Coffee on Moleskine

I watched a Danny Gregory video on Youtube this morning. Actually I only watched the first couple of minutes of it before I decided that it was imperative that I sketch my breakfast. I'm sure I've sketched plenty of breakfasts/lunches/cups of coffee in my life but watching the video prompted me to do it again but with the dip pen. I usually only draw this kind of thing when I'm out and about in a cafe and so am sketching with a pencil or pitt pen.

I haven't actually used the dip pen in the A6 Moleskine before and it was a bit of a challenge I found as it is such a small space and I like to be able to be quite 'swoopy' with the dip pen. It looked like it needed a bit of colour when it was done and as I noticed that everything that had any colour in it in the composition was a tone of brown - coffee, crumpet, wooden table - I used the very strong remnants of the coffee in the bottom of the pot and painted it on with a big brush.  It cockled quite a lot but it seemed such an appropriate medium to use, especially as it made the sketch smell of coffee!  I really revel in being able to drink this coffee. Being pregnant I had to ditch strong coffee due to the caffeine and also can't have decaf due to the chemicals they use in it. But a few weeks ago I tracked down this 'Swiss water decaf' which is safe for the baby. They remove the caffeine by some clever filtering process. It isn't widely available but I got hold of it in Whittards, which is also nice as of course they grind the beans up fresh for you there. I used a bit of ink wash for the shading.

What I like most about this sketch is the geometric pattern on the plate. I was nervous about doing it and really thought I was going to stuff it up. But once I got the rhythm of it I really enjoyed drawing it. Now I want to go to the museum and sketch some Greek pots!