The final post of the day!  The photograph is a fountain in Villa Borghese Gardens in Rome.   It was a hot day and the spring water was cold and refreshing!  I have tried two techniques in watercolour and ink.  The left-hand side work blocked in the colour first of all and finished with the addition of ink.  The watercolour was wet on wet with the ink added once the colour had dried.  The work on the right was pencilled, then inked and colour added last of all.  It is a matter of taste as to which method is preferred.  On the once hand I like the accuracy of the drawing on the right but the freedom of the work on the left.  Working from photographs is easier than working from life because the composition is already set up and separated from surrounding images.  There is an absence of an audience in the studio too, unless it is a demonstration.  Urban sketching can be quite a quick process and so I have deliberately not laboured over these works.  Once several of these studies have been produced in this way it is time to venture out and, using a viewfinder, set up a subject to challenge the 'on location' method.  It is a good idea to narrow down the challenge to a simple subject before attempting complex compositions.  I used Winser and Newtion watercolours and rotring pens ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 as well as a Faber and Castell artist pen.