A month of painting - July 2026

In July my goal was to paint daily, partly to align with World Watercolour month. However, I wasn't restricting myself just to watercolour (although this is my main medium usually). I managed to paint a diverse collection of things throughout the month, from doodles, to nature journalling entries and even at a Paint and Sip event.

I'd hoped to work on larger, more detailed paintings such as portraits of a black cockatoo and swan but this isn't quite how the month panned out. The first day I was obviously full of energy and inspiration to get into the challenge by filling an A4 page with "doodle" fish and corals in this underwater scene:

The influence here was from watching a YouTube video by artist Nianiani the day before. I highly recommend her channel for relaxing, easy painting inspiration and clear tutorials.

The rest of the month were smaller paintings or nature journaling, except for that Paint and Sip event which was on acrylic on canvas. Here are some watercolour doodles in a handmade book using Hahnemühle bamboo paper:

I also worked on multiple entries in my nature journal,. further documenting our Kalbarri trip (more still left to do):

At the Paint and Sip event we followed along to paint this lovely kookaburra - I wish I'd had 10 more minutes to touch up a few problem areas (beak, eye, canvas edges) but overall enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Nature journaling in Makuru

I also did lots of painting or nature journalling outdoors, including a slug from my front path in my perpetual nature journal and at Warwick bushland, King's Park and Lake Goollelal:

Coming up

In August I will aim to keep up my momentum with nature journaling and art but not follow any challenges. It will be a busy month teaching for me, yet I'm hoping as the weather gets warmer I will do more plein air adventures. Keep an eye out for some upcoming spring workshops being announced soon!