A trick of the light
Looking out my window this morning I saw what looked like a figure standing in a window in one of the buildings across the street. As I focused my gaze I realised that it wasn't a figure but a trick of the light against some objects that had been stacked together, their forms casting shadows that resembled that of a person.
I picked up the stack of post-it notes on the desk next to me and made a quick pencil sketch of the objects, creating a figurative form with the shadows.
I used the post-it note drawing as the inspiration for my first drawing of the day.
Coffee painting
When I was observing the 'figure' in the window I noticed it was tinted beige and brown, indicating that it was actually made from stacked cardboard boxes.
I was going to use brown watercolours for the colours of the figure, but as I sat sipping my morning coffee I had another idea. I got some coffee granules from the pantry and put them into a dish. I then used a damp paintbrush to turn the granules into a brown liquid to paint with, providing the perfect shade of brown for my figure.
Black ink
The next stage was to add the darker tones to suggest the shadows, for this I used black drawing ink applied with a paintbrush.
Close-up details
'Figure in Window'
Drawing ink and coffee on paper