Month / June 2013

by Leonie Andrews

The dinosaur at my coffee shop

I’m not sure how this happened, but I forgot to publish this post from last month (15 May). Better late than never, which might be appropriate for my subject matter.

I was thinking that there wasn’t much to draw today when I went for my regular cup of coffee then I remembered the dinosaur next to the coffee shop. Yup, a Postosuchus, a North American dinosaur that was part of the ancestral lineage of today’s crocodiles.  Of course this is a model rather than the real thing and belongs to the reptile shop next door to the coffee shop. While our friend looked quite jaunty over Christmas, sporting a red Santa hat, I am glad I wasn’t around when it was alive as it was one of the top predators of it’s era.  Here is my quick pen sketch.

A pen sketch of our local Postosuchus

A pen sketch of our local Postosuchus (yes, I did get the spelling wrong on the drawing)

As someone who fancies her powers of observation, that fact that I never thought to draw this chap before seems to be rather a lapse.

by Leonie Andrews

A teapot

Under the 'waterfall' at the South Building, New Acton

Under the ‘waterfall’ at the South Building, New Acton

On Friday we ate lunch at Mocan & Green Grout, located under this cascade of oxidised steel plate.

Customers sit on thin leather cushions on blocks of wood, or on string stools. The place is bustling with staff, cooking and conversation. While waiting for our meal we had something to drink.

My tea came in a dramatically shaped iron tea pot.

Blind drawing of the teapot

Blind drawing of the teapot

I struggled to draw the pot’s unusual shape. The flattened base, the solid handle and the elegant spout. A gradation of raised spots flared across the cast iron surface. I made more sense of the spots when I drew them on the corner of the page.