The watercolour in this video was painted on the island of Nämdö in the Stockholm archipelago. I spent two days camping and sketching, the weather was wonderful but it was starting to get chilly.
Tag: watercolour painting
I painted this watercolour back in the summer of 2021. We had sailed to Åland from Stockholm and as usual our first port of call was Rödhamn. While there I painted this plein air sketch of the Radio Station Museum and a nearby navigational sign.
I basically was unhappy with it and I placed it in my failures tray back home. Saw it recently and said to myself maybe I can tweak that watercolour a little and it will be okay. This is the result.
Happy New Year! 😃😃😃
Last Wednesday I visited Björnö nature reserve. It was a very damp and grey day which is totally normal for this time of year in Stockholm.
For my health’s sake, my current mission is to be outdoors as much as possible. I recently acquired a fisherman’s tent to protect myself from the elements while painting. It works really well especially the way it protected me from the wind. Even a light breeze can be very tiring while spending a whole day painting in damp, cool conditions.
I managed two watercolours, the first of which is featured here I used a lot of water so that I could mimic the misty view that was in front of me. The only problem about doing this in 100% humidity is that it never dries. Thankfully I had my trusty gas burner, it took 10 minutes to dry the cotton paper!
For the second painting I used a different approach, less water, but more about this in my next post. I had a great day, I really feel very lucky to have this this kind of lifestyle, to be more or less free to choose what to do with my day. Recommended 😃
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Painting plein air locally
I try to be out in the Stockholm archipelago as much as possible. But sometimes the weather isn’t kind and I’m forced to stay home. This was the case last week when there was gale force wind with heavy rain. It wasn’t raining all the time though so I was able to nip out and paint a scene close to where I live.
The building I chose to paint is called Danvikshem, an Art Deco old folks home, it is a dominant feature on the local skyline. I sat myself down outside an apartment in Finnboda and had a go at capturing the scene.
While out sailing in the archipelago we would sometimes take a day off and just hang in a beautiful spot. This would give me the opportunity to paint. The four watercolours here are of the same scene on Själbottna island painted over two days.
I realise that my first watercolour is usually rushed and therefore not so good. I guess it’s a necessary evil, a process to slow down and really see what is in front of me. The third watercolour was an attempt to capture the advent of rain and dark thunderous skies. Finally the last watercolour was painted the next morning just before we lifted anchor and sailed off in some direction I cannot remember.
The watercolours are 18 x 13cm in size and were painted on the 16/17th of July, 2022.
I became very ill with depression last October and it’s only now that I am starting to feel good again. The summer repairs but in recent years the seasonal window has been getting smaller. I’m seeking treatment and in the worse case I’ll probably need to move south for the winter, let’s see what happens.
So while I’m all depressed my website crashed in November 2021, and I wasn’t able to fix it due to a scrambled brain – trashed by antidepressants. I’ve ditched the medication, it was impossible for me to be creative. It may work for others but it’s not the solution for me.
So, this is my first post for a while. I haven’t been so productive so nothing missed really. I am so happy that I’ve started painting again. I began in May, I visited Ireland, stayed with friends and sketched for a week. It was so beautiful, the weather was just wonderful. Recently, I was on my annual sailing adventure with my wife. I painted a lot of watercolours of the Stockholm archipelago.
These featured watercolours were painted one after the other on the 7th of July in a natural-harbour called Norra Gränholmsviken, Gällnö. 18 x 13 cm in size, it’s a quarter of a quarter sheet for those of you who paint watercolour. It’s really interesting to paint the same scene several times. I discovered new patterns, new shapes and new compositions each time. A really good exercise when trying to improve.
Nice to be back. See you again soon. 🙂
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A tourist’s watercolour
I was recently lucky enough to be sailing along the coast of Sicily not far from Palermo. There was this beautiful town called Cefalu that hugged an impressive rock. It just had to be painted. 36 x 26 cm
It’s here at last, Episode 29. I really enjoyed this watercolour. It took two days to film. I did a pencil sketch on the first day but then had to wait a day to paint the final watercolour because I ran out of daylight. I talk a lot about composition and my approach to simplifying the subject. I hope you find it interesting.
I spent a beautiful two days in Björnö nature reserve back in June. I used my new hammock to sleep between two trees. I got a good night’s sleep and did some great sketches the following day.