Another food sketching @ Balzac's Coffee Roasters

Yesterday I stopped by Balzac's coffee roasters (Market St. location) before doing grocery shopping at St. Lawrence Market. I grabbed a seat near the entrance door and thought it would be a perfect spot for sketching. The interior of the coffee shop looks very cozy and rustic. 

I indulged in a decaf coffee and a lemon tart and started a quick sketch. It was challenging by painting watercolour without the outlines. The result was not bad at all. For the counter angle, I sketched like I always do with the pen lines and watercolours. 

Sketching at Neo Coffee Bar

Sketching food is one of my favourite things to do. Today I went to Neo Coffee Bar which is a new Japanese-style coffee shop on King St. East. I wanted to try J-desert and coffee. This time I got a "Rose and Berry" roll cake with a blueberry, rasberry and a blackberry on top. I thought I would like to use my bright watercolours painting berries. I wanted to try a latte but I ended up getting a cold brew coffee instead. I loved the aroma of the coffee while I was sketching food at the coffeshop. It took 30 minutes to sketch, but less than a minute to finish my roll. That was my reward!

Another Rainy Saturday

I couldn't sketch outdoor today because of this rain. It kept raining and raining, the forecast said it would be raining till tomorrow. So I only could did it inside the car. Some folks sat under the canopy of the café for chatting and enjoying the chilly rainy Saturday afternoon. I enjoyed watching and sketching them, listening the sound by the rain hitting the car and a cup of coffee. Where is Mr. Sun?

Public Sketchbook Project

A couple weeks ago I discovered this neat little project curated by Above Ground Art Supplies store called the Public Sketchbook Project. They a sketchbook and all kinds of art material in various local coffee shops for people to sketch while they're having coffee. There was all kinds of interesting artwork in there already and I decided to add a little sketch of my own of the view from where I was sitting and a shameless plug for our sketching group.

CSI Coffee Pub

Today I met with a couple people at  CSI Coffee Pub. They have a large open space with an interesting decor. One of the things that I like about the design of the space was the installation on the windows. Plants were suspended from the ceiling right in front of the windows in a nice grid of three columns and three rows. It looks like whoever installed this put careful thought on how to arrange the plants as the larger ones were aligned on the top and bottom row and the smaller ones were aligned in the middle row. It's a clever way to add plants and art in the room without taking any extra space. 

There was a lot of people working in the space. It seems like it's a popular spot to work in group. In front of me was a group of people seemingly working on solving a problem. Who knows, they might be working on the next big social media application

Dark Horse Espresso Bar

We had a another great turnout for our sketching event at the Dark Horse Espresso Bar on Saturday. Our group essentially took over half of the mezzanine and had a great view of the place. It's a nice coffee shop with large tables on the main floor and a cozy lounge on the mezzanine behind the counter. The large windows immediately caught my eye. They make the space look nice and bright. 

The coffee shop was full. It seems like it's a popular spot. The staff seemed to be going non stop.  It's a great place to hang out. I would definitely go back there again. 

TOUSK Meetup #6 : Balzac Coffee

The plan for our 6th meetup was to go sketch the Christmas Market at the Distillery District, but we were so cozy and comfortable at our meeting point,  Balzac Coffee Shop ,  that we decided to stay and sketch there the entire time. Despite the place being packed due to the holiday attractions all ten of us managed to find a nice spot on the second floor. It gave us a great opportunity to get a birds eye view of the space.

This coffee shop has a lot of character and interesting vignettes to sketch. I managed to capture various groups of people enjoying a hot drink after waiting in line forever. I felt bad for the staff, they were going non stop.  The coffee machine just couldn't keep up with the volume order fast enough. While I was waiting for my drink, I took the opportunity to sketch the sweets on the counter and a portion of the only coffee machine. The staff was moving too fast for me to capture them.

It was great to see all the sketches from the other artists. It always amazes me to see the variety of subjects that can come out of a single location.  

Aroma

Things have been busy lately and I've really been missing time for urban sketching.  I have, however, observed three new Aroma Espresso Bars opening up around my neighbourhood over the past month.  It reminds me of this drawing I did years ago, when there was only one Aroma in the Annex.

Artists at The Only Cafe

Toronto has tons of choices of activities to do for artists. There seem to be something for everyone. A couple weeks ago I joined a group called Sketching Around the City and the other day, I met up with members of the group to sketch and hang out at The Only Cafe. It's a cozy little coffee shop and bar. The place has an eclectic style with tons of frames on the wall, stained glass, disco ball and a mix style of furniture. 

We essentially took over their little lounge area to sketch and talk. It was nice to meet more fellow artists from various backgrounds and exchange ideas, tips, information and aspirations. The place was interesting to sketch. There was a good flow of people on the coffee shop side. I wish I had a little more time but I managed to draw the space and partially draw some of the other sketchers (in the foreground). After our drawing session we went to eat in a restaurant in the Kensington Market area. It was a great night.