Trespassing

    This painting took me weeks to finish, because I had to take so long breaks between the layers since I often felt lost and sometimes even wondered if I ruined it. Although, I thought of how I once heard someone say that there is an "ugly" layer with watercolors, that makes you unsure and feel lost. I call this the second layer *snort*. But I continued my work and tried to make the best I could instead of scrapping the painting. 

    This painting - Trespassing - is about a man forced to trespass on the giant lonebear's home that has claimed a mountain as its own. The man needs to find food for his family, since the colonists have started to cut down the forest that is his people's hunting ground. 

    My inspiration for the clothing is of native american and east-asian, but as you can tell, this is a fantasy world. The tree is called Sanguiz-tree and has bloodcoloured sap and is a key to the islands ecosystem. The bear is drawn without reference (like everything else) so there is some errors in the anatomy, as I've only done three studies of bears so far. I imagine it's a fantasy breed since it's so large and black.

    I used an inexpensive paper Canson Montval Torchin. Cheap but decent paper is a must for me to have when I feel pressure to perform. The paper has an interesting texture that is described as snow. I used graphite for the sketch, inked it with pigma microns and painted a layer of W&N waterproof indian ink to add shadows. I used my maaany watercolours (mostly DA) but also white and black gansai paint. At last I used colored pencils (Polychromos, Museum Aquarelle, Derwent Drawing, Luminance) for the details, which is a must for me since I have shaky hands. 

    I must add that I adore the sky. It was made with some of Schmincke's limited edition Supergranulating Tundra with a thin layer and afterwards Daniel Smith's Neutral Tint with a lot of water and I pressed it with tissuepapers while it was still wet. 

Morten E. Solberg

    Morten E. Solberg is a fineart artist who was born is Cleveland, Ohio and got an education in Cleveland Institute Of Art. He is famous internationally for his paintings that range from realism to total abstraction. He paints with watercolour, acrylics and oils. 

    Personally, I'm in love with his watercolour paintings of realistic animals with abstract backgrounds. Since he is alive I won't share his work directly on my page, but I will share a link directly to his website, just for your convenience. 

    I also recommend searching google on the large settings to really get a close up view of all of the beautiful details. I do not however support to save them since there is a copyright issue.

Here is the link to his website: http://www.mortenesolberg.com/ 

STAINING WATERCOLOUR Paints

Staining colours isn't my favorites to work with... at all. Still, I have almost every hue of phthalo I can find. I like to mix them in natural, muted colours when I want to see some vibrant spark amidst it all.

Arthur's Journal (RDR2)

     I'm obsessed with Red Dead Redemption 2. I used to visit a place about 80km up north-west from where I live in Sweden. In a place calleed Surnadal, in Norway. I used to fish in a river, although I found that a little boring I loved the view. However, I loved fishing out on the fjords. I loved playing on the shores, with gray mud and brown and green seaweed... white chalk beaches with stones that hurt my feet, but that didn't matter. I was in a valley of fields and forests, or on a mountain of waterfalls and moss. This is why I love this game - Red Dead Redemption 2. It gives some comfort, meaning it reminds me of my childhood's (and adulthood's) favorite place. 

    Surnadal is one of the main sources of my inspiration for art. The game RDR2 helps me relive that. The main character also draws in a journal. This is why I share this information - art. 

    This is some of the main character's art in his journal. I love it, but if I sketched this loose I would be hesitant to share it. That is wrong of me. Loose sketching is wonderful. This is why I share this.

All credits goes to R* of course, but also to this reddit poster.

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/buxjuv/completed_arthurs_journal_pdf_and_zip/

Mental Rotation

    I visualise something called mental rotation everytime I draw, in order to learn how to draw from imagination and memory, instead of having to follow a reference every time I want to draw something. 

Wikipedia explains it like this: 

Mental rotation is the ability to rotate mental representations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects as it is related to the visual representation of such rotation within the human mind. There is a relationship between areas of the brain associated with perception and mental rotation. There could also be a relationship between the cognitive rate of spatial processing, general intelligence and mental rotation.

Mental rotation can be described as the brain moving objects in order to help understand what they are and where they belong. Mental rotation has been studied to try to figure out how the mind recognizes objects in their environment. Researchers generally call such objects stimuli. Mental rotation is one cognitive function for the person to figure out what the altered object is.

Mental rotation can be separated into the following cognitive stages:

1. Create a mental image of an object from all directions (imagining where it continues straight vs. turns).
2. Rotate the object mentally until a comparison can be made (orientating the stimulus to other figure).
3. Make the comparison.
4. Decide if the objects are the same or not.
5. Report the decision.

    In my own words, I study a form paying attention to the whole form, not just what is visible, and if I can't visualise it, I study the form from different perspectives. Until I get a somewhat solid form I can rotate, like a 3D model in a game engine, I continue to practicing the form by trying to draw it from only memory, and if I can't recreate the form like I want I can use a reference for the parts of the form that my mind can not yet visualise to mentally rotate.

    I never actually learned this from studying cognitive psychology. It was something that came naturally with time. I do however believe it can bring an artist much comfort to learn about mental rotating. 

    I have to add that I've met artists that can't mentally rotate forms in their heads and have to use computer programs to study 3D models. I believe everyone can improve their ability to mentally rotate forms, although to different extents, and I also believe solely relying on references to draw can never bring out your own personality and imagination. Although, it depends on what and how you want to draw, of course, but I believe learning about mental rotation of objects can help any artist, no matter their style.

Tove Jansson

 I love reading Tove Janssons (1914-2001) books about the moomintrolls. 

    She also illustrates the art in the books. She used a lot of just pen and ink in the books, and I adore pen and ink.