Nina Johansson

Just a quick one from a bus ride I did recently with my niece Elsa. “Rasta” may refer to rastafari in Swedish too, but it is also a verb for “taking a break”, plus the name of a restaurant along the E4. Many coaches stop there on their journeys through Sweden. We had a “Today´s special pasta”.

16 x 19 cm, Lamy Safari and Faber Castell Polychromos on Fabriano Rosapina printing paper (sketchbook page).

I like drawing people, but have serious problems with portraits – you know, when it´s actually supposed to look like someone. This summer I´ve had the opportunity to practice on a person who doesn´t mind sitting still while being stared at and drawn – meet Elsa, my 14-year-old niece.

We have been spending quite a lot of time together this summer, both in the summer house up north and in our apartment in Stockholm, and she has encouraged me to draw her on several occations. Thanks, Elsa, I´m lucky to have you to make me practice, I´m not so disciplined myself ! : )

Take a look at Elsa´s blog (in Swedish) if you have a minute!

Both drawings:  16 x 19,5 cm, pencil and cheapo Muji gel pens on Fabriano Rosapina printing paper (sketchbook pages).

Had another perfect day on my bike today, in absolutely fantastic summer weather in Stockholm. And a sketchbook, a pen and some watercolours in my backpack. : )

I know, I was a bit distracted while writing the name of the church, it´s called Maria kyrka, or Maria Magdalena, not Mariakyrkan. But what do you do when you´ve written it in waterproof ink? : )

16,5 x 18,5 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook page).

I biked through town this afternoon, and sat down for a while with a coffee to draw a little. The weather has been absolutely fantastic in Stockholm lately, summer is here!

14 x 14 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Plano 200 gsm drawing paper.

Finally a drawing! My hands and mind have been itching to draw for quite a while. All this painting business lately has severely limited my drawing time, and the sketchbook is screaming for attention. Spending some time in a café with a friend was the perfect pastime this rainy day, and it also gave me the chance to finally sit down and draw somewhere away from home. Oh joy! : )

15 x 18 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington Grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook page).

Finally just a drawing! Another kitchen window view – I don´t know how many I´ve drawn so far, but quite a few. It´s hard to grow tired of it, since the view changes so much with the light and the weather.

15,5 x 18,5 cm, some Muji store light blue gel pen and watercolours, on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook page).

This is the last post of the Rome series, some drawings from a classical concert we went to at Parco della Musica on our last evening in Rome, and some stuff from the flight home. We had a great trip, Rome is a fantastic city and now I feel warmed up for some springtime drawing in Stockholm. : )

17 x 20 cm & 6,5 x 16 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook pages).

Sometimes the internet is fantastic, because it lets you connect with people you never would have met otherwise. In Rome, I had the opportunity to meet up with Barbara Bacci from the online EDM-group. We spent some time together and went out drawing in the ghetto, where Barbara found us this amazing spot with a lot of  interesting angles and textures. Now and then passers-by stopped and talked for a bit, which is always nice (and always makes me wish I knew some more languages). We drew until it started getting dark. It is going to take some time before I can do that again – Stockholm is still full of snow…

Check out Barbara´s sketch of the same subject here, and please don´t miss all her fantastic animal drawings!

Thank you Barbara for a great time, it was worth a million to meet you! : )

17 x 20 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook page).

Rome offers an enormous amount of nice spots to draw, and no matter where you go you´ll find something inspiring. It would be perfectly possible to draw something in one spot, then just walk around the next corner to find your next subject, turn another corner to draw something new, and so on. It never ends.

Of course, with limited time, you have to choose. I liked the ghetto a lot, because of it´s sometimes very odd angles and rugged textures that seem to surprise you everywhere.

I sat down on a doorstep to draw this, a very narrow part of a house that really intrigued me. I just love the funny way this was built, with the tiny supports under every floor (click to see the image bigger if you can´t see them).  And who lives behind that striped curtain up there? It would be really interesting to see the interior of this building…

10 x 20 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (part of sketchbook page).

Another drawing from Rome. Top left is not my work, it´s a ticket to the old Fori Imperiali (don´t know if that´s grammatically correct, but you know the area I´m talking about). Goodlooking, though.

17 x 20 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington grey ink and watercolours on Fabriano Rosapina paper (sketchbook page).