Friday, July 06, 2007

Sketchbook pages


Thought I´d give you a peek at the latest three pages from my sketchbook. They are basically just drawings from bike rides in Stockholm. The first sketch is a pencil drawing from Kungsholmen, where pigeons have chosen a statue as their home base. Underneath is a watercolour without drawing first, always difficult but good practice.

The next page is a collage of sorts. I decided to draw everything on the same page as I moved through town, so it´s a sign above a store front, a stone lion from the government building, some people from various places, a street light. There´s actually a man drawn in pencil between the two women, but I decided not to paint him. The watercolours were added afterwards on this one.

The third page is from two different places in town. The top one is from Old Town, I sat in a street café and drew a door on the other side of a little square. Old Town is funny, because everything is a bit lopsided and crooked, no angles are right, so you have to really look to be able to capture the perspective correctly here. If you try to use logic your drawings will end up all stiff and strange. The second drawing on the page is of some houses at Hornstull, in the southern parts of town. I tried colored pencils for once, thought it would be useful for fast sketches. I like the Faber Castell pencils, but I hate their choice of colours for the 12 pencil set. Not at all what I would have chosen. For instance, there are no good greens for trees, which would be ok if there was a good blue to mix with yellow, but there are no decent blues either...

16.5 x 22 cm, pencil, Lamy Safari and Noodler´s ink, colored pencils and watercolours on Arches Satin paper.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

nina, i like your ever so distinctive style...i am working on painting figures & old venice-style scenes w/out drawing first, so i enjoyed seeing your building w/o the drawing!

Lin said...

WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL JOB, NINA!!! I agree with Mocie .. just love your style!

Felicity Grace said...

Fantastic as usual! I especially like the doorway, such a simple subject but you've made it look really interesting. Your style is really distinctive, even in different media.

Thanks for your lovely comment, it means a lot coming from someone whose work I love! BTW, I too am feeling the pull of blogging and being on the pc is getting too much. I hope you enjoy your time off of it!

Lindsay said...

Nina, I love these pages. So fresh. Thanks also for the instructions on the do-it-yourself view finder.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, what a treat for us, Nina. The collage is very cool, and of course all your vistas are excellent.

juj said...

These are all so beautiful Nina. Thank you so much for sharing. I especially like the collaged piece. Very clever and interesting - like walking along with you through your day.

Jenny said...

Always a pleasure to see new pages from your book. The images are all lovely and interesting.

Nancy said...

I love the colors you use Nina -

mrana said...

Wow Nina, these are all absolutely gorgeous! I love stopping by your blog, I spend so much time examining each of your brilliant sketches, they are inspiring! Thank you :)

Anita Davies said...

Such a feast of goodies in this post Nina, love that blue against the orange brickwork!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful work as always! I just returned from Stockholm, and took photos of the same door in Gamla stan!

biteyourowntail said...

These are lovely Nina, and i think the top one is fabulous, to me it doesn't look like a statue, but like a real person, and i love that.

Nancy Van Blaricom said...

I could look at your sketches all day long... your blog is simply one of my very favorites.

Claudia said...

Hi, Nina,
wonderful work (like always)...
you looked for a new Niji-waterbrush. I don't know where to buy them here in Europe, but I came across some Pilot-Waterbrushes and today I even saw Letraset-Waterbrushes for about 5.50 €uros. Did you get these in Stockholm? Maybe, have a look.
Kind regards from
Claudia

Helen Anne said...

They are wonderful pictures. I lived in Stockholm for a year in the late 1980's and had a wonderful time looking through your sketches. They bring back good memories -- especially the old town.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful sketches. That watercolor without pencil is simply gorgeous. The highlights and the darks in the trees are right on. Great job!