A Working Shipyard, Mystic, watercolour on Arches Not, 10x14in (25.5x35.5cm). Mystic Seaport possesses a major fully-functioning wooden shipbuilding yard (where they are currently rebuilding the replica Mayflower of 1957); it’s a fascinating place chock-full of characters, sheds, timber, machinery and all kinds of marine junk, to which I kept returning. I used pen and line quite a lot since this technique seemed to suit all the intricate detail of the timber yard, just as it does for architecture. The distant sail visible over the iron roof was a gift – it really happened, as the Seaport’s tourist-carrying ‘catboat’ sailed slowly by, and I added it to my painting in a few seconds