Mixed Media on paper

Signed on the back.

One of my favourite cafes is this one in Newcastle, NSW, just down the road from a friend’s flat.

Beyond excellent coffee, this cafe exudes charm and character.

I love how there are fresh roses on every table, and how patina across every surface makes it feel like this place has been here as long as the city itself.

It possibly has …

This used to be the site of a bank. The timber floors must be original: they seem so very old and full of soul.

I tried to capture the textures and patinas of the materials and including the posters on the counter. And of course, the beautiful old hardwood floors, full of the stories of centuries; and the single red rose in a glass vase at my table.

This is a kind of meditation on value and the spirit of matter.

For a bank, the value is about “how much”, but also, about what kind of much. Banks used to be on a human scale, and where coins and gold bullion were kept on site and handled by hand.

The world has become electronic and virtual now. But this beautiful little cafe seems a charming remnant of a more handmade and handcrafted world.

I could happily sit and draw or write here all day.

I drew this at the cafe in late 2022, early summer. It was my first trip out of Canberra since the beginning of the pandemic; and so sitting in a café in another city was like an exotic holiday.

This was one of my first drawings in gouache on Arches cotton paper, an approach that I am further exploring. This combination gives the feeling of stepping inside a storybook, which suited this subject so well.