Blog

I find this triangular square so charming. It is my favorite spot in the Old Town of Stockholm, Sweden. This is my 5th version of that square. All of them are different from each other, have different viewpoints, and were painted in different months and years.

In this version, I explored the effect of letting the part of the street and square that are in shadow be rather grey. There are blue-greys, violet-greys, and greenish greys. My thought was to have most of the colours in the light, and on the old buildings, and let the greys be a calmer area, where the eye can rest.

See a larger version of the painting here.

Some weeks ago, I was asked to give an introductory class for 9 people. Only one of them was an artists, the others were raw beginners.

They learned how to use a pastel stick: Break off a piece, use the broad side as a broad brush, the broken edge for fine lines, etc. They practiced making marks, layering, blending vs not blending. Then they got a minimum of colour theory.

After that, they were ready to paint, so we did a paint-along, so the people would feel they had produced a bona fide pastel painting. We explored how colour changes create volume, and how a cast shadow changes colour and value as it falls over two different table cloths.

They all did very well, and I'm so proud of them.