Dealing with bad drying conditions

Here in Sweden it's cool and damp between September and December. And it's pretty cool the rest of the year except for July and August which means it is hard to dry watercolours while outdoors. I visited the hardware store for a solution and I think I found it. I'll just have to be careful not to set the paper on fire! :)

Mini Burner

Tuesday's model

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm. 20150203

We had a wonderful model this week which was a real treat. She held a very elegant pose, time after time. The session was quite inspiring.

Five minute nude on A4 Fabriano sketch paper

Five minute nude on A4 Fabriano sketch paper

Five minute nude on A4 Fabriano sketch paper

Five minute nude on A4 Fabriano sketch paper

Five minute nude

Ten minute nude

Horses are tricky

I've been painting horses recently, they are difficult to paint and draw but I like the challenge. This small painting used to be much larger but I chopped off the legs due to my inability to capture their movement. Meanwhile I'm working on two other horse paintings and as usual, the more one practices, the easier it gets.

Galloping horse. 11.5 x 7.8 cm Arches rough 300g

Tuesday's Life Drawing

Life Drawing at Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20150127

I have not much to say about these illustrations. A picture speaks for itself anyway, so I'll just sign off now and get back to my drawing-board.

Ten minute nude

Five minute nude

Ten minute study

Five minute nude.

Playing around

This female nude was incomplete until I got my fingers dirty with charcoal dust and finished the contours of her body.

A4 nude, Fabriano sketch paper

Urban Sketching in zero degrees.

We were a group of seven or eight Urban Sketchers on top of Katarina Elevator last Sunday. It was zero degrees, my water did not freeze but it didn't dry very well either. After half an hour it got too cool for us and we retreated to a nearby café where we could warm up again. It was only then that my watercolour sketch dried.

Katarina Elevator view, Slussen, Stockholm. A4 watercolour Moleskin, 200g paper.

Tuesday's Life Drawing

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20150120

Ups and downs, that's the way my abilities go when capturing a model's pose.

I've had this model several times before, I've always struggled to catch her beauty and elegant ballerina posturing. It's strange because she is quite pretty. I guess it's like dating, sometimes there's magic and on other occasions there is nothing at all. Does that make sense?

Five minute nude

Five minute nude

Five minute nude

Two minute nude

Two - three minute nude

Lunchtime watercolour

White horse. 11.5 x 7.8 cm Fabriano GF 300g

I must admit, I need a break from sailing boats, I love sailing and the Stockholm archipelago but I have to resist it for a while. I decided to paint a horse yesterday instead, I build horse-sport websites during the day so it feels kinda natural to paint them too. It is a small painting, 11.5 x 7.8 cm. Keeping it little means less surface to paint and so practical for lunch break watercolour painting. I see improvement in my technique, painting and drawing as much as I can really pays, which feel really nice.
This week I have painted every morning for an hour before going to work, I paint at lunchtime, I have Life Drawing twice and figure painting once during the seven days.

Lunchtime watercolour

I started this lunchtime watercolour last week, I didn't finish it during my break so I spent one more hour on the painting yesterday morning. I am testing to see if I can cope with getting up one hour earlier at the moment. I started yesterday so it's early days. I'm too tired in the evenings after a full-day's work to feel inspired to paint, getting up earlier feels better, it's tough but better, if you know what I mean. It's not easy being an artist but it's very rewarding!

Storm clouds. A5 Fabriano GF 300g

First life drawings of 2015

Venue: Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20150113.

It was nice to start life drawing again. I felt a bit rusty. The model, who is very good, made endless difficult poses for us. After a while I started to relax and enjoy myself. I used charcoal dust, my hero calligraphy pen and my trusty 0.7 Pentel mechanical pencil with 2b lead.

10 minute nude.

3 minute nude.

10 minute nude.

2 minute nude.

5 minute nude.

2 minute nude.

5 minute nude.

Lunchtime watercolour

This watercolour of a Stockholm tram took me two lunchtimes. I struggled with the background, I should have done a tonal sketch first, unfortunately I do not have time to be that professional. I prefer quantity to quality at the moment anyway, it's more important for me to just paint as often as I possibly can and learn. The masterpieces will come later, I hope.

Tram Nr.7 to Skansen, Stockholm. 20150113. Fabriano FG 300g 17 x 22 cm

Lunch Bunny

Winter Bunny 20150109. Fabriano FG 300g 17 x 22 cm

My lunchtime watercolours have to be simple in composition in order for me to complete a painting in 30 - 45 minutes. I choose sailing boats and water scenes partly for this reason and partly, well, I just like sailing. Some friends asked recently, "Do you do anything besides sailing boats?" so this is for them, a winter bunny. It's kinda a cute, isn't it!

Back to work

The Archipelago. A5 Fabriano GF 300g 

Christmas is definitely over, yesterday was my first day back at work. I painted this small A5 watercolour during my lunch break,  I wasn't concerned about creating a masterpiece,  I just wanted to get back into the routine of painting during lunchtimes again.

Artist - Prashant Prabhu

Watercolour by Prashant Prabhu

Watercolour by Prashant Prabhu

I discovered this Indian watercolour artist from Mumbai, his name is Prashant Prabhu. I find his stylised landscapes very inspiring. He doesn't enter watercolour competitions and so I guess this is why I've never heard of him before. Visit his website here.

Stockholm Urban Sketchers

I met up today with the Stockholm Urban Sketchers. As usual we had lot of fun. This watercolour sketch was painted at the Central Station, my favourite warm place to sketch during the Swedish winters.

Sketching at Central Station