Anna

Life drawing
“Anna Blue”, 2026, tinted charcoal and pastel pencils on toned gunmetal grey paper, 33″ x 23″

How Anna was able to sustain such a serene expression over hours at the Candid Arts Trust Saturday session is a mystery, but I hope I was at least able to capture a sense of it. A suprisingly challenging pose to tackle, that took me well over an hour just to map out before I was even able to contemplate any details. Despite bringing an arsenal of pastels, pencils, coloured papers, and assorted gimmicks, I ended up working almost entirely in a dark, tinted charcoal and white pastel pencil on grey, with some last-minute additions of red and blue pastel pencil to represent her excellent hair colour and the red walls of the studio, to help draw the figure away from the background.

Beth

Life drawing
“Beth Reclines”, 2026, vine charcoal on paper, drawn from life (20 minutes)

Drawn at a session at Candid Arts Trust Islington – one of my favourite places to draw, especially on their Friday night wine & sketch nights hosted by the very talented Cavin Richards.

A couple of shorter poses earlier in the evening: