Better late than never

Yeap, it's been a few weeks since I last published. I have a good excuse though, my son was visiting, he lives in Tokyo so it was real nice spending some time with him. I plan to visit him in January, I can't wait, I've never been to Japan.

Here are my life drawings dated 20151010. Location: Basis, Folkkungagatan, Stockholm

Ten minutes on A3 paper

Ten minutes on A3 paper

Three to Five minutes on A3 paper

Two minutes on A4 paper

Two minutes on A4 paper

Two minutes on A4 paper

Life drawing

Tuesday's life drawing at Konstnärshuset, Stockholm. Four five minute poses.

Five minute sketch on A4 paper

Five minute sketch on A4 paper

Five minute sketch on A4 paper

Five minute sketch on A4 paper

Sailing back to the winter place

Today we sailed for five and a half hours to bring our boat back from the summer harbour. Tomorrow we take off the mast and next weekend the boat is lifted by crane onto land. The only thing left to do then is build a roof over the boat which will protect it from the harsh Scandinavian winter weather, I look forward to the spring already. For the record, it was damn cold sailing today, thankfully the sun came out at half time to warm us up a little, I used a gas burner to dry the paper in between washes.

21 x 15 watercolour journal. 100% cotton  300gsm Clairefontaine

A good start to the weekend

I received my hand.book  journals today. I ordered them on Amazon as I can't buy them here in Sweden. They are much better than Moleskins if you like to sketch with pencils as I do.

Life drawing

Tuesday's figure drawing at Konstnärshuset, Stockholm.

Five minute nude

Two minute nude

Two minute nude

Two minute nude

Two minute nude

Two minute nude

Five minute nude

Five minute nude

Five minute nude

Different treatment

I held my pencil right at the end of the shaft. I kept my arm totally straight while my sketch pad was down on the floor while I sat. Interesting results I think, quite lively.
Basis, Stockholm 20150919

Two minute pose

Two minute pose

Two minute pose

After the summer break

I started life drawing again after the summer break.
Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, 20150915

Five minute nude

Ten minute nude

Two minute nude

Two minute nude

Five minute nude.

Learning to draw better

If you are looking for tips on how to draw better there are lots of videos on the internet. Proko is one of the better educational channels to be found on YouTube. Stan Prokopenko also uses humour to teach which is never wrong. Visit www.proko.com

Two quickies

Here are two quick watercolours I did during the last month.

Seascape 20150813, 11,5 x 7,8 cm, Fabriano fne grain 300g

Trawler 20150912 11,5 x 7,8 cm, Fabriano fne grain 300g

Week visiting Northern Ireland

I spent the week with my mother who lives in Northern Ireland. We spent two nights at the Killyhevlin hotel in Enniskillen. The watercolour sketch is an attempt to capture the view from where we stayed. It was such a beautiful view we had of the Benbulben mountain in the rain swept distance.

Lunchtime watercolour

This was lunchtime watercolour was initially a failure. I made a mistake and I thought the painting was ruined. So I relaxed and played around with it, did things that I wouldn't normally do like scratch the surface. In the end I was quite happy wit the result. "One should never give up on a painting!", is the the moral of the story I guess.

Arches rough, 300g, 31 x 23 cm

Sketch from Ploumanach, Brittany, France

Ploumanach, Arches Rough watercolour paper

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.

Musée d'Orsay

I visited the Musée d'Orsay in Paris yesterday. They say they have the best collection of impressionist work in the world and I can't disagree. All the big names are there. My favourite was Claude Monet, his sense of light and composition was just outstanding.