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Grid of hand-drawn portraits from the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge by Neli Chaneva

What I Learned From a 100 Day Portrait Drawing Challenge

September 29, 2026

Drawing one portrait a day for 100 days did more for my style than any single lesson. Consistency refined my tools, colors and technique, and taught me to carry the best parts of each drawing into the next.

 Open sketchbook with a magazine clipping on one page and a hand-painted color palette from that image on the facing page

Magazine Clippings Book for Color Palette Inspiration

September 27, 2026

Instead of endless saved images scattered across apps, I keep a Color Inspiration Book: magazine clippings on one page, hand-mixed palettes on the facing page. It's slower, more analog, and the colors always end up more mine.

 Artists around a table at Kate Owen's mushroom painting workshop

Mushrooms, Paper and Permission to Play - Workshop with Kate Owen

September 26, 2026

I flew from New Zealand to the tiny Queensland town of Kin Kin to paint mushrooms with Kate Owens, an artist whose loose, fearless use of color I'd admired for years. I came home with two lessons that have changed how I work in the studio: let your sketchbook be your reference, and always start on paper.