Recently I found myself taking time off work to be with my family, spending a few well earned days on the beach with them. I thought I would make the most of this “time off” by taking advantage of all the free life models in their swim wear on the beach.

I took out my little watercolour box, A3 paper, drawing board and set up my brushes poking upright out of the sand. I seated myself comfortably in the inflatable chair of which I noticed my niece was ardently eyeing up.

However, none of the unsuspecting life models around would keep still long enough for me to make a decent sketch.

Finally my sister-in-law said, “Instead of painting strangers, why don’t you paint us?’ And so each of my family members got the experience of what it is like to sit really still, for 20 minutes each, as an artist’s model.