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Inspiration and practical advice for aspiring realist artists

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Cafe Sketches – 9th September 2006

September 9, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 2nd September 2006

September 2, 2006 By: Paul1 Comment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 29th July 2006

July 29, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 15th July 2006

July 15, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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 –

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Cafe Sketches – 8th July 2006

July 8, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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,

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Cafe Sketches – 1st July 2006

July 1, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 3rd June 2006

June 3, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 27th May 2006

May 27, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Twelve Cafe Drawings

May 21, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Cafe Sketches – 20th May 2006

May 20, 2006 By: Paulcomment

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

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Hi, I’m Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you on yours.
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