Life drawing and watercolour sketch

I completed this watercolour today but really I painted 99% of it last Thursday at my life drawing class. The pose was two hours long with a break for the model every twenty minutes. Click here to see more of my watercolours.

Watercolour by David Meldrum

Life sketching with watercolours

I continue to sketch at life drawing with pencil and watercolour. Each pose is between five and ten minutes long so one has to be quick doing the initial sketch,  with the little time that is left I apply colour as best as I can. Click the images below to see more or click here.

Watercolour sketch by David Meldrum

Watercolour sketch by David Meldrum

SketchCrawl 35

I had a great time on my first SketchCrawl today, the weather was a bit on the cold side so we headed for the warmth of a café after an hour freezing in a park at Medborgplatsen, Stockholm. It was real nice to meet some new nice people who share a common interest. Click the picture below to see my other sketch and fellow sketchers. Click here to see the the Stockholm results.

One small step in a watercoloured direction

I was very happy with the result of this watercolour study, I am starting to get a feel for the medium. It is still a series of mistakes that I somehow patch up but most importantly, I am making fewer mistakes with each painting I do. I painted this yesterday evening at the "The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art" in Bergshamra, Stockholm during a two hour session. I'm still playing with the Charles Reid approach to watercolour painting which is the free use of hot and cold colours.

 Watercolour by David Meldrum 2012.04.19

My first SketchCrawl

I'm not getting much time to sketch this week, too much work but I have to pay the bills. On Saturday I go to my first SketchCrawl here in Stockholm, I cannot remember ever doing any urban sketching before so I'm really looking forward having a go. My wish is to try sketching in an impressionistic style, like Henry Arifin, Alvaro Castagnet or Joseph Zbukvic and I am most likely just going to make a expressionistic mess; but hey, I'll have fun doing it. There is the added bonus of getting the chance to meet some new and interesting people who have similar interests.

Rural France came through the door

I received my "Rural France In Watercolour" DVD by Joseph Zbukiv yesterday. I look forward to watching it. I'm off to Paimpol, Brittany, Northern France in June and I plan to paint as must as possible while there. Click here if you'd like to see the trailer that inspired me to buy the video.

Joseph Zbukic DVD

Watercolor: James Toogood's "Mixed Emotions"

This is a watercolour, a very detailed and realistic one by James Toogood. I wonder was he given that surname at birth? It fits him well. If you would like to see how he acheived this work of art click here.

Mixed Emotions by James Toogood

A logo for a fish

It's probably the worst deal I've ever done, I promised I'd create a logo for a work-mate's fishing team called the "Trout Vikings". I said I'd do it for a fish, which we received and ate, he's been waiting a long time for his logo and I feel real bad about it, hopefully he likes this design, he'd better, he paid me just a fish after all!

Tourist painting

I had a thought, could I earn money from doing tourist paintings? Could I do a tourist painting? The answer I think is yes, if I practised more, I could. The question is though, would I want to? I don't think so somehow. Anyway, this was a fun lunchtime sketch that I went and finished today on my Easter break.

Watercolour sketch by David Meldrum

Ted Nuttall - Watercolourist

http://www.tednuttall.com/

Ted Nuttall seems to live in a sunny warm climate, at least his paintings radiate sunshine and warmt, lucky him.

Here is Ted doing a demonstration of his technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KYcWDgy38M

Craig Young Palette

Charles Reid paints with a Craig Young Palette

At some stage in the future I'd like to own one of these handmade paintboxes by Craig Young. It will set me back £225 pounds though! Two Artists I admire, Alvaro Castagnet and Charles Reid use them, the deep wells look extremly useful.

Watercolouring at speed!

I spent another evening yesterday life drawing with watercolours, it's a real challenge both drawing and painting the model in such a short time-span. It was tonnes of fun though! Click the image to see more or click here.

5 minute watercolour sketch by David Meldrum

Influenced by Charles Reid

Drawing a model in one minute and then painting her by two. It's fun trying to do the impossible!
I had great fun yesterday painting with primary colours at my life drawing class, I like the fact they are so cheerful, I'll create more of these Charles Reid influenced sketches, absolutely. Click the image below to see more or click here.

10 minute watercolour sketch by David Meldrum