It’s summer, I’m spending a lot of time inside in the air conditioning, and I’ve finally gotten back into a painting groove!
Paintings by theme
Paint My Photo
I was feeling strange about having painted only my own photos on Paint My Photos so I made an effort to find and paint some of the other great reference photos on there.
My paintings this month, unless otherwise specified, are painted on my remaining stash of six inch Kilimanjaro Tiles. The teeny trees on Winter Dawn are courtesy of my new Silver BelleAqua size 1 liner.
A Book About Skies
Inspired by the book The Watercolor Skies & Clouds Techniques of 23 International Artists, I made several copies of paintings by David Band showcased in the book.
Inspired by the same book, I also painted an interpretation of Joe Cibere’s First Light Deer Lake, and a silver lining clouds painting using the process of Herman Pekel.
Paint My Photo II
Putting some of those lessons into actions, I painted some more skies from Paint My Photo.
Is it okay if I’m just a painter of skies? Can that be all I paint? They’re the main subject I’m consistently drawn to.
Real World Skies
On the first official day of summer, I cracked open a fresh new Etchr Perfect Sketchbook, which always seems too expensive to actually paint in, but you might as well use up your paper because sizing doesn’t last forever. And gosh, it’s so dreamy. I decided to designate it as a sky sketchbook and painted that evening’s perfect gradient sunset.
Quinacridone Red (PR209) unmixed perfectly matched the coral I was seeing in the horizon.
I didn’t paint this next painting in the sky sketchbook, but only because I forgot; it’s also an “inspired by the real world” sky, based on seeing starlings flying on a very hot, heat wave day. I wanted to capture the feeling of the blinding sun, pale low-chroma sky, and wispy clouds.
Colors are primarily Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Venetian Red, Quin Gold, and a black random palette mix. I wanted to pin the mix of PBGS and Venetian Red, diluted, as a low chroma sky color; I really like it.
Urban Sketching
Finally, I did some outdoor sketching!
Speaking of paper, I finally upgraded to a larger sketching kit; I’m using the A5 Toolkit now instead of the Pocket Toolkit. I love the Pocket Toolkit for its portability (it fits in a fanny pack!) but the A5 size is also quite portable (lightweight, easily fits in a tote bag or backpack) and feels so luxuriously roomy in comparison. A5 paper is more similar to my normal painting size. I’m still using a Moleskine watercolor album and Kuretake water brush. I’ve also added the 40 degree Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen to my kit.
Birds
Palette Check-in
I never made a summer palette, but I’ve generally been using my Claire Giordano class palette. But as usual, I have gradually swapped a few things until it is actually kind of different!
- Added Quin Coral/Red (PR209); I can’t keep away!
- Dropped Ultramarine Blue
- Swapped Cobalt Blue for Cerulean Blue, but this is temporary. I have to refill my Cobalt Blue pan and it’s taking a long time to dry. I like Cobalt Blue better, but it’s kind of interesting to use Cerulean for a change.
- Added Daniel Smith’s Green Gold mix (not Rich Green Gold!), which I am experimenting with.
- Swapped Perylene Violet for Venetian Red for trying out.
- Swapped Perylene Red for Pyrrol Rubine – again this is kind of a lateral move and I may prefer Perylene Red but I’m seeing if I can use them in the same way.
- Dropped Payne’s Gray.
And a general travel kit check-in: I have recently been packing my toolkit contents (A5 sketchbook, Art Toolkit Pocket Palette, water brushes, fountain pen, cloth) into a Tom Bihn Handy Little Thing size 2 (HLT2). It’s a more compact way to carry it all than the Art Toolkit, with more secure pockets.
Mid-year Predictions Check-in
It’s halfway through the calendar year, which makes it a good time to check in on some of my annual projects and predictions! I consciously did not set “goals” because I feel like when I elevate something to a goal, it becomes a failure if I don’t do it. I prefer feeling that I have unlimited freedom to add and remove things from my “wishlist” of projects/things to learn. Changing interests or priorities aren’t failures. There are so many arenas in my life where I have to tamp down my interest of the moment and do the responsible thing and follow through with my previous commitments, art is one area where I can let my hyperfocus run free.
- More limited palettes
- More randomizing
- More Claire Giordano
Only one of those has come to pass: I did (most of) Claire Giordano’s ink class, and am now working through her beginner course. The other two, absolutely not.
This is exactly what I mean about goals, though: not only have I not done the other two, I don’t want to! I have discovered other, unexpected directions for my art to go in, such a working from Paint My Photo, digging in on intermediate sky techniques, and reading more art books. In future posts, I currently plan to share more insights from the books I am reading. But as with all predictions, you just never know what you’ll get with me!
Comments
3 responses to “Monthly Retrospective: June 2025”
I’d love to see how you organize your A5 Art Toolkit. I have one but I’m always afraid to put things in the big pockets except for a sketchbook. I struggle where to put erasers and little things like that.
Oh, breaking news on this, actually. I have taken the contents of an A5 toolkit and put them in a Tom Bihn Handy Little Thing size 2! It is exactly the right size to fit an A5 sketchbook and has little pencil straps and zipper pockets. I edited the post to show a picture.
I got a Tom Bihn HLT2 when it first came out but I never really found a good use for it. I’ll have to dig it out and see if it works for me.
I have thought about emailing Tom Bihn and Art Toolkit and saying can you like to a TBxAT collab? I really want to connect by Pocket Art Toolkit by an o-ring!