Almost missed this – slip of the page or my head telling me only what I wanted to hear, that there was no such task? Anyway, after establishing I wouldn’t need to risk assess myself for sketching while strapped to a chimney, I had a look through my google photo store to see what I might have in there that would meet requirements and there was a fab little snap of a section of Brighton beach, the lower promenade, where construction was taking place and the sea and sky and the pier took up most of the space.

Not a scene for charcoal, I didn’t think, more for dropping ink into puddles and letting it bleed out into the shape, then using watercolour pencils (Derwent Inktense) to make lines where lines might contain an element of the image.

After a couple of experiments with wet-in-wet, and boundaries made with a piece of plain wax, I’ve settled on this.

Actually I prefer the detail pulled out of the middle left, even though the flag looks like a giraffe! I could maybe tackle that, render it a bit more marina, bit less safari.

Never getting rid of that giraffe. Too big, too bold, and the background is too pale to fudge it. Tried; now it’s a dragon!

Consulted Dr White Ink.

Better. Now there’s a feeling of a weather divide with a cold front coming in from the left. So first dragons, then winter – coming …