A pair of quick sketches just to see what I could achieve by being a little less concerned about messing up sketch books.

This is [please forgive me!] the Parrot Sketch* I covered the paper with orange and yellow charcoal to break the pristine feel of the white paper, dribbled yellow ink down the centre where the parrot – a balsa wood object that I’ve repainted several times and now sits in my conservatory in front of a large red container I’d given to my parents some years ago and that came home after they died. They’re both surrounded by plants. It was still wet when I took the photo so I’ll probably take another when it’s dry and less curly.

This is a quick charcoal sketch of my windowsill once dusk falls. It looks as though it’s snowing out there but it isn’t. I’ll be really pleased when there’s more light in the day. It’s creeping along by minutes but spring can’t come soon enough for me. Open doors and windows, things coming in, buzzing around, having to be helped back out sometimes. Wonderful.

Coloured charcoal on A5 cartridge.

As a further attempt to ‘mess up’ my sketchbooks, I’ve pasted leaves of coloured paper in one of them. It should not only be less alarmingly white but more varied in texture, and it will force me to take a different approach if I make it a rule to use the next page, whatever that is. Well, maybe not an actual rule, that would be another kind of silliness altogether.

*The Parrot Sketch, for anyone unfamiliar, is a renowned Monty Python piece concerning a very dead parrot that the shop owner insists is still alive.