I inherited a beautiful set of inktense pencils last year... I wasn’t entirely sure how to use them. So I’ve set myself a new daily drawing challenge for this year - learning to use the pencils with a new theme each month.

Feeding my inner colour geek. Before I started, I made a record of all the colours in my sketchbook - how they look dry, dipped in water and with water added. This looks like a laborious task but I absolutely loved it. It’s proved to be really useful - at first glance many of the pencil colours look the same, so this catalogue makes it really easy to make a quick selection to get started on a drawing.

In January I started with vintage vases... a bit of a mixed bag, but I’ve already learnt a lot about how the pencils work (water soluble then waterproof when dry)...

February was faces. Way out of my comfort zone here… I’m much more at home with plants and animals. They are a bit hit and miss, but I’ve learnt about how to get more subtle shades of colour, building it up in layers. Nostrils and various skin tones are a work in progress though. I enjoyed seeing characters emerging each day, and I am starting to appreciate the potential of the pencils…