Year: 2018

Categories
Sketch Uncategorized Watercolour

Folkboat

Moleskin watercolour sketch of Folkboat by David Meldrum
Moleskin watercolour sketch of Folkboat

I love the design of these scandinavian pearls called Nordic Folkboats.
A friend of mine owned one and I sailed it a number of times, it is a beautiful boat to sail, the only negative was that it felt cramped when camping out in the archipelago. I painted these two sketches in my Moleskin journal (29 x 21 cm). Special thanks to Erik Lähteenmäki for the inspiring reference photos of a Folkboat regatta in Finland.
I plan to paint a few large format watercolours featuring these classic boats in the coming weeks.

Moleskin watercolour sketch 29 x 21 cm by David Meldrum
Moleskin watercolour sketch 29 x 21 cm
Categories
Watercolour

Building a bridge

Djurgårdsbron
Djurgårdsbron

Djurgårdsbron is at the entrance to Djurgården which is a royal island close to the city center here in Stockholm. There are many museums, walks and even an amusement park. I definitely recommend you to visit if you are in Sweden’s capital city.
A friend of mine, Susanna Janfalk published a photo on her Instagram account and I felt very inspired to try and paint it when I saw it. I asked for permission and then set about drawing some sketches initially and then finally I did the final watercolour which you see here.

On seeing the painting my friend immediately wanted to buy the watercolour. Business is good when I sell paintings fresh off my desk!

There is no point in replicating a photograph as a watercolourist, this is why I sketch first. I want to find out – what is important and what can I take out, I am trying to make an interesting composition. A bridge between the reality of a photo and the execution of a watercolour.

Moleskin watercolour sketch 28 x 21 cm of Djurgårdsbron, Stockholm
Moleskin watercolour sketch 28 x 21 cm
A5 pencil sketchof Djurgårdsbron, Stockholm
A5 pencil sketch
Original photo by Susanna Janfalk
Original photo by Susanna Janfalk
Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nude

Monday at Master Olafsgården

A David Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing

Kinda, one of my favourite life drawing models. It was such a pleasure to sketch her, I didn’t mind freezing my butt off at the bus stop later because I just missed the bus.

meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Meldrum life drawing
Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nude Sketch Watercolour

Sunday fun

Watercolour nude by David Meldrum
Watercolour nude

Sunday fun and a little extra work Monday morning hence the date on the painting being the 5th of Februari. I enjoyed the long – one pose session at konstnärshuset last Sunday. The model (Sofie) was excellent and stayed perfectly still throughout. I am so looking forward to having her at Meldrum Kroki very soon, she is very popular with the local life drawing tribe.

I love the power of the internet, it looks as though this particular watercolour has a buyer already, always nice to make a sale.

Click image below for larger size.

Watercolour nude by David Meldrum
Watercolour nude
Categories
David Meldrum

Learning curve

David Meldrum with Go Pro
Go Pro student

I am slowly getting used to filming myself as I paint watercolours!
Yes, I have ambitions to vlog on YouTube, a little about me and a lot about painting watercolour. There are a few barriers to navigate, one is filming myself, that feels so weird and the other obstacle is the amount of new stuff I have to learn like video editing and how to use a Go Pro.
I’m getting there, I had hoped to be on YouTube already but one has to learn to walk before one can run as they say. “Coming soon!”, I can also say that.

Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nudes

Meldrum Kroki

meldrum_kroki-lokal-sokes
meldrum_kroki-lokal-sokes

I started having life drawing evenings in my living room last October. It has gone very well, both the artists and the models are happy with the arrangement.
The only negative is that I have to empty my living room and cover the floor with protective waxed paper. It takes too many hours for me to set it up and then dismantle. I would not mind if I have more people attending each week but this is impossible as my living room is full, there is no space.

This is why I am now looking for a large room in central Stockholm that I can use for life drawing on a Thursday evening. I need a room for 4 hours between 18.00 and 22.00 each Thursday.
If you know of such a room, please do get in touch. Click here to contact me or visit the contact page. Thank you.

Categories
Watercolour

Tools of a master

Da Vinci brushes + Holbein
Da Vinci brushes + Holbein

I ordered three Da Vinci: Cosmotop-Mix B brushes similar to the ones Chien Chung-Wei uses. I also bought some Jaune Billiant 1 and Verditer by Holbien. These are also used a lot by Chien.
Okay, so I have the tools and I have been training real hard so it’s frustrating that I am a million light years away from his masterful level.

Bad day today, I have decided to paint portraits and discovered I have a lot to learn!

 

Categories
figure drawing My Life Drawing Nudes Sketch

Meldrum Kroki evening

meldrum kroki
meldrum kroki

The second Meldrum Kroki session this year and the 11th in total. It is starting to become more of a routine and less stressful. It was a very enjoyable evening with model Elena who was just great!
One thing that need to be improved though:
I need a larger room, I must rent somewhere in central Stockholm. There is so much work involved in having the life drawing at home, the most time consuming bit is covering the wooden floors with protective paper. It is incredibly cosy though, everyone is very happy to come to my home.

Sketched on A3 paper with graphite  pencils

meldrum kroki
meldrum kroki
meldrum kroki

 

Categories
Portrait Sketch Watercolour

Portrait practice

Meldrum portrait practice
Meldrum portrait practice

I painted a portrait last weekend and it wasn’t very good. I needed to practice. A friend of mine tipped me about an app for the iPhone called Sktchy. People upload there selfie portraits and artists paint them if they find them interesting. It’s a great copyright free resource for artists. I used the app for the first time yesterday. I have no idea who the dude is.

Arches 27 x 37 cm

Meldrum portrait practice
Meldrum portrait practice