At the western side of the bay today there was rain in the air. The hills behind Tuamotu Island were soft. Mid-winter, and cold again. I could see the rain coming, so went straight to the sketching. I used my drawing pen to pick out outlines and draw the norfolk pines on Tuamotu Island. I was right to hurry - it rained so hard my friend and I had to pack up and run for our cars. We sat in my car to have our cup of tea.

Another cold morning. Thank goodness for my stepson's windbreaker jacket! The sea was rough, a brisk wind blowing on-shore. This time I decided to sketch the eastern side of the bay. I did a single quick thumbnail - the composition worked straight away for me, so I used it to play with the tones:

This time I chose dark blue paper. I started with the sky which was quite dramatic, and because of the wind, rapidly and constantly changing. But this is the beauty of sketching en plein air - the sketches can be lively, and there can be a real sense of movement. At first glance the headland looked monochromatic, but as I looked more closely, giving my painter's eye time to do its work, I could see colours. I wanted to tie the headland in with the sky, so picked up some of the sky colours to use again. Here's the final result: