The longer you go without posting anything, the harder it gets to do it. It’s not that I haven’t been drawing. At the moment I’ve got three different commissions on the go but they haven’t been delivered yet so I’m not putting them on the internet.

But it’s been too long – so here’s a drawing of the Bristol Channel Sea Scouts marching on St George’s day, a couple of months ago. It’s going on the Annual Report for their AGM which is on Monday.

This is an interesting one because it was impossible to draw all these Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts as they walked past. I had plenty time to draw St Mary Redcliffe Church before they arrived on Redcliff Hill, then a matter of seconds to catch them before they disappeared around the roundabout and into the church.

I always tell everyone I can’t draw from photos. My drawing style changes and more or less dies as soon as I’m sitting at a desk , rather than in the moment and atmosphere of the thing I’m drawing. But on this occasion I tried something experimental. I took a series of quick shots on my phone, then jumped on my bike, got home, transferred them to the computer and drew the figures straight into my sketchbook, just to see if the magic hangs around for a few minutes.

In the end, I think the foreground figures in this image are something of a hybrid. They’re good enough for government work.

Next time, perhaps I could try clicking and drawing straight from my phone in situ. If my eyes are good enough.