2022 October Plein Air Challenge - My Final Thoughts on Actually Completing My First-Ever Art Challenge

Top row, left to right: Cornfield, Lost Home. Bottom row, left to right: Under the Bridge, Fall on the Keystone

I had a really good time completing this October Plein Air challenge. I had only gone plein air painting once before this challenge in preparation. Additionally, I worked on the Foundations Course by Paint Coach to refresh my skills. I knew that painting in this new style would be challenging and difficult for me and I am glad that I took the time to work on developing my skills beforehand. I can definitely see refinement and development over these four paintings. 

Fall on the Keystone

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

This is the fourth and last painting out of the four for my October Plein Air challenge! I've never completed an October challenge that I've started before (like Inktober or Peachtober) but having finished this one makes me feel really good. I'll make another post later with my final thoughts on the entire challenge. This bridge is out on the Keystone Trail, one that I've ridden quite a large amount of times! I love being on the trails here, people were very nice to me when they passed me on their walks and bike rides. Some brush strokes I kind of regret placing, but overall I really like this piece.

Under the Bridge

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

This is the third out of the four plein air paintings for the October challenge! The section on the left where the rocks are with the darkest shadow was such an eye-catching area to me and I wanted to give it a try. This is my first plein air attempt of concrete forms! This painting started out pretty ugly but it quickly pulled together in the end. I also really liked the section of the overgrown dead grass. The highlights stand out against the darker orange-brown base and I feel like it really works.

Lost Home

 

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

This is the second out of the four plein air paintings for the October challenge! This is my first attempt at dappled light and it's definitely tough. I had a lot of fun making this and the weather was so nice. I had a kind of tough time editing the color balance of this image to match the painting itself, my phone's camera leans heavily blue. I had a bit of a hard time painting the dappled light on the ground, but once I internalized that it's just color blocks against a darker background, I feel like I started to understand the subject better.

Radiant Pumpkin

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase prints here; click to purchase stickers here

This was my first attempt at painting strong, dramatic lighting alla prima. I had this cute pumpkin glass jar and I tucked fairy lights into it while I set up my black box in my bathroom to give the appropriate level of darkness to let this piece shine. The fairy lights were these beautiful specks against the glass and made the glass warp in delicious ways. I liked choosing to put the subject against the corner of my blackbox, the way that the seams between panels point towards the subject really draw your attention even more to the light source. 8/52

Cornfield

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - sold

This painting marks the beginning of my 2022 October Plein Air painting challenge! This month I plan on making four 6x8in. plein air paintings, starting with this one. I really liked the way the shadows stretched on the harvested cornfield from the rows of trees. I'm very lucky to live right across from a very interesting-looking cornfield. I just loved the way the rising sun cast the long shadows from the trees and how the hills influenced the crop lines.

Mountain Study

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

This is another Paint Coach Patreon tutorial that I completed in order to study for this year's October Plein Air challenge! I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel. One of the things that really drew me to complete this study were the juicy paint strokes. As I continue to work on my creative skill, I'm realizing that I'm really drawn to making thick, juicy brush strokes rather than blended colors. The brush strokes blend together from farther away but once you look up close, you can really see the nuance between colors.

White Rose Study

 

4x4in. oil on canvas - sold

Followed along to a Paint Coach Patreon tutorial. I highly recommend checking him out on YouTube. I wanted to practice flowers because I wanted to continue to develop my skills in painting flowers. I will admit the whites were very challenging, but Chris really helps you break down the colors that are hidden in the whites, creating a much more dynamic painting. I really liked putting the flower against the dark background because I feel like it really helps the painting pop.

The Batman

 

12x16in. oil on Trekell Baltic birch panel - not available

I really loved Robert Pattinson's The Batman, and not just because he's RPatz. Saw this promotional photo and I had to paint it for myself! I used a lot of cadmium-free red medium because I loved the warmth provided against the cool shadow from the left. Some parts of this painting are pretty well blended, but once I started to feel comfortable in "no longer translating the reference photo" I started to paint juicy color blocks in (you can see this especially in the face and cape). What do you think about this painting?

Please note: this is a piece in my personal collection and I do not own the rights to this photo reference - therefore I will not be offering prints of this painting.

Valentine's Day Candies

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here

I love cherry heart lollipops! The next in my candy series, I've created an homage to Valentine's Day. Candies featured in this painting are the cherry heart lollipops, M&Ms and cookies and crème Hershey's hearts. I thought a blue background would help the pinks and the reds really shine. The hardest part about this painting was the foil on the cookies and crème Hershey's hearts, but once I realized that it was just color blocks next to each other, it was pretty easy to translate them into the painting. I also ate all of these candies. 7/52

Sunflowers & Roses

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase prints here

Valentine's Day is a big celebration in my house due to my birthday being the following day. My husband always gets me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and I wanted to try my hand at my first-ever still life set up painting session! It was really difficult but it's such an important exercise. Excited to do more of these! 6/52

Candy Hearts

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - sold; click to purchase prints here

I actually love candies like conversation hearts and candy corn. My husband may make fun of me for my "terrible candy taste" but that means more for me. This painting actually sparked my love of painting candies! I just loved the dramatically lit hearts against the stark magenta background. These hearts said the silliest things, like "bae". The trick to make it "look" like there's writing on the hearts is to actually just paint abstract shapes! Who knew? I ate all of these candies. 5/52

Blueberry Gin Punch

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - sold

I made this blueberry gin punch for the weekend my husband and I played Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Housed in my favorite Woodford Reserve glass, this tasty wintery cocktail hit the spot. You can find the recipe here, just don't forget to cut it in half with Prosecco! Also, apparently, if you introduce a room temperature cup/cool cup to a boiling hot item (like the frozen blueberries that you boil into a syrup), you will crack your glass. I ruined a batch of this tasty cocktail that way (and my poor cup). 4/52

Illuminated Halloween Skull

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - not available; click to purchase stickers here

Halloween-time is my favorite season and this was the first Halloween my husband and I celebrated together. We often light our spaces with Christmas lights and candles, but the way that the light was shining on this skull from Michaels was absolutely stunning and spooky. I used so many colors of oil paint just to make the ranges of reds, pinks, purples and oranges right. A lot of quinacridones and reds were used in the making of this painting. I love this painting so much and feel like it encapsulates who I am as a painter that I turned this painting into my business card! If you place an order from my shop, you will receive my business card, or a "mini print", as I like to call it. 3/52

 

White Lilies from Papillion

 

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - sold; click to purchase prints here; click to purchase stickers here

White lilies are one of my favorite flowers. I love all of the different colors that they come in. This painting was particularly difficult for me to paint since the petals were white, but recently I learned a trick to painting all of the nuanced colors: put your photo into Photoshop and turn up the saturation a little bit. Don't worry, I know not to let my kitties loose around these toxic bad boys. I'd love to make a Silent Princess flower painting from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild! 2/52

Sunset on Park Avenue and Dewey Street

 

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here

When I lived in the city you could see all sorts of clouds against the city skyline. Many mornings were washed in pinky-oranges while sunsets were washed with vivid reds and deep purples. You never knew what you were going to see until you opened your curtains or stepped outside. Don't even get me started on golden hour in the city - the beautiful and warm light flushed against the city buildings stole my heart. It just goes to show that midwestern sunsets in the big city are quite breathtaking. 1/52