The May Round-up: June & Summer... It's Plein Air Season, Baby!
Monthly Round-up #12 | May 2025-Welcoming June
The Monthly Round-Up is where I share an overview of the past month and highlight any projects, happenings, art life, and life in general that I think will be of interest. I enjoy and share the season, weather, and cultural changes of each month. At the end I’ll share with you what’s coming up in the new month.
Spring has been a prolific season for me regarding my artist self. I’ve taken May and I played. I’ve been using all my art materials, usually all at once, with sketchbooks and papers all spread out in various stages of drying and/or stages of how done they are. I’ve completed 2 sketchbooks, am halfway through another, started two others, and have 2 more ready to go on my desk. I’m being more in the moment with my creativity and am loving that feeling. I think doing the Floral March art challenge was great for me in a couple of ways. I pushed through my plan to record all 31 pieces for YouTube, even when I caught a cold and lost my voice for most of 3 weeks. The accountability to myself and my self-imposed obligation released something in my artistic self. This piggy-backed on my taking on 3 art challenges in December, all at once. But recording every day for 31 days, wow, the feeling of accomplishment on a daily basis was fantastic. And this was me, in my element, drawing and painting all month, just because. I’ve been outside painting Plein-air probably as much as I’ve been in my Art Studio.
It also kept me from my feelings about my only child, my son, graduating from High School last night, and last month his turning 18. He has become a man and it seems to have happened fast. I’m sad, elated, pensive, joyful, and most of all proud of this young man. All the things, all at once.
Here’s the Sketchbook Tour of these pieces:
And here are past posts on keeping a sketchbook habit as Artists:
I posted some videos on YouTube that may interest you:
How I Dried Out HIMI Jelly Gouache & Restored It
Brush Care: The Best Ways to Clean Paint From Your Brushes and Hands
I Made Acrylic Paint Markers & Here's How I Did It
Did I Find a Good Deal? Budget Watercolor Brush Review
Some Shorts on YouTube I posted:
Tip to Fix Sketchbook, Here's How I Did It
I Made Paint Markers, Do As I Say, Not As I Do
What a Great Color Combo: Making Skins With Acrylic Inks & Tar Gel
Checking on the ACRYLIC SKINS, They're So Cool!
How's the Jelly Gouache Doing? Let's Find Out!
I published some articles in April here on Substack, if you missed them or would like to revisit them:
I hope this finds you well. Take care of yourselves and one another.
Until next time, Cheers! Elizabeth
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If you have any questions, comments, or tips, drop them in the comments and we can start a conversation.