This need has never left me. As I have progressed to a full time professional artist it is as present as ever (probably more so.) It fulfils so many functions in my practice. Sketches that will form the basis of artworks, weird little diversions that will never make it to canvas, practice…the more I draw the better the paintings turn out. I get to fully indulge my love of art history, to pore over favourites…Goya, Titian, Watteau, Fragonard, Delacroix, Gericault, to learn from them, to practice, to mix them all up into some weird soup. Lastly, it is a balm for me in difficult times, the process is soothing, meditative. Who doesn’t need a little diversion these days to soothe the anxious mind and dispel darker ruminations.