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Old stone bridge



Old stone bridge, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

Sketching in the park.
The narrow dirt road that crosses the stream here used to be a major highway for horse-drawn carts travelling across Finland.

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Kiasma art museum, Helsinki



Kiasma art museum, Helsinki, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

This building by Stephen Holl manages to be too big and cramped at the same time. Not only does it look like a Zeppelin hangar from almost all sides, the inside has surprisingly little actual hanging space. This is because a third of the floor space and the full height of the building is taken by the lobby and an oversized ramp. See video here: www.kiasma.fi/kiasmainfo

My next drawing of this square will include the tents of Occupy Helsinki. It was too cold to draw outside so I had to seek refuge in a café. Yes, the occupiers have been there all winter – at -25C and 50cm of snow.

This was my first field test of Neocolor II crayons. Here they are combined with Supracolor II pencils.

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My Favourite Coffee Pot – Broken

When an old favourite object breaks, I take a picture or make a drawing before throwing it away.

My wife has promised to try to re-attach the handle with epoxy glue. Besides being a sculptor and an archeologist, she is a professional restorer specialized in polychrome sculpture. So maybe there is still hope for this old pot.

My long-suffering sneakers

Very old high tops I had to finally throw away in Paris. They were not a famous brand and made in Czechoslovakia, but they had lasted long. So long that the textile parts had faded from black to purple.

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The rain it raineth every day…

Sketchbook_Paris_1991_032, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

Second day of heavy rain, and more to come.
My plans of sketching outside have to be postponed.
James Gurney has a great list of other things going awry when doing art en plein air:
Gamestoppers on Gurney Journey

So, here’s a post of houseplants – in many ways the ideal model, as they never move or get impatient.

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Sketchbook Rotterdam 1985



Sketchbook Rotterdam 1985, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

I started taking a sketchbook with me when traveling.
This one was done with aquarelle pencils and gesso from the window of a house we stayed at in Rotterdam. It was my teacher who had recommended adding gesso to my brush to tone down the colours of watercolour pencils.