It’s been 4 years since I last participated, and this year I modified the challenge to suit the fact that I’m in serious Trip Prep mode and exploring different dry media options for quick travel sketching.

So my approach to the challenge was more about Watercolour Plus than strict direct watercolour. In the end, approx 50% of my sketches were direct watercolour, in that I started with paint first!

My goals for this month included:

1. complete 30 small sketches with watercolour using photos from previous travels
2. decide on a primary triad using Daniel Smith or Schmincke paints.
3.  try some different flat brushes
4. compare different ways of combining watercolour with other media (the dry media that I plan to take with me on my upcoming trip to France)
5. explore some mixes for a Toulouse-inspired colour palette (think muted pinks and pale terracotta) and revisit a few opaque paints I have in my palette at the moment.

And I’m happy to report that I achieved all my goals and hit 31 by the 16th of June!

As you can see in the combo image above, I used the same three Scottish photos for many of my sketches, but then towards the end I moved into warmer colour schemes. These sketches were all done in under 12 minutes, with the exception of the two big architectural sketches, which were each completed under 20 minutes. The roofscape sketch was done while on a Zoom call with Uma – I was very happy to have a trial run of her Toulouse workshops.

I’ve been filming weekly videos for my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon explaining my approach with time-lapse videos for many of these sketches (see here, here and here) but here are a few of them…

Can you tell what other media were combined with watercolour in each of these? (I used three colours of ink, coloured pencils, Inktense pencils, Tombow markers, Neocolor II)

Are you taking part in the 30×30 challenge this year? How’s it going?

The post 30x30 watercolour challenge: 2026 edition appeared first on Liz Steel.

This will be a chance to sketch your way through Foundations alongside an inspiring cohort of sketchers worldwide!

Each week, you’ll be prompted to move on to the next section of the course, and there will be a bonus livestream with me at the start of the course to introduce the concepts and  so that you can ask questions in real time. I love sharing the concepts for this course!

Click here for the lesson schedule and the livestream date and time.

I only do a group version for Foundations once a year, so this is a big event!

Foundations, my most popular course, covers all the essential skills every sketcher should have. Designed for beginners, it teaches fundamental observational skills and urban sketching basics.

It’s also perfect for self-taught sketchers seeking improvement or seasoned sketchers wanting to work faster.

In Foundations, you’ll learn to:

• Build a solid foundation with essential skills for sketching
• Develop effective techniques for sketching on location, regardless of subject matter
• Improve your ability to sketch faster and more spontaneously

Foundations sets the stage for all my other courses, containing the essential techniques I use in every sketch. I love revisiting the basics, and each time I go through Foundations, I develop new techniques!
 

Find out more about Foundations

12-week Group Self-Paced Version
starting 17 June 2026

Work through the course with
an inspiring group of sketchers from around the world and
take part in an interactive Live Q&A session for
real-time insights and inspiration

In preparation for this Foundations Group Event, I’ve put together a collection of images that illustrate the course’s main themes using more recent Foundations demos!

Are any of these concepts things that you want to develop in your own work?

The core skill we develop inside Foundations is learning to see the world in terms of edges, shapes and volumes (ESV).

I have a specific way of thinking about these: Feeling Edges, Abstracting Shapes and Constructing Volumes.

I think about edges, shapes, or volumes (or all three) in every sketch I do, and whenever a sketch (or a part of a sketch) isn’t quite working, I go back to thinking about ESV.

In Foundations, we use edges, shapes, and volumes for simple objects (such as this still life) and more complex scenes (see below).

Here are a few more ESV examples from the course. 🙂
(Yes, there is a Borromini demo in Foundations!)

Learning to simplify objects and scenes into big shapes is an essential skill for painting.

But you can use shapes for any media.

Note: I got a bit excited doing the demo on the left, calling it ‘the shape of the year’ because it featured a beautiful mix of shadow and negative shapes.

When to use volumes. BTW I particularly enjoyed doing a demo of my sewing snips!

We also look at accuracy – how to sight measure or use what I call ‘minimal setup’.

Here are my working drawings for four different views of a Cafe Table Number. I never cease to be amazed when measuring foreshortened lengths – compare View 1 with View 4!

Many beginner sketchers are obsessed with learning perspective, and while it is good to understand perspective eventually, developing basic observational skills is more important. This image shows you how I drew these two sketches of a terrace house, thinking about shapes, angles, and foreshortened lengths – I didn’t use perspective! 

We also look at how to combine ink and watercolour and how to decide what to draw in ink and what to describe in watercolour. Or maybe even use watercolour pencils, especially for a detailed object.

There are many different ways to approach ink and wash – this image shows three demos of a patterned cushion.

In the last part of the course, we focus on basic skills for sketching on location. We’ll explore strategies for limiting what we sketch (ie. we don’t have to draw everything!) and we’ll learn how to draw the main edges going in the right direction! 🙂

Note: Although the ultimate goal is to sketch on location, it’s totally okay to do the exercises from photos.

We also explore simple composition rules and how to create a focus for our sketch. Once again, using shapes and important edges to help with this!

The last concept that I’ll share today is the idea of working out from a focus. This involves starting a sketch with the most important part of the scene (the focus) and then working spontaneously out from that point. Here are a few process photos from a demo I did last year when we went through the course.

Ah! Putting this article together is definitely increasing my excitement to revisit Foundations again! 🙂 I love this course so much!

As you can see from this summary of concepts, Foundations is a comprehensive course designed to be an ongoing resource!

You have lifetime access to all the lessons (and livestream replays) and free access to all future group events. Many Foundations participants have gone through the course numerous times.

If you have purchased Foundations at any time you can be part of this Group Version for free! To join  – simply go to the Foundations classroom via My Account/My Courses on the SketchingNow site and follow the instructions under the Welcome video. Or check out the email I sent to you last week!

I would love you to be part of this cohort!

1. Gift Certificates I have Gift Certificates available for my SketchingNow courses and bundles – starting at only $59 USD. Each one comes with a printable gift certificate. Find out more here.

2. Free Intro Lessons If you want to find out more about Foundations, I have three free Intro Lessons  – sign up for them here.

 
If it’s a good fit for you, I would love you to be part of this Group Version of Foundations. 

The post Foundations starts this week: Summary of the main concepts appeared first on Liz Steel.

It contains sketches using our recent Patreon themes of framing and darks (night time sketching, back lighting and varied shadow colours), plus some mixed media work. Note: I’ve finally started using my Neocolor IIs again after a 4-month break.

I’ve also included a few double-page spread images as well.

I love how exciting everyday sketching becomes when I explore our monthly themes and play with materials.

I hope you enjoy this collection of recent sketches!

Please let me know if the comment section below if you have any questions about any of these sketches.

The post Recent sketches (varied with lots of experiments) appeared first on Liz Steel.

I’ve almost exclusively been drinking from this green glass cup and using a cream teapot (both are dishwasher-friendly) this year, but I recently decided I needed a little more colour and pattern in my life!

So I’m now in a phase of a row of teacups on my kitchen bench and lots of handwashing!

Playing with a little watercolour and Inktense in these.

Note: Teacups are the subject I use when I want to try new things… so these are all very experimental!

If you don’t already know…

I have a dedicated Teacup course – see more here.

I also have a number of teacup demos inside my Foundations course  and I’m hosting a Group Self-Paced Version of it starting on 17th June 2026. Find out more here!

The post Recent Teacup sketching! appeared first on Liz Steel.

While we talked, I did some reflex sketching of the things on my desk.

The funny thing was that my desk was clear when we started the call (as I was prepping for a livestream inside my Travel Sketching course), but throughout the 2-hour conversation, my supplies came out and spread everywhere.

In a way, I was drawing the objects that were forming the negative space in this recent sketch (part of our Framing month inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon – see this article for more)

Although it was really fun to draw some of my current art supplies while talking to Andrew, I actually wanted to do an updated overall ‘deskscape’ so I could compare it with this sketch I did a year ago while talking to Suhita.

My filming desk is now surrounded by more art materials – mainly due to my weekly Patreon videos and all the mixed media work I’ve done in the past 18 months.

As I was writing this blog article, I realised that I have sketched my desk – my workspace – over the years, and it would be fun to Explore the Archives and put a little collection together. 

It’s quite topical as we’ve just finished a Group Event inside my Edges course and one of the exercises in the second half of the course was to draw our workspace, thinking about varying our lines.

This is a sketch of my computer workspace from my studio when I lived in Lindfield.

Another version of the same view (this one in watercolour) when I was using the wall behind my computer as a Kanban board. I no longer use this method (I’m not sure why!)

A quick, continuous line drawing of the stuff on my drawing/filming desk.

  
And another simplified version, which also included one of my light boxes, my overhead camera and an everyday lamp, all overlapping.

Note: I looked through my sketches from 2020 and 2021 (the lockdown years) expecting to find many sketches of my desk, but was surprised there were only a few. I mainly sketched individual objects.

Here is a fun sketch made at my filming desk to record all the cameras I used for my Sketchbook Design course. I filmed all those videos myself.

And the inset on this page documents all the positions. Note: the border around this inset is not the size of the room. It was a small space, but not that small!

Going deeper into the archives…

Here a few sketches from a previous home, where I had an unusual  L-shaped studio

Out of interest, this is where I filmed my Foundations, Edges and Buildings courses.

Here is the view of my computers and drawing board from the ‘comfy chair’ position.

A more detailed view of my computer – including a teacup and teapot with a cosy on the side!

This sketch ended up on the cover of a book! I wrote two chapters in this book – one of them was all about sketching workplaces.

I can’t look at the above layout of my studio without getting a bit emotional about my huge drawing board and left-handed drafting machine. I loved my left-handed drafting machine so much!

The board was too big, so we cut it down, making the drafting machine useless. And now it’s in storage, as I don’t have room for even the reduced-size drawing board and stand.

Here is an even older sketch (from 2011) showing my full-size board and machine in action. 

While thinking about my architectural background, let’s go even deeper into the archives…

The last few sketches were done in the office when I worked full-time as an architect – these seem a lifetime ago. It is, in fact, 14 years since I left, so some of these sketches are older than that!

Let’s start with my tea-drinking habits in the office.

Even though I hadn’t quite become a full-time teacup-and-saucer user back then, I always made myself a pot of tea with loose-leaf tea.

And by the time I did this sketch, I was using a teacosy on that pot. Lots of other little work memories prompted by this rough sketch.

I love the notes included on this page. 

We didn’t have a dedicated secretary, and we all took turns answering incoming calls but for some reason, I sat at the desk with the switch. We all worked in one room, so I didn’t need all the extra functions and never transferred a call.

And the last one is a little dramatic. It’s more of a nightmare than a nice memory! 🙂

It’s been really fun to put this article together! While I’ve been going down my own personal memory lane, you have probably been noticing the changes in my sketching style. 🙂

It’s been a good reminder to sketch complete ‘deskscapes’ more often, not just individual objects, since the main elements and layout of my workspaces constantly change.

There is something special about the memories that everyday sketches bring back… and the more boring and mundane the subjects, the more interesting they become as the years go by.

How often do you draw your workspace?

The post Always a good subject to draw: what's on my desk? appeared first on Liz Steel.

Thanks to our ‘Darks’ themes this month inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon, I’m doing some night sketching. And loving it!

Here is the side door to St Andrews Cathedral and the entrance to Sydney Town Hall.

It’s the perfect time of the year for night sketching here in Sydney, as it’s getting darker earlier, but it’s not too cold yet.

 On Friday, I published a video inside the community explaining my current steps for night sketching and how they relate to what I’ve been doing with backlighting in my early morning sketching.

And here is a preview of another video I shared inside Patreon about night sketching in watercolour.

The post Night Sketching appeared first on Liz Steel.

There are lots of different aspects possible to this theme  – focusing on shadow shapes and starting with the darks, painting black objects, using more dark colours, night sketching.

I’m exploring all of these… but I’m also doing a series of sketches containing early-morning backlit subjects and I’m really thinking about the values of the light side vs the dark side. (BTW Value was our February theme!)

I’m also continuing to use a new triad I put together during our ‘three’ theme in March (see the bottom of this article and the comment section for more about it… until I have time to write a dedicated blog article on it). 

And you might also notice that in the top image, I’m still using Framing (our April theme) and Inktense (something I discovered using January’s Unused Supplies theme)

Hmmm, this year, the monthly themes from our Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon are really having a lasting impact on my everyday sketching!

The post Backlighting appeared first on Liz Steel.

This will be a chance to work through the lessons with an inspiring group of sketchers from around the world and participate in 3 bonus weekly livestreams. Find out more about the schedule and the dates of the live streams here.

If you have purchased the Travel Sketching course previously, you have access to this Live Version for free! Simply visit the Travel Sketching classroom via Sketchingnow.com / My Account/My Courses and look for the big blue button!

I’m super happy that my 7 lines – 5 shapes – 3 layers techniques have helped lots of people sketch more when they are travelling or simply out and about with others.

Here is what people are saying about this approach:

“This course has had far more impact and inspired me more than I expected. The teaching has been fantastic – the way it is accessible at whatever level you are, with concepts you can take away and apply to your own style and integrate into however you like to work, is genius.”
– Abi

“This course has helped me approach travel sketching in a new way. Instead of thinking that I have to set aside a chunk of time to get in my sketch, I now have tools to sketch on the go. I now feel more excited about trying a quick sketch that I can keep simple.”
– Marta

“Great course, I’m thrilled to now have a simple but effective system (3-5-7) to refer to when faced with a complex scene but also to have the confidence to attempt a super quick sketch when time is short.”
– Louise

“So many times in the past I haven’t sketched anything thinking I didn’t have enough time, now I’ve got the confidence (and great tips and shortcuts) to get any scene down on paper quickly. Thank you.”
– Anna

“I vastly enjoyed this class and learned so much. I feel I significantly levelled up in my understanding of practical applications, as well as in how to manage my overwhelm in the moment. So helpful!”
– Jamie

“Wow, I am blown away by how the concepts in this course are changing the way I sketch. Any trepidation I felt when starting a sketch has disappeared. I just love how this course complements the lessons in the other Sketching Now courses.”
– Naomi

I designed this course specifically to address the biggest hurdles the SketchingNow community faces when travel sketching. The top two challenges were:

1. Finding the time to sketch when travelling with others.
2. Knowing how to choose a scene and exactly where to start.

To solve these, I developed my 7 lines – 5 shapes – 3 layers approach to sketching on the go!

The goal is to get you sketching regardless of a non-stop itinerary or a complex scene.

You can use these techniques for quick sketches or as the first step to a more detailed sketch.

You’ll learn how to:

• prepare for a sketching trip and set achievable sketching goals
• work with a limited palette that is lightweight and easy to use for both quick and elaborate sketches
• capture the important parts of a scene using 7 lines
• create eye-catching colourful sketches with 5 shapes using watercolour pencils
• develop techniques for sketching complex scenes in various media using 3 layers.

Throughout this 3-week course, you’ll learn how to apply my 7-5-3 method to a wide range of different scenes and be part of an inspiring cohort of sketchers from around the world. Look at all these amazing examples from the classroom!

I only host a Live Version of Travel Sketching once a year – so I don’t want you to miss out joining us!

I can’t wait!

Join the Live Version of Travel Sketching

Quickly transform the blank page to capture the beauty of the place where you are

Live Version starting on 16 April 2025
3-week course with community
and 3 bonus livestreams

Please let me know if you have any questions about the course or the Live Version!

The post Live Version of Travel Sketching starting next week - 13 May 2026 appeared first on Liz Steel.

I’ve been using Inktense pencils and Tombow markers for the last few months (thanks to our ‘Unused Supplies’ January theme inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon) and since my New Zealand trip, I’ve tried to reduce my selection. It’s  been so hard to do this as there are just so many nice colours – particularly in Tombow!

The above image shows what I’ve ended up with, and I’ve been happy using these in the past few weeks. The main strategy behind this selection is that it roughly follows the colours of my Travel Sketching watercolour pencil selection (see below), and the marker set is generally lighter to balance the dark, intense colours of the Inktense pencils. Refer to my Framing sketches (see article here) for ways I’ve used these pencils and markers.

(Note: The Born markers are an Australian equivalent, which are much cheaper.)

I am missing these Tombow colours, though, and since I did the above colour chart, I have added N65 and 451 back into my set.

Important Note: The purpose of this blog article is to document what I’ve been using so that I can more easily answer people when asked for the name/number of a specific colour. This is not a recommendation. 🙂 It might change at any time.

I’ve really enjoyed using Inktense lately and you might be wondering whether I prefer them over Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils. The quick answer is that I’m not sure – I like both!

And so I’ve just swapped out the above Inktense pencils for the Travel Sketching set of watercolour pencils. (See, I told you that things could change at any time!)

This is the mixing page I did immediately after this change. Oh ah! Such pretty colours!

I’ll be doing a demo using watercolour pencils and Tombows during the Live Version of my Travel Sketching course starting 13 May – I would love to have you join us! Find out more here.

The post My current Inktense and Tombow Selection appeared first on Liz Steel.

I have a strong preference for open-ended sketches, starting at my focus and working outwards in a spontaneous way (Foundations Lesson 11) so having an entire month of trying to contain my sketches using framing devices has been radical for me. But oh! so much fun!

I had lots of different starting ideas (you can get a glimpse of them here) but in the end I focused on using foreground elements and often converted them into a negative space frame. I tried using trees, buildings, windows and narrow streets as frames and thought about white vs dark frames.

I explored ways of using these framing techniques for the 3 layers approach from my Travel Sketching course (if you haven’t already heard I’m hosting a Live Version of Travel Sketching starting 13 May 2026 – find out more here).

I was also very interested in discovering when the frame or the sketch itself became the more dominant feature in the end result. 

So many ideas to explore!

As always, this month inside the community I filmed weekly update videos explaining the ideas I was working through and then last week we had our usual monthly livestream where I went through all my work, answered questions and did a demo. So much fun to hang out with everyone.

Here are some highlights from my framing month….

A few local sketches… side framing

Top framing

Top and bottom framing with lots of negative space

Beecroft Note: if you are part of the community you will know that this is a cropped version 🙂

The view into the garden from my friends’ place.

Then a few sketches from photos. These were from a trip to Europe when I first started sketching.

Back then I took way more photos and seemed to have quite a few framed compositions. 🙂

City Sketching… you’ve seen these two before but this image shows you how they sit next to each other in my sketchbook

Foundations Park in The Rocks – trying buildings and a sandstone cliff as a framing device.

 
Sitting in the colonnade of a Jimmy B building (the GPO in Martin Place).

And finally two table-top sketches. You’ve seen the first one before. 🙂

At the time I felt tempted to add the black table shape but decided to leave it as it was – I was chatting with my friends and knew I wasn’t concentrating enough to make an informed decision.

So I decided to do another version.

This is my afternoon cup of tea on my filming desk! I loved doing this sketch!

Thanks to everyone who is part of my Sketching Adventure Community and especially those who have been joining in with the Framing fun! You are all so inspiring!

The post Framing my compositions appeared first on Liz Steel.