My wife, Sarah often encourages me to include more buildings in my paintings. When we were walking along the Itchen recently, I was captivated by the light on the houses and the reflections in the water and was inspired to try to paint the scene. I have included the photo we took at the time and I used it as a reference for the basic proportions. (Seeing the two next to each other now, I notice that my roof line suggests a different perspective, but not to worry!)

I wanted to experiment this time with an approach I have not tried before. In a YouTube trailer for one of his Town House DVDs, I saw John Hoar drawing with a matchstick dipped in ink, before applying some loose washes of colour. This struck a real chord with me. I have done sketches in this way before (without colour washes) and really like the variety of line that is possible. It can be a bit unpredictable, but that is part of its charm, just as it is with watercolour. Anyhow, here is my first one done this way, on the back of an old failure. I think I have been a bit heavy handed with the ink in some places, but I really enjoyed the process and I'm sure there will be others.

Sketch ink (Rohrer & Klingner) and sharpened matchstick. Winsor & Newton pigments. I think the paper is Bockingford.