The other day I started a new sketchbook (hardbound A5 Seawhite, my favourite) by drawing my breakfast toast. I sometimes focus my attention by asking myself what interests me about a subject. In this case it was the pattern made by the grill rack, so I really enjoyed using a ruler to draw that in.
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I start the day with a hot water and lemon, which explains the next picture of some segments of lemon in a bowl. I want this sketchbook to be a mixture of drawing, colour, collage, and surprises. Out in the shed I have some boxes of odd scraps of paper. So here goes...
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The starting point for this page was a newspaper photograph of a Brazilian chef from Sao Paulo.
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The elements here are images of Italian politicians at an EEC summit in 1978, a page from an Arabic school workbook I found in a second-hand bookshop, a piece of wrapping paper and a raffle ticket. 
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I have no explanation for these faces, they just happened. Using washable fountain pen ink and a brush, with oil pastel. I guess the link from the previous pages was the collar and tie.
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These are the last two pages from that day. They seem a long way from the toast and lemon slices, and I have by now gone back to one of my favourite themes:portraits. I think it is easy to see how the process of working with collage remnants and ink washes has refreshed my portrait work at this point.
The portrait on the right was done on a piece of wallpaper.
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I did a series of small pictures of faces, using oil pastel and gouache. The faces just happened - spontaneous creations. As soon as I had done them I had the urge to cut them out and stick them on some kind of background. I started with fine contour lines using a dip pen, and with some of them drew in white Tippex pen over the black ink. I like the way things happen when I decide on a series of simple images and on a number to work with (8 in this case). It's good to set specific boundaries and rules, so that you can be playful and experimental within the context of a project.