Wolf

Chester Burnett, aka Bigfoot Chester, aka the mighty Howlin' Wolf.

A monstrous vocal and physical presence, standing at six feet three, nearly twenty stones in his prime and wearer of size seventeen shoes, Chester was a big man in all senses.

Ahhhhhhhhh-wouldjalookitthem.

Fiona and Alan, pencil on paper.

I got a commission to do a portrait for a Valentine's Day gift, which I can post now it's been safely delivered and given. The photograph I worked from was a front-on flash photograph, and so the facial features were very evenly lit, which was tricky. I found that using the usual 2B pencil made shadows look unfortunately like a beard, so I changed to 2 and 4H which gave a much lighter mark.

The phrase "aaaaaaahhh, wouldjalookit them" has become something of a household catch phrase and arose from a pissed Irish bloke in The Muppet Inn (that's what I said, yes) in Wisbech. It was hard not to go into a pub called the Muppet Inn, but less hard to leave it. I bought Laura a pint of cider, which apparently Irish Bloke took as a symbol of my long-term fidelity and moved him greatly.