Edim no 14 Draw a figurine

Edim no 14 - Draw a figurine. I don´t really collect figurines, so first I went through the kids toys, but then I realised that I have a small collection of angels, which are really christmas decorations, but I let them sit in my book shelf all year around because I like them so much. This one is attached to a small plate and it kind of looks like it floats around in space on a little round cloud or something...

Edim no 13 - draw a pillow

This is Edim no 13 - draw a pillow. Even if the number on the page says 12 (I messed it up...) and the pillow is actually a cushion... You can´t always get everything right :) This is a cushion sewn from my favorite fabric pattern - Loops by Josef Frank. I would like to get a matching curtain, or just a large piece of fabric to hang behind my sofa, but it costs enough to feed a small village of starving children so I have to live with a pice of IKEA-fabric behind my sofa that almost matches the cushion, but not really....

EdiM catch-up 8-12

No 8 - draw a coffee pot. I don´t own a coffee pot - I brew my coffee straight into the thermo jug... As I got out the coffee-thermo-jug and the cups to draw, the kids thought it was coffee time and enthusiastically went for the cookie jar so I had to do some cookies as well...

I was away over the weekend, so I missed out on a few EdiMs and I had to do a really quick catch up of no:s 9-12: A lock, something creepy (the spider, although I am not really afraid of spiders), gloves and the oldest thing in my refrigerator. Judging by the other posts in the group, I am not the only one hiding a really old bottle of tabasco in a dark corner of my fridge...

EdiM 5-7

 I did draw one a day these days, but I did not manage to post. I posted on Facebook and on Flickr, but trying to make a blog entry from the phone is just too tedious - just writing in english with the autocorrect function constantly trying to turn every word into swedish can give anyone a nervous brakedown!

I messed up the dates somehow - this is supposed to be No 5 - draw a pine/fir/eucalyptus. Quick watercolor sketch in my temporary sketchbook on some unknown paper....

Edim No 6 - Perfume. Ink and watercolor in the same sketchbook - I aimed for loose and colorful, but I think it just got messy. Not happy at all with this one...

 No 7 - something I got for free. I got this chair from my sister - she inherited them from grandma and did a lot of hard work preparing to paint them but never got around to do it. As I got them, it was a quick job to add some color of my own choice! Nice! As I set out to paint one I realized Märta was dressed in matching clothes and I added her to the picture. The painting is done on Saunders Waterford watercolor paper, but somehow the seizing (or what it is called in english) seemed to have been destroyed on this particular sheet so the colors did not flow at all as usual. This led to my giving up almost halfway through the painting... Not a good EdiM- week....

Edim 4 - draw your socks

The ugliest socks ever - pink with donkeys! Wins no fashion contests but the kids love them :)

EdiM #3 Something that represents joy

Every day in May #3 - draw something that represents joy.

Well, first I thought about the kids, obviously. In fact, when I woke up this morning I had great plans to draw them. Then, however, we had one of those days.... I guess any parent has been there - flower pots turned over, kids tumbling down the stairs, baby eating mud, ice cream smeared in the mother´s hair, toilet paper torn to tiny pieces all over the livingroom floor.... And that was just before lunch ;) Therefore, drawing time was kind of scarce - to say the least! (Nor did the kids bring me much joy today to be perfectly honest. More clean up work and a couple of nervous breakdowns....).

Therefore, I decided to draw some painting gear. Painting or drawing is the one thing that can always make me relax and turn my mood around however down I feel. Also, art in general makes me happy so my drawing gear sits in a cup I bought at the Zorn museum (Anders Zorn was one of Sweden´s greatest watercolor artist during the last century. Here is the watercolor on the cup) in Dalarna. I was there with a group of friends that also bring me much joy in life - we meet up every other week to draw, sketch, or do some other creative work, drink tea and chat. And did I mention we laugh a lot? So there is pure joy x 3 sitting in this drawing for me!

Every day in May

Edim 1 - draw something bubbly. Lemonade.... Yummy!

Edim 2 - draw your favourite sound. Breaking waves! Or any sound the sea makes! Right now I live far too far away from the sea.... But maybe we will buy a boat this year and then there will be some sailing this summer at least!

Ok, so I will give it a try this year too.... one drawing a day in May! I will definitely have to keep it simple if I want to keep up.... The biggest problem though is to find the time to scan and post! Mostly, I fall asleep with the kids after I have read them the bedtime story. Guess I will have to try to get my butt out of the bed in the evening. Or get up really early in the morning! Trying to do something with the computer with a one-year-old, who loves to press all the buttons, hanging around the house all day is quite complicated to say the least. We also have a lot of trips and other things going on in the family this May so I will have to either take photos with the phone or I won´t be able to do it every day.

EDM #324 - Draw a garden tool

I have been terrible at keeping up with the EDM challenges lately. I wish I could say that this is due to other art projects, but in fact my sketchbook has been hibernating for a while. I will try to shape up... This is a rather depressing reminder of that summer is gone now for real. There was frost in the garden this morning and there will be no more strawberries growing there until next summer... One little tool remained in the garden from replanting some plants in the hope of them surviving winter. Watercolour and ink in Moleskin watercolour sketchbook.

Some new EDM:s

I haven´t been able to log in at blogger for almost a whole week. Strange! But I have published my every day in May´s on Flicker at least... Here are my two latest catch-ups. It is unbelievable how hard it is for me to squeeze in drawing-time every day! I had really planned not to do too complicated stuff and to give my self 10 minutes each day for this. But time just seems to slip through my fingers somehow. This weekend I was alone with the kids and had to do a birthday cake, so now I am behind again...

Every Day in May - catch up!

On top of everything else I am engaged in at the moment, I also said I will do the Every Day in May challenge this year. One sketch a day.... I started out badly by missing the first five, so I had to do a panic-catchup. But now I am on track again....until tomorrow! From the top the sketches show EDMs No: 

#101, draw a bar of soap 

#102, draw a power plug

#103 draw some exercise equipment (the blue things in the bottom sketch - if you wonder, it is some things you kick at when training martial arts, don´t know what they are called in English... It was the first thing that fell out of the fitness-bag when i searched, but I must confess that it was a couple of years since I used them!)

#104 draw some salt and pepper shakers (only had room left for one, though....)

#105 draw some scissors

#106 draw something tart or sour. Well, I don´t know what tart means, so I went for sour... the lemon in the middle sketch.

All of the above done in my Moleskin Watercolour Notebook with watercolour and ink.

Portrait of Hilda - EDM #294

Well, here´s my EDM # 294 - Draw something that makes you smile... Well, it´s my youngest daughter Hilda and she does make me smile quite a lot... I did start this before the challenge came out, so it might be seen as kind of cheating, but I really thought it was a good fit! I have not practiced portrait drawing that much and this was made from a photo. I am quite happy with the likeness (well, it´s not perfect, but it is possible to see who it is :) but I think the colours are a bit weak maybe. The face doesn´t really stand out against the background.

EDM #290 Draw a teapot

Finally another EDM published! A teapot! This was a gift from my mother when I finished school so it has been with me for many years. It is made by a Swedish artist called Dagmar Änggård and I have always admired her pottery. She passed away some years ago though, so I have to take good care of my teapot...

As a small bonus I have drawn a traditional Swedish bakery called kanelbulle ("cinnamon bun", or similar. Translation help anyone?). I had to mention it since it happends to be the official day of the cinnamon bun - "kanelbullens dag" - in Sweden today. It makes me wonder... does everything have to have an official day now? Mother´s day and Father´s day I can buy, but honestly - "kanelbullens dag"???

A tube of toothpaste

EDM #275 Draw a tube of toothpaste. I am struggling to keep up with the weekly challenges now that Every Day in May is finished... This is three versions of the same tube of toothpaste (all in sketchbook journal). From the left: pure watercolour, coloured ink drawing with grey ink in fountain pen, inked watercolour drawing with dip pen. Vote for your favourite, anyone?

EDiM update....

So, I have finished the challenge Every Day in May! A bit late perhaps since half of June has passed by as well ;) To my defence, I actually finished most of the drawings on time, but our Internet connection has broken down so I have not been able to post lately. I have now figured out how to use my phone as a modem, but still.... almost 3 weeks without Internet at home! I didn´t know you could survive something like that ;)Anyway, here goes....

EDM #21 Something old - a friend of mine collects old irons (do you call them that? The things you use to iron clothes?) EDM #22 A piece of clothing. EDM #23 My foot. Nothing much to say about that...

EDM #24 A piece of fruit, #25 a glass and #26 a Vegetable. If you wish, you can check out the same still life from the opposite side of the table at Johanna´s Creative Space.

EDM #27. A book. This is a cook book, it´s not mine, unfortunatley, because it is really inspiring. Filled with recepies of tasty, organic, healthy food and a lot of it vegetarian! Yum!

EDM #30. A chair. Boring, but a chair... EDM# 28 an appliance. This is my old vacuum cleaner. It used to belong to an old relative and I would guess that it is at least 30 years old! I have had it since -98 and it has served me well. It even acted the part of R2D2 at a Star Wars party once! I was so sad when it broke and then my father gave me his old, exactly same one! His wife wanted a modern one but has mostly complained about it ever since... Some things really used to be better in the old days....

EDM#29 "anything else". I had to do this waiting outside in our garden and I didn´t have much interesting "architectural" in sight, so I went for the escape window.... some flowers I got for Mothers day (wich is in the end of May in Sweden)

EDM#31 Something I collect. I don´t know, I really don´t collect much any longer... except wisdom, good friends, moments in life and stuff like that. But I do have one of each size of these Swedish design bowls (?). We used to have one when I was a child and it still sits in my mother´s kitchen. They are really practical, useful and long lasting. Something to recommend as a souvenir if you ever visit Sweden.... Now you can even buy matching spoons, beaters and things. Of course...

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)

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??)