I’ve finally completed my first assignment (‘September 2023 – Drawing in the landscape’)! I went to Titirangi Beach, which is a small, calm beach near where I live in West Auckland, New Zealand. I did the sketches on two separate days. On the first day, I went in the late afternoon. It was raining on and off, and it got very cold, so I only managed to do three. I went back another day (again in the late afternoon) and managed to do two more. I really enjoyed using multiple media on each image, which isn’t something I’d normally do. Across the five sketches, I used different combinations of watercolour, white gouache, water-soluble pencil, compressed charcoal, Golden High Flow acrylics, Derwent XL sticks, and brush pens (black and grey). I’d never used gouache, Golden High Flows, or the Derwent XL sticks before. I loved using the Derwent sticks—and brushing water onto some of the media (Derwent sticks, charcoal, and brush pens). All in all, a lot of fun! Note: The reference image, which I think I took with a slight fisheye setting on my phone, makes everything look further away than it was.