the years. It’s totally dependant on what you need as an artist to suit your goals.
Here are some blog posts with lists and ideas for plein air supplies.
- Preparing for plein air season
- Dried gouache palette setup and use
- My ultra-light sketching kit
- Using the Etchr Slate Mini for plein air
I recently updated my favorite supplies page here. Have a look to see what types of supplies might suit you. Otherwise see below for some video inspiration!
Inspiration
Here are some videos that might help inspire you and also provide lots of insight into how I approach painting outside (including supplies) in all situations.
- Painting in ROUGH weather!
- Simple way to make color notes outside.
- What’s in my Plein Air bag?
- An ultra-light pocket painting kit setup
- “Lessons Learned” playlist – painting outside then doing it again at home
