Sketching at a café - I finally did it!

Almost every week I have this idea of breaking up my normal daily routines by working at a café for an hour or two. In my mind I will have great coffee next to my laptop and also add some quality sketching time. But then I end up having so many excuses for not going today. This goes on week after week.

But why? I have a job (freelance journalist) that makes it possible for me to work almost everywhere. And I still end up going to my office or work from home. Not on a café.

I think it's because I have this idea that serious people work in offices. Working at home is already in the greyzone so I don't want to push it any further. But still I dream about cafés and I say to myself that once in a while I should really draw from the benefits of my freelancing lifestyle and just to it.

So the other day I actually did! I went to a café in the center of Gothenburg in the morning. I chose a seat overlooking the entrance, had a great cappucino and sandwich and started sketching.

I began with this stack of take-away-cups on the counter. Great to start with since they were completelly still. And then a customer came up and stood behind them so I quickly added him.

Take-away-cups

My other subjects where two customers talking on the phone. This lady actually held up with the phone for a few minutes while I captured her.

Lady without hair having a coffee.

And this guy stared out of the window and talking while I did my thing.

Staring out the café window.

To conclude; I had a great time sketching and I actually did some work too. I must do it again.

Expectation vs. reality - the truth about sketching and traveling in Berlin

Last week my kids had their autumnholiday so we went on a trip to...

Of course I had planned to sketch on the trip. I packed a journal and some pens, a fountain pen and a set of watercolors.

In my mind I had anticipated to fill up my almost new journal completely. I saw myself sketching at museums while my kids explored. Drawing street life and people at cafés and restaurants.

In reality I only did about a handfull of drawings. Beer glasses and soft drinks at restaurants.

A few boats at the huge Museum of Technology.

The hotell lobby.

And people in the tax free shop at the Tegel airport.

What went wrong?

One reason is that sketching actually is quite time consuming, at least for me. If I whip out my journal and a pen at a museum to start drawing something my family don't want to hang around and wait for me. Instead they they move on and I'm left behind. That is no fun. I too want to explore and see the exhibitions.

I found that situations when we were forced to wait was the most suitable to work in my journal. Like at restaurants, at the airport etc. The drawback is that you don't get to choose what to draw, but more or less have to settle for what is in front of you.

So much for the romantic idea of drawing beatiful sceneries and lively street life when travelling with small (-ish) kids.

Well, Berlin is great, for sure. It is huge. We walked and walked and still we only saw a small part of it. I need to go back to explore more.

I didn't realize this when booking the trip but now in November it is 25 years since the fall of the Berlin wall. We visited Bornholmer Strasse where there are still some remains of the wall. It was very interesting to see it in real life and to read about it's history.

Eventhough the wall was a reality when I grew up and after actually seen some of it now, it is still hard to grasp that one of the biggest cities in Europe was divided.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Where have all the colors gone?

It sure is autumn here. Only a few leaves are still clinging on to the branches and those that do are pale yellow or brown. There are no flowers to draw and summer seems far away.

I brought my tiny Moleskine journal and Lamy safari pen on my walk and decided to draw something. Birches and pine finally ended up in my sketchbook.

Autumn colors

The watercolor was added when I got home.

I copied the twig to the left in my (slightly) bigger sketchbook, and I turned out like this.

Bigger twigg

Today the rain is pouring down so no sketching outdoors can not be done. Maybe I will do something similar to these more imaginary trees that I did a few weeks ago.

Graphical tree

Or this more colorful, map like tree shape.

Quick sketches

Sketching people that walks, talks and makes all kinds of movements is a challenge. I went out to try and capture a few glimpses.

People waiting for the tram.

To the left: a view from above of an old house. To the right: a dady with a stroller and a shopping bag.

From a café; boys staring at their smartphones and a dad with kid hiding behind an adidas bag.

My top 5 sketching inspiration

I follow a number of different bloggers and artists for different kind of creative purposes. When it comes to sketching, which is my number one passion (next to sewing clothes) right now, these are the artists I most frequently take time to visit right now:

Andrea Joseph

Her detailed sketches are so fantastic. Often drawn with only a ball point pen, in one color and yet there are so many details. I believe she is the opposite of an impatient sketcher.

Nina Johansson

She is just so good at what she does. Buildings, landscapes, people, the composition and colors are just plain and simple beautiful.

Maria Coryell-Martin

I look at her art and realize what you actually can do with watercolor. I don't know if I would call it inspirational to look at her pictures, I can't imagine ever producing something close to that, but they are amazing.

Tommy Kane

It is always fun to see what he is up to. Both his sketches and comments are often very spot on.

Lisa Condon

I like her simple line works and the color scheme. So simple shapes but so intricate. Makes me want to try for myself.

Todays sketch

I took a short walk to strech my legs after sitting all day. I brought my small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook and Lamy pen. The intention was to find a place to sit down and make a quick sketch of something interesting. But since I'm not completely comfortable sketching having people around me, it is tricky to find such a place.

There are a lot of old beautiful buildings in the neighborhood of my office and I ended up on a bench not far from a childrens playground. So at the sound of childrens play I drew this house.

Sketch of today

There are so many intricate details of these houses so I really got tired of drawing it. And it shows. The left hand page has more detail, that is where I started out. On the right hand page I wished the page was even smaller than it is.

Three little friends from the playground came over to my bench and the girl in the company asked me what I was doing. I told her I was drawing. She looked at my drawing and asked me if I like houses. I said yes, but in my head I said no.

I guess I wasn't lying to her. I like houses it is just that drawing houses might not be my thing.

Walking and sketching

I found this beautiful house when I was out walking last week. I quickly made a sketch and then colored it in with watercolor when I was back home. I'm not very comfortable sketching in public but I'm working on it.

Walking and sketching