As I turned into the road that leads down to Sponge Bay this morning I saw a pair of paradise ducks sitting on top of a blue shipping container. The dark orange of the female’s body popped against the periwinkle blue of the container. Down at the bay my attention was immediately caught by the clouds on the horizon, and my hands itched to flick over the page with my juicy, soft Windsor white pastel to trace the lines of their contours. The more I looked at them, the more colours I could see – different blues, pink, yellow, white. I can’t remember the last time I saw blue shadows on clouds – they’re usually more grey. I was so keen to get going I didn't bother with thumbnails. While I sat there and sketched, I saw a large white bird coming towards the bay from a great distance. It was bright white against the dark teal sea. Finally it came to rest on the waves in the bay. I thought it might be a gannet, but as it came closer I saw it was a large adult black-backed gull. Today the sketch seemed to draw itself. When I had almost finished I put a single white line just above the horizon, and used a blue pastel pencil to provide a little more definition to the shadow side of the clouds. Then I sat with my friend, with my feet up on the railing drinking a cup of red date tea. My friend JieYu says the tea is good for my circulation.