Coast Cards Challenge

In December, Warrior Painters, who is well known for their #Pleinairpril movement every April, started a new challenge for the duration of December. Every day you painted on a 4x4 wooden coaster. In the spirit of the holidays, at the end of the month, you get to trade with other artists.

4x4 Acrylic gouache paintings on wooden coasters

Warrior Painters is a wonderful group of painters that originated as a local plein-air painting group from LA, who is now a large force to be reckoned with on the internet during Covid. They run events, workshops, and in general, encourage and inspire each other to continue to learn, even though many are veterans of the industry. The amount of times they have left me in awe with their passion for painting humbles me. I have only been to a few paint sessions, karaoke sessions (yes) and a couple of workshops, each time they have brought me tons of joy, knowledge and simple joyous companionship quiet quarantine times.

Each time that I have participated in a challenge, using the regiment as a motivator for picking up the brush (even though I may be too tired some nights), has been greatly rewarding. I cannot say for sure if I have improved every time, and definitely, not every painting is a keeper, but in a time that I haven’t been able to travel and do my usual plein-airs, getting a reason to paint indoors is always great. Especially when you have tons of people on the internet doing it with you and cheering you on.

I bought a total of 21 coasters from a local craft store at the beginning of the challenge, and in the end, I only managed to do 16 of them. All that means is that I gotta do more of them outside of the challenge month. And you bet I will! There is something fun about painting on such a cute size and holding the tangible wood in your hand afterwards.