SketchCrawl North: Christmas Sketch-Lunch

SketchCrawl North had a Christmas get-together on Saturday. 

We booked the Harland Cafe in Sheffield, which is kind of artsy, and they put together a huge table for us, with a very sketchable tablecloth! 

We alternated between drinking, eating and sketching, and occasionally tried drinking / eating / sketching simultaneously.

I fancied the all-day veggie breakfast, but in the end chose the soup, as I thought it would be something I could leave for 5 or 10 minutes, while I drew it. Luckily it came good and hot. I kept dipping my finger in to test how much longer I could draw!

When we'd done with the sensible food, we indulged in some cake. I had some banana bread but Matthew pulled out all the stops with a full-on icing-plus-cherry-and-almonds cake, with jammy filling. He spent so long drawing it,  he never got to eat it at all, and had to take it home in a napkin:

It was a bit of a tight squeeze and those pinned round the back of the table did well holding onto their bladders until half time, when we all got up and moved places, so we were sat next to different people.

I fancied a change, so tried some blind-contour drawing, inspired by my friend Andrea Joseph who often does this to warm up. They are not 100% blind, as I did allow myself sneaky glimpses at the paper when I needed to replace my pencil in a new position.

At 2.45, the cafe had a children's party booked in, so we got kicked out and a few of us reconvened at our house.

I did some more blind-contour sketches, which are very quick and such fun. They often capture something about the subject which you don't get in a normal drawing. Unfortunately, sometimes they are not as flattering as they might be (poor Andrea):

And guess who this handsome chappy is:

Thanks to all the sketchers who came and thanks to the Harland Cafe for hosting. If you want to see more sketches and photos, take a look here.