meldrum art
I like to think of myself as a pacifist so it was interesting to visit the Army Museum here in Stockholm with my Urban Sketcher friends back in February. The Swedish Cavaliers are in reality mannequins on stuffed pantomime horses so it was a challenge to convey a sense of brutality. I am still against war and hope conflicts can be housed in museums forever.
This watercolour was sketched in my Saunders Waterford block 28 x 19 cm, 300g, fine grain.
Tourist filming me while I sketch her! Miyajima, Japan. From my sketchbook.
I’m back in Sweden now! It was so nice to visit my son and his wife in Iwakuni, south of Hiroshima. Japan is such an interesting place, it really is foreign to me and that is what is so cool and interesting with the place.
O-torii gate, Miyajima, Japan. From my sketchbook.
Yashiro Island, Japan. A beautiful archipelago very far from home.
From my sketchbook.
I am enjoying my trip to Asia. Right now I am visiting my son in Iwakumi. This sketch is of a father and son who queued up for ice cream at the Wooden Bridge, a tourist spot in Iwakuni, Japan. From my sketchbook.
It was a little easier to produce this time around. It’s fun even if it does rack up the hours. I reckon it will take up 40 – 50% of my time in the future. That means I will have about the same amount of time for painting watercolour. My life drawing will have to take a lower priority.
It will be interesting in the coming months to see if I succeed at vlogging or not. I am learning so much these days when it comes to film editing, I do enjoy being challenged.
The weekend is over but there are still 3 days left to see our exhibition. There have been so many visitors to the gallery, at least 600 on the opening day and a few hundred yesterday. I have sold a lot of paintings for a record amount which makes me very happy. I of course have to pay for the rent of the gallery, the drinks, the snacks – not to mention the framing costs of course. So I cover my costs and make a small profit and that makes me happy.
I think the real success is that I have had time to get to know Tina Thagesson and Daniel Luther, the two other artists in the exhibition. I have sold art to people who have bought my art before which is great but also people who don’t know me personally. The latter is a big step in my development as an artist because it is a lot harder to sell to strangers, my paintings are becoming more professional maybe! So, I am happy, it’s a lot of work but it has been worth it.
I had this idea to start a vlog at the beginning of the year. It’s taken until yesterday to publish the first episode. I didn’t know how to film or edit at the beginning of the year. It was a steep learning curve but I enjoyed every minute if it. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s a start and that’s the most important thing, “the first step is always the hardest”, they say.
Last week I was in the groove and producing some half decent art when suddenly a commission dropped into my email account. It was from the Swedish Trotting association. I was asked if I could produce a portrait of Ulf Ohlsson it was to be a prize for best Catch-Driver award. I had painted him the year previous, I guess they were happy with my effort. Well, I’m a hungry artist (That’s a lie, I’m a bit over weight.) so I accepted the challenge of painting the portrait in just a number of days, actually I had only one day as I had other commitments before the deadline which was last Saturday afternoon.
So Friday morning I start working on it, I decided to paint 2 watercolours at the same time, both identical but one being smaller (quarter sheet). This would be my test paper so that I could avoid mistakes on the larger final version which was a half sheet in size. I understand many of you have no idea what I am talking about, “What do he mean, half sheet?”, so I’ll add an *explanation at the bottom of the page. Anyway, I decided to have him sitting behind a horse this year so it wouldn’t be too similar to the previous one. After sitting up all night I was actually quite pleased with the result, it’s not perfect of course but considering the time constraint I was pretty content. Saturday, and one o’clock came along and I jumped into my car at drove to Solvalla Stadium to deliver the portrait before the deadline. The person who had ordered the painting wasn’t anywhere to be seen, turned out he was on a flight to New York. I was a little anxious but in the end I found someone to hand it to. I told them it was to be presented to Ulf after the 4th race and then I returned home. I have no idea if he liked it or if he even received it. A bit of an anti climax really. Still, the client was happy and I am sure in the future I will find out if the champion Catch-Driver liked his portrait. He has two now, poor man.
*Full Imperial 30″x22″ 76.2×55.9cm
Half Imperial 22″x15″ 55.9×38.1cm
Quarter Imperial 15″x11″ 38.1×27.9cm