I finally filled the last spread in my old sketchbook. The one with the crappy paper. The one I never really liked (sorry, little book). I´m glad I worked my way throught it, though. A finished sketchbook always gives you a certain feeling of accomplishment.

So, on to new adventures with a new book that has been waiting for me for a while! It is (was) an old book about russian souvenirs, written in French, that I slaughtered and filled with new pristine pages of Fabriano Artistico hot press paper. I´m looking forward to both the size of the book (it´s slightly bigger than the last one), and working on better quality paper.

I´m thinking about using a smaller book too, on the side, since Souvenirs Russes might be a bit on the heavy side in some situations. I just have to decide on which of the smaller books I should go for… Hard decision. But a rather pleasant problem.

26,5 x 17 cm, Lamy Safaris with Noodler´s Lexington Grey and Polar Black ink and watercolours on sketchbook spread.

I kept drawing on the spread with the Doc Martens, just one more spread now, and this book is full!

27 x 17 cm, Lamy Safaris with Noodler´s Lexington grey and Polar Black ink and watercolours on sketchbook spread.

Drawing the dogs the other day made me feel like doing some more crosshatching. Gave it a try with my new Dr Martens. Difficult to do the jet black leather when you´re drawing with a grey pen, though.

EDIT: I just noticed I wrote October 2 on this drawing… Well, time flies. Faster than my brain, which is obviously still in October.

17 x 13 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington Grey ink on sketchbook page.

My in-laws have been visiting for a few days, and their two dogs have been living an exciting life in Stockholm. This town is so full of dogs and new smells that these country girls are completely wiped out every evening.

13,5 x 18,5 cm, Lamy Safari with Lexington gray ink on sketchbook page.

I wrote about Aspudden public bath here in Stockholm in an earlier post. In short, the local politicians want to tear it down, most of the people in Aspudden don´t.

A little update on the latest development: Since the 28th of September the bath has been occupied by people living in Aspudden, to guard the building from destruction. The pool is empty – a sad sight – but the bath is very much alive anyway. All kinds of folks from the neighborhood – adults, teenagers, children, parents, elderly – are there all day round. The door is open, the coffee is hot, and people come visit to show their support.

We´ll see what happens, so far the politicians have been quiet.

16 x 19 cm, Lamy Safari with Noodler´s Lexington Grey ink and watercolours, on Fabriano Rosapina 220 g printing paper.

It´s been quiet here for a while, I had to make an unplanned journey to my old hometown Umeå. Unfortunately I didn´t have much time for drawing up there, but waiting for flights at Arlanda and Umeå airports gave me some excellent opportunities to take the sketchbook out of the bag and get some People Practice. I need it badly…

13 x 18 cm, Lamy Safari pens with Noodler´s Lexington Grey, Fox Red and Hunter´s Green ink on no-name sketchbook paper.

I got a bunch of flowers from a very good friend this weekend. They have been standing in a vase on my kitchen table now for two days, mocking me with their impossible shapes. I couldn´t help giving them a try, even though I think flowers (and cars) are the most difficult subjects to draw.

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12,5 x 17 cm, Lamy Safaris with Noodler´s Lexington Gray and Fox Red ink, pencil and watercolours, on obscure brand of drawing paper in a sketchbook.