Parallel perspective is the one that goes straight down the middle of the ‘page’ towards a vanishing point somewhere uncomplicatedly just ahead. The task is to draw an interior and, as luck would have it, I already did. It formed part of a series of indoor sketches and I chose to develop one of those on A2 cartridge.

These were 5-10 minute round-the-house sketches; quick and dirty, as it were. I used Prisma colour pencils for this first one.

This is white charcoal on pink sugar paper, looking through the doorway at my sofa.

White charcoal again on purple sugar paper. I had a few leaves pasted into my sketchbook, the idea being to use whatever came next to force myself to experiment.

Here, the idea is beginning to form, the front room interior is more evident, also the front door, the mideel ground doorway, and the mirror on the wall at its side. This is black conte on cartridge.

At this point, I knew what I wanted to do. I also knew that all the horizontals and vertical, far from being a doddle were disconcertingly confusing. It’s the first time I used a print of a photo to mark out the elements so I’d have some chance or reproducing them in a sketch. Below are photos of the photograph and the sketch as it grew. I thought I had others from earlier in the process but for now, I can’t locate them.

This is the end result. It’s very mixed media – charcoal, oil pastel, ink, fineliner, all on a gesso base that I’d deliberately textured to match the wood, fabric, and smooth surfaces. That allowed me to apply the various media in ways that drew on the lines created by the gesso brush work.

I’m not sure I ‘got’ the perspective perfectly, but I’m also not sure perfection is what’s needed with this sort of style. Perfect is what suits the overall image, isn’t it? Not what’s determined by set square and ruler.