#30×30 2026: Day One : The Warmup Sketches
So: this is a confession that’s not exactly a secret by now if you’re a regular reader.
I start early every year – this year it was 7th of May because; A: anxiety. and B: I want to have enough bandwidth to be up on VIVIFY commenting :)
It was still cold, the trees were completely bare, and really, I had no business going out on the street. I froze my fingers off! But, I feel truly unprepared this year (because I am!!!!!) and I couldn’t hold back any longer.
This is Maison Smith; up on top of Mount Royal. Which of course I’ve painted before. (I wonder if there’s anything historic in Montreal I haven’t sketched :) And it’s under restoration AGAIN – so this time there were white plastic sheets all around the building.
It’s a good thing I went out too, because this was the first set of sketches that I actually kept – believe me there were half a dozen absolute fails before this one. So bad they ended up in the trash.
It’s my favorite thing; when I’m having a bad day – to tear up a painting right on the spot and let the pieces fly from the top of the mountain.
(No, not really. I put them in the recycle).
May 08: At the Gare Central.
Please don’t feel anything in particular about this starting early thing – I still don’t take more than thirty days, and it’s not like I’m trying to beat you by doing thirty before you :) The number is purely arbitrary. It really doesn’t matter if you make thirty. Some of you will make a hundred! Some years I’ve ‘won’ the marathon in two weeks (which is only cheating yourself actually, as you get less painting time if you sprint), and some years, I barely painted fifteen total, and called it done. [ The year I foolishly did it in oil :) ]
Of course you know, even if you only make one painting – that’s one you might not otherwise have made, so it’s a win right?
So yes! I’ve been doing Urban Sketching! Back to my roots!
In order to feel confident painting, I have to do this kind of thing. Go back to square one and just work until I feel the familiarity in my fingers.
Château Ramezay: The old homestead of the Mayor of Montreal – still standing directly across from our city hall. Also painted on a blustery leafless day.
09 May: Pretty crazy how much a difference three days can make. The trees are exploding and so are my allergies :) This is the coffee kiosk in Carré Saint-Louis, a lovely park just north of Rue Sherbooke on St. Denis.
11 May – Finally some good light to paint!
12 May – More wandering in the Plateau – Again, I’m exaggerating the trees, but I often do that to isolate the house that I’m interested in. I really like some of the fun brushwork in this one.
22 May: So you do all this warm-up, prep work – getting out, doing your scales, and then, WHAT? This was the best I could do that day. A few others were complete duds.
It’s humbling, doing watercolor :)
At least this one is something you could honestly call direct! Here is the freedom I’m striving for – now I just have to pair it with decent drawing and instinctive grasp of color and value :)
Citizen Sketcher 
Indeed it’s humbling doing watercolour and perhaps that’s part of the charm – we know our skills will gradually improve. BTW, your warm-up sketches, done in the cold, are as inspiring as ever.
Rather timely that this is starting today. On the weekend I was participating in the Vancouver Urban Sketcher’s weekend on Granville Island here in Vancouver (I led one of the Sketchwalks). Maria Cornell-Martin (Tookkit founder), did a workshop on Saturday, which I participated in, and she did an interesting presentation yesterday about her experiences as an expeditionary artist. She mentioned that you were once again doing the 30×30 and I think she’s planning to participate.
Question I have about participating, is can we draw first? I see in these preliminary practice sketches that you have done that. But not sure if intention for the 30×30 is to do direct watercolour, without any sketch lines? Or just limit it to very few?
Can you please remind me where to share my watercolour sketches? I’m on Instagram, so can I do it there and use #30×30? Or do I ‘tag’ you? (Sorry if questions seem dumb, but I only know the basics of how to use social media).
Looking forward to what you do in this. Not sure if I can keep up as have a busy schedule, but would like to give it a go. Peri
Over the years I’ve been passionate about working as directly as possible, and I may have written a lot of things about how powerful the effect of wet-in-wet-on-dry paper can be ;) But in the end, as I get older, I find I ALSO love line, and can’t really separate my work from drawing – it’s really part of how I think visually. SO – I have come down on saying – we have to do whatever allows us to make the drawing in the moment. In the end – it’s more important to make the art – and we never want to put aside the art, because of a rule! But, Thanks for asking that’s a very reasonable question! Let’s blame Nine Year Previous Me for being so strict with the name of the thing :)
Love your sense of humour, Marc! Thanks for the tip.
Found info I needed in your previous email! Looks like I signed up last year, but then was too busy to participate! Cheers, Peri
it’s wonderful to see your work on the 30 day 30 painting project again. These bring back wonderful memories of my visits to Montreal…. I’ve walked by the coffee kiosk so many, many times.
thank you
jC
These are wonderful! What size is your sketchbook?
Thanks! I’m using 1/4 sheet Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, so that’s 11×15″ – but I don’t always use the full sheet, sometimes two or three sketches per sheet.