Jamie's Sketchbook

Jamie

Sketching obsessed.

A grid of twenty small watercolor portrait sketches, arranged five across and four down, each in a green-tape-bordered square. Faces in warm skin tones are painted against washes of green, blue, purple, and sienna. Hair colors range from dark brown and black to bright orange and golden yellow. Several figures wear glasses. The wet-into-wet watercolor technique gives many faces a soft, blooming quality.

One Week 100 People 2026: Twenty-Seven People

I made it to the gym.

The plan was to sketch at the gym business center, dedicated time and space, no excuses. It worked. I spent an hour there on Thursday with my sketchbook open and my palette out. Having that contained, intentional time made everything easier. Even the faces from Stargate SG1, which I was sketching from photos, came more readily than they do at home. There’s something wonderful about sitting down to sketch rather than sketching when distracted.

Photograph of an open sketchbook on a dark marble counter in a gym business center, showing a grid of small colorful watercolor portraits on the left page and loose sepia gesture figures on the right. A watercolor palette, woven bag, and red backpack sit nearby. The room behind has dome pendant lamps and tall spiky plants.

The portrait grid was directly inspired by Liz Steel’s approach this year, Mine are small watercolor faces in a taped-off grid, about 1-inch square. I used narrow green masking tape, which you can see in the photo. The portraits are mostly SG1 faces, though mixed in among them are three self-portraits I drew holding up my camera!

A grid of twenty small watercolor portrait sketches, arranged five across and four down. Faces in warm skin tones are painted against washes of green, blue, and purple. Hair ranges from bald to dark, blond to grey. Several figures wear glasses. The wet-into-wet watercolor technique gives many faces a soft, blooming quality.

I painted directly in watercolor, no pencil underdrawing, and I did not wait for paint to dry. The color blooms that resulted are some of my favorite things on the page. I was working pretty wet, and puddles of color bleeding, especially in the backgrounds, did beautiful things! Colors drifting into each other, faces softened by wandering washes. The whole grid has a dreamy, watercolory quality I really love.

Skin tones came from Buff Titanium, Potter’s Pink, and Van Dyke Brown. Other colors included Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Sap Green (Winsor & Newton), Forest Green (Sennelier), Cobalt Violet, and Shadow Violet. (All paints are Daniel Smith, unless otherwise called out.) One brush throughout: the Rosemary & Co. R13.

The gesture figures on the facing page are a different story. Real people, sketched live, with brush and Van Dyke Brown wash. People walking past, sitting, moving. Seven of them. I’m proud of those. I love the parent with two kids the best.

even loose gesture figures painted in Van Dyke Brown wash on a white page, arranged in two informal rows. The figures are caught in various poses — walking, sitting, looking at a phones, carrying and holding hands with small children. The brushwork is fluid and gestural, with shapes suggested rather than detailed.

Twenty-seven people total. The challenge calls for a hundred in a week, and I started on Thursday. We will see if I am able to do more this weekend, but if this is where I land, I’m happy with it. Twenty-seven faces, one good hour, and a page I genuinely love.

Leave a comment