David, Non And A Lovely Lad

This young man was one of the huge queue at the Goat Street Gallery, waiting to have their portraits done as part of BBC1 ‘The One Show” filming in St. David’s yesterday. He’s a very nice lad and a terrific model, very still and patient and held the pose for about half an hour.  I drew him using a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen in sizes S and F into my leatherbound Steampunk A5 sketchbook, going slightly across two pages.

St. David, Wales’ patron saint, gives his name to the city and also the vast cathedral, but this was built by the Normans at least half a millenium after he lived. He was born a couple of miles away and there is a tiny, ruined stone chapel dedicated to his mother, Saint Non, close to the Coastal Path, which is supposed to be David’s birthplace. I much prefer the simplicity of Non’s chapel to the grandeur of David’s cathedral. It’s more in keeping with the Celtic christianity which they practised back in the sixth century.

I’ll blog the rest of the portraits I drew over the next few days.