The skill of drawing has always been the foundation to Gledhill’s work. Under the tuition of artists such as John Lessore while studying at the Royal Academy Schools the importance of drawing set a precedent for life. Using either charcoal or pencil, Gledhill draws from the subject and works from the drawings back at the studio to develop his paintings. The subject can often be a London street scene but Gledhill’s focus will also be on the people who pass through that street, commuting to and from work.

Aware that the physical rigour and the rigour of skill demanded in drawing from life requires continual mastering and constant practice, Gledhill draws weekly from the model at the R.A. schools Life Drawing Room in Piccadilly.

Autumn 2013 Gledhill began a series of portraits in his studio .The model sits on a raised platform eyes resting on the wall ahead where hangs ‘New Birth in the City’ (2013) Gledhill’s most recent painting in black and white depicting the Thames flanked with cityscapes of London’s glass monumental skyscrapers.

The head portrait is worked on an easel set up near the model.

In 2012 Gledhill was invited to give a lecture on the importance of Drawing to Fine Art students at Washington University, St. Louis, USA. Taking Ingres dictum that ‘Drawing is the Probity of Art’ as his title Gledhill argued that this statement is just as right for artist’s practice now as it was then.