Spring is finally showing it´s face in Stockholm. I´ve been sitting outdoors drawing today, and it´s a relief when the temperature rises – my ink works better, the watercolours dry faster, and I´m not getting cold fingers. Wonderful.

21,5 x 21 cm, Namiki Falcon with Platinum Carbon ink, and watercolours on Arches 300 gsm hot press watercolour paper.

The blog has been a little quiet for some days now. I had the opportunity to go to Cádiz, Spain, with a colleague and a few students for five days. It´s been a great journey, but with very little time for drawing. But of course, when you need to kill some time in an airport there is no better way than sketching airplanes.

11,5 x 5 cm, Snowman Drawing pen and coloured pencils on Plano 270 gsm drawing paper.

While my dear M went for a flying lesson at Torsby flygklubb (Torsby flying club) last time we visited my in-laws, I stayed in the hangar drawing this super cute float plane. I was treated like a queen by a bunch of flying aficionados, they served me with a cushioned chair, asked me if I wanted coffee, and came by to see how I was doing now and then – all while they were polishing a sailplane. I love drawing stuff like this – things I´ve never drawn before and that is somewhat complicated. It´s like laying a puzzle, or doing maths. It feels so good when it comes together in the end.

20 x 16 cm, Namiki Falcon with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours, on Lana cold press 200 gsm watercolour paper.

The 35th Sketchcrawl in Stockholm turned out well – 7 sketchers met up outside a café at Södermalm, and headed out together. Fine weather to begin with, but not so warm. We decided to draw for an hour in a skate park at Medborgarplatsen, and after that the rest of the crawl was spent around a café table in Söderhallarna food court.

Check out the Sketchcrawl forum Stockholm thread for more images!

Both drawings: 20 x 16 cm, Namiki Falcon with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours on Lana cold press 200 gsm watercolour paper.

Another sneak peek at what I´m preparing for my workshop in Santo Domingo this summer. Working with blunt crayons on tiny papers is tricky at first if you are used to drawing with a fine point pen – but quite liberating as you get into it. There is no way you can fiddle with little details in these, it´s hard enough to make the crayon land approximately where you want it to on the paper surface.

I used coloured papers as a base for these, and chose just a few crayons for each. I didn´t want to concentrate on colour here, more on values. (I did add few accents in the top one, though, I fell in love with those brightly coloured signs.)

In the yellow/green sketch I also left out as many lines as I could. See how those two buildings in the middle are actually part of the same green surface, without a line to separate them? You still perceive them as two buildings – the shapes of the roofs help to separate them. You don´t always need a line to describe things.

15 x 11 cm, Neocolor I crayons on coloured drawing paper.

I just updated the Portfolio page of this site – added all the watercolour paintings I have been posting lately, PLUS one bonus that I never posted before. : )

I think this is the last of my unposted paintings right now, also with a Norrbyskär theme. The little hut is where you wait for the ferry to the island in case of bad weather, and where you get your mail and morning paper if you are a resident.

52 x 34 cm, watercolours on 640 gsm Arches watercolour paper.

Another watercolour from 2011, from the island of Norrbyskär outside Umeå in Northern Sweden.

28 x 27 cm, watercolour on Fabriano (or was it Arches…?) 300 gsm watercolour paper.

It just struck me I still have a few more watercolour paintings that I never posted here on the blog. So – some more paintings coming up.

52 x 34 cm, watercolours on 640 gsm Arches watercolour paper.

Just a little taste from my Urban Sketchers Symposium workshop in July. I prepared some messy stained papers to bring with me when I go out sketching. It´s very relaxing to draw on paper that is already dirty and messed up. I don´t suffer from “fear of the white paper”, but I still feel more laid back drawing on an already used paper.

I used thinned acrylics to cause some action on these surfaces. I would have loved to use my usual transparent watercolours, but I find they tend to let pigments off onto the tips of ink pens when you draw on top of the paint, and this kind of ruins the pens after a while, so I chose acrylics this time. I poured some paint on the papers, made splotches, tried out some old handcut stencils, spilled out some paint and then lay down some cardboard and other stuff on top and let dry.

24 x 16 cm, acrylic paint, Snowman drawing pen and pencil on heavy drawing paper.