meldrum art
Yeap, I wasn’t totally happy with this watercolour so I was forced to chop it up so that I could enjoy it. I’m a happy butcher now. It’s best to love a whole painting of course but sometimes one has to be brutal.
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Even though this composition is relatively simple the placement of the Stockholm town hall is very important to the success of the watercolour, it’s the rule of thirds. The tonal values are even more important as the sky wouldn’t pop if the building and bridge had a lighter tone.
Personally I am on a little crusade to improve my understanding of tonal values, I enjoyed painting this scene.
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I was playing with contrasts today, in the end I was quite happy with the way it turned out. More urban paintings on the way I feel.
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Yes, it’s not a sailing boat but one of the old ferries that work everyday here in Stockholm. I love painting water and sky, I will never stop painting them but I can be brave and take a break from sailing boats for a while, a good while.
My plan is to start painting people more. I bought a new camera with a super zoom lens so that I can capture people doing their things. I was out cycling around town today taking lots of photos. I felt a bit like a voyeur but I’m sure I’ll get used to street photography after a few tries.
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I’ve been busy doing other things than art recently like watching my son graduate and helping him move back to Stockholm after 3 years in Karlskrona. I’m working this week but yesterday was Sweden’s national day so I had the day off which meant I could watercolour! 🙂
I hadn’t painted for a week so in order to get going I painted this sketch of Stockholm’s town hall called “Stadshuset” in Swedish. I think it’s a very beautiful building so I have sketched many times and I probably will continue to do so in the future.
While I was painting yesterday, I filmed it using a GoPro camera. I bought one secondhand last year and have found it hard to start filming with it. I think it is like everything that requires some learning, the first step is the hardest. But now I have taken that first important step and I have ambitions to publish short films of myself while I paint watercolours. I am currently studying how to edit using Premiere Pro, so much to learn; one step at a time David, one step at a time.
The sketch was painted in a Moleskin watercolour journal. The paper quality sucks but if forces me to adapt which isn’t a bad thing.
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Ok, so I’m getting better at posting on my blog! … At least that is the way it feels. I’ll try my best to be this good all year long if I can. I feel good when I publish a drawing or a watercolour online, it means that the project is finished and it is time to move on to the next one.
This watercolour is from a photograph I took during the summer months, I’m pleased with it, some more contrasts maybe but I’m fine with it. It looks better in reality, it is so hard to capture a watercolour with an iPhone when it has subtle shades.
Title: The view from Central Bridge, 37 x 26 cm
Click the thumbnail below to see the watercolour in a larger format.
Painted on Fabriano paper, 37 x 26 cm.
