in drawing

Plein Airpril 2026

Project details
Materials
  • Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook
  • Daniel Smith watercolors
  • Caran D’ache Luminance pencils
  • Holbein acrylic gouache
  • Posca pens
  • Windsor + Newton gouache
Hashtag
#pleinAirpril

In April 2026, I participated in Plein Airpril! The intention behind this challenge is to draw or paint daily, on location, on “en plein air”. Taking inspiration from Birbfest, I decided to do a weekly drawing instead. These drawings were a mix of true on-location painting and drawing soon after from my own photo.

A small watercolor painting of young leaves, flower buds, and partially open blossoms floating around each other. The blossoms have touches of pink and the leaves are green with a red-brown tinge.

Forever kicking off Plein Airpril by drawing our pear tree 🍐

A graphic rendition of a hill with plenty of trees and apartment buildings on it, in the distance behind a placid lake with a line of small black squiggles on the surface. The sky and lake are the same grey-blue.

For #PleinAirpril week 2, I drew some American coots I saw swimming in a line in Seattle's Lake Union. Technically I did this one at home later (baby AND sketchbook being too much to manage at a bday hang).

A very blue painted scene featuring the Olympic mountains with a dusting of snow on top. The sky is blue with streaks of clouds. In the foreground is the Puget Sound in swipes of darker blue, a red parasail, and white sails in the further distance.

A view of the Olympics from Golden Gardens, painted with #gouache (from pans)

A small sketchbook featuring a bright, graphic landscape. In the foreground is a stony beach with small figures walking in the distance. Beyond that is a hill jampacked with conifers and deciduous trees, and a bright blue sky with bubbly clouds.

Drew another scene from Golden Gardens! This time facing the land and rendered in Posca pens. I was coming down with a nasty cold at the time, so doubling up on a reference was the move.

That’s all my drawings for this year! At first I intended to practice my watercolors for each week, but in the end I’m glad I dabbled in different media, because it’s interesting now to reflect on how each of these has a different vibe.

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