By the time the troops were regathering to share our work, my pencil outlines were done. I was pretty pleased with my drawing; I'd looked really hard and drawn what I had seen not what I had thought I'd seen (a trap for young players) so the scene had come together well.
It was not a "pencil drawing" but a foundation for ink and paint. I started to ink in the cafe but the enjoyable administrative duties of the day (check out the other great work, have my photo taken with the other participants, chat and all that kind of thing) meant I was going to finish this at home.
I used a couple of iPhone photos for reference but mostly I had done the work with the pencil outlines. Drawing is really important when painting. If you can't get the basics, the rest just makes things 'worse'. I can see that with a number of people who come to The Big Draw who are very good drafts people.
They can see the space and curves and the corners and the perspectives and get that on their medium. Their confidence is a product of very hard work over years of seeing what's really there, not what they think is there. Their loose paint is brushed over very confident, essential lines: they make it look easy, but it really isn't.
And I see when I get into problems with my work it's because the foundations are not right. They've gone wonky somewhere. I saw that on Saturday when, after standing on the stairs, concentrating on my subject, my tiredness made my lines go wonky and I drew kitchen appliances on the wrong level so it was a good place to stop.
Back home today and layering the paint onto my drawing then inking the lines for definition, I could feel where my lines worked and what I had paid attention to, and what I did not: the reflections, the depth of the room, the crisp light that I have completely lost.
But that's okay. I'm finding my feet again in many things.