Art

Gry was painted during a few weeks in September 2018, when I came back to Sweden after three years abroad. It depicts symbols for the awakening of consciousness. The crystals of primordial order. The Buddha, true knowledge embodied. Psychedelic mushrooms, hints to a mind outside the limited self. The cave itself is also symbolic: The cave of Plato which most people do not dare exit. The cave to which the hermit or spiritual seeker retreats to, until Truth is revealed.

Materials used are ink brush, pencil, color pencil, crayon, pastel and acrylic.

The idea for Moon Wish came in a dream. The dream was a brief visual flash and lasted less than a second, but I knew what it was immediately; It was the moon with life similar to the Earth! I felt the dream was a wish from the moon as it is now to be depicted with life. The next days I researched the moon’s geology by reading and making sketches. I wanted to get a grasp on the placement and shapes of the largest seas and craters. To stay true to the dream, I let the ecology balance to something stabler, but the desert area on the eastern side is a residue from considering this question. I kept the idea that rain clouds travel towards the unlit side due to day on the moon lasting half a month on Earth.

First I put down the shapes of the craters, seas and mountains using pencils. Then I created different zones with colored pencils. I blended the coloring with water, adding more geographical details with ink pens, colored brush ink pens and another round of colored pencils. I filled the dark space behind and made the outer atmosphere more vibrant with a black ink marker and smaller clouds and stars using white highlighter.

This artwork is part of a mixed media creation I have undertaken; writing a novel and creating art along with the continued expansion of game world b³O. The novel is a story of personal growth where people from a desert village in a disastrous state join inhabitants of a more well functioning community nearby to create a new home in a savanna, occasionally assisted by a mysterious stranger. The drawing shows the meeting between a gigantic owl and the stranger.

I used lead pencils for the general composition and rough sketch, then colored pencils for shades and textures and finally ink pens to fill in contours and create more contrast, giving the result a cartoony feel.

This artwork is part of the same mixed media creation. As a first sketch of how the new home could look like, the area is a rough approximation of a place in the 3D-game Minecraft, and the result will probably differ a lot.

I used lead pencils for the initial layout, then ink pens to fill in contours and dark areas and finally colored pencils to give it more life.

This artwork depicts a scene from the second novel in the Dune novel series by Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah.

I started with lead pencils for the composition and first outlines on standard college block paper. I set the general tones with layers of colored pencil and then accentuated contours and put in depth, contrasts and dark shadows with ink pens. I used a white highlighter for the scales, the hair of Alia and whirls of the sand. I highlighted the teeth with blue brush pens and made the sand more lively with a golden ink brush pen. I blended the pencil colors with a water brush pen.

I have a thing for re-purposing overgrown structures. There is an abandoned nuclear power plant not very far from where I live which inspired this creation. This chimney hosts someone who thought building a rickety structure on top of it would be worth the effort. Could it have been the great view over the forest that brought it forth? Or the extra sunlight, enough to grow grapes and other crops?

I used pencils to create an initial sketch, then ink pens for contours and darkness, and then colored pencils for the surfaces. I blended the colors with a water brush pen. Since the paper is very thin, it unfortunately created undulations, especially around the sky.

I drew Gaia just after getting this advice from a friend and artist: “‘You can study Michelangelo as much as you want, but when it comes to art, just forget everything”. I set out to draw a male character, but it ended up female. I also had the intention to make it happy, but it turned out crying, and I cried myself why drawing it. I felt this was a sorrow inside me connected to seeing the environment not being cared for and feeling inadequate to act. Gaia is our planet personified. The light bulb represents enlightenment, and my wish for more people to become more aware.

I used lead pencils for the contours and composition, then filled them in with ink pens. finally I colored with pencils and used a water brush pen to blend them. I also added some shades with lead pencil.

Amets, Unai, Unai and Kimets were sitting on a bench outside on Kalbario square next to where I live. I asked if I could take a photograph to use for drawing practice. They were happy to participate. They looked directly at the camera at first, but I told them that I preferred if they acted just as they had before I approached them. I was amazed at how easily they did that! The drawing turned out pretty well, although I had trouble getting the features of one face right.. can you see which one?

I used lead pencil to draw an initial sketch to find the proportions. I filled in the contours with an thick ink pen to transfer the shapes to the paper in the picture above. There I traced the outlines and filled the darkest areas with ink pens. Then I added details. I finally colored with pencils and shaded with lead pencil and ink pens.

Sometimes I like to draw in a meditative way, without prior thoughts or preparations. I was listening to some talk from Jiddu Krishnamurti or Alan Watts while drawing this.

I started with only ink pen, and some time later decided to fill in colors with pencils.