An old working boat on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm.

An old working boat on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm.

Last week I met my artist friend, Daniel on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm. We had a great day and we found a lovely compostition to try and capture. We gave it a go and had some fun. My watercolour wasn’t as good as I would have liked. Just then it didn’t matter. It was a social day, we had lunch at the Architectural / Design Museum and chatted in the beautiful sunshine.
Later, at home I felt that I could have painted a better watercolour. It was a missed opportunity I thought. So I decided that I would return the next day and really try and capture the scene. I am happy with the result, I hope you like it too.
The first day.





The second day






Here are some watercolours from Portugal. I painted them while on the Camino de Santiago pilgrim trail last week. I was with my friend David Powell . We cycled with our Brompton bikes that we brought from Stockholm in our suitcases. We stayed in hostels along the way.
We traveled from Porto to Tui in Spain, ten days in all. Our bikes weren’t suited for the old Roman cobble roads. Still, it was an adventure and lots of fun.
There were some tough moments like when we got stuck on the side of a mountain because we ran out of road. Luckly for us, three young men helped us carry our bikes and gear until we found some road again. I think they were saints. We bought them lunch.






















Recently, I have been painting from photographs that I have taken. As I write this, there is sleet falling to the ground. It’s not quite spring yet. Or, this is spring, it’s just a Nordic one.
The story behind the watercolour is that we took ourselves to Svartlöga on a ferry from Rödlöga, two islands in the outer archipelago. We wanted to visit Svartlöga for a long time but it’s difficult to visit with a sailing boat. We decided to take a ferry from Rödlöga and leave our boat behind.
This probably doesn’t make much sense to you, but it’s when I took the reference photo for the watercolour. I’m happy with the painting, but maybe not the explanation.



I’ve painted this old ferry before. It’s called Storskär, it was built in 1908. I wanted to paint a subject that I was familiar with. Painting something new can be scary as well as exciting. I’m trying to start painting in the studio again. I’ve installed my field easel to help me over the line. It’s working, I’ve started painting. White paper and scary monsters, it’s not easy being a watercolour artist. 😁
Storskär 36 x 26 cm
