“A week in August…” that is how it all started, with a creative diary writing project in which several participants across different countries journaled about their life the first week in August for more than 15 years. I was one of them and so was a Swedish woman called Inga, who I finally got to visit this year. And it happened to be the first week of August…
A week filled with the Scandinavian charm of the city of Stockholm and the enchanting Swedish summer countryside which inspired me the most and filled me with much joy and tranquility.
…and inspired me to capture little impressions on paper. I quickly filled a tiny sketch block with 10 bamboo/cotton pages using an ink pen and water soluble crayons. I am sharing those little gems in this blog post together with little “photo albums” of the pictures I took during our stay. I hope you enjoy! Hej, Hej 🌻
STOCKHOLM
Stockholm is a beautiful city built on little islands. Surrounded by water and with an adorable old town that is glowing in Mediterranean colors of ochre and burnt sienna – I fell in love straight away. The locals appeared to have a lovely aura of calm and friendliness. I got a bit addicted to Kanelbullar and Kardemummabullar, mmhh…a hightlight was a boat trip along the Stockholm archipelago. We stopped at one of the little islands: Vaxholm, where we enjoyed some sweet delights in a charming garden café.
Drawing a fish brought us luck. The next morning my partner went out fishing on the lake and returned with a pike which was turned into a delicious fish pie.
Take me to the lake
We were blessed with staying by a gorgeous lake that was within walking distance. We took long walks around the lake and the surrounding birch and pine tree woods picking wild blueberries. On the last day we enjoyed borrowing our friends’ boat to row across the green water admiring water lilies, dragonflies and the typical red Swedish houses peaking through the reeds.
I especially enjoyed painting these watercolor studies with a limited color palette of 3 different hues of blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and black.
Gifts from the Woods
A collection of tree bark, twigs, leaves, pine cones and berries. Some of them will be repurposed as mark making tools or collage material.
In the Garden
Gardens and flowers are a great source of joy for me. Our Swedish friends are so fortunate to have a garden and grow their own vegetables and herbs. What a delight!
Memories in Ink & Watercolor
A little display of the 10 pages I filled with little drawings and watercolor paintings. I created them with a sense of play and curiosity – I felt completely free and just had fun. They are not perfect but bring me lots of joy and represent a precious collection of memories.
