Categories
Plein air watercolor Watercolour

A tulip field and a puzzled local

Yes, like I mentioned in the previous post, my wife was at a conference in Noordwijkerhout, Holland. I tagged along for the chance to discover a new place and to find inspiration to paint a watercolour.

I left the hotel after breakfast with my easel and painting gear. It was day two, what should I paint? I wandered around for a while and then decided to make it easy for myself. There were only flat fields, as far as an artist could see. It was a hot, sunny day, so when I found shade, it decided the view of the tulip fields.

While painting, a local carefully asked, why was I painting the field? It was empty after all, the tulips had been harvested two weeks before. She smiled, mounted her bike and cycled away. I had no choice did I! I had missed the harvest and was in the middle of nowhere. I probably made the fields redder than they really were, because of that little encounter with the lady on the bicycle.

Categories
Plein air watercolor Watercolour

A painting challenge, south of Amsterdam

I have just returned from a two week holiday. Sylvie, my wife was attending a conference in Holland and I just hung along for the ride. Later, we took the train to Paris and then visited her mother in Brittany, France.

I didn’t look at the exact location of my wife’s conference on the map. It was in a place called Noordwijkerhout. A farming region, flat as a pancake, south of Amsterdam. Small towns dotted around but mostly just farmland. No windmills. What could I paint? A field? A field that once had tulips? And, they had been harvested weeks earlier …

It’s fascinating how, when one stares long enough at a seemingly mundane landscape, one can find beauty. I did my best to capture it. I had walked around for hours with my easel. It was late evening when I settled for this scene.

Categories
akvarell watercolor Watercolour

Grey day in the archipelago

I painted this from an old photo I took 15 years ago. I can’t remember where it was, somewhere out there in the archipelago. It was a grey day, it was peaceful, this is all I know.

Categories
akvarell watercolor Watercolour

The evening light of summer

The calendar promises summer will arrive soon. Long, warm evenings. It never really gets dark here in Sweden. I’m looking forward to it. 🙂

Summer evening in the archipelago : 36 x 25 cm


Click for larger image.
Categories
watercolor Watercolour

The sailing season begins soon.

Yeap, they say, paint what you love. I’m really looking forward to the summer season. I want to camp and sail. To paint plein air from morning till night. To be in the archipelago. To enjoy the constant light.

Click this thumbnail for a large image.
Categories
watercolor Watercolour

Practising my clouds

All I want to do right now, is paint and improve.
Earlier in the week, I painted this watercolour. It’s an exercise more than a finished piece of art. I just wanted to practice my clouds. The sea, I wanted to practice that too, the sea is so hard to master.

I need to improve my compositional skills as well. Placing an island dead centre is not a good idea. So when I’ve mastered the clouds and the sea, I’ll start trying to improve my compositions. That will keep me busy for a while.

Click to enlarge
Categories
watercolor Watercolour

A painting isn’t finished until the brush is put away

You can only laugh. I was just putting the last touch to the painting when I lost control of my brush. It jumped up in the air, spinning like a circus knife in front of my eyes. It hit the page, sable first. Splat!

I had just loaded the brush with Vandyke Brown moments before. The glimmering sea had lost its shine. Now there was a dark brown whale in my watercolour.

Later, I painted over the crime scene with opaque white. The sea sparkled again. It would never be perfect, but it’s finished.

The Coast Road, Malahide, Ireland 33 x 23 cm

Click for larger image.
Categories
akvarell watercolor Watercolour

The Stockholm Archipelago

This is one of my first studio paintings since 2019. Kinda had to believe, but it’s true. My seasonal depression has prevented me until now. I painted last week and I added a few more islands to it yesterday. I’m happy with it. So nice to be painting during the winter months again. 🙂

Categories
watercolor Watercolour

New addition in the studio

Now that I’ve started painting in the studio again I treated myself to a new palette 😀

It’s from Korea, Mijello : 24 Well Plastic Palette with Airtight Lid.