There is something timeless about the fire ring as a place for families to gather, talk and sing and I intend to capture this. Over the last several days I sketched in the near dark as we sat and sang around the fire. The sketches are a cross between gesture and contour drawings as it is hard to see the paper in the dark. The circle of people is challenging as the fire casts shadows and highlights and I had trouble painting these in. In the end I opted for using a light wash on the people instead of the shadows and highlights because I wanted to do this sketch even if I do not yet know how. Using dark values on the faces and clothing is something I need to explore further, perhaps tomorrow. I did not do thumbnails before sketching as it was so dark I would not be able to consider these and still stay at the fire. However, I think I will try ‘after sketching’ thumbnails when I go back to improve this sketch. I like the way I caught the night sky behind the forest and the darkness, I think the practice on the night sky from last week’s Midsummer’s Night Dream helped.