#OneWeek100People 2026: Three Day Metro Pass!
So it begins! The tenth consecutive year of our sketching-marathon!
[ As always, check out the previous years HERE ]
It’s hard to believe I’ve done *anything* for ten years. I’ve always felt that I’m a person who doesn’t stick with things for long. But as I look back at the years (and that’s half the fun of doing this, seeing the tower of sketches grow ever taller) – it’s more like I’m a person who travels in loops – or maybe spirals – circling around the same habits and interests, always coming back to sketching, but gradually rising higher, so I come back around maybe just a little bit better each year.
(I hope so anyway! That’s something I want to talk about later – my obsession with improving my drawing? Why is that so important?)
But let’s start with: Why do I love sketching so much? To the point that I’d rather do *this* than work on ‘real projects’?
The *directness* is a big one – in the sense of – I really don’t like preparing for things! I really don’t like planning, or doing studies. If I over-prepare for something, I’ll loose interest when it comes to actually doing the thing.
I feel like, “There’s no point now, I’ve done all the fun part.”
I’ve been working on a big painting in the studio – (the biggest thing I’ve ever done by a good margin) – and I’ve gotten it to a nice under drawing, all mapped out, values blocked in – – but then it just sits there for weeks! I haven’t touched it in ages! I feel like – “Ug. Now the work begins.”
Does that sound familiar to anyone? Hah!
It’s WAY more fun to take a week off and go sketching :)
I mean: that’s why I love the marathon format. The ticking clock of the deadline, and the super-satisfying feeling of the stack of 100 drawings piling up.
It’s everything I love about hyper-focus, and zero responsibilities :)
Perhaps the real magic is finding *small goals that can compound*.
But also – find something that doesn’t stress you to do. It’s not fun to be worried about ‘success’. It’s not fun to be doing things for a competition. It’s much more satisfying to just draw for your own curiosity.
Or in my case, I’m a drawing robot :) Keep moving, find the next person that grabs the eye, look for lighting, look for poses. Just do the next drawing, and repeat. :)
I mean – it’s a great cure for winter blues. It’s a great cure for doom-scrolling the news.
I am 100% positive that sketching is the same as playing music. (Though I don’t play any instrument). But it’s got to be the same kind of immersion – where everything falls away, and you can just do the thing you enjoy for hours at a stretch.
This year I gave myself a couple of extra ‘focus tricks’;
*I bought a three day metro pass*. So I can ride the subway all day and not worry about taking random stops. As soon as I have a few people I like, I pop up above ground, sit down in a café and paint them. (Our transit system allows you to ride on one fair in one direction – mixing trains and busses if you want – but as soon as you ‘backtrack’ towards home, that fare is over! and you pay again! It can be very annoying when you have a series of chores, but they don’t line up nicely).
Second trick; *I made sure I had a late afternoon drawing appointment every day*. This year I used Meetup.com and had something booked – life drawing class, a sketching meet-up, a writers group. (I like going to writers groups to draw – nobody ever complains).
This honestly saved me from going home early more than once. It was cold! I wore the wrong boots! But neverminded – I have to keep drawing!
:)
I’m sure this isn’t possible for everyone – but this is the good life of a retired sketcher :)
~m
It starts next week! #OneWeek100People, 2026
Just a reminder – next week is #OneWeek100People!
For various reasons, this year the official dates for 2026 are Monday March 9th to Friday March 13th. My co-founder Liz Steel and I always choose to do it in five working days, so that we have our weekends free.
As always, you guys can take a full seven days if you like :)
And as always – this is a self-motivated, unstructured thing – but if you want to get the most out of participating here’s a few suggestions below.
FIRST: Post the work!
If you start sharing on your socials, you’ll get those precious precious comments that keep your spirits up :)
Drawing in public is a terrific way to motivate yourself.
*Announcing* you’re doing the challenge, and getting people to count-down your work with you – that’s SUPER great motivation to continue.
(Also: I always number my drawings so I can keep track – last year someone gave me the idea – *Start at 100* and then the number counts DOWN to the final ONE. I’m definitely doing that this year. :)
SECOND: Get in the mindset: Prepare for 100!
Every drawing is a win. Your *only* goal is; *Do 100 Drawings*.
Some people get (or make) a small sketchbook with close to 100 pages – or a pair of books – sketchbooks are getting thinner and thinner these days. Lately I always start with a stack of cut sheets. All I have to do is whittle down this pile of paper!
Make it a goal to burn through your entire sketchbook, or your pile of pages, in the one week.
Let the pages be your physical countdown. Watching your book fill up or your stack shrink is super motivating!
Plus, you’ll enjoy having this keepsake in future years.
THIRD: Treat it like a week-long workshop, or even better – an artist’s holiday.
I kind of wish I’d planned ahead and gone somewhere for the week. We should have gone to Mexico or someplace warm! March in Montreal is still not quite street-sketching weather :)
But! I’m retired, so I have the luxury to take a week off, every week.
If I was working, I’d do this:
Draw every day on my commute – skip two trains and be late for work – sketch the people trapped waiting on the platform with you. There’s guaranteed to be a crowd on the morning commute – or the morning coffee shop if you don’t live in a town with public transit :)
Also; go out for lunch every day that week, A workshop is usually an expense. Give yourself the go-ahead to eat out every day! Lunch dates with yourself are a great built-in reward. I met a sketcher from Switzerland who had three deserts-with-a-sketch each day of our workshop. What a great way to keep up the pace of your drawing :)
OK – That’s about all I wanted to say – #OneWeek100People is happening – and it’s the Tenth Year! So I plan to have a great time and really enjoy myself – and I hope you guys will do the same.
Please participate if you’re at all into online challenges – and please do message me with your favorite sketches.
Thanks very much!
~Marc
Did you know 2026 is the tenth year of #OneWeek100People?
I’m somewhat amazed to be saying this year marks the tenth year of #OneWeek100People!
For various reasons, this year my co-founder Liz Steel and I have set the official dates as: Monday March 9th to Friday March 13th.
[ Note for new visitors: #OneWeek100People is our annual free drawing event, where we sketch 100 people in a single week; usually from life; in the spirit of Urban Sketching or maybe a life drawing workshop; but we’re not picky – do it however you want. From imagination. From reference. Doesn’t matter! The important thing is drawing together (online or with friends) and posting your work! Read more about how to participate: [ HERE ]
So wow – ten years hey? Seems like a tremendous amount of time for artistic growth.
But then on the other hand it seems like sketching doesn’t really change.
Yeah, I’m doing it with watercolor now instead of just pen or pencil, but it’s amazing how my approach has remained the same all these years.
What I mean is. sketching from life is the same practice at any skill level; it’s an eye-to-hand connection that circumvents the brain, and lets your hand do the seeing.
It’s the most simple and direct artform, the closest I think to a natural handwriting. Everyone has a unique sketching style that is their very own.
In the ideal world it’s easy; you just look – you just make a mark on paper – you don’t edit – you just keep going!
Either way, the inherent power of #0neWeek100People is the time limit – drawing that quickly – and therefore that casually – circumvents the self-criticism and procrastination that can stop us from enjoying art.
I want the project to highlight the value of Quantity as a goal, rather than Quality.
If your goal is Quantity (100 Drawings!) – not 100 *great drawings* – just 100 *total drawings* :)
You can’t fail as long as you don’t quit :)
All you have to do is get down 100 lines!
If you truly remove Quality from your self-critical mind – heck – you can *absolutely* do this in a week. You can probably do it in a day! < HERE’s the most recent time I did 100 in a day – check it out:) They’re not overly precious, I promise you.
So you can’t fail. Trust me.
You’re not going to allow any self-criticism.
You’re doing it with friends (you can always send your drawings to me if you don’t know anyone else :)
It’s going to be a lot of fun!
I hope you’ll join us for the TENTH YEAR of #OneWeek100People!
Ok; read more about the event [HERE] or just stay tuned to this page.
Thanks very much,
~Marc
#30×30, 2025, Day 30: End of the Peony Season
All good things come to an end :) That’s it for this year’s watercolor marathon :) and at the same time, the Peonies are finished in our garden. A combination of heatwave and thundershowers has beaten them down, left them lying in a pile of petals :) A beautiful expiration :)
All that work and they only last a month! I think the Peony has always been a symbol that way, on the brevity of life and beauty, but the opportunity for return the next season.
If I’ve learned one thing this year from the marathon; it’s glazing – which seems so basic – and yet I haven’t used it in over 25 years of painting in watercolor.
I threw a diluted pink wash over most of this painting, working at a very steep angle to get some nice sheeting drips, and trying to avoid ruining some choice light spots – and wow! It really does work to downplay some unimportant areas, and unify the whole image.
I can see why I’ve never used this technique – as it requires mixing a dish of paint, and most of it ends up on the floor :) (Well, to be honest I did this over an aluminum tray full of paper towel). Also you need to holding your painting taped to a lightweight board (I use corplast) so you can tilt and tip and guide the wash. (Watch Marc Foley do it!)
Not sure if I’ll be using this trick a lot? – but I guess it’s a new tool in the kit :) Thanks to my sketching buddy Charles for showing me that.
So that was my final painting, which I think brings it to #60 for the event, depending on how you count’em. And this last one is the only real Direct Watercolor! Finally! A painting without an under-drawing. Hah!
But of course, it’s a lot easier when it’s flowers :)
My sincere thanks to everyone who follows the blog, and anyone who also participated over on Vivify this year. Having you guys as a small group of dedicated painters is incredibly inspiring. It’s tremendous that people are willing to go along with this little stunt of ours :)
I feel like this was one of my best marathons so far – certainly in terms of productivity, but also for just enjoying the process. My strategy of painting small worked very well, even if my stretch goal of enlarging my best miniatures did not. But that’s ok! I can see the path forward, plenty of time to figure that out :)
And so; A huge thanks to all of you who keep me painting!
I hope you’ve also made some discoveries, and levelled up your paintings – and I hope you’ll be back for #30×30 next year!
~Marc Taro Holmes
#30×30, 2025, Day 29: Who are these guys :)
I love the excitement of an unfinished sketch. I know I can’t get away with this all the time :) but maybe winding down #30×30 is a good time paint a few just for the pure enjoyment of it.
Once again, I didn’t advance very far on my stated goals this year – (learning how to paint LARGE in watercolor) – but I did rule out a fantasy of mine that gouache would some how make it magically easy :)
But I do have a very decent stack of miniatures! Which may still become larger paintings someday :)
So: tomorrow (Monday June 30) is of course the final day of #30×30! We’ll be having an open zoom call over on Vivify, if anyone would like to get together and show your favorite piece of the marathon, and tell us a bit about what you learned this year.
This will be Monday June 30 at 8pm Montreal / NYC Time, 5pm LA Time, and the link is in the Meetings area of our #30×30 pod on Vivify. (LINK HERE).
We’re inviting everyone to show ONE favorite painting from this year’s marathon! It’s always interesting to hear all the different approaches, and takeaways from this year’s painting event!
Hope to see you guys there :)
~m
#30×30, 2025, Day 28: Dead Man’s Flats
Sketch from an old photograph of Laurel’s, from the last time we were in Alberta and had a chance to drive up to Banff. I’ve always loved this view – with the red twigs of the dogwood bushes being the only real color in a wintery scene.
Here’s the kind of thing I do with reference sometimes :) Chopped this photo up (in photoshop) to make a nice composition inside my preferred square format.
~m
#30×30, 2025, Day 26: In the Shadow of the Mountain
I met up with a friend after work, at the McTavish Reservoir, up above McGill campus.
When we started, this house on the cliffs was well lit, but 20 minutes later it’s gone dark. We’re in the shadow of the mountain here, (Mount Royal) so there’s a localized sunset that happens at least an hour early.
To be honest, I’d wasted the best light on a first attempt, (chasing the light never works!) – so I knew the only answer was starting again. Even if time was short. Especially, in fact, because time was short :)
New Goal! Start from scratch and finish two paintings in twenty minutes!
I was inspired by the terrific paintings being posted in the #30x30DirectWatercolor Pod on Vivify. Particularly the work of artists Uma Kelkar, Tine Klein and Erik Reinert as my inspiration to work boldly!
I knew what I wanted out of these – Great Design and Bold Execution – nothing more.
Not going to worry about detail, or drawing. I want to come away with a solid plan for a future painting. This is what a plein air sketch has become for me. Not just a goal in itself, but a design I can translate onto a canvas back home. (You know. Some day. Maybe. If time allows.)
So; tore up my first draft, and banged out these two sketches, accompanied by thumping rap from a boom box and the football coach drilling his players. I felt like his insistent shouts to Dig! Dig! were for me :) “Don’t Predict!“, he was shouting, “React!“
I call that a good day’s work – two solid sketches in a half hour :) I’m very happy with both of them :) And in a way, even if I never make these imagined wall-paintings – the sketches are still important to me for the memory of the occasion.
~m
#30×30, 2025, Day 25: Inspiring Color
This one is a bit of an unusual palette – mostly Indigo Blue and Transparent Orange Oxide; two of my favorite watercolors. Indigo is probably a Pthalo + Black mix? someone can correct me – but it’s really a great complement to this rusty-red kind of color.
Though, I was running low on Transparent Oxide in my paintbox, so I’m also using some Shin Han Red Brown – PBr25 Benzimidazolone Brown – also labeled as Permanent Brown in the Daniel Smith line. Which is not really a proper replacement. That’s like taking a burnt sienna and using a maroon red instead.
Not sure how I did these rocks? Dirty water and maybe some Bloodstone Genuine? Sorry :)
I am finding it a little hard to get my favorite colors in my local stores, (nobody seems to carry all my preferred brands in one place).
I don’t actually like this PBr25 pigment that much – it’s a bit lacking in character, being transparent and dye-like, with no granulation, which I suppose makes for a clean color, but not what I’m looking for in an earth. I’m probably also mixing (on the paper) with Goethite, Naples Yellow and Olive Green. (All fairly opaque-ish watercolors).
I feel like if you alter the colors in your paintbox it might take you a dozen paintings to get used to them. Overall, I like this grey-blue/rust brown palette quite a bit so it worked out in the end!
~m
#30×30, 2025, Day 24: One Square Inch
8×8″ Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold Press.
There was a small part of this little 8×8″ painting that I had to fuss over a few times – rewetting and lifting color, painting in with some diluted gouache, and then wetting again – I was dangerously close to overworking the paper in that one little spot.
Can you guess what is the most crucial one-square-inch of this painting?
Of course, it’s this spot dead center in the image, where the white path ends at the top of the hill, and the distant horizon is pushed back with the haze of atmospheric perspective.
This point of overlap is where you most feel the sense of imaginary distance between these two planes; the foreground hill and the distant mountains.
I want the viewer to imagine themselves walking up this path, standing at that cliff edge, and looking out at the vista. If I hadn’t fussed with the value here – where dark edge meets light – subtly tweaking the contrast right here – the feeling of depth can be lost.
I did also tweak this little white hook on the left (white gouache!) to suggest that it might visually join the larger white blob on the right, and give the impression there is a distant lake behind the hill.
And then, here are some of the rake-marks you can make with a nice sable brush, with the stiff natural hairs splayed out :)
This goes back to the point from the other day about brush-size properly scaling with painting size. If you go bigger, you need bigger brushes, and more paint – but if you TOO big, you are really switching into pouring territory!
So maybe it’s a red herring – all my recent talk about painting larger? I am very used to how watercolor bleeds and creeps at this size.
I think about wall-size paintings every day – because I honestly feel like my sketchbook-sized work just doesn’t have the necessary appeal for galleries or awards. Working small seems like a limitation for a ‘serious artists’. Whatever that means as an ’emerging artist’ at 58 years old :) I’m not sure I should even be worrying about it any more :)
So!
Going to have to leave it there for today!
Leave me some comments people! I hope some of you are still with us as we’re stumping into the last week of the #30x30DirectWatercolor marathon.
Or perhaps you’re reading this years later, after this event has become a well-respected annual tradition, and many of our regulars are now famous painters. Here’s your chance to revive the thread and make me think about the good old days :)
See you tomorrow!
~m
#30×30, 2025, Day 23: Back to the Basics
8×8″ Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold Press.
So! Just over a week left in the thirty day marathon!
I’m starting to feel a little mentally fatigued with so much learning of new things. I’ve been fussing around with gouache every day, with nothing to show for it on the ‘big panting’ goal. I’ve had a couple more giant-sized failures that I don’t think I’ll share – don’t want to belabor that point :)
Suffice to say; you can’t pick up a new medium and master it in a few weeks :)
It’s a kind of simple joy to go back to traditional watercolor. For me, it’s instinctive by now, so the paintings just happen on their own :)
Citizen Sketcher 