This blog is moving to www.meldrum.se

Yes, this blog is moving to www.meldrum.se
I've grown tired of Blogger.com and the non-commitment of Google to support it.
I have therefore switched to Wordpress as my blogging tool of choice and installed it on my domain, www.meldrum.se

It will take a number of weeks before I have re-linked some images that didn't make it in the transfer. Once this is complete I will redirect Blogger traffic to www.meldrum.se

If all goes well you won't notice much of a change. I value all of you who vist this site, I hope to regain an enthusiasm for blogging once again. Thank you for your support! :)

Plein air watercolour at Nybrokajen, central Stockholm. 2016 08 01

A recent urbansketch

If you would like to see more of my pencil sketches please do visit http://meldrumsketch.tumblr.com

2b, 6b and 9b pencil sketch in Hand.book journal 14 x 9 cm

Charles Darwin

I was sketching at the Natural  History Museum  in London the other day. :)

Sketch of  Charles Darwin Statue

New sketch gallery page

I used to have a flickr page for my sketches but I suddenly couldn't login to the account any more. Frustrated and annoyed, I created a tumblr site instead. So if you'd like to see my latest sketches from my notebooks, visit here.

A5 Fabriano sketch paper

A5 Fabriano sketch paper

A5 Fabriano sketch paper

Daring to be bad

Like most people I find losing control uncomfortable. In order to re-school myself I feel the need to let go and see what happens. I think the result of this letting go can be exciting but not always pretty. A few years ago I would never have painted like this, messy, sloppy and careless. I find the process of personal - development so interesting.

Stockholm Town Hall - A4ish Arches Rough 300g/m2

Stockholm Town Hall - A4ish Arches Rough 300g/m2

I don't always succeed ..

I returned to Kungsträgården, the park in central Stockholm to paint a café scene one more time. I was less successful than the previous attempt and I know why. The main figure is too much in the centre of the composition and the brush strokes feel hesitant. I understand my failings these days, so at least that is a step in a forward direction.

Kungsträgården 20140805

Summertime in Stockholm

The weather here in Stockholm has been amazingly warm, it feels like the Mediterranean! This watercolour sketch was done while I was on my way home from work yesterday. I stopped in the city square called, Kungsträgården and painted the café-life I saw in front of me.

Kungsträgården café, 20140803

Sketching classic cars

Today I travelled from Söder in Stockholm on a 1938 Scania - Vabis nicknamed the "Bulldog". Our destination was the "Gärdesloppet", a large gathering of old vehicles held once a year. I had a fun day, I'm not mad about cars but I enjoyed seeing grown men's faces light up with joy at the sight of an over-powdered American Cadillac. I spent a lot of time on the "Bulldog" touring around town on a beautiful sunny day.

A4 pencil sketch

A5 pencil sketch

A5 pencil sketch

Urban Sketching in The Suburbs

Yesterday was the 43rd World SketchCrawl. A sunny day was had in the suburbs of Stockholm with fellow urban sketcher, Nina. Skärholmen central square. We had a lot of fun even if we had a very persistent drunk yapping profanities into ours ears for what seem like several hours.

SketchCrawl #43 , Skärholmen, Stockholm

SketchCrawl #43 , Skärholmen, Stockholm

Social sketching

Normally, for the last few weeks at any rate, I have been alone sketching each day at the Central Station here in Stockholm. Last Sunday was a different story though, because seven other urban-sketchers joined me for an afternoon of sketching at the station. We are all members of a group called "Skissa i Stockholm" which translated means - Sketching in Stockholm. Anyway, fun that so many turned up. It was a lovely afternoon. The coffee break taking up a large chunk of the available time, but that's normal. We artists love to talk about our pencils! If anyone in Stockholm would like to join our group, please do let me know, "the more the merrier", as they say.

Albert & Jack's, Central Station, Stockholm

Central Station Watercolour Sketch

I keep reminding myself it's a sketch and not a painting. So as a sketch, I'm happy with it. Setting the tonal values for a scene was more difficult than I thought it would be, something for me to practice - definitely.

A4 Moleskin watercolour notebook, 200g.

Work in progress ...

I will finish this tomorrow morning. Today I focused on the light and mid-tones. One never knows if a watercolour will be a success or not. The foreground figures will be dark in tone, it will be exciting to see what develops ...

Central Station - Work In Progress

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One interesting week at Central Station

The homeless, hopeful immigrants, tired commuters and friendly train station employees, all these interesting people I encountered during my first week at the Central Train Station. It was truly a wonderful experience and so I plan to continue getting up an hour earlier even next week and spend 60 minutes achieving something that I would normally only contemplate. Crazy stuff!
Today I spent time working out how to paint a watercolour which I will complete on Monday. I plan to paint the foreground figures quite dark and the background fairly light. The person walking through the arch being the focal point. It usually goes to hell after a brush stroke or two, but that is why watercolouring is so entertaining. The other sketch was a winding up exercise, I had 15 minutes before the train came, so I sketched, what else is there to do in a train station!

Pencil sketch at Central Station, Stockholm

Uncompleted watercolour of Central Station

Going soft at Central Station

If one cares to look at my drawings from a few years back one can see I used outlines as a rule. I think when one is unsure one uses an outline as a form of familiar security, like filling in the dots, a, b and c. I've been trying to break away from this for ages, it's not easy when one has used it for a life time. That's why I like watercolour so much, it does not like to stay within the any lines I put down. This morning I focused on tone and not line, I realize that if I'm ever going to be a good painter I'll have to master tone and composition, both of which I'm studying at the moment.

Central Station

Reading the sign

Watercolouring at Central Station

After a couple of days sketching at the Central Train Station here in Stockholm I felt ready to do my first watercolour sketch for 2014. I'm happy enough with the result, I spent two hours on it over a two day period. I used too much gouache for highlighting but as it's just a sketch I really don't mind, I'd prefer to use less of course.
I am getting up one hour earlier this week so that I have an hour to sketch before going to work. It is not as hard as I thought it would be. Now, I've found an extra hour each day to sketch and paint which makes me happy.

Under the Departure Sign at Central Station Stockholm. Moleskin A4 watercolour notebook.

The first day, 20140113

Waiting for a watercolour

I've been drawing everyday at the Train Station since rediscovering it as an indoor sketching utopia. I had planed to watercolour today but I'm not confident enough with the environment. I am getting there though, it's a mind-game. One has to believe that one can can do it.

A4, HB pencil sketch, Central Station, Stockholm

A4, HB pencil sketch, Central Station, Stockholm

Fitting art into my everyday life

Like most people I have a day job, it pays the bills and helps keep a roof over my head. I dream of being an artist but the reality is that I work 9-5 and spend hours each day commuting back and forth to the office. After discovering, The Great Indoors of Stockholm (see last post), I stopped on my way to work today at Central Station and did this quick sketch. So it's possible for me to sketch on the way to work, at lunch time and then again on the way home. Suddenly, I have so much time for my art!



On the way to work. A4, HB pencil on Fabrino paper

Urban sketching in a cold climate

As far as Urban Sketching is concerned I've always felt sorry for myself living this far north. In Stockholm your fingers go numb after 30 minutes for at least half the year. I have dreamt often of holidays in the sun sketching for weeks on end in sun-drenched villages with happy tourists and buildings to draw.

My solution is to go indoors. The Central Station of Stockholm is a wonderful place to sketch, there is also the bus station and the underground. They are all warm places and there are lots people waiting there to be drawn, watercoloured even. Wintertime also brings darkness but not in the Stations of Stockholm, I look forward to many hours of urban sketching throughout the winter months in the great indoors of Stockholm.

A4, HB pencil sketch, Central Station, Stockholm

A4, HB pencil sketch, Central Station, Stockholm

Happy accident

Earlier in the year, on my way to work I did this sketch of a commuter waiting for a train at Södra Station here in Stockholm. I wasn't impressed with my drawing so I left it in my sketch book that I carry in my rucksack. I rediscovered it today after it had spent months being rubbed and smudged. To my great surprise it looks so much more interesting now.

Waiting for a train. A5 Fabriano paper.

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! )