meldrum artLast night I went to a two hour – one pose session at the The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art in Bergshamra, Stockholm. I have been sketching now for a few years so I’m finding it relatively easy to draw the human figure. The problem I have today is the painting of the figure, it is such a struggle for me, I painted my first watercolour in February.
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| Two hour male nude study |
Coming home from work I noticed a man listening to music on his phone. I wondered if he would stay put long enough for me to sketch him. He travelled two stops before getting off at the central station. ( I watercoloured later when I came home)
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| Commuting pastimes |
I sketched my sister sleeping while we were sailing last week. Someone has mentioned that she is ‘Hot!’ on my Flickr Urban Sketching page. I agree with them of course 🙂
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| Sleeping Sister |
I came home yesterday after a three week holiday sailing around the Åland and Stockholm archipelagos. It was a wonderful adventure and I saw some amazing things. I have a number of panoramic sketches from the trip to publish, unfortunately I only managed to scan this little quickie sketch before my scanner suddenly, totally refused to work. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
More sketches coming soon. Anyone got any recommendations for a small, inexpensive scanner?
Direk Kingnok is a watercolour artist I admire very much, I recently found this interview on a blog called, The Royal Arts: http://theroyalarts.blogspot.se/2011/12/direk-kingnok.html#!/2011/12/direk-kingnok.html
Direk Kingnok’s website: http://www.direkkingnok.com/
His Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Direk-Kingnok-Watercolor-artist/157671970976244
| Watercolour by Direk Kingnok |
No pencil was used for this watercolour sketch, time was short so I drew it with ink and at speed in a standing position. The lines are shaky and scratchy which I quite like, I find that the faster I sketch the better the result, I learned this with my life drawing, a two minute sketch being more free and alive than a 15 minute sketch. No time to think and using ones instinct isn’t a bad thing sometimes.
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| Solvalla Stables, Stockholm. |
I forgot about these watercolour sketches I did while on holidays in Brittany last month. There is something about boats that I am drawn too, I grew up by the sea and have sailed since the age of ten so it is not so strange I guess.
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| Trawler watercolour sketch |
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| Green Trawler watercolour sketch |
I received this DVD when I arrived home from holidays the other day, it’s a funny coincidence that a trawler is one of the main subjects Charles Reid has chosen to watercolour. I found the DVD to be very helpful, I learned a lot and I hope my skills improve in the coming months. The title of this tutorial DVD is, Charles Reid’s Watercolour Landscape Masterclass. He paints two watercolours, explaining in detail his approach and execution of each piece.
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| Charles Reid’s Watercolour Landscape Masterclass |
I arrived home from a one week holiday last night. I was in Paimpol, a beautiful old fishing harbour on the north-west coast of France. I managed to find time to do some watercolours. The painting below of the old trawler took me about 2 hours to complete, I am very happy with my progress in learning how to paint. I only wish I could spend more time with my new hobby, these last few months have been so busy both at work and privately. Still, the summer is here and in a few weeks I presume I will have more time for watercolours as the pressure at work diminishes during the holiday season.
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| Old trawler |