Here are a few sketches that weren’t completed while I was in France. I finished them later in the studio. I always enjoy myself in Paimpol and Ploubazlanec. Nice memories as usual.
Tag: watercolour sketch
This is the last watercolour I will show from my trip to France. The house belongs to my mother-in-law. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place, as you can see. A young man lives in the van, he’s been there for four years. It’s the way it is. I look forward to visiting again next year.
The tide is out, it’s time to paint
I mentioned in my last post that I liked it best when the tide was out. Looking through my watercolours from the trip to Brittany it’s clear that it is so. These were painted just outside of Paimpol harbour. Lots of abandoned boats to try and capture. I had a lot of fun that day.
Tidal watercolour painting
I just love it in Brittany. So nice to go out painting everyday while visiting my mother-in-law in Ploubazlanec. The tides are pretty extreme. A ten metre difference between high and low. The view of the sea is always changing. I enjoy trying to capture the low tides best.
I returned to France after a four year break.
I love spending time in Brittany. I get on really well with my mother-in-law, and the scenery there is just fantastic.
This painting is of the view from the garden. It’s the first of many watercolours that I painted during my stay.
It’s so easy to be inspired when visiting far off places. It’s a little harder to get excited closer to home.
Yes, like I mentioned in the previous post, my wife was at a conference in Noordwijkerhout, Holland. I tagged along for the chance to discover a new place and to find inspiration to paint a watercolour.
I left the hotel after breakfast with my easel and painting gear. It was day two, what should I paint? I wandered around for a while and then decided to make it easy for myself. There were only flat fields, as far as an artist could see. It was a hot, sunny day, so when I found shade, it decided the view of the tulip fields.
While painting, a local carefully asked, why was I painting the field? It was empty after all, the tulips had been harvested two weeks before. She smiled, mounted her bike and cycled away. I had no choice did I! I had missed the harvest and was in the middle of nowhere. I probably made the fields redder than they really were, because of that little encounter with the lady on the bicycle.
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.
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. 🙂
Sketching my emotions Nr.7
I bought a ukulele last August. I’m hooked. Everytime I want to take a break from painting I pick up my ukulele.