Providence, more sketches of people who don't know I'm sketching them (or probably do) and filling the page

On Thursday at the swimming pool I tried to sketch the lifeguards from the viewing gallery after my swim. I'd worked out that if I got changed quickly after my swim I'd have about 10 minutes in the gallery to sketch before the lunchtime swim session ended. Well, I can't say it was massively successful on the grounds that I acquired a little friend pretty much as soon as I had sat down. 'What are you doing? asked a little girl who later introduced herself as Charlotte. Well, she wanted to have a good look through my sketchbook and then ran off with it to show to her Mum and Grandma!!!

I'm pretty good with sketching fast but I'm most definitely not a multi-tasker and the only point at which I actually had the sketchbook in my hands was while Charlotte was talking to me! Nevertheless despite the abysmal lifeguard sketches, unbeknown to me sketching lifeguards wasn't the real reason I had gone up into that gallery. Charlotte spotted the 'Lox on a Chair' sketch and really loved it. She kept touching the page and saying how fluffy the cat looked. What a result! As much as I liked the sketch for the book I still had no idea whether a child would like it. Bless her. And she gave me a great big hug before she left.

And here is the lifeguard sketch aka 'the ruse'... I probably wouldn't have even posted it if it hadn't been for the Charlotte story. Actually, the face looks pretty accurate. I would imagine that the poor guy was aware that I was sketching him by the fact that Charlotte kept pointing and saying very loudly 'What? That one there?! Him there?!!'

Clearly I added the colour when I got home.  I've been trying to fill the page up a bit more.