sketching and drawing

Sketching and drawing is the foundation of painting. Yesterday, I attended a figure drawing class where we all did 2 minute sketches of a model. 2 minutes went really quick, but the more we did, the more the gestures we put on paper improved to accuracy. We moved on to 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and finally did 20 minute drawings. By the time we reached 20 minutes, it was possible to achieve some amazing likenesses by observing the way the light fell on the figure because we had trained ourselves to see the figure during the 2 minute sketches. It was a good discipline for me, I'm often in such a hurry to get on to the painting, my drawing is not accurate, and I'm constantly doing correcting as I go. Like they say, anything you do in art helps you with your art.