meldrum art
One of the schools I attend to sketch life drawing has started a class where one can paint portraits of a model live. There are 3 poses each evening and the length is 35 minutes which is perfect for my rather short attention span. I really want to improve when it comes to doing portraits so I’m really happy this class has started.
Here is a link to the class. (In Swedish) The watercolours are about A5 in size.
A Hooker, I just love the name of these old working boats. This sketch of is of a Galway Hooker off the coast of Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. I’m working on a final painting in the studio today. At the moment the sketch seems to be better than the final watercolour which is kind of annoying.
I have been wanting to paint Irish scenes for a while. It takes several sketches to get the feeling for a country one visits. This could be Spain, Ireland or even India which I will be visiting in March. I’m looking forward to that. You would think I would feel at home in Ireland as I was born there, but the fact is I moved away 35 years ago. I’m almost a stranger these days. It would be so nice to spend some time getting to know the island again, travelling around and painting, yeah, I’d like that.
It was so nice to go sketching with my Urban Sketcher friends last weekend. We visited the Natural History Museum here in Stockholm. I painted this in very dim light, luckily I had a little reading light with me.
This is for those of you who enjoy life drawing, here is my current sketchbook. I normally just take photos of my work but this time I thought I’d present my drawings on video with a little voice over.
Have a nice weekend!
David
In my latest video I build a mini field easel. I found a small wooden box in the local hardware store and it inspired me to have a go. Have a look at the video to see how I got on.
#minifieldeasel #fieldeasel #homemadeeasel
Like I said before, I don’t really get a chance to fully relax at my own life drawing classes so I go to other venues to practice instead. I say practice and that’s the way I see it, these aren’t finished paintings but sketches where I allow myself to experiment and have fun. I have noticed that the more I practice the better I can draw when I’m painting outdoors. It makes sense, nothing is for free after all.
These sketches are typically 5 minute poses, I usually spend 5 more minutes improving them the day after – some I leave alone. I use W&N Sepia watercolour and a mechanical 2 B pencil.
I was very surprised the other day when a book dropped through the letterbox. I couldn’t remember ordering anything on Amazon recently. Watch the video for the full story and see one of my very first watercolours!
This painting which I painted last year has been chosen for a winter exhibition in Nacka Konsthall, Sickla – not far from the centre of Stockholm. It’s very pleasing of course and I look forward to the opening of the exhibition on the 23rd of November. The painting which was chosen is called, Gröna Lund and is 70 x 50 cm in size.
The painting has travelled a lot, it was in the ECWS exhibition in Haapsalu, Estonia during the summer. It’s always an honour to represent Sweden in these European Watercolour Society exhibitions.
The painting is for sale, 7500 sek or 5000 sek unframed.
The opening of the Exhibition is Saturday 23rd of November at 13.00
The exhibition is from the 23 rd of November until the 12th of January 2020.
Nacka Konsthall
Dieselverkstaden,
Marcusplatsen 17
131 34 Nacka
Tel: +46 (0)8 718 82 90
Click the thumbnail below if you want to see a larger image.
