Waiting. Huopalahti train station, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
There’s a chill in the air already. It’s getting dark at night. Autumn is approaching.
Waiting. Huopalahti train station
finland
Senate square, Helsinki
Sketchbook Helsinki, August 26, 2010_2, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Senate square, Helsinki
I kept being interrupted by heavy downpours that almost washed away this drawing. I opened my umbrella and switched to water-proof markers.
Most of the buildings on the square were designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, all in the neoclassical style.
I love this square because it exemplifies the forces that shape a city. On its four side are:
1) The Church
2) The University
3) The Senate
4) A mixed bag of commerce: Shops, a bank, a café that also shows art movies (one of my favourites, but now closed for renovation). The mayor’s residence is squeezed a bit on the side, and there used to be a police station, but they got bumped.
– And The Czar in the middle of the square.
I’ll get some more sketches done later when the tourist buses leave…
Yes, it’s a huge ferryboat behind the building. It’s bigger than the buildings in the old town. They cross the Baltic between Helsinki and Stockholm daily.
A ray of sunlight during a rainstorm
A ray of sunlight during a rainstorm, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Mixed media on paper.
There was a break in the clouds and the sun transformed the highway into a river of gold.
I spent my lunch hour trying to capture the effect.
This is a view from the city of Espoo towards Helsinki. The little peaks you can just barely make out behind the bay are in downtown Helsinki. In the summer I come to work by bicycle, on a bike path running in the woods on the right side of the highway, over a series of little islands.
Morning, approaching rainclouds
Morning, approaching rainclouds, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
When I arrived at work this morning, I saw this cloud bank approaching from the east. I had planned to go sketching outside in the afternoon, so I had my watercolours with me.
Half an hour later the rain started.
Waiting for the train, drizzle
Sketchbook_November 24, 2009_9, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Pasila train station in Helsinki.
In the past I’ve mainly drawn architectural details that captivated me by their beauty. Lately I’ve started seen subjects in the banality of industrial details.
A reluctant model – our cat
Sketchbook_Helsinki_2009_029, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Our cat Nestor Burma (named after a detective created by Léo Malet. Il met le mystère K.O. )does not like to be photographed or sketched. Either he fakes a sudden urge to go explore the other room or just looks annoyed.
In this drawing he lacks detail, as he left almost immediately.
Here he is, looking annoyed and moving around.
You have to catch him in a deep sleep to finish a sketch.
Phone doodles at work
I have many long phone conferences, so I doodle. Normally I sketch what I see from my office window.
Roadworks under my office window in Espoo, Finland.
There are benefits to really long and pointless teleconferences.
Studies of a single view over time
I started painting a small watercolour of the same view everytime I noticed something new.
It’s amazing how much a single hill can change from day to day.
Train passengers, Helsinki 2009
I started sketching during my daily commute once more.
Train doodles 2009:
Helsinki sketchbook: Sunny Windowsill full of Cacti
Helsinki sketchbook: Sunny Windowsill full of Cacti, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
As my day job grew more and more demanding, I had no time to paint. I realised I had to start sketching once more, simply to keep my artist self alive.
Inspired by Danny Gregory’s “Creative Licence”, I started drawing objects around me. It’s something I had done before, but not as a conscious exercise.
Mille Croquis 