Yesterday, I achieved another milestone with my daily art practice a, ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day.
As of yesterday, I have completed a Watercolour sketch daily for the past 6 years.
“Direction” – 6 Years of a Watercolour Sketch a Day!
It’s a journey I started to:
Obtain consistent practice
Learn new skills – sketching, drawing, painting
Create an escape of sorts from the day
I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey and have already completed the ‘6 years Day 1 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day’, today, so the journey will continue.
“Iceberg” – 6 Years, 1 Day of a Watercolour Sketch a Day!
This ‘year’ I intend to attempt some different subjects over time and aim to include people in some of the images.
I am looking forward to where this journey takes me next!
Four days ago, on 13 August 2024 I completed by 2,000th Watercolour Sketch a Day in a row.
Back in 2018, I had started back doing Watercolour after doing it briefly in 2010 after doing a basic, six-week Drawing course. Photography was still my main creative interest at the time so doing Watercolour, or any other sketching/painting-related activity was just something I dabbled in for a bit of fun, on and off for the next eight years.
Towards the end of 2018, I wanted to start to learn Watercolour however, I was only getting to do it once or twice every two-three weeks which was frustrating. Around that time, I was talking to a business friend, who in outside hours, sketched in Charcoal and also used Soft Pastels. Also, I have been listening to a podcast called, ‘Sketching Stuff’ over time, which was broadcast by Charlie O’Shields who created the ‘Doodlewash’ website. Charlie had done a Watercolour sketch a day & a blog post every day for 5 years. He only stopped as he was going to be working on a project, doing illustrations for children’s book from memory.
I thought that something like what Charlie did seemed impossible, but he had done it. I didn’t start straight away, though.
On 26 January 2019, it was Australia Day and I was sitting at home relaxing and thought I would do a Watercolour sketch, the one you see below.
It was done on cheap Monte Marte paper with Sennelier Student Watercolour half-pans. This sketch ended up being Watercolour Sketch a Day, Day 1.
I set my goal as doing ‘one Watercolour Sketch a day’, and that is still my goal. I was very pleased to reach seven days in a row. Quite chuffed actually. I almost stopped after 400 days in a row, then I thought ‘this is so much fun’, and it became a kind of meditative experience where I could ‘zone out’ from the day.
Sometimes, I do the sketches early in the morning before the business day gets going. Other times, I do them at the end of the day. I really look forward to the time I spend doing them. Sometimes, I spend 10-15 minutes, other times it is 30 minutes or more. It just depends on the day.
Sometimes, you notice improvements, and other times it can feel like the sketches are not as good as some of the previous ones. It’s kind of like Life, or building a business.
The Watercolour Sketch below is the one I did for Day 1,000. It was tutorial by Peter Sheeler on YouTube. Early on I did quite a few tutorials, particularly by Peter Sheeler, and Nil Rocha Art. I highly recommend them.
Between 1,000 and 2,000, I’ve done less tutorials and more
sketching from imagination
sketching from my own reference photos
en plein air
Within that time, I’ve also attended quite a few sketch-meets with Urban Sketchers Sydney and Urban Sketchers Wollongong, and over the past few years, I’ve obtained a lot of inspiration from being a member of Macarthur Art Group and Red Point Artists.
I also use much better, Artist quality paper this days and a few years ago switched to Artist quality paper and brushes which certainly makes a difference.
For my 2,000th Watercolour Sketch a Day, I chose to do a landscape/seascape below. This is a variation of a previous one I did. Sometimes, I like to go back to a previous sketch and see if I can improve upon it, from last time. Very happy to have this image as #2000!
So, where to from here?
Well today is 5 years, 203 days of a Watercolour Sketch a Day and I’ll be doing it at an Open Day called “Back to Belgenny”, which is being held at a colonial homestead about 1/2 hour from where I live. I’m one of quite a few members of Macarthur Art group who are doing en plein air demonstrations for the public, which seems a long way from the Day 1 sketch I did in my lounge room back on Australia Day 2019.
I am loving the different experiences of this Artistic journey, which I will be continuing for a long time to come yet. 🙂
Written by David Johnson
17 August 2024
All the Watercolour Sketch a Day images are on my Instagram:
Today was our first time back at the Red Point Artists Art & Craft on the Grass event since April this year. The May event was cancelled due to bad weather and we couldn’t get to the June event as we both had Covid (for the first-time after dodging for 4 1/2 years).
Today was also the 4th time I have had a stall there.
Once again it was a fun time, a little cool and windy for the first few hours, then the Sun came out and warmed things up a little.
Today also represented ‘5 years, 168 Days’ since I started my ‘Daily Art Practice.’ The image below is today’s effort.
I have already booked my spot for the August event, and there are a number of things I need to do in the next month to ‘upgrade’ my presentation at the stall.
It was also great to see a few other Artists brave the Winter day and come to display their creative efforts. It’s always a joy to see their latest creations.
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.
Today marks the 3rd anniversary since I started my ‘Daily Art Practice’ of a ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’. For my 1,091st day I decided to sketch/paint a subject that I really seem to enjoy, a Lighthouse.
“Afternoon On The Coast”
One day, I will gather up all my Lighthouse sketches and put them in a blog post for no other reason than to see them altogether. I think it would be fun!
Looking back, I was pleased to do 7 days in a row and when I reached 1 month I really had no expectations of being able to keep up this daily Art practice for 1 year, yet alone 3.
My goals for the ‘Daily Art Practice’ were:
Aim to do one Watercolour Sketch a day (and look no further than that)
Be a Sponge
Improve my skills through practice
Lean from my mistakes
Practice, practice, practice!
I don’t believe I am ‘naturally talented’ in sketching and painting. Like all children I did draw at school and at home though I am not one of those Artists ‘who have been drawing/painting all throughout their life’, studied Art and are now full-time Artists. (I’m actually a Mortgage Broker and co-run our business with my Wife, Susan and have an additional Mentoring role for Small Business startups. I’m also involved in Toastmasters {Public Speaking}, and BNI {Business Networking}, as well as two other associations).
From 1982 – 2016 I was firmly entrenched in Photography. In the 1990’s, I briefly had an interest in drawing but that didn’t last long as Photography was ‘still King’. In 2010, I took a basic Drawing course and began dabbling in Watercolour (briefly) before dabbling in Acrylic and Oil over the years. In 2016, I decided to concentrate on Oils but it seemed difficult to find the time, consistently.
In 2018, I rediscovered Watercolour though finding the time seemed difficult again. I had a ‘real desire’ to learn it and started looking for ways to allocate more time to it and was (over the course of time) attracted as well to Line and Wash. On Australia Day, 26 January 2019 I decided to aim to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day.
Along the journey so far I’ve:
Learnt about some sketching, drawing and painting techniques
Colour mixes
Brush use
Colour Theory
Made an innumerable amount of mistakes
Increased my belief in myself that I can do this
Sold 3 A4 paintings (unexpected)
Joined Red Point Artists Association, Port Kembla
Made some great connections through Art groups
What’s next?
Well, I still have a lot to learn (and there’s more fun to have) so tomorrow I’m aiming to a Watercolour Sketch and the day after, another one…
My Daily Art practice with Watercolour has also re-inspired my Oil Painting practice so I am aiming to allocate time to that on a regular basis now and am planning to enter some Art Exhibitions and submit my own Art to the next Members Exhibition of the Red Point Artists Association.
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
26 January 2022
My Watercolour Sketch a Day images can be found at:
Over my Watercolour Sketch a day journey, I have done a number of tutorials by Artists such as Peter Sheeler and Nil Rocha Art. These tutorials have taught me a lot about colour mixing, types of brushes to use in different situations, shadows and much more.
During lockdown in 2020, I chose to do a tutorial every day for 120 days straight and it really opened my eyes and stretched me. In hindsight though, I would have been better off do a tutorial a week as it would have allowed me more time to absorb the new information and techniques that I was being exposed to. Since then, I have been doing them sporadically.
For today’s Watercolour Sketch a day, I decided to do a tutorial by Peter Sheeler (see first image below). I have done some Snow-related images before but none this layered. I had a lot of fun doing it.
A5 – Day 942 of a Watercolour Sketch a day.
Armed with some new techniques, I cleared some time this afternoon and completed an A4 (my Watercolour Sketch a day’s are only A5 size) Watercolour as I was keen to try to implement things that I had learnt in this morning’s tutorial. See image below.
A4 Watercolour Line and wash
I’m very happy with the result, acknowledging that I still have a long way to go to get to where I want to be with my creations.
Creating Art is not my full-time profession and I embarked on the Watercolour Sketch a day as I wanted to create a daily Art practice so as I can improve quicker. Each day, I look forward to be able to do my Watercolour Sketch. On weekdays I spend up to an 30 minutes to 1 hour maximum, on weekends it is longer.
Along with doing my daily sketch I am planning to do one A4 Watercolour as well, per weekend.
Today marks ‘Day 928 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day’ and I am happy to report that I haven’t missed a day of my ‘Daily Art Practice’ since I started this journey.
Day 928
I’ve learnt a lot (with much still to learn) and feel that overall I have progressed, though I have had many ‘plateaus’ on the way.
On occasions, people ask me, ‘so, what’s the goal?’ ‘Are you trying to reach 1,000, 2,000 or more?’ My answer remains the same… ‘my goal is to do a sketch a day and to endeavour to improve my skills.’
This weekend, after posting a sketch, one of my photographer friends commented that he felt I had improved a lot with my A5 daily sketches and suggested that it might be time to cut back on the daily sketches and concentrate over doing one A4 painting a week.
Day 927
This thought has some merit to it, I must admit. I’m still mulling over that one and feel that I have three options:
Keep going as I am
Do one A4 per week as suggested and drop the daily sketches
Do one A4 on the weekend and do daily sketches during the week
Am feeling that I would like to continue my daily art practice and I suppose that it doesn’t have to take the form of a Watercolour sketch every day (and posted to Instagram). I can see the merits also of pulling back and concentrating on larger paintings though, too.
I’ve realised that its been a fair while since I did a post relating to my, ‘Daily Art Practice’ aka, ‘A Watercolour Sketch a Day.’
Today is Day 872 and I chose to revisit one of my favourite subjects, a Lighthouse, though in this case the Lighthouse isn’t the main subject, it merely makes up a small part of the scene.
Day 872 ‘On The Point’
Recently, I purchased a book from the Book Depository, ‘Rendering In Pen and Ink’ by Arthur L. Guptill, edited by Susan E. Meyer. The book was written some time ago and the techniques were written for Dip Pens and Quills, though they can be applied to modern drawing tools. The book is an inspiration and I’m so glad to have it as I use it on a daily basis, practicing different techniques it discusses.
I have grown to love using Dip Pens and Ink from sketching and prefer to use this combination rather than use Pigment Liners when at home. When I’m out and about, Pigment Liners are far more manageable, though in the future I would like to develop/find a way to use the Dip Pens/Ink combination when I’m away from home.
I cannot really explain why I like using Dip Pens over Pigment Liners except to say that, ‘it just feels good and right for me.’
Here is another selection of recent, ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’ efforts.
As those who follow my blog would know, on 26 January 2019, I decided to aim to a ‘Watercolour Sketch a day and at the time of writing, I have not missed a day.
I started my ‘Daily Art Practice’ as I wanted to improve my Watercolour and Sketching skills at a faster rate. Prior to the sketch a day routine that I now have in my life, life seemed to ‘always get in the way’ and sometimes, the gap between my Watercolour sketches was a couple of weeks. I ended up being too busy, too tired or whatever.
My Creative Space!
I was hungry to learn and looking back, I am so glad I have prioritised my time to allow me to have this daily Art practice as part of my life.
It has not only benefitted me on the art-side of things but has also become a kind of ‘mental escape.’ It’s a time for me to ‘zone-out’ and disappear into another world, but back to the Art-side of things.
Sometimes, as we are travelling along, we wonder if we are getting anywhere? Last weekend I reviewed some of my earlier images and was pleasantly surprised at how far I’ve come. I still have a long way to go to where I want be, however, but am really enjoying the journey!
There are two images below. The first image (side of a Barn) was completed prior to me starting my daily Art practice. The second (of a similar subject) is Day 539.
Photo 1 – Prior to Daily Art practice / Photo 2 – Day 539
The next two images are from a Peter Sheeler tutorial I did twice. During lockdown I did over 120 tutorials by Peter Sheeler and Nil Rocha Art and had actually forgotten that I done this particular tutorial before.
Photo 1 – Day 432 / Photo 2 – Day 518
I’m pretty happy with the progress I have made so far and am looking to continue this wonderful journey!
Communicating Creatively 