Gareth Naylor

Atmospheric paintings of Japan

Tag: cafe

  • Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe

    Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe

    Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe
    “Mystery woman in a coffee shop”

    Sadly, I have no idea when I painted this picture.. 

    I’m guessing that it was 2012.

    But it’s just a guess.

    And I have no idea where this place is.

    Neither do I know who the woman is in the painting.

    She could be my wife or a complete stranger.

    I should have kept some record of my work such as a pencil date on the back of the picture and a brief note about the place or person.

    But in my salad days I was just focused on painting.

    And that was a wonderful freedom.

    And hopefully such deep focus made me a better artist.

    But later on, it caused a big conundrum when it came to organising my work.

    Because I didn’t record my artwork.

    And also because I have painted a lot of pictures.

    I think that I presently have about a 1000 paintings even after throwing many paintings away.

    Anyway, I found this small painting while I was attempting to organize my artwork.

    And what I can say about this picture is that I like it. 

    And this is why it never got thrown away like so many other paintings.

    I love the shape of those chairs and the soft atmosphere of this scene.

    The colors are also pleasing with the contrast of a warm brown and a cool blue.

    Perhaps I should call this painting “A mystery woman in a coffee shop”.

    What do you think?

    What title would you give it?

    If you can think of a great title I will let you have the painting for half the price.

    That’s all,

    Gareth.

  • Watercolor paintings of people drinking coffee at Starbucks

    Watercolor paintings of people drinking coffee at Starbucks

    In the past, I often went to the Starbucks cafe in the painting above. 

    I loved that place.

    I remember once as a Christmas present my wife gave me a Starbucks gift voucher.

    And I remember how delighted I was with that voucher.

    I always drank a cappuccino and I still do. 

    But I not only enjoyed the cappuccinos.

    I also enjoyed looking at the cafe decor.

    And I enjoyed looking at the figures.

    It was visually exciting.

    And I used to draw what I saw.

    And sometimes I would even do a quick on the spot painting.

    It was during this period that I did the painting above of two girls at Starbucks drinking coffee. 

    It surprises me today, to see what a brave watercolor artist I used to be that I would actually paint on the spot in Starbucks. 

    I’m not sure if I’d have the bravery to do that today.

    And here is one more on the spot painting that I did at Starbucks.

    Watercolor painting of figures in Starbucks coffee shop
    “Coffee time”

    I think these paintings are beautiful examples of line and wash art. 

    They are simple and light but cheerful works.

    I hope at some point I’ll do a few more paintings in this style.

    This coffee shop, which was in a department store called Forus, has now gone but the happy memories have not.

    Gareth.