This year I’m doing a very low-pressure approach to the 30×30 direct watercolour challenge. I started by doing a few small sketches and now I’m trying to do a quick on-location watercolour sketch during the day. If I don’t manage that, my plan is to use some of the photos from my recent trip as a reference.

As I did very few paint-only sketches during my trip, it’s going to be fun to re-visit some of the scenes using a different technique and paper.

I’m back using my everyday sketchbook – 8×10 softcover Alpha by Stillman and Birn.

This is a quick landscape of Tarana, NSW and it was fun to use the Alpha again!

And this is a 10-minute experiment late at night of one of the verandahed buildings in Gulgong. It’s hard to keep the whites for those thin verandah posts. I really think that I’ll need to start using a finer brush as well – either a rigger or a very small one stroke flat.

I’m back sketching on the streets of Lindfield (now that the weather is cooler). My favourite spot and an easy subject for direct watercolour – St Albans. This was another 10 minute sketch!

This is a much harder subject for direct watercolour – so this sketch has more layers and strokes than I like.

I’m even back to sketching people… though they all moved once I started.

I allowed myself to count my first watercolour coffee sketch but after that, my usual flat white sketch doesn’t get added…

… unless there is food included!

 Last week was really jammed-packed so these last two were done in a few minutes.

It feels really good to be focusing on direct watercolour again… and I’m having lots of thoughts while I’m working about the importance of edges. I’ll be sharing more about this in the weekly livestreams that I’m doing inside of the Group Run-through of my Edges course which starts later today. It’s not too late to join 🙂 find out more here!

Are you doing the challenge? How is it going?