In a haze of romantic enthusiasm while I and my other half were planning our wedding in 2014, I suggested I draw our wedding venue for a picture on our ‘save the date’ cards. I was forgetting that I hadn’t even tried to create a single piece of artwork for over 6 years. I didn’t even know if I could still draw.

The drawing that resulted (above) is very significant for me, not only because it was for my wedding, but also because it reminded me of how it felt to draw and create art and showed me that, despite several years without drawing anything, I could still do it. What I didn’t know when I so casually suggested doing this drawing was that it would become the beginning of a project.

Our wedding venue was Emmanuel College in Cambridge, one of the 31 colleges that are part of the University. Cambridge University is a big part of my life – it brought me to the city as a student and I’ve now made my life here. Doing the drawing of Emmanuel gave me the idea of making a drawing of each of the 31 colleges. The idea has been floating around in my head ever since but it always seemed too daunting. Now I’ve decided to do it. I’ll visit each college, take a photograph to work from and make a drawing of each.

This is definitely a long-term project – it’ll probably take several years. But it’s a straightforward concept with a definite endpoint, and it seems like a great way to keep my artistic skills ticking over, even when time limits and the stresses of life leave little headspace for more in-depth creative thinking. I have a vague idea of doing something with the set when it’s finished – a book or an exhibition would be exciting! I guess I’ll have to see when that is…