Big Issue Seller

It's amazing I found time to do a painting / sketch while I'm in the middle of a show. But remarkably I did. There's this Big Issue Seller on the walk to the Thames from Waterloo Station that I see every morning when I catch the train to work in the weekday mornings. Always struck me that he cut a heroic sort of figure. I imagined a figure looming large over the London skyline. Here he is I think still a proud figure, perhaps weather beaten and resilient looking. 

Reference is as ever critical. I really do need to come out of my shell and talk to people if I'm ever to do these portrait sketches. Thought he might think I was some kind of middle class wierdo. Took these on a long lens from across the street one morning. Ultimately they dictated what the sketch would be. The area is full of these Victorian era rail bridges and the arched tunnels. Used on to frame him and set him off the background.