The ‘sketch’ at the bottom confirms that I’m no artist. Far from it.

But in the summer I went on an art walk to Northey Island, a fabulous tidal nature reserve island in the Blackwater estuary. The National Trust manage it and have commissioned a new sculpture for the island on the theme of rising sea levels.

The artist given the task is Sara Hayes from The Public Art Company who specialises in art walks. She’s currently consulting with local people, school groups etc to get ideas of what type of sculpture it should be, including whether it should be in the water or on the island itself.

I snapped up a place on the walk when the National Trust emailed. But forgetting it had anything to do with art, I was surprised (horrified?!) when a text on the day said that materials would be provided. Materials?*!@!

But along I went and took the sketchbook and pen I was handed … and it was one of the best things I’d done in a long time.

Sara got us sketching what we saw from different viewpoints – from a height on a viewing platform, from the start of the path to the island, on the causeway and from the island’s new bird hide.

Importantly she taught us different techniques – everything from drawing the horizon first, looking down to make sure we captured things like bits of graffiti on the viewing platform, writing a poem, and drawing without looking at the ‘view’ on the causeway. And my personal favourite – drawing what we could hear! Who knew that was even possible?

But what’s it got to do with coaching? Well, the afternoon confirmed to me how fascinating - and important - it is to look at things from different perspectives.

Sara took a coaching approach with us in that she got us doing things in different ways, believed everyone (seasoned sketchers or not) had something useful to contribute and had interesting thoughts and ideas to offer. And she was a fantastic listener too.

I won’t be taking up sketching any time soon, but I’ll never forget that fascinating afternoon and how differently I saw what was in front of me by the end of it.

Coaching can help you find different perspectives and make the changes you need for a happier life.

How could I help you with that? We could even try a sketching exercise!