Two paintings from yesterday. The first is from the Urth Caffe sketching event with @warriorpainters . The second was done first thing in the morning in front of the @lightboxexpo letters.
#nopleinnogain #warriorpainters #lightboxexpo #lightboxexpo2025 #pleinair #urbansketch
I finished painting the third LightBox Expo mascot just this morning. I think the green one is my favorite and was one of those rare occasions where what I had envisioned in my head actually ended up on the page.
#lightboxexpo #lightboxexpo2025 #nopleinnogain #urbansketchers #gouache #pleinair
Better late than never? Even though I’ve still painted the Inktober prompts, I am SO behind on sharing them all. So, here’s my painting dump: Days 9-22
#inktober2025 #inktober2025button #gouache #gouachepainting #landscapepainting #artchallenge #inktober #inktober2025blast #inktober2025rivals
I’m still a day behind but day 8’s prompt is Reckless, so I painted El Capitan (thinking of the free solo attempts there).
#inktober2025 #inktober #inktober2025reckless #gouache #elcapitan #yosemitepainting #yosemite
Day 7’s prompt is Starfish! I’m a day behind but hope to post my Day 8 painting for “reckless” a little later.
#inktober #inktober2025 #inktober2025starfish #gouache #beachart #landscapepainting #waterpainting
Today’s prompt is Pierce. I started this painting thinking I would try capturing the way that sunlight can pierce through the leaves later in the day, but as I kept painting, it started to take on a more radiating effect instead.
#inktober2025 #inktober2025pierce #inktober #landscapepainting
Today’s prompt is deer. This painting ended up a bit blockier than I was going for, but it was good practice. Next year I want to practice more animals/people.
#inktober2025 #inktober2025deer #inktober #deer #deerpainting #deerart #wildlifeart #wildlifephotography
Day 4 of inktober! Today’s prompt is Murky, so I had to paint this little frog hidden among the lily pads.
#inktober2025 #inktober #inktober2025murky #frogart #frogpainting #gouache #frog #cottagecoreart
Day 3 of Inktober and today’s prompt is Crown. This is a painting of an Elegant Grey Crowned Crane done from photo reference.
#inktober #inktober2025 #inktober2025crown #cranespotting #birdwatching #birdpainting #gouache #gouachesketch #strathmoreblackpaper #mgrahamgouache
Day 2 of #inktober2025 and today’s prompt is Weave. Both the hat and basket are woven and I love how the sunlight illuminates the lavender gatherer’s skirt. This was painted from a royalty free reference photo.
#inktober #inktober2025weave #gouache #sketch #mgrahamgouache #photostudy
Day 1 of #inktober2025 and today’s prompt is mustache! Today’s painting is a film study from the “newer” Lorax movie (which I still haven’t actually watched because I have good memories of the original 1972 version).
#inktober2025mustache #inktober #gouache #lorax #thelorax #mgrahamgouache
What an outstanding experience for the first ever Watermark event! Thank you to all the organizers, sponsors, volunteers, and participants! I was honored to be one of the demo artists and had such a great time geeking out about gouache!
#urbansketcherstwincities #watermark2025 #urbansketchers
Here are some watercolor paintings from today’s #urbansketcherstwincities event at O’Shaughnessy Distillery Co in Minneapolis
#oshaughnessydistillery #minneapolisart #pleinairartist #nopleinnogain #urbansketchers #urbansketch #urbansketching #streetpainting #downtownminneapolis #summerpainting
Plein air painting dump - June 2025
#watercolor #gouache #minnesotaart #exploreminnesota #pleinair
It’s so satisfying to finally have some flowers to paint; they add the perfect pop of color to these forest scenes
#pleinair #nopleinnogain #sevenbridges #southmilwaukee #milwaukeeart #lakemichigan #gouache #newwaveart #travelpainting
Weekend Stats:
✅ Paintings: 12 (the ones not pictured were tiny thumbnail sketches, film studies I’ll share later, and a few that I started late Sunday afternoon and need to make some finishing touches on).
✅ Fishermen encountered: 3
✅ Materials Lost: 1 (a fineliner pen)
✅ Chatty passersby: 6
This one was painted live at #laclavonpark in #lakevilleminnesota
#pleinair #nopleinnogain #localartist #watercolor #landscapeart #minnesotaart #twincitiesart #twincities #exploreoutdoors
Here are a few still photos from my painting yesterday afternoon. This was my first time using my new Pochade box setup.
#pleinair #pleinairsetup #newwaveart #ugopochadebox #watercolor #colorandlight #watercolorsketch #modernimpressionist #minnesotaart #localart #outofmycomfortzone #trysomethingnew
My goal this summer is to find some bigger/dramatic scenes. I remember going to a park a few years back (before I was obsessed with painting) that had winding rivers and rocky shores, but I can’t remember what is was called; I only remember that it was somewhere between the Twin Cities and Duluth.
Finding beauty in the simple little scenes near my neighborhood
#gouache #landscapepainting #pleinair #twincities #lakevillemn
This painting was done at Richard T Anderson Conservation Area in Eden Prairie, MN. This was done completely in watercolor (as opposed to the gouache I normally work with
#pleinair #pleinairpainting #outdoorpainter #outdoorpainting #landscapesketch #watercolor #watercolorlandscape #edenprairie
An underwater sketch
#underwater #landscape #oceanart #gouachepainting #watercolor
A little greenhouse sketch
#gouache #greenhouse #botanicalart #dakotacountymn #botanical #plantart
For day 25 of #pleinairpril hosted by @warriorpainters.bsky.social I ended up doing some 5 minute map crunch studies because it has been rainy outside all week and I haven’t figured out a waterproof setup for painting outdoors yet.
#valuestudies #blackandwhite #artexercises
Aaaand DONE! For day 22 of #pleinairpril I decided to finish my page of color studies from The Art of Luca. There are so many other films I would love to take some time to make studies of, maybe Encanto or Lightyear next?
#filmstudy #colorstudy #gouache #quicksketches #disney #disneyfanart
I added two more mapcrunch studies to the bottom of this sheet. I’m not happy with the bottom left one, but it was good practice and is motivating me to keep trying to figure out how to best capture rocky/watery scenes.
#valuestudy #watercolor #landscapesketch
For day 20 of #pleinairpril I did studies of artwork from the book Art of Luca. Because I only have myself a max of 10 minutes per painting, my focus was solely on capturing color and large shapes, not details. These are based off of paintings by Daniel López Muñoz, Josh West, and Daniela Strijleva.
A few mapcrunch studies in watercolor and gouache for Day 19 of #pleinairpril hosted by @warriorpainters
#pleinairpril2025 #mapcrunch #artstudy #blackandwhite #valuestudy #monochromeart #gouache #watercolor #winsorandnewtonwatercolors
Cottage painted from imagination
#gouache #cottagecore #illustration #painting #landscape
Today’s paintings were done at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN, which had a puppetry exhibit on display. I was there as part of an #urbansketcherstwincities event (PSA to any other Twin Cities-based artists: you are welcome to join us on any future meet ups!)
#pleinairpril2025 #andersoncenter
