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.

I lost my rubber

Yes, terrible stuff. I lost my favour kneadable-eraser today. Must have fallen off my knee while sketching at the train station. I like the Koh I Noor rubber so much I just ordered six on the internet. Funny how one gets attached to certain products.

Old Swedish Steamer

A watercolour of the Stockholm ferry called Västan, an old steamer from 1900 and still going strong.This was the first time I painted in this large a format of 70 x 50cm. It's kinda scary, because so much can go wrong. Thankfully I didn't make too many mistakes and I'm happy with the end result.

Västan 75 x 50 cm, Arches rough 300g.

Grid drawing

This is a portrait of Swedish trotting catch driver called Björn Goop. I used a grid to help me get the proportions correct. It was really easy to draw his likeness in this manner, it almost felt like cheating! ;)

Björn Goop grid

Björn Goop

Impressions from the Stockholm archipelago

I just spent two weeks sailing here in Stockholm. The weather was not the best, I had to use mittens at one point while painting. There was a storm, lots of wind and rain but I still enjoyed myself anyway. It's hard to beat the beauty of the archipelago. I plan to spend more time painting there next year, I am looking forward to it already.

The outer archipelago 39 x 29 cm Arches Rough

The Stockholm Archipelago 39 x 29 cm Arches Rough

The Stockholm Archipelago 39 x 29 cm Arches Rough

My outdoor kit for 2015

Assorted brushes and W&N watercolour paint 

More James Dean on my lunch break

I painted the same picture again. It's fun to play around with a simple motif and a small format, the watercolours are 8 x 11.5 cm on Arches rough, 300g.

Another waiting for a train sketch

This was sketched this week too.

Waiting for a train

A little sketch I did on the way to work this week. I wait at Söderstation in Stockholm for my local train most mornings. I'm quite happy to just miss the train because this gives me ten minutes to do a sketch. I then finish the drawing while aboard the train.

Lunch break with James Dean

I wanted to practice my watercolour figures so I chose that rather famous picture of James Dean walking in the rain in New York. I completed these two paintings in half an hour. Speed helps me, I don't have time to think, when I think everything goes wrong. Each watercolour is 8 x 11,5 cm in size on Arches rough, 300g.

James Dean on a lunch break. 

A model from 1925

I found a wonderful photo of a nude on the internet, to my surprise I found an original copy on Ebay. I plan to do a large watercolour once I receive the print. The original photo was taken by Heinrich Maass from Berlin and was featured in a book called "Nature & Culture", a collection of nudes of women from different cultures around the world. It was assembled by Dr. Peter Landow in 1924 & 1925.
I used a Cretacolor Monolith 9B  for toning on A4 Fabriano Eco Artist paper.

Drawn from an original photo taken by Heinrich Maass, 1925