At the core of his practice is a relentless sketching discipline. Following the ancient Greek painter Apelles’ injunction that not a day should pass without at least tracing a line, Jack is always armed with an A4 sketchbook and seventy pencils sharpened like a prison shiv in his bag, ready to capture portraits and the fleeting gestures of the people around him—whether they be strangers on the tram, his friends, his fiancée, or himself in the mirror. This mix of discipline and childlike curiosity has greatly sharpened his eye and quickened his hand over the years, allowing him to tackle his more ambitious works in the studio with greater confidence and sincerity. The result is a body of work that is rough yet refined, confident yet deeply observant—always grounded in and true to life.