Observations on Day 406 – A Watercolour Sketch a Day!

Looking back, I haven’t written about my project, ‘a Watercolour Sketch a Day’ since the 127th day. I’m happy to report that today is Day 406 and I haven’t missed a day yet.

It’s been a fascinating journey and I’m making heaps of mistakes so I must be learning a lot!

So, why pick Day 406 to write about the experience, I mean why not write about it on Day 200, 300 or 400? I noticed that today signifies a slight change in direction…

To explain: When I first started, it was about a Watercolour Sketch a Day, meaning the goal was to create a daily watercolour sketching habit, quick sketches that I could do on say A5 (or smaller) pages.

This was how it was for a time, then I noticed I was attempting larger sketches on A4 and above paper which is fine, but they were taking longer and longer to complete and as I’m not a full-time artist, my time to commit to larger sketches during the week is not as great. Sometimes, I only get a limited time to do them, say 10 – 20 minutes. On the weekends it is longer, mostly.

I also noticed that after a very busy day I was prone to tackling easier subjects, abstract I suppose you could call them which is fine and fun though at times I felt I was doing ‘anything’ just to say that the sketch was done for that day. I don’t want this to be a production, it was meant to be and is fun.

Also, I had gone away from using pencils and pigment liners as well. I want to improve my drawing/sketching skills with the aforementioned tools as well Watercolour paints.

This morning I decided to go back to my original intentions. I started using a pencil again and am doing a smaller size sketch.

One of the challenges I have is that I don’t get out as much as I like to sketch, especially during the week as I run a business, though it is not tied to an office or shop predominantly, per se.

Perhaps I should tuck a Moleskine A5 Watercolour journal and a couple of pencils etc in my portable folder so that if the chance comes up, I could do a quick sketch whilst waiting for an appointment. That would be a great habit to start instead of pulling out the Smartphone and wasting time with that…

Doing a Watercolour Sketch a Day still motivates me and I can certainly say that I am enjoying the journey. Watercolour is such a fascinating medium. Drawing/sketching is fun and it still feels like a kind of meditation for me.

Here are a selection of my Watercolour Sketches since Day 128.

Written by David Johnson
7 March 2020

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Day 128 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Farmhouse”
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Day 152 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Seafaring Fun”
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Day 164 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Towards The Summit”
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Day 177 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “The Rock”
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Day 190 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Snow Gum Palette”
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Day 196 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Out To Sea”
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Day 197 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sea Retreat”
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Day 217 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Paperbark”
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Day 255 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Summer”
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Day 267 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Pyramids Of Giza”
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Day 274 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sunset”
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Day 283 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Ochre”
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Day 291 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Carcoar Architecture”
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Day 294 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Posing Kookaburra”
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Day 324 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Rock Face”
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Day 333 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sunset On The Bay”
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Day 334 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Coastal Delight”
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Day 339 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Coloured Sky”
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Day 350 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Fresia”
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Day 365 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Land Claim”
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Day 372 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “New Day”
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Day 375 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Tones”
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Day 381 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “The Shack”
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Day 385 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Central Peak At Sunset”
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Day 393 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Silos At Sunset”
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Day 398 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Fireworks”
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Day 406 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “At Rest”

4 thoughts on “Observations on Day 406 – A Watercolour Sketch a Day!

    1. Thank you for the very kind thoughts Perc. I just love exploring creativity. I have a few commitments with Toastmasters that end on 30 June this year so will have a bit more time. I haven’t done much (real) Photography over the past two years so will be looking to do a bit more of that as well. 🙂 How are things in the Southern Tablelands?

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