Small watercolour sketchbook filled!

I always find it hard to get back to work in my studio after a long visit home to Finland. Even if I have many unfinished projects just waiting to get done, somehow it takes me a while before I get my 'mojo' back. This time around I thought I would do things differently. I decided to continue painting in my small Moleskine watercolour sketchbook I had with me to Finland, and to fill it all up before doing anything else. That way I would, and have, established a daily painting routine before even digging out the projects I was working on before. I think I have solved this problem once and for all now. How simple a solution can be in the end, when you finally get the right idea... It is like Picasso said: "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working".

So, said and done. I filled up the small Moleskine sketchbook with watercolours, all 30 pages. I painted only 8 pages while in Finland, so that makes 22 pages since I'm back in Shanghai. It is still not very much as the sketchbook is tiny, only 13,5x9cm. But it is a start. I will not show every page here, because a few of them are copies of other artists. I have found the old fashion way of learning by copying other masters very satisfying, especially if they have a style that I admire. Due to copyright though I can not share them, so they are for my own benefit only.

I start with one of my favourites. I should post them in chronological order, but I am a little bit sneaky and post my favourite first, as that is the picture that will show up when I am sharing this post on other social media... This is simple, yet I think that the colours work so well together. I really enjoyed painting this one as well, and I think it is my favourite in the whole book. 

I decided to take a picture with my hand in it, just as a reference to show the size.

Some of these pictures will seem familiar to you, and that is because I have used photos from my previous post as reference material for a few of these watercolours.

All but two of these watercolours are inspired from my family's island. The sea and the sky are so changing and so beautiful. 

I think I have said this before, but lately, I am drawn more and more to landscape painting. Maybe because they have a way of evoking memories and feelings more than portraits of birds and flowers?

Inbetween all the blue colours I was using, I felt like painting something really 'autumny'. So I dig out a photo from my trip through Norway a few years back and found this one. 

Something green...

I almost did not post this one, because it is inspired by the watercolourist Xavier Swolfs. It is not an exact copy, but close enough that I will not sign it with my own name. It is a great example of what kind of landscape painting I am drawn to, and I think that you will see the influences of it in the pages that follow. I think it could be nice to make a post about the artists that are a huge inspiration to me at the moment. Maybe that will be a great topic for next week!

Back to the island. I am trying to paint it very simple. Not too precise, but let the water do its magic and leave it at that.

More variations from the same view.

I have found that a little bit of raw sienna and brown makes the landscape and sky more lively. 

I am looking at these now, and there are a few that I would really like to paint bigger.

The last landscape. 

On the last page, I just had fun with colours. How it reacts with different amounts of water. This was very beneficial as studies so I will be doing more of these experiments in the future!

Thank you so much for reading. If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you!