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. :)

 

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

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

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. :)




Lunch Sketch 20130702

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.

Violette, Skeppsholm, Stockholm, 20130630

Leo, Skeppsholm, Stockholm, 20130630

Three Wheel Glory

I went out for a ride on my new bike this morning, saw this little van and I just had to sketch it.

Biro, A6 moleskin, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, 20130629

Midsummer's eve in central Stockholm

Stockholm is empty on midsummer's eve, only tourists walk the streets. Swedes are celebrating the year's mid-point out in the country side and the archipelago. I decided to go for a cycle into town late in the afternoon and did this watercolour sketch of Stockholm's Town Hall.

Stockholm Town Hall, A5 watercolour, Moleskin note book.

One more

Ha, I squeezed in this sketch into my lunch break too! 

Lunch sketch

No opportunities to watercolour at the moment. A quick sketch from my screen at work the only possibility. 

Upside down world

For the last three weeks we've had a carpenter re flooring the apartment. It's was a crazy idea to live there while it was being done, and painting watercolours was just not a possibility. Anyway, the apartment is finished now and it's looking great. Once all the dust has been removed, and the furniture put back in place - I'll be back in business. Last night I did this quick sketch, I had no reference, so it's from the mind, strange place; my mind.

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

Charles de Gaulle Airport

I sketched this bored traveller in the airport bar on the way home from France at the weekend.



Bored

Old wrecks and me

I have had a lot of time to reflect on what I actually want to sketch and paint while on holidays. Basically, there is an awful lot of subjects that do not inspire me and a few that do. One of the few that do are old boat wrecks here in the harbour of Paimpol, Brittany.

Wrecks in Paimpol, Brittany. A4 Fabriano Paper, 50% cotton.