After a long break, I am finally taking the time to reflect on PleinAirpril and discuss the big start of 2025 plein-air season.

As you may have seen from my previous blogposts, I am not new to plein-air painting. I have been doing it for a couple of years now and keep adapting my technique to be able to capture the scenes around me in a way that feels right for me. But 2025 is the first year I have tried to tackle PleinAirpril, which is a well-known challenge for plein-air painters. I discovered it by following Sarah Burns, a landscape artist, who has been sharing her take on PleinAirpril for a few years now. The idea is quite simple: going outside every day to paint / draw. I will not go into the history of the challenge and plein-air painting here, but there is quite an active community of plein-air painters / urban sketchers both online and in many places around the globe! So if this is something you are interested in, and you want to find a group of like-minded people, make sure to check communities like the Warrior Painters or the Urban Sketchers.

How to prepare for PleinAirpril?

To be honest, I haven’t done much preparation this year, as I had already started painting outside earlier in the year… I chose to go for the same layout as Inktober, with pre-prepared circles - one for each day - in my sketchbook. With hindsight, I am not sure I would go for circles next time, as I already struggle with perspective and this makes it quite challenging… Also, all were the same small size, and I am not sure yet what is my prefered size… I like small because I was able to do a sketch in 5min if I was short on time. But it also made composition and scale harder to manage for larger scenes and landscapes. At time I felt I needed to focus on one object only, but also wanted to do a full panorama, and ended up being quite frustrated with the layout and process. But having pre-prepared layout helped me to keep the habit going… Lots of things to balance here!

Supplies-wise, I already had some small limited palettes for both gouache and watercolors (I will try to make a full blogpost about that in the coming months to update you on my palettes and colors - but I am very much in an exploration phase and the colors keep changing). I also had my pencil case full of art supplies, and the sketchbook for the challenge (a Hahnmühle watercolor book - square format of 14x14cm - 100% cotton paper).

My initial plan was to play with gouache and use acrylic markers to add some details and linework. Of course this plan lasted only for the first 3 days…

Overall, the way I prepare for challenges is always the same: try to have most of the brainwork done in advance, so that it is super easy to grab the bag and start painiting / go outside to paint. This year, as it was my first time trying the challenge and I knew I would travel a bit during the month + have a heavy workload, I decided not to create any constraints subject-wise (going outside was already plenty challenging enough - not sure what is the right order for the words here). For other challenges, I would usually find (+ print if possible) all the references in advance so that I just have to pick one and start painting.

The 30-day challenge - How did it go?

Well, not bad! I did not manage to go out every single day. I skipped 4 days, and did 4 sketches from inside. But overall I am super happy with the way I tackled the challenge.

The cons:

The sketches are not coherent at all (when it comes to style).
I struggled a bit with the layout / size.
There are some sketches I really don’t like.
I did not paint outside everyday.

The pros:

I tackled a wide variety of subjects.
I experimented with many setup, supplies, styles, combinations.
I played with the limitation of the layout.
There are some sketches I like a lot!
I managed to squeeze in a sketch even in very busy days! (when I had more time I would use the full setup and take my time, but I also managed to make a variety of very quick sketches that I am quite happy with!)

During the first three days, I sticked to my idea of gouache + acrylic marker. I did some very quick sketches (less than 10min) in the park outside my office before leaving work (Days 1 & 2). The days were still not so long and the weather was not very summer-y so I kept things minimal. I really struggled for Day 3, the rock was just frustrating, so I tried it again and ended up spending almost 25min sitting by the river. I skipped the 4th day (probably because we were moving around quit a lot to attend the defensio of a friend in another city)… On the 5th, we went for a trip in Slovenia. I managed to do a sketch in Ljubljana which I very much like. It started not so nicely, but I layered some Neocolors 2 and finally achieved to create a look I liked! I first wanted to do the full building, but quickly realized it would be too challenging in the allocated space…

The next 2 sketches I very much like! They were done almost exclusively with gouache (except the sketch with watercolor markers), and I used real travel brush (the ones from Sarah Burns, which are made for gouache) instead of waterbrushes. They also capture some great memories of hiking in Slovenia. The next two (Days 8 and 10, I skipped 9) were super quick sketches done with watercolor pencils / Inktense pencils (one while waiting for a train, the other one before dance teaching - around 5min each). It is not my favorite style, but I am still quite happy with how they turned out! I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone, but still managed to make it work.

Day 11 was done when coming back from a dance session in the evening. It was literally round the corner from the house, and I just wanted to go back home and eat. Still, I like the atmosphere of the sketch! Day 12 we went for a short hike around the apartment because the weather was glorious. I wanted to do a full gouache sketch but forgot water / waterbrushes / brushes… So I improvised and used Neocolor 2 (dry) and acrylic markers instead… Still, it’s one of my favorites! The next 2 I don’t like so much. One was a quick Inktense pencil sketch done on my way to dance, and the other one is a watercolor + mixed media sketch, but I was still getting familiar with my colors and I’m not so happy with the composition and use of colors.

Day 15 was a rainy day, so I spent less than 5min quickly sketching this flower that I had seen in our street during our hike last week. The next one was done from inside looking through the windos. I think it’s my least favorite one… I really struggle with full urban scenes and I am not happy with my color mixing here. I like the next one, but it does not really fit in the page! It was also a watercolor pencils (+ acrylic marker) super quick sketch before teaching a dance class. I love the next 2 (even though I put Day 20 in the circle of Day 18 - that I had missed - and I feel as though the whole page is imbalanced now). They were done in gouache with travel brushes, and I really took my time to render them.

I don’t really like this double page. I think I was strugling a bit to keep up with the daily habit at this point. One was done from inside, looking at a plant we have (I like it). Then we have one done during a lunch break at the park, and I don’t like my use of colors and the overall composition. It’s very flashy and the tree does not capture what I wanted. Then it’s again the same sccene (done from inside, looking through my window). I like it better than my first attempt… but it still does not feel quite right. And the last one was also done from inside, I really like it! I love the colors and the softness of the sky!

This last double page is so fun! I used a very fluorescent pink acrylic marker to make some random marks on the circles before goig outside (my scanner does not seem to pick thiis pink-y color very well, so unfortunately I cannot show you how bright it is!). I had plan to use gouache on top but quickly realized that it did not work. Neocolor 2 were a bit better but still did not show so well. For the last 4 days, I decided to carry a little bag full of acrylic markers and a few Necolors 2 and pencils (for texture). And that was just perfect! Such a fun way to finish the challenge and discover a new way to do plein-air, with supplies I don’t usually use on their own, but only as a support to others!

What next?

As you can see, there are a lot of good things that came out of the challenge. The downside is that I really struggled to keep the ball rolling in May… But I am looking forward to continue plein-air season in the coming months, and continue playing with the variety of setups that I found during April! Now that I know I can make some nice sketches in under 10min, it also takes some pressure off. I can squeeze a quick sketch with just one pencil, one marker and a brush during a picnic outside and still enjoy time with friends. I can have a small purse with essentials to be ready for plein-air painting at all time. And I can still have my bigger setup when going on trips specifically for painting :)

PleinAirpril 2025

How to prepare for PleinAirpril?

The 30-day challenge - How did it go?

What next?

Diving into plein-air season - part 2