The origins of the Sleepers

Sometimes it´s fun to take your sketches a bit further, to see what you can do with them in another medium or as an idea for other works. The watercolours I did last year of people sleeping in puddles of watercolours are one of those little projects.

They all started with this sketchbook page (below) that I drew during several occasions when my train to work was late. Central station in Stockholm (and, I guess, train stations everywhere) is always full of people waiting, and sometimes the wait gets long, and some of them fall asleep.

I find sleeping people an interesting subject to draw. A body in rest is so different from a body standing up or moving about. The proportions change because the body sinks into itself, and it gets tricky with folds on clothes and bags and stuff that these persons keep close to them. Intricate and fun to draw!

And I thought, what if these folks had something softer and more cushy to sleep on than the wooden benches of Stockholm Central station? Hence the watercolour clouds.

Choosing a rough grained watercolour paper gave the opportunity to experiment a little with granulating pigments, which I think lends the clouds more body and life – plus the bonus of being incredibly fun to play with.