WHEN DERWENT RELEASED their first set of XL Blocks back in 2013, I was an immediate adherent, using them in large-scale life drawings, grating them into gesso for tinted grounds and introducing them into my tutored life classes. When the lab at Derwent sent me a trial set of the brand-new Inktense XL Blocks, I was delighted and put them to use on a new series of portraits which eventually made their way onto the new tins. In this
