Monday, July 22, 2013

The big French challenge

Watercolour of home in Paimpol, France by David Meldum
Paimpol, Brittany, France


Yes, I finished it, the biggest watercolour I've ever painted, 56x76cm or 22x30".
I'm proud that I stuck with it, I learned so much by the endless mistakes I made. As a complete painting I am not totally happy, it is stiff and the uncertainty in my strokes is clear to see. Too much white gouache for highlights almost ruining it in the end. But, I learned so much by not giving up.
Buy good watercolour paper, the one I used was very poor, not cotton, it was closer to toilet paper in quality. I ran out and bought Arches 300g because of the poor nature of the paper I used, so I learned. There was one million things I had never experienced; like how does one paint stones walls? It's really hard but it will be easier next time. Flowers, I had never painted them before either, not seriously, they were also difficult to master. Ah well, on I go to the next pigmented challenge ...

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Moleskin ...

I have a watercolour Moleskin (A5) where I practice my watercolour nudes. I'm trying to do at least one a day. It helps me ignore the real task; finishing the large watercolour that is such a challenge and sits there beside me waiting ...

A5 watercolour figure painting by David Meldrum
A5 watercolour figure painting

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Taking a break ...

Currently I'm working on a large watercolour, it's a real challenge, I've never worked in so much detail before and I'm pushing my technical limits to the maximum. So, it was necessary to take a little break and paint this little watercolour nude. I like the freedom of the way the colour pigment illustrates the figure.

Nude by David Meldrum 20130719
Nude 20130719. Moleskin, A5, watercolour notebook. 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Mucha inspired ...

I found a wonderful model - posing beautifully. I will eventually paint a full sized homage to the image at a later date. I spent today doing two sketches, one watercolour with a Mucha inspired frame and the other in pencil. Both are about A5 in size.

Watercolour nude by David Meldrum
Watercolour

Nude by David Meldrum
Pencil





Monday, July 15, 2013

Mega Mucha

On the third day of my visit to Prague I visited the Veletržní Palace to see the Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha. Twenty massive works depicting the history of the Slavic people. 





Sunday, July 14, 2013

Having a Mucha weekend

I am having an amazing weekend in Prague, so much to see, so much culture. We visited the Municipal House, which is an Art Nouveau master piece. There, they have Ivan Lendl's collection of Alfons Mucha's posters, which is the most complete collection in the world. Amazing! Don't be surprised if you start to see thick dark lines around my nudes! :)


Friday, July 12, 2013

Mucha, Prague

Today I visited the Mucha Museum in Prague. Wow, his talent is totally inspiring! 




Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Nude in Red Armchair

I am on holidays, which means I have the opportunity to paint at last. Time, such a hard treasure to find.

Nude In Red Armchair by David Meldrum
Nude In Red Armchair, 30 x 42 cm (A3), 11 3/4 x 16 1/2"

An Unfinished Painting from Brittany.

The house belongs to my mother in law, it's a very beautiful place close to Paimpol, Brittany in France. I thought I would paint it but I ran out of time, I should not have waited until the last day of my visit. I am on holidays again now so hopefully I will find time to complete the painting using photographs as reference.
I thought some of you might be interested in seeing my painting set up. The image of me in the header above was taken while I was painting the house. :)

 




Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Lars Lerin - Kanal 12 i Varmland



Lars Lerin is probably the most interesting and talented watercolourist living in Sweden today. Here are three interviews about Lars and his work. The videos are in Swedish unfortunately. You can see his paintings here is you are not familiar with his work. He doesn't seem to have a web-gallery which is a pity. There is a documentary I would like to see called, "För dig naken", it was filmed by his niece, Sara Bross and was released in 2012.

Lars Lerin


Lars Lerin hos Malou


Monday, July 08, 2013

Three little lunch breaks.

I learn so much each time I do a watercolour. I learn, that I should not draw so many lines, that I should be patient, that I should simplify what I see, that I should be more subtle with my tones and finally, that I should be more confident with my brush strokes.

This is a portrait of Micke Nybrink, he is a Trotting media journalist here in Sweden. Last week I created a web site in which he featured and this is where the image of him inspired me to paint him. You can see the website and his photo here if you like. It took me three lunch breaks to complete the painting, almost two hours I would guess.


Micke Nybrink by David Meldrum
Micke Nybrink

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Lunch Sketch

Inspired by my watercolour sketches from the weekend I did another boat sketch today during my lunch break. I found my reference image on Google, I searched using the words, 'Sailing and Archipelago'. The white foam created by the boat was achieved with office Tipp-Ex. :)



Sailing boat in the archipelago by David Meldrum
Lunch Sketch 20130702

Monday, July 01, 2013

Stockholm Sketcher

It's summer time and most people in Sweden disappear to relax and enjoy the short season of warmth. Either this or they are busy getting everything done before they take their holidays. So this month, I was the sole sketcher representing, 'The Stockholm Sketchers' group. It would have been nice with some company but I still had a lovely day.
I discovered that sketching boats isn't easy, there is so much detail; so it's a question of what one should leave out and what one should add to improve the picture. I'm happy enough with these two watercolours, sure - I made mistakes, I learned from them and I look forward to sketching boats again soon to see if I have indeed learned something.

A watercolour sketch by David Meldrum
Violette, Skeppsholm, Stockholm, 20130630

A watercolour sketch by David Meldrum
Leo, Skeppsholm, Stockholm, 20130630