You can view all of these here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/albums/72157709417718421
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/albums/72157709417718421
Things that were helpful:
1. Having a mini gouache kit (se photo below) ready in my pocket most of the time so that even 5 minutes while running errands might give me a change to make a tiny sketch.
2. Not having either pencil or pen in that kit to avoid temptation.
3. Separating painting these little gouaches from all other stuff (after a few days the idea of doing something else in my sketchbook was too inviting)
4. Organizing some time to paint something in a completely different technique or with different materials.
5. Setting my expectations low enough so that even a couple of strawberries would work as a subjects or a very fast and wet in wet sketch of the flowers would still count. Ultra small size paintings (1.5" x 1" literally). Some days are like that and I have to be OK with it in order to survive.
Things I wish I did differently:
1. I think having more people and pets as subjects would be a lot of fun.
2. I think I would enjoy working on larger pieces next time.
3. I think next year I will try and do it with watercolors actually. Gouache allows for corrections through it's opaque nature and it took some edge of the challenge for me.
See how I did this challenge last year:
https://blog.apple-pine.com/2018/07/30x30-direct-watercolor-challenge-at.html
https://blog.apple-pine.com/search?q=30+mini+gouaches
here is my very portable gouache kit:
