Weekend sketch

We are not having the best of summers here in Sweden this year. Last week was great though and I took full advantage of it at the weekend. I set up a hammock by the water's edge and lay there looking at all the boats going by. I live quite close to the city centre so the traffic on the water is intense at this time of year. I later did this watercolour in my sketchbook, I'm happy with it although I wish I had access to better watercolour sketchbooks than Moleskin, I like Arches Rough and so I always find it disappointing when I use the Moleskin. Still, it's a sketchbook and it will do fine until it's finished, I will use small Arches blocks in future. If anyone knows of good watercolour sketchbook, please let me know.

Sketchbook painting of Waldermarsudde, Stockholm.

Waldermarsudde

First wash

Vacation painting

I had planned to paint more but we travelled over 1000 kilometres in 5 days between Bergen and Trondheim, Norway. It was a wonderful holiday, such a beautiful country. Next trip, I will travel every second day only so that I have more time to paint.

The Three Amigos

This is a must see video if you enjoy the work of any of these watercolouring greats, Joseph Zbukvic, Herman Pekel and Alvaro Castagnet. I owe at lot of what I've learned to these artists and their wonderful DVDs.

Last watercolour for this year

My last watercolour for 2013. It's been an interesting year. I'm excited about 2014 as I've promised myself to really start painting watercolours seriously.

Watercolour nude by David Meldrum 20131229

Life without a pencil

This is a great Christmas present! It seems I do not need to outline anymore. This is the second watercolour I have created without any initial pencil marks. I am happy enough with the result and I look forward now to 2014 and developing this new found skill. :)

Nude with no outlines. Saunders Waterford HP paper - 31 x 23 cm

The Naked Truth

Do I need to use a pencil initially when painting a watercolour nude? I didn't here and I like the result, I just started painting the nude directly onto paper. I will continue down this path and see what develops. Merry Christmas!

Pencil free nude. Saunders Waterford HP  paper - 31 x 23 cm

People at work - by Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Zbukvic has a new video produced by APV Films. Joseph is one of a small group of watercolour artists that I draw inspiration and knowledge from, this new video is a treat for me!

http://www.apvfilms.com/

Joseph Zbukvic - Video Gallery

This is the best gallery of Joseph's work that I've seen on the internet.

Introducing The Naked Hand

I try and do a sketch or a painting during my lunch break at work as often as possible. I really would like to practice my figure painting but having pictures of naked people on my computer screen is a bit of a sensitive issue to say the least. So, I have found the solution - hands! Yes, naked hands! Nude hands! It's genius, I can practice my watercolour skin tones and hand drawing at the same time. Only I see the naked truth.

The Naked Hand (24x32cm, Canson 200 g/m²)

Watercolour sketches from Corfu

I had big plans to do a whole bunch of watercolours on my sailing trip. In reality it was almost impossible to concentrate for any length of time in the 35-36 degrees of heat. Still, I had a wonderful holiday and my batteries are charged. The sketches are A5 in size approximately.

Reversed perspective. ( It felt right at the time! )

Summer break from life drawing

Venue: Konstnärshuset

This was the last life drawing session before the summer break. I guess I'll have to sketch from photos I find on the internet for a few months. I certainly don't want to stop drawing the human form just because of holidays! 

Five minute watercolour sketch

Five minute watercolour sketch

Five minute watercolour sketch

Two minute pencil sketch

Two minute pencil sketch

My favourite life drawing books

My favourite life drawing books are the following: 

One is called, Henry Yan's figure drawing techniques and tips. The other book is titled, The Natural Way to Paint, by Charles Reid. Henry Yan's is based on pencil and charcoal techniques and Charles Reid focuses on pencil and watercolour techniques. I find both very inspiring and I have improved as an artist by studying them.

Henry Yan's website
Charles Reid's website

Charles Reid and Henry Yan

Watercolouring quick life drawing sketches

I have a supply of two to five minute sketches on 200g watercolour paper. I started quick sketching on watercolour paper so that I can paint them at my leisure at a later date. I want to master watercolouring and so having these sketches lying around really makes practice easier. For light reference I use erotic photography that I have downloaded from the internet.

Watercolour sketch - 20121229

 

Watercolour sketch - 20121229

Watercolour sketch - 20121229

Here is an example of an original five minute sketch. I will probably paint this soon.

Time for reflection... and a sketch.



I was in Northern Ireland last week to see my family, I did this sketch on the flight home to Stockholm.

Tuesday's life drawing session

Konstnärshuset: Our model did not turn up this week so the organiser whipped her clothes off and saved the day. What a hero!

5 minute pen and wash sketch

5 minute pen and charcoal sketch

5 minute pen and wash sketch

Life Drawing 2012

Click the above image to see more of my life drawing sketches.

The internal struggle

Last night I went to a two hour - one pose session at the The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art in Bergshamra, Stockholm. I have been sketching now for a few years so I'm finding it relatively easy to draw the human figure. The problem I have today is the painting of the figure, it is such a struggle for me, I painted my first watercolour in February.



Two hour male nude study

Commuting pastimes

Coming home from work I noticed a man listening to music on his phone. I wondered if he would stay put long enough for me to sketch him. He travelled two stops before getting off at the central station. ( I watercoloured later when I came home)

Commuting pastimes

My sleeping sister

I sketched my sister sleeping while we were sailing last week. Someone has mentioned that she is 'Hot!' on my Flickr Urban Sketching page. I agree with them of course :)

Sleeping Sister

Sailing holiday

I came home yesterday after a three week holiday sailing around the Åland and Stockholm archipelagos. It was a wonderful adventure and I saw some amazing things. I have a number of panoramic sketches from the trip to publish, unfortunately I only managed to scan this little quickie sketch before my scanner suddenly, totally refused to work. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
More sketches coming soon. Anyone got any recommendations for a small, inexpensive scanner?

Direk Kingnok interview

Direk Kingnok is a watercolour artist I admire very much, I recently found this interview on a blog called, The Royal Arts: http://theroyalarts.blogspot.se/2011/12/direk-kingnok.html#!/2011/12/direk-kingnok.html

Direk Kingnok's website: http://www.direkkingnok.com/

His Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Direk-Kingnok-Watercolor-artist/157671970976244

Watercolour by Direk Kingnok