1mm Pigma pen reloaded with Lexington grey, Lexington grey water-brush, white Gelly Roll pen, watercolour, A6 – 50 minutes

Revisiting Marlborough buildings, this time the higgledy-piggledy back, on an overcast afternoon. You can pick out some of the symmetry and order that characterises the front facade, but over two hundred years of weathering, extensions, improvements, new drain-pipes, and replaced windows has created a beautifully chaotic view. The effect is strengthened by the offset column of windows on the left of each house, lighting the many staircases needed to get up and down the seven stories.

Since starting sketching three years ago, my ideal pen/mark-maker and ink has continually changed; jet-black fine-liners, broad fountain pens, dip-pens, coloured fibre-tips, marker pens, pencils and grey brush-pens. It’s partly because I love buying and trying new pens…

But I think these changes also reflect my interest in the balance between line and form; how to delineate objects without overpowering the shading and colouring that give them substance. My latest favourite is a Pigma 1mm felt-tip refilled with Lexington grey ink, giving a broad grey line that blends well with ink-wash shading and colour washes.