#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 :)

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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