#30x30DirectWatercolor

Welcome to #30x30DirectWatercolor!
If you want a little history, here’s all my posts from previous years.

[ 2025 ] : 30 Days of Miniature Watercolors (+ testing out gouache! )

[ 2024 ] : A big mistake? The Year I Cheated with Oils

[ 2023 ] : A Year of Experiments : Hand-Mixed Watercolor

[ 2022 ] : AI vs. Watercolor : The Second Great Debate

[ 2021 ] : Watercolor vs. Oil : The Great Debate

[ 2020 ] : Urban Sketching in the Pandemic

[ 2019 ] : The Apocalypse Variations

[ 2018 ] : Urban Sketching! Watercolor Plein Air

What is #30x30DirectWatercolor?
POST ONE PAINTING A DAY FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE!
That’s it! Can anyone do it? Lets find out together!

Some Simple Rules:

PAINT 30 paintings in 30 days, in the month of June: We want you to experience Daily Painting! (or nearly daily). Like any marathon there are highs and lows; and the feeling of pushing past the 2/3’s slump is something unique. (The struggle is real!) What happens to your work when you’ve done all the easy ideas? How do you dig in and keep working? What does inspiration look like to you? Can you feel the power of showing up? Are you like me and your work has to get worse before it get’s better???!
POST every day if you can: Only new work! Nothing is good, nothing is bad – no judgement! The goal is to get you creating, and refining your process; how do you integrate work with your daily life? How do you remain creative day in and day out? What does the experience teach you that might transform your day-to-day, week-to-week art practice?
COME SHARE ON VIVIFY: In 2025 we closed our Facebook group and moved to Vivify.ai – which is the creation of #30×30 co-founder Uma Kelkar. This is now the official space for sharing and interaction; please come meet us over there! We will be in the threads posting every day, as well as doing video chats on the Vivify platform. It’s easy to use – you can sign in with your google account or create a new Vivify profile. See you over there!
COMMENT as much as possible! (thanks): Many of us struggle with motivation – we want to feel the strength in numbers! Your posts will encourage others, and get back double in return.
HASHTAG your work on your personal social media (Instagram, Bluesky, etc.). Use the hashtag #30x30DirectWatercolor to spread the word and grow the community. You want more people to paint with don’t you?

Are There any Other Rules?

As few as possible! The goal is to get you painting – and keep you painting – for the whole month.
Some years I paint on location, some years I paint in the studio. Neither is better or worse for a student. You learn different things in different settings.
Any size or artistic subject is ok, as long as you won’t be violating any terms of service, you’re free to post it. E.g. artistic nudity is ok, student-copies from masters, work from photographs, all this is fine. This exercise is about self-study.
All styles of watercolor are welcome. I myself, plan to paint as directly as possible.
What do I mean by ‘Direct’? Basically, with as little under-drawing or preparation as possible. Preferably none! Maybe just a gesture drawing. I used to feel direct paint on a white page was the ideal artform. These days I am doing a simple continuous line drawing. We believe in a fresh, authentic experience of watercolor painting.
More questions? Here’s some free info about my book Direct Watercolor for a more complete definition. Or – you might like my first set of blog posts about ‘discovering’ Direct Watercolor. (I did not invent this approach of course, but everyone comes to it for the first time on their own :) Also – you can read the day by day posts from 2018 – the first year of #30×30!

Why Should I Participate???
Because we want YOU to Experience Sustained Daily Practice!

This is something a lot of artists don’t get a chance to experience first hand. Think of it like doing an art-retreat or taking a class. We want you to clear the decks of responsibilities, stock up your studio, take a month off from Zumba, and be ready to paint every day in the month of June!
We feel that working daily for a decent chunk of time is the very best education an artist can ask for. It’s an opportunity to deep-dive into your own art-making process. Knowing you will return the next day, you brain keeps thinking about art-making between sessions. Even while you sleep. If you commit to the process, you’ll find your work changing quickly. You can make sudden leaps in your technical ability, or discover new lines of inquiry. The best way to have a good idea, is to have a lot of ideas!
We know that this is a big ask. Not everyone has the free time. If it’s better for you to do seven paintings on the weekend, instead of one a day – or if you need to set strict time-frames – maybe like, One Hour A Day Before Breakfast. Whatever works for you in your situation. As long as you reach the goal – 30 paintings, in 30 days.
There is power in deadlines. Tangible, measurable goals force you to be productive. Just focus on this: QUANTITY goals say nothing about QUALITY. All that matters is producing the work. It does NOT matter how it turns out! Incredible right?? But honestly, it works! The idea is to be experimental. To be open to mistakes without back-pedaling, to be willing to rip up a frustrating piece and leap immediately into the next attempt! Because you cannot fall behind. You need to produce something every day. Like a marathon runner, you must keep moving forward with your eye on the finish line. As the days go by and the pressure to get 30 in 30 builds – you may find yourself doing things you wouldn’t do on a normal day in the studio – and that is good for your art.
But of course – It’s also completely normal if you fail to make 30! Don’t beat yourself up! Take some more time if you really need it. Or finish up in easy-mode with some super fast, super small sketches! Like any marathon, just participating is the first reward.
That’s it. Best of luck!
~marc