Michael Nobbs

Tag: blackwing-3

  • Drawing with the Stub of my Pencil at 5.00am

    A view of a gentle early-morning tea-tray scene arranged on a crocheted blanket. An open sketchbook sits on a tray decorated with tiny hens, its pages filled with loose line drawings of birds, a Barista oat-milk carton, and a handwritten reflection about drawing with a pencil stub at 5 a.m. A warm yellow clip-light illuminates the pages. Around the sketchbook are the familiar objects of the morning ritual: a **lime-green teapot**, a tall stainless-steel flask, and a bright **orange Stanley insulated mug** whose **Perspex lid is softly clouded with condensation**. A Barista oat-milk carton stands at the back of the tray. On the right-hand side, resting on the patterned surface, are a **brass pencil sharpener** and the **tiny pencil stub** the drawing was made with — small tools emphasising the quiet, handmade nature of the moment. The atmosphere is cosy, domestic, and attentive — an early pocket of comfort and drawing.

    I just used a pencil for today’s drawing. I wondered about adding some colour, but wanted to keep things simple.

    I found myself revealing a little more about my habits and routines than perhaps I intended — talking about my need to use a pencil to its stubbly end and how I’ve developed a routine of saving the old stubs in a jar — with another for the shavings.

    The new insulated mug is present again, not quite fully on the page. The new chicken illustrated tray-mat too. Both feeling much more familiar — enjoyable even – to draw.

    The text reads:

    Drawing with the stub of my pencil at 5.00am. I’m reluctant to let it go, bo but I can’t sharpen it any more (sic). I have a jar where I keep the old stubs

    A close-up view of an open sketchbook resting on a tray patterned with tiny illustrated hens. Warm yellow lamplight softens the cream pages. On the left page is a handwritten note about drawing with the stub of a pencil at 5 a.m., with a row of small bird sketches beneath it. On the right page is a loose line drawing of a Barista oat-milk carton beside a **round orange Stanley insulated mug**, seen from above with its **Perspex lid lightly misted with condensation**. At the top of the image, the real orange insulated mug sits just above the sketchbook, and to the left the curved edge of a **lime-green teapot** enters the frame. On the tray beside the sketchbook lie a **tiny pencil stub** and a **small brass pencil sharpener**, catching a little of the lamplight. The whole scene feels intimate and quietly early — a small pocket of drawing before dawn.

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  • Risking Cold Tea

    A warm, early-morning bedroom scene lit by a small reading light illuminating a tray on a crocheted blanket. On the tray — which is illustrated with Moomins — are a jug, a mug, a dish holding a used teabag, crayons, and a sketchbook open to a drawing of the mug, teabag and Moomins from the tray. A book rests behind the tray, and the light casts a soft glow across the scene.

    Back to the much more familiar this morning — drawing with the light on and drawing my Go Gently Louise mug on my Moomin tray.

    I was awake VERY early this morning (about 2.00 am) and couldn’t go back to sleep, so decided to make myself a mug of tea.

    I need everything to feel as familiar as possible at that time in the morning and so, as I boiled the kettle was picturing my routine of taking my tea back to bed, reaching into my drawing bag and pulling out my sketchbook and Lochby pouch containing my very stubby Blackwing 3 stub and settling down to draw.

    In that mental picture I saw not my new orange insulate mug on my tea tray, but rather my friendly old Louise Go Gently mug. Likewise, my tray wasn’t the large chicken one with the new tray mat on it, but my comforting Moomin tray.

    These choices would dictate what I would draw this morning. Familiarity stacked on top of familiarity. Lovely!

    The text in the drawing reads:

    As much as I like my new insulated mug, I realise that I’ve been missing my Louise Go Gently mug. So I’m risking cold tea and having it on my tray again this morning.

    A close-up of an open sketchbook resting on a crocheted blanket. The pages show a drawing of a mug and a dish holding a used teabag sitting on a Moomin-themed tray. The drawing is made with pencil and the tray is coloured in olive green crayon. At the top of the drawing is handwritten text about missing a familiar mug. Part of the real tea tray with a mug, jug, and teabag dish is visible at the top edge of the image.

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