meldrum art
I am visiting my mother in Norther Ireland at the moment. The other day I borrowed her car and drove to Groomsport, a small town close to Bangor where I am staying. I sat in the passenger seat of the car and painted this sketch. I am fascinated by the sky here in Ireland, it changes so quickly and can be so dramatic.
I painted in my current favourite sketchbook which has Saunders paper and is 38 x 28 cm in size.
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I am having a lot of fun playing with light and shadow right now. These two photos show a little of the technique I use. It’s sketched on Moleskin watercolour paper which really sucks because it doesn’t if you know what I mean. It doesn’t matter though, I use the sketchbook for learning porpoises.
Today, I cycled around Stockholm for hours taking pictures of buildings in the autumn sunlight. I think the more technique you learn the more interesting watercolour becomes. I am totally fascinated by it.
I haven’t sailed all summer but now I am and it’s wonderful. The holiday season is over so the archipelago is quite empty of boats. No motor boats just a few sailing boats and most of them seem to be visiting from Europe. So it’s very peaceful. We have bought a new boat, not new exactly – it was built in 1975. So we are getting to know how everything works. Next week my wife returns to work but I intend to continue sailing as much of September I can. I want to sketch, paint and take reference photos. It’s going to be an experience.
This watercolour sketch was painted at our first stop on the trip, Gällnö is the name of the island, we stayed for a day then moved on.
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Another quick sketch while on my way home from work. I wish I had designed the clouds a bit better. It was just one long cloud in reality but it would have been better if I had broken it up. I am satisfied otherwise, actually I quite like it!
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This is not true of course, I will be painting many watercolours of Paimpol and Brittany in the Future. It saddens me that it will be a while before I return. I have taken lots of photographs so I will be painting the town and it’s surrounding area during the winter months.
It took me a while to learn that artists mostly sketch and take photos during the summer months, then they work on their studio pieces during the dark winter months.
Painted in my Saunders Waterford fine grain 300g 18 x 29 cm watercolour sketchbook.
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A selection of pencil sketches from my visit to Paimpol in Brittany. Drawn in an A5 Canson Croquis sketchbook.
I met up with some friends yesterday at Kungsträdgården and painted this sketch of people enjoying a coffee at Tehuset, a café in the park. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had a long chat afterwards, we talked about techniques, our ambitions and what plans we had for the summer, a lovely day.
My sketch was painted on Arches Rough, 31 x 23cm. I will return and paint this scene again. I feel I went too dark, I like contrast but I went too far. – But yes, it’s just a sketch.
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I don’t always achieve it but I do try to do a watercolour sketch everyday. This was painted late one night last week in my Moleskin watercolour journal. The paper is inferior compared to Arches but it forces me to experiment which I like. The great thing about sketches is that you can be free to play around, no pressure compared to an exhibition piece.
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I took it really easy today, I’ve been so busy during the last month – I really needed to take my foot off the gas pedal. So, the first thing I did today was go to the central station and sketched the travelers as they waited for trains.
In the afternoon I walked around the town and looked for scenes to photo and paint at a later date. I walked for 4 hours! It was a sunny day and I was hunting the light, looking for scenes that were perfect for watercolours. I found quite a few so I’m happy. Tomorrow I’ll paint in the studio at home, my feet are feeling tired. I have life drawing tonight so I’ll sleep well.
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