Sketching at the Swedish Museum of Natural History

I had a lot of fun today sketching at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. I met up with Nina Johansson and Marie Flood. I had never visited the museum before so I began the day by taking a tour of the place. It was very interesting. I found it a bit uncomfortable looking at so many stuffed animals but then again they did not move, which makes life easier for a sketcher. I discovered today that Polar bears are very difficult to draw and watercolouring in a dimly lit museum is challenging to say the least. ...But like I said in the beginning, it was fun.

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Understanding Francis Bacon

This documentary by Arena, BBC, reveals a lot about the person - Francis Bacon.

New life drawing venue

Venue: ABF, Stockholm, 20130326

The usual Tuesday life drawing at Konstnärshuset was off because of the Easter break, so a number of us visited ABF as an alternative. It was a first time for me, the lady who was running it seemed nice and the model was good. On the minus side though I found the florescent lighting very harsh and it was almost double the price of Konstnärshuset. Granted, tuition was available.

Please note that I usually have more sketches to view than I publish here on Blogger, visit Life Drawing 2013.

5 minutes, A3, 20130326

5 minutes, A3, 20130326

2 minute sketches, A5, 20130326

2 minute sketches, A5, 20130326

Lucian Freud - Painted Life Documentary - BBC

Life drawing at The Book Club

This a very cool and clever video, thank you, mensmanser for sending me the link. :)

Life Drawing at The Book Club from Wriggles & Robins on Vimeo.

Alex Asher Daniel

Very interesting work, at least I think so. Click here to visit the artist's home page

Painting by Alex Asher Daniel

Tuesday's life drawing

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20130319

 I am starting to miss my watercolouring so I think I'll start again after the Easter break ...

Ten minute sketch, A3, 20130319

Ten minute sketch, A3, 20130319

Two minute sketch, A4, 20130319

Excellent oil and watercolour portraits by Sue Rubira

Sue Rubira Portrait

Excellent oil and watercolour portraits by Sue Rubira. Sue also reveals how she paints, stage for stage which is very cool. Click here for that.

Thursday's life drawing of two models

1.5 hour painting of two female nudes ( 27x50cm )

Venue: The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art, 20130314.

The first attempt at capturing these two pretty female models was discarded after a half an hour. I started again and this time I was able to find my way. I am finding it so hard to succeed when doing a two hour session. I just plan to keep trying, at some stage something must go click in my head! I am happy with this painting, I masked off the red-head in the back ground as she made the centre of focus confusing in the composition. Her red hair was beautiful but too distracting.

Just sketching

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20130312

I am taking a pause from watercolours during my Tuesday evening life drawing classes. I want to focus on developing my drawing skills. I am happy with the results, I feel relaxed when I sketch which gives me time to think about composition and execution.

A4 paper, 2 minute sketch. 20130312

A3 paper, 5 minute sketch. 20130312

A3 paper, 10 minute sketch. 20130312

A4 paper, 2 minute sketch. 20130312

Watercolour doodle

I painted this quickly last Friday during my lunch break. I want to improve my technique, so I practice as often as I can.



Watercolour doodle, 20130308 (A4 paper)

Saturday life drawing

Venue: Basis, Stockholm, 20130309

Pencil and Oil Pastels this day.

10 minutes - A3 paper

10 minutes - A3

10 minutes - A3

2 minutes - A4

2 minutes - A4

Zinaida Serebriakova Nudes

Here is a selection of nudes by Zinaida Serebriakova (1884 –  1967) - female Russian painter. Wikipedia link: here

 

Zinaida Serebriakova

Portrait painting is difficult too

This little attempt to capture Tom Waits was relatively successful I think. I've got a few levels to climb as far as execution is concerned but I'm happy enough with the painting.
I choose famous people because it is a good way to see if I have succeeded in capturing a likeness or not. I just ask people close to me, "Do you recognise this person?".
I've started a portrait page on this blog, I've added a tab above.

Life drawing is difficult most of the time...

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm.

I did not find the model very inspiring, it is very difficult to create good work when one feels this way. Still, I am very happy with the last two sketches of the evening, which were two minute drawings.

2 minute sketch, 20130305

2 minute sketch, 20130305

5 minute sketch, 20130305

5 minute sketch, 20130305

Frustration and enlightenment

Venue: The Academy of Realistic Art, Bergshamra, 20130228

I can sketch a nude quickly, paint them at speed also. My challenge right now is to slow down and start painting instead of sketching. It is hard, very hard to continue having a loose expressive style when one has a whole two hours to capture a pose. I tense up, every line I draw becomes stiff, I revert to how I drew two years ago. When I came home and showed my wife my effort she immediately said it felt restrained, she was right. Frustrated, I decided to add thick lines around the model to exaggerate the stiffness even more, I created a Mucha, some Art Nouveau. After much thought of where I want to go,in which direction, I realise that I relate to artists like watercolourists, Charles Reid and Ted Nuttall. Other painters I currently find inspiring are; Sandra Flood for here compostition skills, Mark Demsteader for his grungy portraits, Sebastian Kruger for his ability to capture a character and Kent Williams for his loose style. I am basically seeking to develop a loose, grungy style, I just have to keep reminding myself of this.

(Thank you Martin for introducing me to Mr. Williams)

I made a Mucha of it!