DAY 10: Back to Where It Began

If you missed the first few days, I’m doing a 100-day sketchbook painting challenge and showing up here daily. This challenge has two parts: filling a sketchbook and writing here every day, and along the way I’m noticing the little habits that support the process.

This is where it all started.

Looking back at a photo of a painting I made at Sidi Ahmed Essayeh is what sparked this 10-day sketchbook challenge. That first Moroccan metal teapot painting quietly became the start of painting the same theme again, ten days later.

Drinking a very sweet, fresh mint tea while waiting for lunch. We knew it would take a while because a local had just gone to find the owner, who was also the chef, the waiter, the only one there, to start cooking the fish, chopping the potatoes, preparing the food from scratch. Everything moved slowly, and it was the perfect speed for such a hot day.

We’d just been for a swim and where sitting there, the two of us, no one else around. I think everyone else was hiding from the heat. So I took out my sketchbook, a few brushes, the paints, and I started painting while we waited.

And when I look at that old photo now, what I love is that everything in it, the sketchbook, the brushes, the jar, the paint, is exactly what I used again today.

That feels like a full circle.

This is Day 10. I’ve been doing this for ten days now, with the same theme, going through old photos from that trip, and I really love that.

What I don’t love as much is how today’s painting turned out. Something went a bit wonky with the proportion and I could not rescue it.

It’s also been a full day. We went to visit my mother-in-law at the hospital. She’s recovering from hip surgery and doing okay, but it meant starting late and arriving a bit tired.

I was listening to Nina Simone the whole time, painting slowly, and I forgot that this is thin paper and you can’t just do extra layers.

Maybe choosing a new angle wasn’t the best idea. But I think my expectations were just higher because it felt like a full-circle moment.

I just need to let it be.

I’m happy with the colours but it’s time to let it go.

What I do know is this: I could keep painting teapots for a few more days. But after ten days of the same theme, I’m ready for a shift, or I might start to loathe it, and I don’t want that. Doing the same thing every day has been a fun experiment, but now it feels right to open the door to something new tomorrow.

Another thing I take away after ten days is that using the same supplies really helps with staying on top of the challenge. It supports the flow, keeps the momentum going, and avoids overthinking, leaving more room for play time.