June 25, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Coffee shots

I’ve been busy this week so my regular coffee schedule has been all mixed up. However, I managed to make two drawings on Tuesday. One person sat very still while waiting for his coffee (if only I could get everyone to do so).

Seated man, pen, ink and wash, 23 June 2015

After he left I drew some cyclists sitting in the outside area.

Cyclists, pen and ink and wash, 23 June 2015

After several days of not so good weather we are finally having a bright sunny winter’s day. Not wanting to miss out on such a pleasant day we called some friends and met up for coffee. Per usual finding something interesting to draw when I go to the same place most weeks is a challenge. Today we were the only customers when we arrived at the cafe. So I settled on painting the tree trunk and shadows that we cast on it. I’m pretty pleased with the result.

Tree with cast shadows, watercolour, 25 June 2015

BTW I’m the odd figure on the left with ‘horns’. I’m wearing my novelty hat with the cat’s ears that I bought in Beijing last year! (Oh well if you can’t be a good example you just have to be a horrible warning!)

June 15, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Coffee all around!

It seems inevitable, if you are going to draw in coffee shops then one day there will be an accident. Courtesy of me knocking over a full mug of coffee earlier this week I now have a coffee-infused sketchbook. Several pages got a complete drenching and the remaining pages now all have a latte-coloured edge. What really annoyed me was that I was just getting into what looked like would be a good person sketch when it happened!

Portrait with a mug of coffee thrown on, 9 June 2015

It’s somewhat off-putting that I get a strong smell of milky coffee whenever I pick up my book. I’m hoping that will dissipate with time!

I’ve only just started this book so throwing it away isn’t going to happen. Here’s my Cafe Wednesday sketch.

Cafe Wednesday with extra shot!, pen and ink and watercolour, 10 June 2015

On the weekend I painted a pallet across the road from our other regular coffee spot.

Chemist sign and pallet, watercolour, pen and ink, 13 June 2015

These were the most damaged pages so after this it should just be the odd blotch and a coffee rim around the edge!

June 1, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Random Cafe Drawings

Here are some sketches from the past few weeks, no theme other than they were drawn while drinking coffee!

I was just getting this portrait started when the man finished his coffee and left. I decided to fill the rest of the page with a sign I could see out the window.

Part portrait and sign, pen and ink and watercolour, 19 May 2015

At least this next subject wasn’t going anywhere!

Garbage skip, 24 May 2015, watercolour and Copic marker

Garbage skip, 24 May 2015, watercolour, pen and ink and Copic marker

last but not least a blind drawing of the scene across from the cafe with lots of wheels in it. A forklift, a shopping trolley, a wheelie bin, two flatbed trolleys and a car. (Please excuse the image quality, the page wouldn’t sit flat on the scanner and I had some bleed through from the previous drawing on the other side of the page).

Lots of wheels, pen and ink 26 May 2015

May 12, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Sketch

A quick sketch with some added watercolour from a cafe stop today. I still struggle with the idea of only adding highlights with watercolour rather than ‘colouring in’ my sketches.

Coffee drinkers at the Italian Bakery, pen and ink and watercolour, 12 May 2015

What I was really happy with when I made this sketch, was the performance of my modified Duke 209 fountain pen. Despite making progress in getting a thicker line with the modifications I’d made several weeks ago, the ink flow overall was still poor and very intermittent. The brand of ink I was using (Windsor and Newton Calligraphy Ink) was drying up between the ink cartridge and the nib. I was at the point of chucking the pen out but decided that maybe the problem was the ink not the pen! I put Noodlers Bulletproof Black into the cartridge and right away the ink was flowing. The ink has kept flowing even when I don’t use the pen for several days. I’d like to also pass on a tip I saw on someone’s video clip (possibly one from The Pen Habit) of turning the pen over and drawing with the top of the nib to get those fine lines – weird but it works. If this pen continues to deliver as it did today I’ll be very happy indeed.

April 24, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Wednesday – windswept

It was blowing a howling southerly on Wednesday, not quite as bad as that experienced by my family in the Hunter Valley of NSW, but bad enough. I drew these two gents who, like us had retreated into the cafe to get warm and enjoy a chat. I was trying to draw from the inside out, that is not starting with outlines but only adding them later as necessary.

Two old men chatting, pen and ink, 22 April 2015

leonieandrews

Tag / cafe drawings