Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Sailing and Sketching

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.

Lådnafladen
Lådnafladen

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.

 

Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Archipelagos are so beautiful

Yashiro Island, Japan. A beautiful archipelago very far from home.

From my sketchbook.

Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Sandhamn – sketch #3

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.

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Rusty approaching Sandhamn beach
Rusty approaching Sandhamn beach
Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Sandhamn – sketch #1

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.

Sandhamn sketch
Sandhamn sketch
Categories
Watercolour

Storskär

One of the really beautiful things about the Stockholm archipelago is the numerous old ferries that are still in service. Most of which are over 100 years old. Storskär is one of my favorites. It is owned by Waxholms bolaget. I don’t think I could ever tire of painting these beautiful boats.

Title: Storskär
51 x 33 cm

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Storskär by David Meldrum
Storskär by David Meldrum

 

 

Categories
Watercolour

Archipelago rain

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.

Archipelago rain
Archipelago rain

 

 

Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Fantastic to be sailing again. 

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

Watercolour of Gällnö
Gällnö
Categories
Nacka Sketch Watercolour

After work

Another quick sketch while on my way home from work. I wish I had designed the clouds a bit better. It was just one long cloud in reality but it would have been better if I had broken it up. I am satisfied otherwise, actually I quite like it!

Click image below for larger picture.

Categories
Sketch Watercolour

Is anything better than nothing?

I am going through a period were my time for art is limited, I have to work as a webmaster for 6 weeks during July and August. I know that in order to be a good artist I have to practice everyday which is basically not easy.
So, is painting for the sake of painting a good idea? This sketch which took 2 hours over two days is a case in point. It’s not a masterpiece but I feel at least I have painted something; I have learned a little, a small step – …on the lonely road to mastering watercolour.

This sketch was painted in a Moleskin watercolour journal 29 x 21 cm, the paper is not cotton but I like the challenge of its inferior qualities.

Click the image below for larger view.

Sketch of Svartlöga
Sketch of Svartlöga