Improbable as that may seem it does appear to be the case. My sketching project is useful, but it does bring home to me how different has been my habitual practice. It comes down to the fact that I have been painting, and to do that I have been working largely from reference photographs. My first step has been to draft the design onto a canvas, which involves working with charcoal (not pencil) onto a vertical surface. With relatively rudimentary guidelines established in this way, the rest of the work has been accomplished with paint and a brush. Sketching, on the other hand, involves work with a pencil, onto a pad of paper held nearly horizontally on my knee.
I have come to the unhappy realisation that I have almost forgotten how to hold a pencil!
This will change, no doubt, with continuing application. At the moment, however, it is all a bit disconcerting. “Keep taking the tablets”, at they say. Certainly it is turning out to be an interesting and useful exercise.