Twelve Portraits

12 Portraits

I didn’t manage to visit the David Hockney Exhibition 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life, but I enjoyed looking at the book while visiting friends recently.

However, I did get to do some sketchy portraits of my own. While I was drawing at Redcatch Arts in the Park in September, I made contact with a local care home who asked me to spend a day sketching their residents. I’m used to sitting in a corner and sketching whatever is happening, but they clearly wanted individual images of each of the 12 residents, many of them in wheelchairs and most of them not able to communicate with words. So it was a big privilege, and a very special time, sitting with each resident either in their room or a lounge and drawing them with much more time than I usually get when sketching events.

They’ll use the images, perhaps for greetings cards in the future. I hope these drawings bless these individuals and their families and friends as much as I was blessed by my time with them.

There are no names at the request of the home.

Twelve Portraits

Illustrating Community

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to spend the day sketching Southmead’s Community Consultation Day. It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve done.

crowd waiting for the day to begin

A wide group of people had been involved in carrying out a survey of the neighbourhood; there had been a lot of work by volunteers and others, and it felt as though sketching them as they spoke or took part in discussions was an affirmation of that hard work, rather than being an intrusion, which a camera can sometimes be.

Deanna and Trenna, survey volunteers

I pinned drawings on a wall throughout the day, so people could have a good look even when I was elsewhere.

Southmead Community Practice building
Travel and Transport workshop discussion
Knit and Natter group

I’d love to do more events like this!