meldrum art
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.
This was a fun sketch to do. I didn’t take me long and I am happy with the result. I will definitely paint a finished version of it in the future. I am obsessed with capturing the light, I think there is nothing more beautiful than the rays of sunshine.
Click thumbnail for larger image
This is a radar reflector beacon on the island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago. Not easy to guess what it is I know. It was such a strange object to approach on the lonely windswept beach, a little spooky – cold metal with sharp, angular form.
The sketch is about A5 in size and painted in my Moleskin watercolour journal.
Click the thumbnail below to see it full-size image
I have a lovely project to illustrate a book. It is associated with Sandhamn, an island that is a meeting point out in the Stockholm archipelago. This is the first of many sketches I will be doing during this year. It’s a lovely place to visit but I try my best to avoid it during the short summer months – that’s when the flash trash arrive in their oversized pleasure cruisers.
The sketch is about A5 in size and painted in my Moleskin watercolour journal.
Click below if you would like to see image at full-size.
My first week as full-time artist was spent swimming in the deep end of video production. I plan to have a regular vlog on Youtube, more about that at a later date. I also want to produce art demonstrations or even tutorials. I really know very little about video production so I’ve been studying Premiere Pro all week until my brain went numb. Now I know how to use my Go Pro camera and my Lumix too. I’m experimenting with microphones, sound recording is harder than I thought. What names should my wee recording buddies have? At last I will get a chance to paint tomorrow. Have a nice weekend.