Sketching Tea

I love tea and really enjoy sketching tea things. Mostly I sketch my pottery ones, but I was out not too long ago and sketched my iced chai, and I just realized I forgot to post it anywhere. It's fun to take that small break out of your day and do a sketch for no more reason than that you want to.

The teapot is a new one by Melissa Bridgman. I adore her work. I didn't really need another teapot, but I also adore bunnies, so we ended up doing an informal trade not long ago. The cup is my longtime favorite one, also by Melissa, where she

sketched her own bees and also a honeycomb design. One of the things I love about Melissa is that she doesn't do the same patterns or shapes over and over again. Everything is fresh. So this teacup is unique, and I love its old fashioned delicacy as well as the generous saucer I can use for my tea spoon or perhaps a cookie. I'm old fashioned in always wanting a saucer, since I use milk (that creamer is the tiny one I found in Paris this summer with a bird on it, and it's gorgeous) and want to stir in the milk and have somewhere to put my spoon. Tea is a ritual with me, a small bit of daily pause and happiness in the midst of my usual busy. I love everything about sitting and having a small pot of tea in the day somewhere.

I'm also trying to make the most of Inktober this year, which I'm usually too busy to really celebrate. I cleaned out a fountain pen I've had and put new grey ink in it that I've been wanting to try, and I also broke out a blue marker for the top sketch. I used markers a bunch several years ago and have gotten completely away from them in favor of watercolor, but they have their own fun, graphic feel, so I'm going to work on reclaiming a bit of marker work this month as well.