A series of ink portraits — each drawn in one sitting, no pencil underneath, no going back. Twelve faces on twelve sheets, shown as a grid.
It started as daily practice. I’d sit down with ink and Fabriano paper and draw whoever came to mind — people I’d met, faces from the street, expressions I remembered from a conversation. One session per portrait. If it didn’t work, I moved on. No second attempts.
Over time it became something bigger than practice. I was interested in how expression lives in the speed of the brush, how a person’s character shows up in gesture rather than in detail. You don’t need to render every feature to capture someone. Sometimes a single line says more than a fully worked portrait.
Showing them as a grid — twelve sheets in a row — gave the series a different energy. Each face was individual, but together they became a crowd. A room full of people you almost recognise.