Arquivo de illustration

The 2026 IVOILUSTRA Calendar is Here — 12 Original Surf Art Illustrations

The 2026 IVOILUSTRA Calendar is now available in the shop — and it might be the piece I’m most proud of bringing into the world this year.

The idea was simple: take the 12 illustrations that resonated most with the community over the past years — the waves, the figures, the light on moving water — and bring them together into a single collector’s object. One painting for each month. A whole year of original watercolour surf art on your wall.

Each illustration was chosen by the people who follow this work. These are the pieces that generated the most messages, the most shares, the most “I need this on my wall” — so in a real way, you curated this calendar. I just painted it.

🗓️ 12 original watercolour illustrations — one per month
🎨 Surf art & ocean watercolour — the best of the IVOILUSTRA archive
📄 Perforated pages — tear off each month and frame it directly on your wall
📐 21×21 cm square format — minimalist design that fits any modern interior
🌿 FSC-certified 200gsm matte paper — premium quality, sustainably sourced
🌍 Worldwide shipping — delivered in 4–9 days

The perforated pages are my favourite detail. By December, you won’t just have used a calendar — you’ll have twelve individual art prints ready to frame. It was designed to live on your walls long after 2026 is over.

Whether it’s for yourself or as a gift for someone who loves the ocean, this is a beautiful way to bring original watercolour art into everyday life — one month at a time.

A look inside the calendar

2026 IVOILUSTRA illustrated surf art calendar

2026 surf art watercolour calendar illustration

Get yours in the shop →

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31 de March de 2026

The Freedom of a Loose Sketch — Watercolour as Daily Meditation

There’s a version of watercolour painting that’s careful, measured, planned. The reference photo pinned up, the composition sketched out, the colours mixed and tested before touching paper. I do that version too.

But the version I come back to every day — the one that keeps me sane, keeps me honest, keeps me improving — is the other one. No reference. No goal. Just pigment, water, and whatever my hand decides to do.

Sketching freely with watercolours, without thinking about the result, is an inexplicable pleasure. It’s also, I’ve come to believe, the most important practice a watercolour artist can have. Not the commissions, not the finished pieces. This — the daily loose sketch. My meditation.

Why Loose Sketching Makes You a Better Artist

When there’s nothing at stake — no client, no finished piece, no Instagram post planned — your hand starts to move differently. More honestly. The marks you make when you’re not trying to impress anyone are often the most interesting marks you’ll ever make.

Loose watercolour sketching builds the muscle memory that makes confident painting possible. The instinct for how much water to load onto a brush, how far a pigment will bleed, when to stop. These aren’t things you can think your way into. They come from repetition — and the most painless repetition is play.

Loose watercolour sketch daily practice by IVOILUSTRA

The Practice

My daily sketch has almost no rules. Wet the paper or don’t. Pick colours that feel right, not colours that are correct. Let shapes emerge rather than drawing them first. If it fails, turn the page. There are no failed sketches in a practice journal — only information.

Most of my best ideas for finished paintings came from these sessions. A colour combination that surprised me. A mark that suggested a wave I hadn’t thought to paint. The loose sketch is where the unconscious gets a say.

Watercolour sketching process IVOILUSTRA

Daily watercolour sketch practice by IVOILUSTRA

If you paint — or want to start — this is the one habit I’d recommend above everything else. Fifteen minutes a day, no pressure, no audience. Just you, a brush, and whatever the water decides to do.

The prints in my shop are the finished, considered versions. But they all started somewhere close to this.

From surfers, to surfers.