Day 30 of the Sktchy 30 faces in 30;days challenge. Finished at last although I may paint this one again because I believe I can do better! Anyway the pressure is now off and I can turn to other subjects for a while. Today’s tutor was the Brazilian artist Eudes Carreia who does some great watercolours and almost always includes a turquoise patch somewhere in the painting.

Day 29 of the Sktchy challenge is another gouache day so I decided to use watercolour again. The tutorial was interesting and I liked her style but I have decided that gouache is not for me. Last day of this challenge tomorrow and I am looking forward to it because it’s a watercolour artist I have been following for a while.

Day 28 of the Sktchy 30 faces in 30 day challenge and I have decided I don’t like painting men with beards! I am looking forward to taking a break from portraits although I do have an NHS portrait to finish this week. Next month I think I will paint trees and dogs!

A bit of an off day today. The tutorial was another gouache day and although the tutor was very good it wasn’t really my style. The portrait was done in a very graphic street art style using only a couple of colours and with sharp boundaries between the shadows and highlights. I used watercolour and had to stop myself blending the colours.

Day 26 of the portrait challenge is a watercolour day. I am not enamoured of the style but I followed the tutorial to see where it would lead. He looks a bit menacing!

Sktchy portrait challenge day 25 is another session using gouache so I decided to just do a watercolour portrait without watching the tutorial.

Day 24 of the Sketchy challenge and I was able to use my new Rosemaries kalinsky sable brushes Ginny bought me for my birthday. They are amazing but will take a bit of getting used too. Not sure they will improve my painting but it’s always a pleasure to use quality tools in whatever we are creating.

Day 23 of the Sktchy 30 day challenge ans another session using watercolour. The tutor finished hers with a fine liner pen but I decided against adding any outlines instead leaving it in purely watercolour.

Today’s tutorial was another session using gouache so I have to confess that I didn’t watch it. I used the photo to do a watercolour trying to incorporate some of the things I have learned in the past 22 days.

Day 21 of the Sktchy 30 day challenge was a brilliant watercolour tutorial with Alison Pinto from Mumbai. She has a very realistic style which I didn’t quite manage to emulate but that’s not the point of this challenge as I see it. It has made me want to try using some Daniel Smith watercolours, a lot of people love them but I have yet to use them.