A workshop morning: Always a great idea to get out and make drawings and notes in any medium that you can handle. Pen and pencil are great, especially the cheap pens that one can blend with a waterbrush. We used pastels and the ‘developed the sketch’ back in the studio. It was fun. It’s still quite muggy now but no excuse not to get out there. I just don’t do it enough. It really feeds the mind. It helps us build a ‘visual vocabulary’ which is laid down in our brains. Working from direct observation is always surprising to, things take on shapes that one might not draw if working from the imagination back in the studio. It’s good to take photographs as you work outside too as the light changes EVERYTHING in seconds.