First snow of 2014

mariamagdalena_kyrkogard_140212

It´s fun with a new year, because you can always put a “first” on everything you do. Makes it feel a tiny bit more exclusive, somehow. 😉

So,  this is the first snow sketch of the year, from the cemetery of S:ta Maria Magdalena church at SÜdermalm in Stockholm. I thought I´d keep my drawing tools simple because of the cold, so I used a four-colour Uni rollerball pen, only to discover that rollerballs are not made for -4°C. While outside, the pen skipped every third line I drew, and gave me very weak colour. I had to press harder than I usually do, which left my hand cramped after a while.

Oh well. I sat outside for about 30 minutes or so, then I had to flee into a cafĂŠ to warm up. And well inside, the pen worked fine again, so I added some details to the trees while sipping a nice cappuccino, and put down two very simple layers of watercolours.

What I really like about sketching snow scenes is that you don´t really have to do much about the ground, especially on an overcast day. It´s just plain white.

27 x 21,5 cm, Uni 4-colour rollerball pen and watercolours in Stillman & Birn alpha series sketchbook.

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