A New Year - A New Art Challenge

Blog 1



Happy New Year to you! I hope you had a great start to the year. I spent it with my husband and our dog at the cottage, enjoying the crisp days surrounded by the peacefulness of the snow-covered landscape - the perfect transition from one year to the next. Due to the short days and cold winds, I spent a lot of time indoors painting, felting and reading.

As in previous years, I decided to set a creative challenge for myself. Last year, I wanted to finish ten paintings every month. While I didn’t achieve the goal, I came pretty close. I finished 80 paintings, many of which were from previous years. However, I didn’t count the 24 sketches and a dozen felted Easter eggs I created during my trip to Germany in April.

This year, I attempt to follow the example of my friend Bob again, who has painted every day for years, despite illnesses, a move, and trips. I tried it two years ago when I painted or drew something daily that I saw or experienced. After a promising start, I lost the momentum. The goal still encouraged me to create more drawings and paintings than I would otherwise have. I also didn’t count my needle-felted paintings, which usually take me more than a day because the progress is much slower.

Bob aims to simplify his compositions. He uses reference photos only as loose guides, while I usually continue until I reach a certain impression of reality. Inspired by him, I am attempting to paint or draw for about 30 minutes every day. I started a new 6” x 4” sketchbook to keep it small and achievable. I want to practice various subjects, attempting to paint looser and quicker, concentrating on the essence of each subject.

Since January 1, I have been drawing or painting daily. However, most of the time, I still spent far more than the 30 minutes on each image, often around 90 minutes. I had the most success with coloured pencils or watercolour pencils. Most of the time, I used a waterbrush with the watercolour pencils. I found it was easier to control the amount of water on the regular paper than using brushes and watercolour washes. I almost ripped on two occasions because I used too much water. I am not too concerned about the paper warping because I treat these drawings and paintings as practice exercises.

To help me speed up and loosen my process, I will attempt only one or two subjects each week, starting with a 10-minute sketch, then adding ten minutes every day. We used this approach in the life drawing sessions I attended many years ago. I will write about my trials and successes in my February blog, which I will publish on February 27, 2026.

Here is a list of my January sketchbook paintings and drawings.

Jan 1       Clementines, watercolours
Jan 2       My In-Law’s Christmas Tree, pencil
Jan 3       Pippa and Ernst, pencil (two drawing during a family visit)
Jan 4       Santa Bear, watercolour pencils
Jan 5       Cardinal Visit, watercolour pencils
Jan 6       Christmas Cactus, watercolours and watercolour pencils

 

Jan 7       Winter Sunset at the cottage, metallic watercolours and white 
                gouache
Jan 8       Winter Sunset in our backyard, watercolour and watercolour pencils
Jan 9       Bean, my daughter’s cat, pencil and coloured pencils
Jan 10     Winter Campfire inspired by the Cartooning and Comics class I 
                taught, coloured pencils

 

Jan 11     Squirrel, pencil
Jan 12     Sumac Snowcaps, coloured pencils and watercolour pencils
Jan 13     Bananas, coloured pencils
Jan 14     Sunset, watercolour (still some metallic glitter from Jan. 7 left in the 
                brushes)

 

Jan 15     Woodpecker, coloured pencils
Jan 16     Fireplace Fire, watercolour and coloured pencil (still some metallic 
                glitter from Jan. 7 left in the brushes)
Jan 17     Cartoon Capybara, inspired by the Cartooning and Comics class I 
                taught, coloured pencils
Jan 18     The Little Tree, watercolour pencils

 

 

Jan 19     Sunset (seen from the Costco parking lot), watercolours
Jan 20     Poinsettia Leaves, watercolour pencils and watercolours
Jan 21     The Finch Visitor, watercolour pencils
Jan 22     Blowing Snow, pencil
Jan 23     Chickadee, coloured pencils
Jan 24     Spiderman, inspired by the Cartooning and Comics class I taught, 
               markers

 

Jan 25     Bean Watching Squirrels, pencil and coloured pencils
Jan 26     Chrissy’s Waffles, watercolour pencils
Jan 27     White-breasted Nuthatch, frozen in his pose, coloured pencil
Jan 28     Mrs. Cardinal, watercolour pencils, reference photo by Janis Fulton
Jan 29     Tree Web, watercolour pencils

 

 

What do you want to accomplish this year? Please leave a comment or send me an email. I would love to cheer you on.