I was considering what to write about this week . I had just scanned a page from my December sketchbook and it struck me how one sketch can have so many purposes.

This is a sketch of  objects Mum has left out for the Satin bower bird to collect .

The simple and quick act of sketching these objects allowed me to

• document an occurrence from Mums house in a sketch.

• have a conversation with my mother about the Satin Bower Bird visits. The visits  started recently and I really didn’t know much about it , apart from the fact that it visited. I was able to ask lots of questions and make notes. It will also have more meaning  when she talks about him in the future.

• bring back memories of a camping trip to O’Reilly’s  National Park when I was about 12. This is the only other time I had seen Satin and Golden Bower Birds. You could feed them and the rainbow lorikeets in the campgrounds. I never thought that one day there would be one in a backyard !

• fill in 15 minutes while waiting for a taxi to arrive to take us to the bus stop. I have always been an impatient person But since I started sketching I have never had this problem. I sketch and the time flies by.

• practice sketching . I sketch daily and any sketch is an opportunity to observe, measure, make judgments on colour etc

And here is my finished sketchbook page.