Categories
Uncategorized Watercolour

Life Boat watercolour sketch

I am spending a week with my elderly Mum. I find where she lives very claustrophobic, a small dark cottage in a maze of small houses that look exactly like hers. I really look forward to the afternoons when I bring her dog for a walk.
I usually drive to Donaghadee further down the coast from Bangor, it’s a nice small village with a lovely harbour complete with lighthouse, I sketched the latter many times. The open horizon outside of the harbour relaxes me and I have an enjoyable walk with Misty, the dog.
Afterwards I sit in the passenger seat and paint a watercolour sketch of something that catches my eye. Today it was the old Life Boat that was up on land and needing some love. I hope she gets it, I thought it was a beautiful boat. She was on the hard as they say, in fact she was in the car-park which made it very easy for me to sketch from my car.

Click the thumbnail below for the full-sized image.

meldrum art - life boat
meldrum art – life boat
Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nude Nudes

Life drawing now on Thursdays

Premiere for Meldrum Life Drawing, Thursday 10th of January 18.30 – 20.30. More information at: www.meldrum.se/kroki/lifedrawing/

Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Watercolour painting on a grey day

Yeap, it was a very grey day in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. I walked my mother’s dog and then sat in the passenger seat of the car and painted this quick sketch of the boats that were on land for the winter.
It’s been grey since I arrived, I hope it clears soon, it’s quite depressing.
I love to be beside the sea, I like Donaghadee but I never feel at home, I’m uneasy here.

Click the thumbnail below for full-sized image.

Grey day in Donaghadee, Nothern Ireland
Grey day in Donaghadee, Nothern Ireland
Categories
Uncategorized Watercolour

watercolour people studies

I was struggling with this one until I painted the dramatic red background. Now I think it’s pretty cool.
I am having fun with the images I caught just before it got too cold here in Sweden. Having a big zoom is certainly an advantage when photographing people in the street.

Title: Walk on the wild side 36 x 26 cm
Click the thumbnail below for the full-sized image.

Walk on the wild side
Walk on the wild side

 

Categories
figure drawing Sketch Watercolour

Watercolour practice

This is part of my ongoing effort to become better at painting people, be it portraits or just urban scenes like this one.
I bought a new camera recently, it has a mega-zoom capability (Nikon Coolpix P1000). So far I feel a bit like a voyeur but I guess I’ll get used to taking pictures of people without them knowing it after a few months of practice. It’s all about practice, that’s how you become a good artist or a skilled voyeur.
I painted this sketch on an Arches paper block, 31 x 23 cm – rough.

Click the thumbnail belong for a full-sized image.

Watercolour Practice
Watercolour Practice
Categories
Portrait Watercolour

Watercolour portrait fun

Yes, I am having fun practising my portraits, the reason for this is I can see a large improvement every time I paint a new one. I have been using portrait images downloaded from Sktchy App (iPhone) which is great for artists and self-obsessed  selfie users who want a free portrait of themselves.

Painted on Saunders Waterford 26 x 36 cm

Click image below for full-sized watercolour.

Goggles by Meldrum Art
Goggles by Meldrum Art

 

Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nudes Sketch Watercolour

Last life drawing before Christmas

I went to Basis on Folkkungagatan (147) here in Stockholm, it’s an art school and every Saturday my old gang of life drawing enthusiasts meet and sketch like crazy under the eastern-European guidance of Gabor.
He starts with a 5 minute pose but the rest of the session is 1 – 4 minute poses, everyone is pretty exhausted afterwards.
What’s nice about going to life drawing on a Saturday is that everyone is relaxed and a big group of us go for a coffee afterwards and have a light-hearted post analysis of our sketches. It was the first time for me this term and it was the last session before Christmas. Next year I will be able to join my friends more as my own life drawing class will be on Thursdays and not Fridays as it was this year. I have been pretty tired on Saturday mornings this term because of working late on Friday evenings.

All features sketches here were sketched between 2 – 4 minutes.

Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nudes Sketch Watercolour

Friday’s life drawing

I never know whether to call it figure painting or life drawing, I guess it’s more correct to call them figure paintings but they were executed in minutes and not hours, maybe you understand my dilemma.

These, whatever you call them were sketched at my own life drawing class last Friday. It was the first time for the model to pose and I think she did a great job. I managed a few decent paintings even though I wasn’t 100% relaxed as I was responsible for the evening. I am happy with my output right now, it’s a productive period.

Categories
Watercolour

I can’t do a portrait every day

I would love to just paint portraits everyday until I felt I had mastered them but there is always something that gets in the way. It’s not good to be so manic either, I can always try to be better at several things at the same time. My progress may not be as fast but at least I’ll be having more fun.

The model for this watercolour portrait was once again from Sktchy App.

If you would like to see a larger version please click the thumbnail below.

meldrum art portrait
meldrum art portrait