Teapot sketches from the middle of a workday

January 28, 2022 | 3 Comments


My current project – sketching my way through my teapot collection – is going to be a fairly casual affair.  I don’t want to put any pressure on myself to do a ‘good’ portrait of each teapot – instead, I expect that I’ll generally do really quick sketches in the middle of my workday during an in-between moment.

This afternoon I sketched this lovely red cast iron teapot in a few minutes. It’s definitely a pot that I want to sketch more often as it’s a great shape, is a lovely vibrant red colour and has some interesting black ribs.


Earlier in the week, I did these sketches as part of Foundations Abstracting Shapes exercises (as already seen here). The teapot (by Robert Gordon) isn’t clearly defined in this sketch, so there will be more sketches of it in the near future.


And on Monday afternoon while I was in the middle of doing some planning, I did a very wonky continuous line drawing of the collection of pots and cups on my desk. Next, I added a little grey watercolour wash and then a few hours later I used coloured pencils (Derwent Coloursoft) over the top. Here is the Robert Gorden pot again and another larger blue pot – both with a similar design.


Finally, here is my go-to teapot (a double-walled stainless steel pot), milk jug and a matching small bowl. This was another ‘thinking’ sketching in the middle of a work session – starting with a few paint washes and built up as I was thinking about something else.

As you all know I love sneaking a little sketching into my day while I’m in the middle of something else! This is a great way of capturing the trivia of the day and I often find that these become interesting memories in years to come. I’m not sure if any of these will trigger significant memories, but I’m happy to have these quick loose sketches in my sketchbook.

3 Comments

  • Sydney Brown says:

    I love all of these! Each has it’s own distinct personality and showcases the advantages of each media.

  • Jamie C says:

    Love these! So much energy in them. Good thinking must be happening while sketching them! I rather like the idea of a quick sketch in a thinking moment. I will have to try that, as I’m looking for ways to marry sketching with other life activities.

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