Michael Nobbs

Tag: tea-tray drawings

Tea-tray drawings are a recurring part of my drawing practice — small, everyday observations made while I sit with my tea, usually from the familiar collection of objects gathered around me. Over time they have become a kind of visual diary, recording ordinary mornings, changing materials, and small shifts in how I look at and draw the world close at hand.

  • Letting myself get used to where I am

    A view of an early-morning drawing setup on a bed covered in a colourful crocheted blanket. A large open sketchbook shows a drawing of a tea tray, with a mug, a jug, a tea strainer and a chicken-patterned cloth rendered in black line and blocks of blue, turquoise, grey and deep pink Neocolor II. The left-hand page includes handwritten notes about finding comfort in the familiar and the date 1-10-26. Above the sketchbook is the real tea tray, holding a bright green teapot and the mug, tea strainer and striped earthenware jug from the drawing. Drawing tools, including some Neocolor II crayons, a short yellow pencil and a purple fountain pen, are also lying in view on the tray.
    Close-up of an open sketchbook on a bed covered in a crocheted blanket, showing an early-morning drawing of a tea tray. The right-hand page contains line drawings of a mug, a jug and a tea strainer among areas of blue, turquoise, grey and deep pink Neocolor II. A chicken-patterned tray cloth is drawn beneath the objects. On the left-hand page, handwritten text begins “5:10am” and reflects on finding comfort in the familiar after a period of stretching himself creatively. We can see pens and pencils on one corner of the actual tea tray from the drawing, just visible above the sketchbook.

    This morning I found myself returning to drawing my tea tray again.

    I wrote:

    Finding comfort in the familiar. I’ve been stretching myself recently. It’s time to stop that for a while and let myself get used to where I am.

    I suspect the biggest stretch last month wouldn’t look like much of a stretch at all to someone looking in: a gentle half-hour chat over Zoom with an artist and educator I admire. But the anticipation of the conversation had left me in a state of anxiety from the moment I arranged it.

    In the end — as the me underneath the anxiety knew it would be — the conversation was very good. Useful, encouraging, and something I think is going to become an important monthly part of my creative life.

    The anxiety beforehand was another matter.

    I’ve recently started using an app called FatigueSense that gives me an allowance of energy points for each day. I usually begin with somewhere around 60. By the time yesterday’s conversation was over, I had eight left, and I was down to zero soon after.

    That feels like quite a clear measure of what anticipation and anxiety can cost me, even when the thing I’m anxious about turns out to be good.

    So this morning it felt important to return to something familiar: the tea tray, the chicken-patterned cloth, the things that are around me every day. Drawing first with the stub of a Blackwing 3, and then reaching for some well-used Neocolor IIs.

    I need plenty more mornings like this in October while I get used to the place all my recent stretching has left me.

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  • Not putting my mirror away just yet

    An open small homemade sketchbook rests on top of a much larger red-and-white patterned Fabriano sketchbook. Across the two pages is Michael’s final Selfietember drawing: a black-line self-portrait reflected in a round mirror, alongside his Stanley flask mug and milk jug sitting on his morning tea tray, which is covered with blue chicken-patterned fabric. “Thirty days of drawing myself” is handwritten across the top. Beside the sketchbook is a small collection of drawing materials, including black and brown pens, pencils, a blue-tipped pencil and an orange pen. Above the drawing, the corner of the actual tray, mug and chicken-covered fabric are visible.

    I feel less bone-deep weary today and even a little celebratory to have reached the thirtieth and final day of Selfietember.

    I’m probably not going to put my mirror away just yet. I’ve been (mostly) enjoying these early-morning encounters with myself over a pot of tea, and I’m not sure I’m quite ready for them to be over.

    A wider view of Michael’s early-morning drawing setup on the bed. The finished pocket-sketchbook drawing rests on a large red-and-white patterned Fabriano sketchbook, with several pens, pencils and an orange pen beside it. Above is the tea tray, covered with blue chicken-patterned fabric and holding the round mirror, an orange Stanley flask mug of tea, a brown-and-cream striped earthenware milk jug and a small white reading light casting an orange glow. Michael and his yellow phone are faintly reflected in the mirror.
    A closer view of the open pocket sketchbook lying across the large Fabriano sketchbook. The two-page drawing shows Michael’s face in his round mirror on the left, with his orange Stanley mug and other objects from the tea tray drawn on the right, all surrounded by the blue chicken pattern. A group of pens and pencils is lined up alongside the sketchbook.

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  • Not sleeping and drinking tea anyway

    Close-up of an open pocket sketchbook showing a loose black-line drawing of an early-morning tea setup. A mug fills most of the left-hand page and a teapot with a spoon or stirrer stands on the right, surrounded by many small chickens against a turquoise-blue background. Handwritten notes at the top include the date, the time “3:20am”, “real tea”, and “I'm probably not going back to sleep.”

    During recent sleepless nights — or very early mornings — I’ve been giving in and making pots of real tea.

    I’m enjoying drinking it, and accepting that it probably means I’m not going back to sleep.

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  • A nice change of pace

    Black pen-and-ink drawing across an open pocket sketchbook. On the left is a loose self-portrait of a bald man wearing large round glasses, seen close-up from the shoulders. On the right is a large teapot with its lid, handle and spout drawn prominently. Patterned fabric and small surrounding objects fill the background. Across the top is the handwritten text, “5:10 am — I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” The drawing is dated 24-9-26.

    I’m noticing that since starting Selfietember I’ve increasingly been waking up feeling excited about the day; looking forward with a hint of pleasure at the thought of tea and drawing, and then what the day might hold.

    That’s a nice change of pace.

    Close-up of a self-portrait drawn in dark red Neocolor crayon across an open pocket sketchbook. The bald head and large round glasses are strongly outlined, with small dark eyes, a moustache and short beard indicated with loose marks. Broad, heavily textured red strokes form a dark background around the head, especially along the top and right side. The lower part of the drawing loosely suggests the shoulders and the front of a T-shirt.
    Photograph of a dark red Neocolor self-portrait in an open pocket sketchbook resting on a red-and-white patterned book on a bed. The drawing shows a bald man with large round glasses, moustache and short beard, surrounded by broad textured red marks. Behind the sketchbook is a round mirror reflecting the artist, with an orange insulated mug, a white jug and other morning drawing materials arranged on a blue patterned tea tray.
    Photograph of an open pocket sketchbook resting on a red-and-white patterned book on a bed. The sketchbook contains a black pen-and-ink drawing of a self-portrait beside a large teapot, with the handwritten A. A. Milne quote, “I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” written across the top. Behind it sits a round mirror reflecting the artist holding a yellow phone, alongside an orange insulated mug, a white jug and drawing pens on a blue patterned tea tray.

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  • A broken pencil at 3.00 am

    A close-up of a small homemade sketchbook page containing an early-morning self-portrait. The face is partly drawn in black with bold blue glasses, dense black hair and a red area at the bottom of the page. The handwritten note at the top reads, “3:00am My pencil broke so I stopped. I’m not sure I’m going back to sleep.”

    I was following my current early-morning drawing compulsion of pouring out my tea and reaching for my mirror and sketchbook. It was even earlier than usual — 3.00 am today — and I’d rather have still been sleeping. But the rule seems to be: I wake up, make tea and draw myself. So that’s what I was doing.

    When the pencil broke

    Midway through drawing, the lead of my pencil broke. I’d been using a rather lovely old and waxy Derwent Drawing pencil in Ivory Black and enjoying the heavy, pastel-like quality of its lines. It was as I was working the pencil hard, drawing the now familiar line of my mouth, that the lead simply crumbled. In that moment, the spell was broken and I was able to stop drawing.

    I realised I liked where the drawing had ended and decided to leave it where it was. Switching to a pen, I grounded the drawing in the moment with an early-morning report in the corner.

    I think — and this is new — even though the drawing was “unfinished”, being forced to stop meant my compulsion to draw had been quenched and I was able to relax into being awake and drink my tea.

    A second drawing

    After a little while, I reached for my newly started A4 Fabriano sketchbook and began another drawing, not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. This time I drew slowly, probably for about an hour, stopping regularly to enjoy my tea and notice the sound of the rain on the window above my head.

    Something interesting happened with this drawing. The self-portrait was drawn first, with the now-sharpened Derwent, much as I’ve been drawing them these past couple of weeks. But then I switched to my broad-nibbed Kaweco Sport and returned to the very familiar language and materials of my tea-tray drawings. It was as if these two, until now separate ways of drawing, met for the first time.

    At 4.20 am I added a few words to ground this drawing too: It’s raining hard. I’m awake and drinking tea and thinking I might just make a second pot.

    In the end I didn’t. I fell asleep instead.

    A small homemade sketchbook resting on the bed beneath a round mirror. The page shows an early-morning self-portrait with bold blue glasses, black hair and a red area of clothing. In the mirror above, my face, yellow phone and green teapot are visible. Handwritten text on the drawing begins, “3:00am My pencil broke so I stopped…”
    An A4 sketchbook open on the bed beneath a round mirror and tea tray. The page contains a large self-portrait framed by the outline of the mirror, with black hair and glasses. Below and around the portrait is a blue chicken-patterned tea-tray mat, drawn in pen and Neocolor II. A handwritten note at the upper right records being awake at 4:20am, listening to the rain and drinking tea.
    A close-up of an A4 sketchbook page showing a large self-portrait inside the drawn outline of a round mirror. The face has black hair, glasses and loosely drawn features. The lower part of the page is filled with a blue chicken-patterned tea-tray mat, with small hens picked out in black, red and blue.

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