meldrum art
As I mentioned in the last post, we are having amazing weather here in Stockholm. It’s totally inspiring and all I want to do is paint and sail. So this weekend that’s what I am doing!
Watercolour 36 x 29 cm
The weather is totally amazing here in Sweden at the moment. The month of May must have been the sunniest on record. The farmers aren’t happy as it hasn’t rained for ages but city folk like me are ignorant of agricultural needs. Still, I do worry about climate change and what will happen to the planet if we don’t change our ways.
Anyway, I went sailing last weekend. I sailed by myself for the first time on the new boat, “Aquarelle” and it went well, one is always a bit nervous when it’s a first. It was a working weekend, I installed Lazy Jacks, changed the reefing ropes and added an extra solar panel. I did find time to do a few sketches. My personal challenge was to make interesting compositions out of what I could see from the cockpit of the boat. I was happy enough with these two. Tomorrow, we go out sailing again, I am so looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll have a few new sketches to show next week.
Yashiro Island, Japan. A beautiful archipelago very far from home.
From my sketchbook.
This was a fun sketch to do. I didn’t take me long and I am happy with the result. I will definitely paint a finished version of it in the future. I am obsessed with capturing the light, I think there is nothing more beautiful than the rays of sunshine.
Click thumbnail for larger image
This is a radar reflector beacon on the island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago. Not easy to guess what it is I know. It was such a strange object to approach on the lonely windswept beach, a little spooky – cold metal with sharp, angular form.
The sketch is about A5 in size and painted in my Moleskin watercolour journal.
Click the thumbnail below to see it full-size image
I have a lovely project to illustrate a book. It is associated with Sandhamn, an island that is a meeting point out in the Stockholm archipelago. This is the first of many sketches I will be doing during this year. It’s a lovely place to visit but I try my best to avoid it during the short summer months – that’s when the flash trash arrive in their oversized pleasure cruisers.
The sketch is about A5 in size and painted in my Moleskin watercolour journal.
Click below if you would like to see image at full-size.
This is a larger version of a painting I did the other week, click here to see that one. It is a challenge to paint larger formats, this watercolour is 70 x 50 cm and painted on Arches rough paper. I added a touch of autumn as the trees outside my window have wonderful colours right now. I am happy enough with the painting, I completed 70% of it and became scared, I think this is a common problem for watercolourists. It is so easy to screw the whole thing up. It’s a real challenge to stay loose and free to the end.
Click image below for full sized watercolour
A small composition test 34 x 24 cm on Fabriano fine grain. I plan to paint a large version today.
Click the image below for full size version.
I haven’t sailed all summer but now I am and it’s wonderful. The holiday season is over so the archipelago is quite empty of boats. No motor boats just a few sailing boats and most of them seem to be visiting from Europe. So it’s very peaceful. We have bought a new boat, not new exactly – it was built in 1975. So we are getting to know how everything works. Next week my wife returns to work but I intend to continue sailing as much of September I can. I want to sketch, paint and take reference photos. It’s going to be an experience.
This watercolour sketch was painted at our first stop on the trip, Gällnö is the name of the island, we stayed for a day then moved on.
Click image below for full size image.
