Cut Across The Street

Cut Across The Street by Martin Howard (2014)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Kjell Norberg Mens Hairdressers, Borganäsvägen, Borlänge, Sweden.

They say every cloud has a silver lining. That was true on this November day. The autumn had passed it's best and the days had become rainy and dull. Just the weather for a visit to the job centre. It's a typical building for a job centre, boring and totally lacking any architectural creativity. I sat in there for a couple of hours, waiting to be seen. It was such a relief to finally get out of there. As I went out the door, I glanced across the street. In complete contrast, there is a row of older buildings with much more character. In particular, this old fashioned men's hairdressers, Kjell Norberg (pronounced shell). I thought it would make a great painting so I took a few photographs with my mobile phone. I'd never been there, but before I painted it and as I desperately needed a haircut, I felt I had to pay a visit and give it a try. I even got a discount because I had no job!

Invisible Sun

Invisible Sun by Martin Howard (2014)
Watercolour, 36 x 27 cm, 140 lb Heavy grain paper.
Domnarvet, Borlänge, Sweden.

Sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking that there are only two colours in Sweden during the winter, black and white. The days when the sun doesn't show itself are just boring and devoid of colour. This painting was one of those winter days. I took a walk down to the local river to see if I might find something to paint. There was snow and ice on the ground, but the trees were bare. I couldn't find any ducks or swans either. The only little bit of colour to be found was from a small gap in the clouds, allowing some sunlight through, although the sun was quite invisible. The small island in the river provided some shelter from the wind, giving a glass-like surface. The reflections of the island and the far bank were at least beautiful on an otherwise dull winter's day.

On Our Way Home

On Our Way Home by Martin Howard (2013)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Honefsgatan, Domnarvet, Borlänge, Sweden.

This is one of the pleasant views that my children see on their way home from school. Close to the outskirts of the Swedish town of Borlänge, the houses become more spread out, giving a more village appearance than town. It's very scenic and we probably take it for granted. I took the photograph that I painted this from, back at the beginning of the summer. Soon after came the long, ten week school holidays, so I didn't walk down that road for quite a while. When I finally walked that way home again, I noticed a lot of changes. The wooden fence on the left, which was leaning over, had been replaced with green plastic-coated chain link fencing. The foreground bush on the right had been cut back and the wooden fence on the right had been painted red. So don't wait until next time to capture a pleasing image because next time it could be gone!

Bergebo Forest

Bergebo Forest by Martin Howard (2005)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Bergebo, Borlänge, Sweden.

This scene is from one of the pleasant walks in the hills at the back of where I live in Borlänge. The area is called Bergebo and is a popular destination for walkers as well as school children for nature studies and recreational use. During the winter months, these walks are transformed into ski paths. Many of the paths have lighting too which is great if you want to go skiing in the late afternoon or evening. This painting was done from a photograph taken in the autumn, before the first snow had arrived. It was late afternoon and the sun was just disappearing. It was highlighting parts of the pine trees and making a fine sunset. That's what I tried to show in this painting. I liked the end result and how unlike watercolour the paint appears to be.

Sunset Reflections On Ice

Sunset Reflections On Ice by Martin Howard (2014)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Domnarvet, Borlänge, Sweden.

By the middle of December 2013, the little snow that had fallen, was already starting to melt away. The nights were cold and the melting snow turned to ice. It was just after 2.00 pm and time to collect my children from school. The roads were very slippery, so I decided to take another route which leads into this little valley and to the school. It was very icy here too. As I reached this point, I was confronted by a lovely sunset which reflected on the ice. I knew it would make a great painting, so I took a few snaps with my mobile phone. This my interpretation of that scene, which I am quite pleased with. Sometimes it pays to be on foot and to leave the beaten track occasionally. I certainly don't like to be without a camera because most of my landscape paintings are unplanned. If I go out intending to find a landscape to paint, I rarely find what I'm looking for.

Winter Blanket

Winter Blanket by Martin Howard (2013)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Koppslahyttan, close to Romme Alpin, Borlänge.

In 2012, I was asked if I wanted the job of renovating a house. I was an out of work apprentice carpenter and with no other work on the horizon, I couldn't refuse a chance like that. The house was on the outskirts of town, almost next door to the local ski centre, where I got my first job in Sweden. This was the view from the back door, looking across farmland. I can't remember if this was the start or finish of the year, but there was no shortage of snow either way. I took a few photos that I thought might make good paintings even though I hadn't painted anything for seven years. The next year, I painted it. Watercolour snow paintings fascinate me. They use so little paint and I sometimes refer to them as 'dirty water' paintings because they can almost be painted with the water that I clean my brushes in.There is just a hint of colour here and there. From the air, I think Sweden looks black and white, in the winter. I enjoy looking for colour in winter scenes, however litte and using them to bring my paintings to life.

Path To The River

Path To The River by Martin Howard (2005)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Forssa, Borlänge, Sweden.

I called this one "Path To The River" more as a reminder to me. Had I not done that, by now I wouldn't have a clue where it is. There is a wonderful pathway alongside the river, but it isn't always so close that you can see the river, particularly at this point, just before or after the power station (depending on which direction you are walking). The path moves away from the river, to avoid buildings and access routes to the power station. It cuts through woodland with lots of desciduous trees and I could almost believe that I was back in England. I loved painting this, in an impressionist style. You can't paint every leaf or blade of grass, nor do we look at them when we walk past. I wanted to capture the sunlight shining through the trees, creating a little bit of shade on a hot summer's day. I was quite pleased with the result.

River Sunset

River Sunset by Martin howard (2005)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Hönsarvet, Borlänge, Sweden.

When I first moved to Sweden, I had just a five minute walk to the river. There is a nice wide and well-kept path, that runs alongside the river and on many summer evenings, I wandered down to the river with my family, to escape the confinement of the flat where we lived at the time. On this particular occasion, we must have walked too far or gone out a bit late, because it had started to get dark and the sun was going down. The reflections of the sunset in the river were very pretty. We were hurrying home before it got too dark and the mosquitoes came out for supper, but I kept stopping to look back and to take photographs. I wasn't very popular as you can imagine. I was rewarded though with a very beautiful photo which I was able to recreate with this painting.

Snow In Solbrinken

Snow In Solbrinken by Martin Howard (2005)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Hönsarvet, Borlänge, Sweden.

This was one of the first winter scenes that I painted and is from 2005. It was painted from a photograph taken from a road called "Solbrinken" in Borlänge, Sweden. It show part of a little valley, which runs between the two small buildings and off into the distance to the local school. I don't think the photograph was particularly scenic, but I was very pleased with the result. Even the trees which were completely bare and had no snow covering at the time, came out really well. It's amazing the effect that a covering of snow can make. There isn't much colour or so much light in the winter, but the snow brightens everything and highlights and reflects the little colour there is. It is very different from the dark depressing winters in England.