meldrum art
I was just playing around. Lights and darks. The darks dominate, and cool colours too. It’s fun not putting pressure on oneself, just playing like a kid – no stress. Learn by doodling. 😉
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I have no wish to compete with photographic images. When I paint a nude from a photo as in this case I want to find my own way of expressing the feelings I have towards the subject. If I just tried to copy the image on my computer screen it would be just so uninteresting and also demoralising because the original photograph will always be best. I know there are super-realists out there who would disagree with me. There is no wrongs or rights, for me it’s just a personal quest to find a form of expression.
Reclining nude 36 x 26 cm
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As I write this it is minus 10 outside. Summer feels very far away right now. Thankfully I am an artist and can recreate the memories of the long magical days we experienced while sailing in the Stockholm archipelago last year. We sailed for a month, most nights we slept in a different natural harbour. This painting at Fjärdlång was created in the studio from a photo I had taken. I maybe act like a squirrel, I take photos all summer then store them for the winter months when I am starved of adventure and sketching outdoors.
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I am the first to admit that I have been uncomfortable when confronted by nudity. I grew up in Catholic Ireland and at the same time I was very exposed to the culture of England which was and still is so anchored to Victorianism. I’d better be careful here, I don’t want to get political. I just think it’s a pity we have been made to feel so ill at ease in appreciating the naked being.
Thankfully, I moved to Sweden. That was 31 years ago so I have had time to adapt to what I still feel is a refreshing attitude towards nudity. It’s such a pity we feel embarrassed by something that is so natural.
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My life drawing classes, which are live-streamed on Zoom begin again this week. I don’t actually get much time to sketch during the sessions as I am the organiser of the event. I’ll have to join someone else’s life class to practise. Ironic, I know.
Because I don’t sketch the nude as much I’d like to I set myself a weekly goal of producing a watercolour that I can later use to promote my life drawing classes.
If you are interested in joining Meldrum Kroki, click here. Please answer the 3 questions when you apply. Thanks.
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Just playing around with salt crystals scattered on my wet watercolour. It’s fun to experiment every now and then. 🙂
The featured chapel is on an island which lies south of Stockholm called Landsort. We explored the island during our sailing trip last year. A nice memory, I look forward to the summer with impatience.
Landsorts Chapel / Kapell
https://goo.gl/maps/cdBAo1Kv31DbTsZw7
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I have taken what seems to me a long break from painting. It’s involuntary, I suffer from SAD during the winter months and it can really slow me down. This year I escaped the depression but I still got the tiredness, plus the aches and pains. The good news is that brighter days are now on their way. The snow is coming and the days are getting longer. It makes me happy just thinking about it.
So , to get the ball rolling again I painted the first things that popped up in my photo-archive which just so happened to be a tugboat and a cow. I like the cow composition, it called an “O” composition, the eye is lead around the painting like a hamster in an exercise-wheel. We can be happy just letting our eyes go round and round for hours seemingly.
Just playing around, trying to put a bit of nerve into my nude studies.
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It’s always difficult to know when to stop painting a watercolour. Maybe I should have stopped already after the first wash. It doesn’t matter, it was just a sketch, I was playing with some paper I haven’t used for years, Fabriano Artistico /S, it’s really difficult to paint on. The blending of colours is difficult. It’s not paper I like but I have lots of it so I’ll just have to enjoy it even if it’s not a favourite. Which do you like best, the finished painting or the halfway stage version? Let me know in the comments. Cheers 🙂
