meldrum art
As I mentioned in the last post, we are having amazing weather here in Stockholm. It’s totally inspiring and all I want to do is paint and sail. So this weekend that’s what I am doing!
Watercolour 36 x 29 cm
The weather is totally amazing here in Sweden at the moment. The month of May must have been the sunniest on record. The farmers aren’t happy as it hasn’t rained for ages but city folk like me are ignorant of agricultural needs. Still, I do worry about climate change and what will happen to the planet if we don’t change our ways.
Anyway, I went sailing last weekend. I sailed by myself for the first time on the new boat, “Aquarelle” and it went well, one is always a bit nervous when it’s a first. It was a working weekend, I installed Lazy Jacks, changed the reefing ropes and added an extra solar panel. I did find time to do a few sketches. My personal challenge was to make interesting compositions out of what I could see from the cockpit of the boat. I was happy enough with these two. Tomorrow, we go out sailing again, I am so looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll have a few new sketches to show next week.
I feel so strange in Northern Ireland, my family live here but I never did. I grew up in the south. The cultures are very different, surprisingly so because Ireland is a smallish island. So coming home is not quite coming home, my parents moved here just before the beginning of the new millennium, that was 19 years ago. Like I said, it’s a strange feeling. Anyway, where is home? It’s in Stockholm of course! So homes move – mobile homes, I like the sound of that.
To be fair Northern Ireland is a beautiful place and there is lots of great scenes to paint and sketch. Today I drove to Groomsport not far from Bangor and did a quick painting of a house that I have painted before. I have put a link to that one here. It was a lovely day, it felt nice to smell the sea air and hear the seagulls sing. Yes, I know they don’t sing very well but it was enjoyable anyway!
Click image below for full size version.
I am not so productive at the moment, I have so many balls in the air, it’s hard to focus on just one thing and do it well. So I don’t produce many watercolours at the moment, it will soon change, but right now it’s a little frustrating. What are these balls that I have in the air then?
Well, I am creating a business plan and a 5 year budget to work out how I am going to make it as an artist. One thing is for sure, I cannot make enough money just selling my watercolours. I can dream that I will one fine day but until then I need a more realistic plan. It’s very interesting really, I won’t go into detail here but one has to really think about how one will succeed in the coming years. I hope that this is all dealt with this week and I can forget about it very soon.
Another ball in the air is my recent vlogging career on YouTube, I have produced 2 episodes which you can view here. I am working on the third, It’s taking forever because I have so much I want to achieve but most of all I want it to be professional. This is aiming way too high, I only started learning to film and edit in the beginning of this year. I soon will have it published, I need to find a balance between my travels and my watercolours which I film when painting. A full length painting demo can take 90 minutes which no YouTuber no matter how bloody bored they are are going to watch. My goal is to produce a vlog every second week but right now it is taking me a month to produce. This is too slow, hopefully the process will become more streamlined with time.
Ball number 3. Well, that would be learning stuff. I am studying film editing using Adobe Premiere, it’s really enjoyable but it’s a pity there is so much to master. I bought a drone while I was in Singapore last month, I’m learning to fly it when I have the time. Stockholm is basically buildings, rocks, trees and water. There are not many open spaces to practice on, I’ve been flying it over water, a bit nerve racking to say the least. I’m getting the hang of it slowly, I hope I don’t ditch it in the sea. I want some sexy aerial shots for my YouTube films, it should be pretty cool. Just imagine following me with a birds-eye perspective as I sail out into the Stockholm archipelago or walk along the coast of Northern France.
Ball number 4. I travel a lot! I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me but honestly flying all over the place is distracting. Tonight I’m off to Ireland to spend a week with my mother, it’s her birthday so we are going to live it up for a couple of days. In June I travel to France to visit Denise, my mother-in-law. I look forward to all the trips and to be honest it is an opportunity to create more vlogs on YouTube. I love my life right now, I just need to produce more art and more videos.
Ball number 5. My brand new laptop is in for repair, it’s a HP. They’ve had it for 3 weeks and it’s going to take a few more weeks before I get it home. I asked for a new one but they said no. This is a real pain, I have a stationary computer that copes with video editing but while I am on the road I have nothing to edit with. HP are in the dog house as far as I am concerned.
I don’t like to moan and bitch so I am going to end on a more positive note. Go out and paint plein air, it’s so much fun! The weather was unusually hot here in Stockholm yesterday so I met a fellow watercolourist, Daniel Luther and we painted all morning. It was really enjoyable.
Relaxed in central Stockholm last Friday. Nice to have a moment just to paint and enjoy the first days of summer. 
Saunders Waterford fine grain paper 28 x 19 cm
Tourist filming me while I sketch her! Miyajima, Japan. From my sketchbook.
I’m back in Sweden now! It was so nice to visit my son and his wife in Iwakuni, south of Hiroshima. Japan is such an interesting place, it really is foreign to me and that is what is so cool and interesting with the place.
O-torii gate, Miyajima, Japan. From my sketchbook.
Yashiro Island, Japan. A beautiful archipelago very far from home.
From my sketchbook.
It was a little easier to produce this time around. It’s fun even if it does rack up the hours. I reckon it will take up 40 – 50% of my time in the future. That means I will have about the same amount of time for painting watercolour. My life drawing will have to take a lower priority.
It will be interesting in the coming months to see if I succeed at vlogging or not. I am learning so much these days when it comes to film editing, I do enjoy being challenged.