TESSA HENDERSON is an artist with three strings to her bow. The daughter of the architect Bill Henderson, she studied at the Royal College of Art under Sir Hugh Casson. She then became a house portraitist and for the last twenty-five years she has built a reputation for herself by drawing portraits of buildings of all sorts – from cottages to castles.

Having been attracted by working in pastel when a student, Tessa started to work in it more seriously in the 1980s. She occasionally exhibits her pastel paintings – mostly landscapes – which she does when needing a change from drawing buildings.

Ever since her childhood Tessa has followed her father’s example of keeping sketchbook diaries of her travels. Having kept drawing diaries all her life on her many journeys throughout the world, she is now teaching others to make sketchbooks of their travels. The well-established sketchbook making holidays that she leads are suitable for all levels. They are held at a most beautiful 11th-century monastery-turned-hotel, the three-star Hotel Monteconero, in a dramatic setting high above the Adriatic coast of Italy.

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SKETCHBOOKING HOLIDAYS, 2009 For details about the sketching holidays which Tessa leads every year in Italy, and also new courses being planned in Suffolk, click here.