Dante often went sketching, taking with him a small folder of paper and a series of inks (mainly black and sepia) as well as a palette of water colours. He would use brush, pen but also various kinds of sticks – some which he had specially cut and some just as he found them. He would sketch swiftly and rarely retouched a drawing. They were intended to be entirely spontaneous realizations of experience. Some he later adapted as large scale pictures. His favoured places for repeated sketching were the local library (in Willesden), where he had a good view through a large glass window on the first floor of people walking in the street below, the local park (Queen’s Park near Brondesbury) and Hampstead Heath. He also enjoyed sketching in London Zoo. Since he was shy about talking to people if they asked him about what he was doing, most of his drawings of passers-by are sideways on or from behind.
