meldrum art
We travelled to Gothenburg to visit my son and his family. The trip from Stockholm takes three and half hours, which gave me lots of time to do a few watercolour studies.
I plan to paint a series of paintings of chosen islands in the archipelago. Right now, I’m inspired by the landscape of Svartlöga, an island in the outer archipelago.
Finally, finally, I have managed to complete the editing of this video. It was originally filmed in October 2023 on the island of Utö in the Stockholm archipelago. There was plenty of wind, rain and frustration. 
This was the second and final painting of the day. It’s basically the view towards Finland from Sandhamn which lies in the Stockholm outer archipelago. The water was flat calm, and the colours were just beautiful as the sun set. The temperature dropped as it got dark, which was just after three o’clock. Nowhere was open on the island, so I sat on a bench and did my best to keep myself warm until the ferry came at five. I had a beer on the journey home, I felt I had earned it. 😁
I spent the day in Sandhamn on Monday. It was under 3 degrees all day. Challenging, especially trying to get the watercolours to dry. But luckily I had my heat gun with me. It takes a certain amount of practice not to burn the painting. This was the morning watercolour. I painted in the afternoon too. It was a great day, but pretty cold.
I over worked this watercolour maybe, but I’m totally fine with that. The most important thing for me right now is that I just paint.
Click the thumbnail below for a larger image.
We sail a lot during the summer. The closer you are to Stockholm the more houses there are. For us it’s a warning, it means we need to keep sailing east for a few hours until we are in the outer archipelago.
I am delighted that I am actually painting in the studio during the winter months. My mental-health suffers badly at this time, especially these last few years. The situation has improved though. It’s not perfect, but I am able to function again thanks to professional help. It’s fantastic to be regularly painting again
I painted this watercolour from a photo I’d taken during the summer. It’s a bit of a cheat, the couple were never there. I think that’s called creative licence. I really do prefer to paint outdoors, to be in nature. It’s -8 celsius outside here in Stockholm, and it’s snowing. The studio feels pretty good right now.
36 x 26 cm
Click the image below if you would like to see the full sized watercolour.
I like this motiv a lot. It was fun to paint. I am experimenting with Daniel Smith high granulation colours. I think this has the feeling or the mood I want to attain with my paintings. It’s not often I am happy with my work but I like this one. 😃
Scandinavian coastal pine 26 x 36 cm
Click the image below to see the full-sized image.
The story behind this painting is that it just wasn’t working out.
So I ripped the picture in half horizontally and saved the top half, the sky along with the tops of the trees. There used to be houses along a shoreline on the bottom half. It was this that sucked and had to go.
I was left with some clouds and tree tops. What to do? Well, I used a flying duck to try and save the watercolour. It was the first time I ever painted a duck. I need to practice a bit more.
That’s the story behind this painting. ☺