Today marks 5 years of doing a Watercolour Sketch a Day, every day, straight!
On 26 January 2019, I decided to aim to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day as I wanted to:
- Create a daily Art practice
- Improve my skills
I remember that after 7 days being happy that I had managed to get that far. Prior to setting my goal of a Watercolour Sketch a Day, I used to do one and then Life would get in the way, and before too long, 2 weeks had gone by. At that rate, it would take me a long time to improve.
Here is Watercolour Sketch a Day #1
It was done on cheap Monte Marte Watercolour paper with Winsor and Newton Cotman Half-Pan Watercolour paint.
About a month after I started, I was about to sign up for 10-week Watercolour course, then the first Covid lockdown hit, and so no course. Instead, I did 120 days straight of YouTube tutorials.
As time went by, gradually I improved however, I also noticed that I would ‘plateau’ and sometimes it seemed that I was going backwards…
Mostly, I endeavour to do the Watercolour Sketch a Day in the early morning before ork although due to various commitments, that is not always possible. The later in the day it gets done, of course the more tired I am so sometimes, the resulting sketch is not as good perhaps as it would have been if I had completed it earlier. Whatever I come up with I post on my Instagram page called ‘Communicating Creatively.’ All 5 years of Watercolour Sketch a Day’s are there.
The latest I have completed was 11.00pm at night.
Also, over time, I changed to using Artist quality Watercolours (Winsor & Newton; Daniel Smith and Schminke), and starting using Artist quality 300gsm/100% Cotton (Saunders Waterford; Winsor & Newton), and Art Spectrum 300gsm/35% Cotton materials.
Here is today’s Watercolour Sketch a Day.
So, where to from here?
I am looking forward to doing Watercolour Sketch a Day, 5 years 1 Day tomorrow. Yes, the journey will continue as I feel I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be as an Artist. I need to get outside my comfort zone more, too.
A few people have asked me, over time, what is the number you are heading for?
My reply is simple, all I am aiming to do is ‘a Watercolour Sketch a Day’ to practice and improve my skills. I just happened to have done that every day, for 5 years straight.
Happy painting!
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
26 January 2024
Communicating Creatively 