Sun, coffee and gouache in Jaffa

Sunny spring afternoon, we're having coffee at one of the corners of Jaffa. I'm pulling out my gouache set and starting to arrange the colors on the palette. "And what about the paints?"- the waitress is asking me while she brings ours coffee. "What about them?" - I'm asking her. "They wouldn't dirt the table?" "No, please don't worry! They are water based!"
Recently I'm in love with gouache and acrylic. I want to back to painting, the real one, as I did in the art school, but I don't have proper time for it. So I'm trying to bring it to my Urban Sketching. It requires more arrangements than just watercolor and pencils. And my bag is getting heavy. But I don't give up, and it pays back - I enjoy it a lot.

In my first sketch I'm trying to capture the whole scene - the street, the coffee drinkers and especially the sun coming from theirs back and giving all the characters kind of  aureole.
The couple on the left were speaking Italian, on the right - Russian. I felt abroad.

The group that came after were German tourists.

This girl with high hairdo arrived suddenly, drunk her coffee along, and continued on her way. I barely had time to capture her.

 And at the end - how not? My friends Nathan and Shai, smoking and chatting.

Coffee and friends at Basma

Levinsky - hipsters and beggars

Levinsky market area is one of my favorite places for sketching and food. In the past one the poorest areas of Tel Aviv, today turning to be more and more trendy. Old shops start to give a place to super-cool boutiques, simple worker-class restaurants - to "authentic" chef-houses, the area gets full of all kind of touristic tours. Residents are contrast mixture as well - coffee shops full of hipsters and tourists, beggars and street sellers passing between them. I know that changes are inevitable, I don't know if I like them that way, though...

view on Levinsky street from trendy Tonny&Ester coffee chop

coffee drinkers in Tonny&Ester

hipster with a red knitted hat

People in coffee shops

Coffee shops aren't the most breathtaking places for sketching, but people are everywhere, and people in coffee shops are perfect models - busy by chatting and eating, telling to a sketcher-hunter a lot of stories.

two not very young women

grandpa and his grandson

girls chatting

hipster looking like Herzel

Weekend in Prague

Here are some sketches I managed to do during the last weekend, I spent with my husband in Prague (his birthday present).
Prague is really beautiful city, sometimes it's too beautiful - charming Old City's streets look as they taken direct from the Disneyland ;) Usually I don't fancy drawing places that are too pretty. But luckily, there are people around and they always give me subjects for my sketches.

colors on the grey background of the Old City Square

having beer and waiting for the jazz

live jazz in one of Prague bars

next evening out - Cuban music in another bar

street musicians playing at farmers market

lunch at famous Cafe Savoy 

Sculpture at the park near Vltava river

the last night at Pizza Nuova

At "Beta and Grega"

Beta and Grega - is the name of the coffee shop at the corner of Alenbi and Levontin streets in Tel Aviv. This area of the south of the city is full of contrasts - beautiful renovated Bauhaus buildings and crumbling walls full of graffiti, trendy coffee shops full of celebs and beggars passing through.
As you can understand - perfect place for sketching and finding stories.

it was Nathan's last day with his new beard ;)

Cowboy in Tel Aviv

Sima - woman that lives at the street, everybody knows her, asked us to draw her

Drink&draw at "Suzanna"

Here are some sketches I did during our small drink&draw we had with with a bunch of friends-sketchers in "Suzanna" - coffee shop at Neve Zedek. Few hours flied as a one minute - I think I could do it all the day along - chatting, drinking and sketching with my friends.

Champs-Élysées in Tel Aviv

Sitting at  the coffee shop near the French Institute, at the corner of Herzel and Rotschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, having a cup of coffee and listening to the calm music playing on the background, I felt a bit like sitting in the middle of Champs-Élysées in Paris :)

More stories from Loveat

Here are more sketched stories from coffee shop Loveat, done during our lust sketchcrawl. Coming to the same place again and again for sketching (and drinking, of course!) makes me feel totally at home - so fun!

the whole family is feeding the baby

two girls in the middle of the serious conversation about art and sense of life

a couple talking about vacation

the most beautiful girl in the coffee shop

At Loveat again

Here are some more sketches done in the different branches of coffee shop Loveat - I was checking places for our Sketchcrawls.
Every place has it's internal pace and life of its own. When you come the same place several times, you start to see familiar faces, feel more at home.
I tried out different points of view and different materials, looking for the sketch that tells the story best. But maybe all of them are telling the different side of the same story.

view on the front side of the Loveat at Barzilai - people out and inside, divided by the glass

they look like permanent clients 

view on the street - palms vs skyscrapers

interactions and overheard conversations at Habima branch

the man and his tablet

See you tomorrow at the sketchcrawl, sure will find some more stories!

Coffee & sketch at Loveat

A cup of coffee and a sketchbook always go great together. Our last sketchcarwl at the branch of Loveat at Nahalat Benyamin was flawing smoothly - nice spring weather, charming coffee shop, lively surrounding, great company and plenty of models - what else could you ask?
I was sitting near the bar and sketching this panoramic drawing - I wasn't needed to move!

:I did this sketch at the another branch of Loveat at Brazilai St. a week ago

 !See you at the next Sketchcrawl

Jaffa - inside and outside.

Here are two sketches that I did today in Jaffa.
First one - at "Puah" - trendy coffee shop at Flea Market, there is always busy inside.

Second one - at one of Jaffa's streets. This colorful house captured my attention and I stopped my car on my way home to sketch it.

Jaffa is a perfect place for sketchers - you can find stories everywhere!

Sketchcrawl in South Tel Aviv

Finally, I've scanned sketches from our last Sketchcrawl in South Tel Aviv. I love this colorful area and it was a problem to choose what to draw – it’s too many subjects I would love to capture!

Our group met at urban garden, very quiet at the morning, occupated by dog's owners only.

We moved then to the Levinsky Market area, full of colors and sences.

When rain has started, we did't run away!

It was a great day, so nice to meet all these talented sketchers, to see what stories they captured from the same area.