On Wednesday, I had a busy day, and when I looked back on my pages, I was surprised to see that I used five different techniques in a single day.

1. My usual morning coffee and local house sketch using watercolour pencil and ink (following the steps I teach in my Travel Sketching course). Note: For the last few months, I have been using a palette of Arkaar paints as my everyday palette in a topped-up state was permanently living on my filming/teaching desk in my studio. But as Travel Sketching has just wrapped up, I’m using my everyday palette again! I really enjoyed using the Arkaar paints, but it was good to get back to the paints that I’ve known and loved for years.

2. I then popped in for a cuppa with a friend whose mother was in town. I knew that we would be talking nonstop, so I decided to do a quick line drawing from my car as a record of the event. As it turned out, my friend’s mum was interested in my art supplies, so I did some colour swatches to show her what I was carrying and how I combine them. I just randomly pulled out some colours and, at the end, noticed that it was a harmonious combination.

3. I worked for a few hours and then had a lovely Zoom catch-up with my sketching buddy Suhita. It was so good to hear all about what she’s been doing lately and her Sketching Together Club that she hosts via her Substack. It was also fun to sketch while we were talking with our overhead cameras on. We sketched from her photos of a recent trip to Istanbul, and it was fun to see how we used the same materials (fude pen, watercolour and neocolors) in different ways. I really enjoyed doing this sketch and catching up with Suhita.

4. I then went into the City and caught up with my Sister-in-Law (SIL) and my nieces and nephews. I didn’t get a chance to sketch during a quick visit to the Museum, but I did manage 2 sketches while the kids ran around Hyde Park – the first was done with watercolour pencils (WCP) while we were all having a snack.

5. My sister took the boys to run around a little more, and I sat on a bench with the girls and did this sketch of the War Memorial in about 10 minutes. I used markers and WCPs.

It’s sometimes hard to get any sketching done when socialising a lot, and on other occasions I manage to do more than I expect.