"Pardon me - but you will be limited as to number - only three at once"

Jane Austen's Emma. Sketch of the Box Hill picnic (in which I completely forgot to include Harriet). From left: Mr Weston, Frank Churchill, Emma, Miss Bates, Jane Fairfax, Mr Knightley (in background), Mrs Elton and Mr Elton.

Sketchbook spread, 2006/7.

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<sub>My miraculous scanner is capable of a very significant number of wonders, one or two of which I'm only just now discovering, such a techno-ignoramus am I.

My pencil sketches have tended towards the invisible when scanned, but my scanner (*pats*) has been able to helpfully darken them for me, so that all the finer, sketchy underdrawing can be better seen, and the cleaner lines are strengthened. But anyway...</sub>

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These sketches were made over two years ago when I was illustrating Jane Austen's Emma for the Folio Society, and were, in fact, instances in which the roughs were so much better than the final pieces. These sketches either never really made it to being translated into full illustrations, or they were seriously modified. For several reasons, both artistic and personal, the only illustration I did for this book which turned out well was this:

All the others were utterly forgettable. Terrible, in fact. Truly. I was sorely disappointed with myself.