BBC Filarmoni, Prova, Salford Quays.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to sketch this orchestra over a couple of days.

They’re based in Media City UK on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford.

The BBC’s move marked a large-scale decentralisation from London, and the North of England has profited from this.

It took at least the first morning’s drawing to feel comfortable, and to have some sense of the direction or focus my work might take. Because this was a rehearsal, the music would start and then suddenly stop. This was a bit distracting and the longer pieces encouraged a better flow to my pencil.

The musicians were a nice bunch, interested in what we were doing, as we were in them- we’re all artists, aren’t we?!

I used my sketches in the studio later, along with photographs, to produce a larger work, below.

 BBC Philharmonic, Studio Drawing 44cm x 122cm

This is one of the traditional uses of the sketchbook.. as Fine Art students we were we were encouraged to use them for various purposes: as preliminary drawings prior to painting; to explore new ideas, thus developing creativity; as visual diaries of the external world and as drawing practise, and to re-visit as source material for inspiration.

Our books were untidy, experimental, fearless and anarchic.

I’d like to get back to that level of ‘insouciance’ -it’s so easy to blinker oneself by worrying about a good result on the page to be shown to others, rather than opening up to new approaches and unfamiliar materials.

A good idea is to personalise a sketchbooks and prepare pages by altering their appearance, shape, size with media or through collage before working in them.

Let’s not be hampered by the fear of failure!

Caroline Johnson, Manchester