meldrum art
I was asked to do a painting of Ulf Ohlsson, Catch-Driver of the year 2017 back in January. The deadline was tight and I had 24 hrs to paint a watercolour and get it framed. I succeeded and the client was happy, ….but that is not the whole story. Because of the tight deadline I elected to paint 2 identical watercolours at the same time. This is the reserve, it’s smaller and I finally finished the last few touches the other day.
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Kintaikyo bridge, Iwakuni, Japan. From my sketchbook. I added contrast yesterday. A lovely memory from when I visited my son.
Saunders Waterford sketchbook, 300g fine grain, 28 x 19 cm
I like to think of myself as a pacifist so it was interesting to visit the Army Museum here in Stockholm with my Urban Sketcher friends back in February. The Swedish Cavaliers are in reality mannequins on stuffed pantomime horses so it was a challenge to convey a sense of brutality. I am still against war and hope conflicts can be housed in museums forever.
This watercolour was sketched in my Saunders Waterford block 28 x 19 cm, 300g, fine grain.
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.
The weekend is over but there are still 3 days left to see our exhibition. There have been so many visitors to the gallery, at least 600 on the opening day and a few hundred yesterday. I have sold a lot of paintings for a record amount which makes me very happy. I of course have to pay for the rent of the gallery, the drinks, the snacks – not to mention the framing costs of course. So I cover my costs and make a small profit and that makes me happy.
I think the real success is that I have had time to get to know Tina Thagesson and Daniel Luther, the two other artists in the exhibition. I have sold art to people who have bought my art before which is great but also people who don’t know me personally. The latter is a big step in my development as an artist because it is a lot harder to sell to strangers, my paintings are becoming more professional maybe! So, I am happy, it’s a lot of work but it has been worth it.
Yes, today is show time at Gallery Movitz here in Stockholm. Tina Thagesson, daniel Luther and I are having a joint exhibition. It’s really exciting and I am very happy to be in the company of such great artists. They have a lot of experience so I’m learning a lot from them. If you live in Stockholm please do drop by to Gallery Movitz, Hornsgatan 40. We open at 11.00 on the 17th of March. St. Patrick’s Day! You are very welcome.
I had this idea to start a vlog at the beginning of the year. It’s taken until yesterday to publish the first episode. I didn’t know how to film or edit at the beginning of the year. It was a steep learning curve but I enjoyed every minute if it. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s a start and that’s the most important thing, “the first step is always the hardest”, they say.
I’ve been really busy lately which is a positive thing but it means I find it hard to publish my art. I was at Konstnärshuset yesterday but these are not those sketches because these are from the week before! I think the model’s name is Dennis but I’m not 100 about that. He’s very good, definitely one of my favourite male-models.
Sketched on A3 paper using charcoal pencil and charcoal dust that I apply with my finger.
I think most people I meet are interesting but some stand out a bit more than others. Sofie, last weeks model at Meldrum Kroki is a good example of this. She is an excellent life drawing model and has very feminine poses in her repertoire so I was surprised that she fixes roofs around town during the day. There isn’t an English word for what she does (Plåtslagare), most of the roofs in Stockholm have metal or copper roofs so you could say she is a metalworker.
Sketched on Canson Recylé A4 paper with 2B and 9B grafite.
