Sunday Nude

I spent the whole day yesterday drawing and painting. First I met up with fellow Stockholm - Urbansketchers. We gathered outside the library at Kulturhuset which is a large cultural centre in the middle of Stockholm. Later in the day some of us attended life drawing at Konstnärshuset,  this watercolour took 40 minutes. It was challenging because I had to paint wet on wet most of the time. I had to apply thick paint for the eyes, otherwise the damp paper would have blurred them out of recognition. If you would like to see my urban-sketches please visit here.

Sunday figure painting

Memories from Japan

I was in Japan just after Christmas. I was visiting my son who has put down roots in Tokyo. It's an amazing place. This watercolour was painted from a photo I took outside a bazaar in Nasukarasuyama north of Tokyo.

Arches rough 300g 50 x 32.5 cm

Japanese clay pots 50 x 32.5 cm

Holiday in Paimpol, France.

I've just spent a lovely week in Brittany, France. This watercolour sketch was painted along the shoreline between Ploubazlanec and Paimpol,  Brittany,  France.

Holiday in Ploumanach

Another watercolour sketch of Ploumanach,  painted from the harbour in Paimpol,  Brittany,  France.

International watercolor society art contest 2013

Nudes in progress...

Here are some nudes I did at life drawing last Saturday.  I want to give them another wash or two to see what developes.

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

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

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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Sketches from my note book

It is hard to focus on sketching or painting when Christmas presents still have to be bought and wrapped! Here are a few sketches from my note book.

Sketched at the Cultural Centre (Kulturhuset), Stockholm

Sketches while at work, my desk and a crowd drawn from my computer screen.

Sketching at Ikea

I went sketching at Ikea today together with super-talented Nina Johansson. We are part of a small group here in Stockholm that meet once a month to sketch. At this time of the year it is too cold to be outside so we choose an indoor location. Ikea was a fun place to be, lots of interesting perspectives, colours and details. I bought a few things for my kitchen after we had finished sketching. :)

The entrance to Ikea

Sketching sofas at Ikea is a comfortable experience.

The strange white figure looks at the weird bed perspective...

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?

Starting to sketch with watercolours.

I have started to use watercolour while life drawing. I am just learning to handle the medium so having to work at speed really helps, one doesn't have time to worry, one just has to go for it! 

This model was getting chemotherapy and so her hair had fallen out and she looked very tired, especially her eyes, it was very haunting, still, I admired this 60 year old woman for not letting cancer stop her. These sketches are from 2012.03.17, Saint Patrick's Day. 

15 minute watercolour sketch

5 minute sketch

2 minute sketch