Art Nouveau apartment buildings, Helsinki, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Corner of Bulevardi and Fredrikinkatu.
It’s getting cold, so this might be my last outdoor sketch of the year. If the weather stays sunny and I get myself a pair of fingerless gloves I might squeeze off a few more.
Sketchbook Stockholm 2010-10-07, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
The view from our hotel window, on Sturegatan.
It was a great and sunny fall day, so I stopped to draw the view. The next day we visited the East Asian museum to see the Terracotta Warriors, and the best new Swedish art show at the Museum of Modern Art, both located on this island
Beautiful sunset on the old town, seen from the courtyard of the East Asian Museum.
We stopped at this hip café while walking around in Södermalm, a young and artistic neighbourhood.
The Old Church, Helsinki, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
This wooden church was built in 1826 to serve as a temporary structure while the older cathedral was demolished and a new stone church was built to replace it.
The architect was Carl Ludvig Engel. He was responsible for most of the neo-classical buildings in the historical centre of Helsinki.
It’s almost impossible to draw this church from the front in the summer because of the big trees. It’s the same “Plague park” as here and here.
The first frost of the year melting into mist in the morning sun, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
The title sounds like a bad parody of a Japanese poem, but it’s simply a description of what’s happening in the picture.
A very quick watercolour of the view from my office window, done before starting work.
The clearing in the middle right is a golf course, all frosted over. In the distance you can see a heating plant chimney (it heats up a whole neighbourhood) and the main radio tower in Pasila
September in Plague Park, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
Corner of Annankatu and Bulevardi in downtown Helsinki. The park on the left is known as Plague Park as the victims of the 1710 plague were buried there.
Park Improvements, Etelä-Haaga, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
All summer I’ve been wondering how I would paint this little construction site.
It was interesting but somehow bland and uniform.
This morning the first red leaves appeared and the problem was solved.
Working in the city gardens is a very popular summer job for university students in Helsinki, but the men and women working in this park look like seasoned professionals.
All summer as I went by on by bicycle on my way to work, I would see them sitting under that purple parasol, drinking their morning coffee. I couldn’t help but think to the end of the movie “Office Space” and how much nicer it would be to be working outside in the sun, and actually get something real done.
A side note: There’s a stream behind the hedge at the back with a rare trout spawning ground that became polluted with raw sewage a few weeks back. Let’s hope they survive…
Power lines in Espoo, late summer, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
I tried to treat the tower as a part of the landscape, as I would a big tree.
Two Cranes. Ruskeasuo, Helsinki, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
A quick sketch from our balcony before going to work.
I have no idea what they are building, but it’s big.
Pyramid House, Pikku Huopalahti, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
The view from my window. The pyramid belongs to a recent, architecturally a bit more daring neighborhood in Helsinki.
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.
Mille Croquis 