Drawn from life at Candid Arts Trust during one of their long pose Saturday sessions. An amazing and rare chance to really settle in and work through a single piece. I approached without a plan, just a selection of various pencils in the knowledge that I was in no rush.

I started by mapping out the whole figure in vine charcoal, knowing I could swipe it off the smooth side of the Canson paper I was using – gunmetal grey, with the intention of using that cooler midtone to play with the shadows.

I then experimented with using sanguine pencil to map out the structure, but wasn’t keen on how it sat on the background colour. So I reverted to charcoal pencils for the structure, then grabbed two different light pastels for the highlights. I used a fleshtone pink for the hot highlights where the key light sat – nearest to me – and a pale grey with a very light blue tint to it for the reflected light on the off side.

I gradually reintroduced the sanguine pencils to try and bring some life into the picture, to ensure it didn’t read as too cold and harsh. The room itself was far warmer in tone, but I’d committed to the paper choice, so I interpreted the whole scene to fit this gloomier/more dramatic look.

A deceptively tricky pose to capture – really impressive from Paula to hold that tilt in the hips so steadily for hours!