Not much to say, it wasn’t my best day but that is life. One just has to make sure one has more ups than downs.

I had the same model (Roza) as I had on the Saturday, different venue and more time for each pose. My paper was A4 and the grain of it was different from what I am used too so it took a few bad drawings to get used to it. I don’t think A4 is big enough to express good lines and expression.
Every Saturday we get 1, 2 and 3 minutes to sketch. I get through a lot of paper and energy during those 2 hours. We get a few 5 minutes too but they are few. I like drawing at speed, it becomes more instinctive when one doesn’t have time to think.
The venue was Basis here in Stockholm, the model’s name is Roza and my paper was A3 in size.
I finished these two sketches last week, only posting them now. I am  painting larger versions for an upcoming exhibition in April. It’s good to do sketch first, one learns a lot by taking ones time and experimenting, unexpected happy accidents or silly mistakes that shouldn’t be repeated.
The original reference photos were taken by Finish photographer, Erik Lähteenmäki. You can visit his website here.
Each sketch size: 39 x 14 cm
Yesterday, I made a real mess of a large painting. It was going so well, the initial drawing and the placement of cobalt blue for a brilliant cloudy sky… then I added some grey to give body to the clouds. I ruined it.
So today it’s practice time. I am painting on the back side of an old watercolour. It’s a good tip not to throw out your expensive watercolour paper until you have used both sides.
Click the image below for a larger version
I met my life drawing friends at the weekend. We spent the afternoon drawing each other in the basement of an apartment block which was fun, we did this because the life drawing season after the Christmas break hasn’t got going just yet. I starts this week though.
My sketchbook is about A5 in size.