The book that started it all for me was a little book simply called Watercolor Sketching: An Introduction by Paul Laseau. I thought about stacking them all up, but the sketch wouldn’t have fit onto a single page of my sketchbook. The illustration shown at the top of this post is just one of the stacks of sketchbooks that I’ve accumulated in the last 1,000 days. I could just play inside my sketchbooks and make whatever came to mind that day. I didn’t have to choose between painting, drawing, or making sketches with pen and ink! I could do them all at once and all in glorious color! And I didn’t have worry about making a gallery masterpiece on a pristine sheet of paper. I can barely describe in words the way I felt when I discovered watercolor sketching.

You can use only watercolor or mix it with other media, as I do, but the focus is on quickly creating the illusion of something you see, or an idea that’s in your mind. I called it doodlewashing because it sounded fun and less stressful, but it’s really the same thing. Watercolor sketching, as most of you know, is simply the act of using watercolor to quickly visualize the world around you. Because if you haven’t started a daily painting and/or sketching habit yet, I think you’d really love it and it’s really not as hard as you might think. I also wanted to take a moment to share a bit of what I’ve learned about watercolor sketching and forming a daily art habit. I just want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who have encouraged me and cheered me on along the way. I’m happy to say that today, I’ve reached quite a milestone on this journey of 1,000 consecutive days of watercolor sketching (including an accompanying story each day!) Yes, this post is the 1,000th day of daily doodlewashing (my coined name for watercolor sketching) as well as storytelling (or rambles such as they are)! Like, insanely excited and I wanted to share my newfound love of watercolor sketching with literally everyone I met and hopefully, one day, the entire world! I was just incredibly excited about discovering watercolor sketching. After starting Doodlewash® back in July 2015, I really wasn’t sure where it would take me.

Watercolor heart sketch