Louisa Pearson: "Memories of school watercolours are rather dampening my enthusiasm"

IT WAS a horse that did it. The mane and the tail were fine, it was the rest of it that was the problem. The legs were out of proportion to the body and the head shape was more sheep than horse. By now you've realised that I'm referring to my pitiful childhood attempts to draw horses.

Trees, houses, cars and even people could be sketched with a modicum of success, but it was horses that broke my spirit. Like so many other people, I packed away my easel, donated my crayons to the kids next door and relegated art to the back of the closet.

Since those days, I've experienced a hankering to buy some watercolours and go and paint a scenic local view. Memories of school watercolours where the green of the land and blue of the sky all ran together to create a sea of muddy brown are rather dampening my enthusiasm for that option, but I'm feeling generally encouraged by the arrival of The Big Draw (www.campaign fordrawing.org), a month-long campaign to get everyone drawing.

Events are happening around the country, from the chance to draw fish at Macduff Marine Aquarium to the opportunity to create antique-style maps at the National Museum of Scotland. Launched in 2000, the Big Draw now takes place in 20 countries and uses drawing to connect visitors with museums, galleries, urban and rural spaces in new and enjoyable ways. Apparently it offers "unlimited scope for those who love to draw and those who think they can't." That includes you.

I know what you're thinking. What's all this arty-farty stuff got to do with the environment? Elementary, my dear Watson. Compare the environmental impact of drawing as a hobby to, say, watching TV, playing computer games or driving to the supermarket in a 4x4 and you'll realise that it's a pretty eco-friendly way of spending your time. In terms of the sketch-pad, there are lots of recycled, FSC-certified, unbleached paper options around and as for pencils, regardless of whether you err on the side of H or B, there is an eco-friendly option available.

When I started thinking about pencils, I got a little bit alarmed. Don't they contain lead? Is that safe? Children stick pencils in their mouths all the time. Then the common sense cogs in the brain whirred into action and I remembered that pencils contain graphite, not lead.

Environmental impact? Well you'd want FSC-certified wood to ensure it's being harvested, extracted and processed responsibly. As for the graphite, the mining of it isn't one of the world's worst polluters.

Another option is the range of pencils by Remarkable (www.remarkable.co.uk) which makes pencils in the UK using recycled vending machine cups. Very clever although, if we're being pernickety, you can't compost the shavings the way you would with a wood pencil and you can't recycle them as plastic because of the graphite bits. The company does sell FSC-certified wood ones though.

I will be getting the sketch pad out this month and attempting the odd landscape. Should a horse happen to run across the field during this exercise, I will simply use artistic license and pretend it was never there.

• This article was first published in the Scotland on Sunday on October 10, 2010