I recently spent four days at the Gold Coast, Queensland with friends. This involved daily walks along the sand. There are long stretches of beach, although most were closed to swimming due to the rough surf conditions.

Different stretches of the beach had different accumulations of shells and seaweed and other interesting things. Palm Beach was great, but close to Coolangatta and Greenmount, the beaches were empty of shells. The changing underlying sandbanks and rips make a big difference to the waves, and what they bring in.

As a child, on rare beach visits, I would be looking for the perfect shell. However, now I am so happy to discover interesting fragments. As a sketcher, their variety, shapes, and character are fun to draw with my watercolour pencils. They are also a tease as to the amazing whole shells that maybe be so close to shore, before being broken up in the ocean.

I collected about a dozen fragments, some sponges, and a small crabclaw.

The crabclaw NEEDED to be drawn straight away as it was SO smelly. It was 3cm x 3cm and I sketches it from different angles with my Lamy Safari Jy ink pen. I then put the crabclaw under my magnifying glass and had great fun looking at the detail and colour.

With all of these drawings from natural objects, my aim is to capture the character, not to create a still life. I try and show the impression of detail, without going into scientific detail.

I love the way that watercolour pencils allow me to build up the cours and then also add hard lines for detail.