Something changed today. Why, I’m not entirely sure, but today I let go. I stopped tryingto produce little portraits and I just – sketched. In all my previous cafe trips, I’ve done one drawing per page, and each one has been anattempt at a complete, albeit quick drawing. Many, many times I’ve told myself that
Cafe Sketches – 2nd September 2006
August slipped by without a visit to the cafe. It was a busy month. As usually happenswhen I take a break from the cafe for a while, I thoroughly enjoyed myself yesterday. Although I only got three drawings done, I’m pretty happy with all of them, whichmakes a change. Also, the last one was my
Cafe Sketches – 29th July 2006
There were no cafe sketches from last week since I was away for a few days over the weekend,celebrating a friends birthday. It would be nice to round off July with some nice drawings, buttoday wasn’t one of the better trips. Usually, I start off rough and get better. Today, I started better and got
Cafe Sketches – 15th July 2006
This is my third trip now for July, and I’m enjoying my time sketching in the cafe morethan I ever have. I seem to have recovered from the frustration I was feeling at thebeginning of June.Not much has changed really, my mental attitude – trying to turn off my internal critic – andmy approach –
Cafe Sketches – 8th July 2006
Back to my regular weekly trips to the cafe now. Taking June off from these sketches certainlyseems to have helped, sometimes you need to get away from something for a bit so that youcan reassess how you approach it, then come back with fresh eyes. I find I am approaching thesesketches a bit differently now,
Cafe Sketches – 1st July 2006
It’s been almost a month since I went down the local cafe to draw. Thelast trip didn’tgo well, I couldn’t settle and did some pretty awful drawings. The proportions were out,I couldn’t seem to find anyone who sat still long enough to be drawn, and I left in a fitof pique after a few hasty
Cafe Sketches – 3rd June 2006
Today did not go well. When I started these cafe sketches I found the experienceliberating. It got me out of my little back bedroom, away from obsessive self portraitsand broke my tendency to try to produce finished drawings before I was getting the basics ofproportion right. But increasingly the feeling of liberation and the elation
Cafe Sketches – 27th May 2006
Today I wanted to deal more with shapes than with likenesses. It struck me recently thatI’ve been increasingly falling into trying to get likenesses of the people I draw, whichis natural I guess, but I think the drawings have been suffering a bit lately becauseof that. Always I’m fighting against the temptation to produce finished
Twelve Cafe Drawings
Actually they’re not all strictly cafe drawings this time, since one was done on the train, oneon the tube (Bakerloo line,) and one in the Hammersmith Apollo. These three drawings were done on a trip into town to see Jose Gonzalez play. It was a nice evening,but I didn’t get much done in the way
Cafe Sketches – 20th May 2006
This was the first trip in two weeks This was quite a good trip, although it didn’t start well. I slept in and didn’t get down theretill about eleven, which meantthat all my favourite seats at the front window were taken and the place was busy. I ended upat the little table at the back