Art in June + July: Sweden and zinnia in my sketchbook
This is the only sketch I did during the trip – which is more than I usually manage on holidays, so I’m happy I did grab my sketchbook on that eve of midsummer to record my impression of this house :) I found most interesting that the ridge of the roof looks like a perfect straight line (not so perfect on the drawing 😅), although it belongs to 2 perpendicular parts of the house 🙂
Shortly after coming back I decided to cover up a sketch I didn’t like (you can see a hint of it on the first photo :)), and was pleasantly surprised that gouache worked quite well on the sketchbook’s paper (which is really otherwise bad for watercolour or ink washes). I like the subtle colour variations in the background, and the creamy texture of the colour pencil drawing :)
It’s interesting that the drawing ended up looking pale green although the pencil is kind of light peach (“seashell pink”), as you can see on this photo (together with the other colour options I considered). On the top of the left page you can see the little rough sketch I did before diving into the “real thing” :)
I often take photos of things I think would be fun to draw, but I rarely use them in the end 😌. I’m happy that for once I took some time to sketch from (a small selection of) my Sweden photos. In the background you can see one of the photos, the reference for this dynamic chicken 😂 at Skabram camping & stugby in Jokkmokk (they had a whole gang of chicken of different, uncommon races running around – and running fast!)
From my camera roll: Funny architectural details, cheeky sheep, stylised pelican, trees on an abandoned factory building, nature in my neighbourhood
Is this turning into a photo blog rather than an art letter 😅? My excuse is that I’m showing you things that inspire me, so in a way it is a behind-the-scenes of my creative process 😊.
Buildings details, and a shop sign
Did you see the cartoony characters hiding in that painted ceiling in Bremen’s cathedral 😂?! When I took the picture I wanted to add an elegant, historical pattern to my reference library – I noticed the characters only today 😊, and also that in fact the pattern does not repeat, every “tile” is different!
More funny characters sculpted at the end of beams on a house in the Böttcherstraße, a historical, touristic street in Bremen:
A stylish and quirky pelican, the logo of a kid’s clothes shop in Kiruna, Swedish Lapland 😎:
Animals!
Birds are an everyday sight on our lawn, hares are less common!
Love this picture (from Norra Berget open-air museum in Sundsvall, where we attended a traditional Midsommar festival): looks like the small sheep is the leader of the gang, and they’re up to some mischief, right? 😁
Plants 🌱💚
Since beginning of June I’m starting my day with a walk (or lately, pulling out weeds 😅) – in order to experience the outside world, and maybe train my immune system somewhat against allergies? In any case I’m afraid it does not count as exercise, because I’m stopping every few steps to admire the wonders of nature 😊
(did you see the ladybird? 🐞😊 if not, click to enlarge :))
I was happily surprised to find a mirabelle tree – a symbol of my home region Lorraine – in my neighbourhood 💖
Trees growing on a building?!
Going for a walk in the forest, we did not expect to find this “lost place“:
When would you think it was built?
I said “the 80s” – but no, it’s from ~1940 😅, and it was part of an explosives production facility 😬.
Have to tell you about: Flora Incognita
As I am seeing so many plants on my walks, I often want to know what they are – but I don’t want to ask Google or another data mining company 🧐. The solution? (maybe 😅 – in the end you never know what happens to your data/images/metadata, even when they’re supposed to be used only for scientific purposes… but maybe still better than directly uploading to Google?) Flora Incognita, an app developed by the Technical University Ilmenau (Germany) :)
Can’t live without it anymore 😁
Comic project update ✨️
In previous letters I’ve told you that I was developing a kids’ comic project in the frame of a mentoring / “masterclass” programme.
Well the 2 publishers involved in the masterclass were not interested (enough), but another publisher is! ✨️ I hope it will work out – waiting for a draft contract right now 😎️
That’s it for this month!
As always, if there’s anything you would like to ask, something you would like to read about in the next letter, or anything really – send me an email at hello@reinekurth.com! It would be lovely to hear from you 😊.
With love,
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