30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge *13 Eenee Stanit Van

 So this is the 13^th painting of this year’s challenge.

 

It’s a London newspaper delivery van from, I would guess, the 1950s. Strictly speaking it’s an Evening Standard van. Why does it say Eenee Stanit? Hey, if you know, you know. Before I moved away from London in the mid 80s, the London Evening Standard was my favourite newspaper.

These transport subjects are tending to be more complex than the beach paintings of last week. Consequently it’s taken me three evenings to do the last two. But the thing will be not to panic and keep plodding on. Two more and I will at least be halfway. I’m not going to have a huge amount of time tonight because I’m hosting the quiz at the rugby club but if I can at least make a start then it’s all good.

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30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge * Old London Bus (finished)

 12 paintings into the 30x30 Watercolour challenge and my elementary maths tells me that I’m 2/5 of the way through. So far it has been going pretty well in terms of quality, but my 12^th picture did prove to be a bit of a hurdle. It’s a complicated picture of an old London bus, which I wrote about in my previous post. Well, I just didn’t have enough time on Monday to finish it. Here’s the finished painting:-

 

Some people who do the challenge talk and write about getting over a hump, by which they mean reaching the point in the challenge where you have pushed yourself and come so far that there is no doubt that you will complete it. For me personally it comes down to managing the resources that you have. The most important of which are, to my mind:-

Inspiration

Time

Mindset

Nothing there about paint, paper or brushes, you understand. Well, those are easy enough to get hold of. If we deal with each then, let’s start with inspiration. After all – it’s all very well saying that you are going to make 30 paintings, but what are you going to paint? In the past I’ve always taken a pretty relaxed approach. I think what sort of thing I’d like to paint on the day, then try to narrow it down to a specific idea. But this year I’ve tried to be a bit more disciplined and think in terms of themes. 9 out of my first 11 paintings had some element of beach or seaside about them. My last 2 paintings and the one I’m working on for number 13 are all methods of transport. I have another couple of themes up my sleeve for later on. It makes such a difference not having to think about WHAT you are going to paint, only about HOW you are going to paint it.

With regards to time, well, you have the time that you have. So it is all about making the most of the time that you have got. For me this means being pretty disciplined about sitting down to start painting after I get in from work at about 5pm. It also means being prepared to say – I’m not going to finish this today – and going to bed at a reasonable hour so that I’m fresh for work the next day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. In 2024 and 2025 I was off work both years and had the luxury of having all the time I could ask for. I still didn’t complete in 2024.

I just mentioned that I didn’t complete in 2024. My mindset was not right. Party this happened because my first few paintings were poor, so, thinking that the way I was painting I had little or no chance of making a better set than I’d made in 2023 I started to think of it as a chore. I wanted to get through each painting as quickly as I could, merely as a ticking them off exercise rather than something I enjoyed that was worth doing for its own sake. No wonder I gave up.

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30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge *12 Old London Bus (Unfinished)

 

In 2025, being as I was off work with a broken shoulder, I never really had to face what can be a real issue when I’m trying to do the challenge properly. When I’m doing it properly I’m trying to make the best paintings that I can make, but that takes time. Some days, I just don’t have enough of that particular commodity.

Like yesterday. After work there was my car to pick up from the garage where it had undergone the annual MOT test. Then it was my job last night to finish making the meal. Then there was eating it. All of which meant that I didn’t actually start painting until after 7pm. That’s an issue. Why? Well, in the room in which I paint, even at this time of year when the longest day of the year is only a couple of weeks away, once you get much past 7pm you need the lights on, and I much prefer painting in daylight to painting in artificial light.

I whacked on for two hours and got as far as you can see in the picture. But you know, I’m an older feller now, and I was knackered. When I’m knackered, I have to think about how it will affect me in work the next day. So I stopped at this point. The plan is to finish it tonight. Watch this space.

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30x30 Watercolour Challenge 2026 *11 SRN4 Cross Channel Hovercraft

 

Well I did say that I was going to move on from the beach theme of the majority of my first 10 paintings this year, but this is a kind of segue into what I plan to be a few transport based themes.

This is Pegwell Bay in Margate and the huge thing with the propellors is the SRN4 hovercraft that could carry 200+ passengers and 30 cars across the English Channel. It ran from 1968 - 2000, and to my shame I never had the chance to rise it. Unlikely to happen now. Only one of them still survives and it's a static display in the Hovercraft Museum. 

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30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge 2026 *9 DOnkeys and *10 Ice cream by the pier, and first third done!

Yes, dearly beloved, I am a week into the 30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge 2026, and I’ve already made 10 paintings which means I’m one third of the way towards completion.

To put this into perspective, I completed 7 paintings in the first week in 2025. When you consider that I was off work with a broken left shoulder so I had all day to paint if I wanted in 2025, then that makes what I’ve managed in the last week even more impressive.

Ah, but you may say, yes, that’s all very well and good, but considering you’ve completed the challenge in 2018,19,21,22,23 and 25, 6 times in 8 years, then why would there be any question of you not completing it? Well, if you look at the list of years again, the two really interesting things are the omissions. In 2020 I just never got round to starting it. In 2024 though I started in very high hopes and just blew it. It wasn’t because I didn’t have enough time for it. I did no preparation for it and made he first couple of paintings on pretty poor paper. It didn’t help, but then again my heart really wasn’t in it, I lost enthusiasm because however hard I tried, the paintings weren’t getting any better and to me seemed nowhere near the standard of the best paintings I made in 2023. It became a daily chore just to get something, anything down on paper and after 8 paintings I gave up.

In 2025 I got off to a good start, and that made all the difference.

So, how have I done in 2026 so far? I decided to make at least my first few paintings on a nostalgic beach theme and 8 of my 10 paintings so far have been just that. Click on the pictures to see them full size

1)   1) Whitley Bay

I love Northeast England and the coast of Northumberland is wonderful.

    

2) Swinging London -  not as good as picture 1, but I enjoyed making it.

3)  3) Grandpas on beach duty. I’m a grandpa myself.

 4) Gone fishin’ – Not quite there – competent but uninspired

 5) Paddling – I love the idea of wearing your Sunday best clothing when you go for a paddle. The white blouse of the old lady works well

6)   6) The Wreck – I found a reference photo showing this flying boat and I knew that I was going to want to paint it

7) The Toy Yacht – I think this is the best painting showing reflections in the water that I’ve ever managed

8)   The sandcastle builders – I had the guts to go a bit stronger with the colours here

9)Okay - so here's the two most recent that I hadn't posted yet.

9) Beach Donkeys - I thought that I hadn’t yet shown any donkeys on a beach yet. Deliberately didn’t show them giving any kids rides as I don’t really like that sort of thing.

10)                   Ice cream on the prom –

I haven’t yet decided the theme for the next 10 – if any. Watch this space. As a set I’m delighted with the first 10, though. I think they’re the best first 10 I’ve made in any year of the challenge.

30x30 Direct Watercolour Challenge *8 Sandcastle Builders

 I shall finish with the seaside theme in a few days, but in the meantime it is still yielding some good things. 

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30x30 Direct Watercolour CHallenge *7 The Toy Yacht

 I'm really enjoying these beach themed paintings for this year's challenge, but I do think that I will change tack shortly. One more painting and I'm more than 1/4 of the way through the challenge.

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