Coffee shop Centra Westland Row

We had a great time at Dublin Sketchers last Sunday - it was an unusual location, which had been recommended to me by one of the more experienced sketchers: the basement coffee shop in Centra on Westland Row. It's a little gem of a place - hidden away - you could easily miss the coffee shop, let alone the stairs leading down to a beautiful room with stone walls, good paintings, a courtyard view, and a baby grand piano!

One of our sketchers, Dave, entertained us with his guitar and singing (he felt the piano could do with  tuning), and we spent the afternoon sketching each other and humming along. Some people went for quality, I went for quantity!

At first, I avoided drawing people, but, let's face it, the coffee cups were not that interesting, so I had to move on and face my fears - not all of them bear a resemblance, but others I'm pretty pleased with.

PS: I kept a record of the songs Dave played for us - I don't think I caught them all, but feel free to sing along as you look at the sketches

The still life was done in a watercolour Moleskine, while the rest of the sketches are in a cheap paper no-brand sketchbook that I love, as the paper is strong enough to take watersoluble ink (Lamy Safari pen) and a light watercolour wash, but is cheap enough that I am not precious about it, which gives me great freedom to take risks and go for it!

Lessons learned?:

1. Less is more
2. Don't be afraid of the squiggles
3. A little frame finishes a sketch nicely