During Sunday I was sketching in Vällingby with my Stockholm Urban Sketcher friends. A lovely afternoon as usual.
Watercolour sketchbook Saunders Waterford 28 x 19.
Life drawing at Basis means lots of quick sketches, one is quite exhausted afterwards. I use a half A3 sketchbook each time. It’s very good of course for me, my drawings become more instintive and I have to econemise which my lines otherwise it is impossible to draw much in one or two minutes. The model is one of my favourites, Katrina is her name. Very expressive poses and at angels that make perspective drawing a challenge to say the least.
I want to paint more street scenes than I do. I don’t feel as comfortable painting urban scenes compared to boats and nature. I want to have a broad repertoire and there is only one way to achieve that, … paint everything and paint them often.
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I am trying to paint watercolour at life drawing again. I think my approach was quite successful. As the poses are generally only 5 minutes in duration I just painted the skin tones. Later, during a pose I did not find inspiring ( when the model had her back to me ) I painted the background and more shading, especially around the face.
I liked this model so I felt quite inspired. The lighting at ABF is awful, fluorescent tubes in a very large room, not very pleasing normally but a good model makes up for it.
Last week I attended my first Life drawing session. I am happy the figure drawing season has begun again but a bit sad that the summer is over. I do not usually go to ABF to draw but as my usual venue (Konstnärshuset) has not started yet so I gave it a try. The model was new to me, Alia was her name. Always nice to sketch a new life drawing model. I painted mostly watercolours that evening which I will publish in the next post.
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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It was such a beautiful day yesterday, I just had to go out and sketch. I will paint this in a large format sometime this autumn.
Saunders Waterford 300g 19×20 fine grain
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I am going through a period were my time for art is limited, I have to work as a webmaster for 6 weeks during July and August. I know that in order to be a good artist I have to practice everyday which is basically not easy.
So, is painting for the sake of painting a good idea? This sketch which took 2 hours over two days is a case in point. It’s not a masterpiece but I feel at least I have painted something; I have learned a little, a small step – …on the lonely road to mastering watercolour.
This sketch was painted in a Moleskin watercolour journal 29 x 21 cm, the paper is not cotton but I like the challenge of its inferior qualities.
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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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