For my mother on her birthday

GRATTIS PÅ FÖDELSEDAGEN

Same same, but different...

I am a bit behind with the EDiMs due to some other projects I have running, but I thought the comparision of styles above could be interesting. Me and a couple of friends went to a live drawing session some weeks ago (or, to be quite honest, another friend who doesn´t paint took of her clothes for us) and my friend Johanna and I both did a watercolour each based on the sketches. I think it is interesting to see how the exact same motive can result in such different paintings. Already in the drawing you can see that we have different styles, I think. Maybe those who follow us both could easily guess who painted which picture (her blog is here)?

EDiM 19&20

Every Day in May #19 - draw something you have made. Well, guess what? I made a cake... Surprise!

EDM #20, Draw something Dad. The most "dad" I can think of is, well, my dad. This is painted from a picture my brother took of my dad trying to "blend in" among the locals during a vacation in Italy. He didn´t necessarily mangage that well, but it turned out to be a great series of pictures anyway...

Both ink and watercolour in Moleskin watercolour journal.

EDiM 18, the view from a window

So, for Every Day in May challenge # 18, draw the view from a window, I just had to do the view from my office. It is so terrible, more or less just a black box and a small part of the subway station. It´s almost funny.... The horrible curtain also doesn´t help, unfortunately I haven´t been able to do it justice here, it is much, much uglier..... What do you say? Anyone want to trade? (Ink and watercolour in Moleskin watercolour journal)

Blog news - nyheter om bakbloggen

Ok, so I am finally doing it. I will separate the blog in two - one about drawing, painting etc and one baking blog (in Swedish). The artblog, Annas Ateljé (which means Annas studio, by the way) will stay here and I will continue to write about baking and cake decoration in Annas bakstuga (Annas bakery, which will be in Swedish). So welcome to look at my cakes if you wish, but at least now you won´t have to...

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Jag har bestämt mig för att dela på bloggen i en konstblogg (Annas ateljé, denna adress) som kommer att vara på engelska, och en bakblogg (Annas Bakstuga) på svenska. Från början hade jag tänkt att det skulle bli mer av en allmän skaparblogg med allt möjligt, men nu har det blivit mest två spår, och dessutom har jag flest konstföljaren på englelska och bakföljare på svenska så det verkar helt enkelt enklast med två! Välkommen att följa båda om ni vill!

EDiM 14-17- Finally caught up.....

Finally I have caught up with the challenges - I did some quick sketches and a watercolour painting today just to get it done. Wish I could put a little more effort into some of the challenges, but sometimes I guess it is an accomplishment just to find some drawing time! Today I sneaked in to my studio to paint a couple of minutes here and there when I was supposed to do something completely different - like getting dressed and fetching stuff for the kids. In the afternoon me and my friend Johanna took turns trying to entertain the kids so the other person could finish todays challenge. A lot of creativity in creating time to draw in other words....


EDM #14. Draw what you see when you wake up in the morning. Not very inspiring unfortunatley. Just an ordinary bedroom ceiling with an ordinary lamp. No panorama window with a view over the ocean or anything like that.... Ink and watercolour in Moleskin watercolour jounal.
EDM #15 Leafs and branches. Watercolour on Saunders Waterford 300g. I just love Magnolias and I think I have done some kind of Magnolia painting every year in May for the last 3 or 4 years. They are so beautiful! This one I tried to focus on the leafs and branches to go with the challenge...

EDM #16, draw your favourite tool. This is the knife I have in my drawing box, it is not really so inspiring to draw, but it is very practical for many things - sharpening pencils, creating highlights etc. EDM #17 a musical instrument. We are unfortunately not a very musical family - not a guitarr or flute in sight. But the kids have some toy instruments, for example this cow shaped thingy. I can´t play a thing on it, but my friend Johanna really impressed the kids (and me) by playing Mamma Mia on it today when I was drawing.... (Ink and watercolour in Moleskin watercolour journal)

EDiM 10-13

Ok, I am really behind with the EveryDayinMay challenges now... two cakeorders this weekend and the kids sick... But here are some from last week, EDM #10, draw your hand, left side. EDM #11 draw your glasses (I really don´t have three pairs - but I am currently buying new ones since my old ones broke - there´s a blog entry about that as well, and I therefore had borrowed some from the store to try out. I ended up chosing the ones in front btw.) EDM #12 - what you ate for dinner... to my defence, I usually eat better than that, but that day we had lunch at 2 and we were visiting my mom so I just took a slice of left over pizza they had in the fridge. Maybe I should have planned better knowing the challenge of the day ;) EDM #13, draw your telephone. This is my absolute favourite telephone - a Swedish design from the 50ies or 60ies, not sure. Mine unfortunately doesn´t work any more, but I really want to get it fixed some day. Although now we have our telephone via internet and since the old phones have no tones in the buttons (don´t know what it is called in English) I can´t use it to call with any more anyway. Pity.

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This is part of the Everyday in May challenge - drawing an Everyday Matters (EDM)challenge each day using EDM 1-31. The list of participants in this particular May challenge can be found at Liz and Borrominis blog. The list of EDM challenges can be found here

EDiM #9 and some notes from the course

EDiM #9 Draw a bit of organized chaos. It was a really suitable challenge for today because I have spent the day in a watercolour workshop held by Swedish artist Gunnel Moheim (http://www.moheim.se/) and my working space was chaos most of the time, as always when I paint watercolours. Below you can see the result of what I was working at in the sketch, we were working with semi-abstract paintings in complementary colours. I find it so hard to free myself of the more naturalistic way of painting when I do landscapes, especially if they contain some kind of building or likewise. I tend to go for either totally abstract paintings or more naturalistic. But I really admire artists who can capture the idea of a house without painting all doors and windows. Happy to recieve any tips you´ve got...

EDiM#8

This is a piece of jewlery that really mean a lot to me. It is not valuable really, silver and a pearl, but for me it´s precious. I inherited it from a distant relative and I wore it as "someting old" at my wedding. Then I lost it and I was so sad. I looked everywhere but it was not to be found... and then, suddenly, one day, it just showed up out of nowhere again.... (btw - how DO you draw metal??)

EDiM #6-7

Ok, I am a bit behind with the challenges... partly due to a course I am participating in this weekend with talanted artist Gunnel Moheim. More about that later. Here are challenges #6 (favourite object or childhood toy) and #7 (tin, jar or bottle from the kitchen) anyway. A couple of quick sketches I made with the kids jumping around in the couch so not going for perfection here.... It is my youngest daughters favourit toy by the way since I couldn´t think of a favourite object of my own. Amazing with all the stuff I own that I have nothing I really couldn´t live without!

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This is part of the Everyday in May challenge - drawing an Everyday Matters (EDM)challenge each day using EDM 1-31. The list of participants in this particular May challenge can be found at Liz and Borrominis blog. The list of EDM challenges can be found here

EDM #4&5

EDM #4, draw your mug or cup. Probably one of the more useless mug-drawings I have done so far... I didn´t manage to finish it at location because my daughter got tired of eating sweets and wanted us to leave the place. I took a reference photo to be able to do the colours later, but my phone got run over by a car (!) and I lost the photo (along with all my telephone numbers) and had to try to remember the rest of the scene... whith the not-so-very-impressive result you may see above.

EDM #5, draw your bed. Well, this isn´t my usual bed. I spent the night in what might just have been the most boring hotel room I have ever seen. Not a single picture on the wall or anything. Thus the boring drawing, it just simply wasn´t more interesting than this...

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This is part of the Everyday in May challenge - drawing an Everyday Matters (EDM)challenge each day using EDM 1-31. The list of participants in this particular May challenge can be found at Liz and Borrominis blog. The list of EDM challenges can be found here

Every Day in May 1-3

Watercolor and ink in Moleskin watercolor sketchbook.

I decided to try the Every Day in May challenge. The idea is to do one of the EDM drawings each day starting from #1. A really fun initiative, the list of participants can be found on Liz and Borromnis blog . I will really try to do a challenge a day, but I haven´t managed to post each day so far and I probably won't in the future either. I´ll try my best to keep up though. Sometimes I think the hardest part of the drawing challenges is finding the time to do them... I somehow seem to always either be at work, sleep, or carry at least one child around... And if my husband would take the kids out while I am home, or if I manage to stay awake after I put them to bed there always seems to be something else I should do, like cooking or cleaning or something else boring. And no, stop creating until the kids are grown up isn´t an option, I don´t think I could live without it... Advice anyone? Where do you (non-professional artists of course) find the time to draw?

EDM 270, Something I´d like to preserve

Watercolor and ink in Moleskin watercolor sketchbook

Ok, this one wasn´t hard for me. Something I´d like to preserve - Nature. The Environment. Earth. I did this quick sketch today at a picnic in the woods, close to the lake Mälaren, not far from where I live. It was such a nice day and such a beautiful spot. To sit near the beach, listen to the sea and the birds. To smell the wonderful fresh air and admire the little spring blossoms covering the ground. That´s life to me... I´d really hate it if my grandchildren wouldn´t be able to experience days like this because our generation won´t take responsibility for the problems our lifestyle have caused. To be honest, I am quite scared that my grandchildren won´t be able to walk the earth at all unless we start taking action now and change the way we live. Maybe the moral speech is a bit out of topic in this kind of blog, but think about it this way - where will the future generation of artists find their motives if everything is just desert... ;)