Have you ever heard of World Watercolor Month? If not, you are not alone! Created in 2016 by American blogger and self-proclaimed “doodler” Charlie O’Shields, the month-long challenge to paint 31 watercolors in 31 days was created to attract attention and raise funds for promoting art education. 5 years later, the Facebook group “World Watercolor Group” he founded has over 100,000 members from all over the world, and I am happy to say that I was one of the first few hundred members. Although there are monthly challenges year-round, the focus is on the month of July, when colorful” souvenir” merchandise is put on sale to raise funds, and watercolor artists are encouraged to use the hashtag #WorldWatercolorMonth to identify any work they post for the challenge on Social Media. It is not a competition, so there is no winner, except of course the International Child Art Foundation for which proceeds and donations are collected. Every year, a guest watercolor artist is asked to come up with a list of prompts, one for each of the 31 days in July. Artists are free to use this prompt or not as inspiration for their daily painting, and it is really interesting to see how a single word can be interpreted so differently! The first year, it was possible to see much of the artwork every day because the group was still small, but with so many artists participating now, you will be lucky to see a few pieces every day. You can always search for the hashtag to see just how popular this event has become. When I started, I was still pretty much a beginner, and I wondered how I would manage to complete one painting every single day. And during July of all months! I am proud to say that I did it, and of course, now I have to do it every year as long as I am able. In 2019, I even completed about a dozen paintings during our RV trip out to Minnesota! The first year, I decided to use a 7x10 inch watercolor sketchbook to keep all the creations together, and I am so glad I did! Some paintings are better than others, but keeping them together has given me a sense of how far I have come. And forcing oneself to paint every day, even if it's not a huge or very complex painting, is very eye opening! It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it! If you would like to see the paintings I did for 2016 to 2018, you will find them on my personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/claire.bureau1/photos_albums The photos from 2019 seem to only be on the World Watercolor Group page (but I still have the sketchbook), and the 2020 photos are on my Business page: https://www.facebook.com/ClaireBureauArt/photos/?tab=album&ref=page_internal . I am still trying to get those photos organised into Albums!! Although I have been asked, I will not sell any of the daily paintings as they are all attached in an album for each year. I have however made quite a few of them into greeting cards. If you see one you really like, let me know and we can possibly get you a print made! If you would like to find out more about World Watercolor Month or contribute to the charity, visit https://doodlewash.com/world-watercolor-month-july/ And don't forget to look for the hashtag #WorldWatercolorMonth to see what artists all over the world are doing! Now I am off to paint on today’s prompt: Reflection!!
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AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
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