The weather permits short sessions of outdoor sketching, although we are still waiting to get our paintboxes out. However, last week I visited an old 18th century farmhouse in the neighbourhood and made a small sketch to paint from later at home. I find that not using photos makes me much freer in painting and it is also great fun to make these sketches on site.

When home I made a small painting in my A5 Khadi sketchbook. I made the first wash on wet paper, but it seems this paper has difficulty with that. Maybe something with the sizing? Making this first painting was very useful, since I decided to move on to Fabriano for a final, slightly bigger, painting. Any comments on the process and results are most welcome.