Anna Ling
by Anna Sörenson Rydh
At first glance the works of Anna Ling seem to belong to a bygone era or a remote future, but when you take a closer look and read the texts, they definitely reflect our time. She works very meticulously using various techniques: painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. After attending Malmö Art High School she gave a course for children and adults at the Nordic Watercolour Museum. In the museum workshop she encountered ink of various colours and started experimenting with them mixing the bright colours to obtain brown and grey hues. One of her ink projects was “Observations at open sea”, 12 ink wash works showing the upscaling of the wind force at sea from calm weather to hurricane (following the Beaufort wind scale).
The series “Oceans of air” (depicting various kinds of clouds) is now a part of the permanent collection at the Nordic Watercolour Museum, but they were originally painted for a forensic psychiatric department in Flemingsberg. Anna Ling grew up at the west coast of Sweden, and the sea is an essential theme in her work. She has also painted series of oysters, jellyfish, and seaweed – sometimes with ink on canvas after a process of taking photos and printing sketches on an old-fashioned printer.
Sirkku Rosi
by Sofia Simelius
In Sirkku Rosi’s monumental watercolour paintings, anonymous naked bodies are intertwined with their surroundings in a circuit with no beginning or end. She is educated as a dance and art teacher and has worked as a teacher for some years. She has always been involved in various art forms, primarily dance but also painting, printmaking and performance. During her studies she attended a watercolour course held by Senja Vellonen, and everything seemed to fall into place. Already on this first course her paintings were in large-scale sizes. Her subject matter (nudes in symbiosis with their surroundings around a source of water and vegetation growing out of a cavity) has raised a few eyebrows, but her paintings are not meant to contain sexual references. She sees them more as sensual; she is interested in the skin and its properties. The watercolour paper may resemble human skin able to absorb and release moisture, but she is now also experimenting with watercolour paint on canvas which is quite difficult since it behaves completely different than paper. She is not sure whether her paintings depict the last moments before the end of the world or paradise. Dystopia or Utopia – both can be found in the same work.
Hans J. Wegner’s watercolours
by Marianne Gross
In late 2024 Strandberg Publishing released a book about the watercolour works of one of Denmark’s most famous furniture designer, Hans Jørgensen Wegner. The book is written by art and design historian Anne Blond. Hans J. Wegner never had ambitions of becoming an artist even though he was told at the Arts and Crafts School that he was talented – he was far more interested in woodwork and furniture design and became well-known mostly for his many chair designs. After finishing school he trained and worked as a carpenter in his home town of Tønder before moving to Copenhagen to attend the Arts and Crafts School. In those days it was essential to draw and paint (watercolour) for project presentations etc, so it was a mandatory part of the education, which Wegner seemingly enoyed and excelled in, even though he seldom painted just for pleasure later in life. However he painted a very striking informal portrait of his good friend Børge Mogensen (who was another famous Danish furniture designer) and among other things a few landscapes and architectural pieces. The hand-made intarsia work he performed for his “Fish Cabinet” was a major artistic achievement, the scenes of which he initally created with watercolour on paper. These watercolour works along with some other paintings were sometimes used for the exhibitions where his new furniture designs were presented in a “live” set-up.
Bertil Böös 1 december 1936–24 november 2024
by Jacqueline Stare
Architect, visual artist, illustrator, art teacher and founder of the Nordic Watercolour Society in 1989.
When Bertil Böös turned 50 in 1986 he retired from working as and architect and turned to being a full-time artist. He did accept some consultancy work occasionally, but his life was primarily filled with watercolour painting and travelling. He had begun attending Arne Isacsson’s watercolour classes at the Gerlesborg School at the age of 13, and later on he travelled 10 times with Arne Isacsson and his painting group to France. The Norwegian architect and watercolour painter Erik Anker says that Bertil Böös was always willing to be of help on these courses, and that he was an appreciated assistant educator. They became close friends and worked together on the project of founding the Nordic Watercolour Museum which opened in 2000. On a watercolour course in the south of France with Arne Isacsson in 1989 Bertil Böös presented his idea of a Nordic watercolour society. Everyone on the course liked the idea, and the founding of the society was a reality with the first 30 members being the participants of the course. When the magazine was started shortly after, Bertil Böös was in charge in collaboration with Arne Thomassen as the editor. When describing the first 20 years of the society in 2009 Bertil Böös stated: Practically all the dreams we had for the society have now come true.
Presentation of Members of ECWS – The European Confederation of Watercolour Societies | DAG
by Marianne Gross
In 2012 the German Watercolour Society DAG Deutsche Aquarell-Gesselschaft was founded in Stuttgart. From the beginning the vision was to found an association that brings together watercolour enthusiasts and to deal with watercolour in all its facets. The board of directors and numerous volunteers put in great effort of creating a network to organize exhibitions and run workshops and seminars for its members as well as promoting exchange with other relevant organizations. Other activities include organizing visits to galleries, studios, fairs, and museums, as well as lectures, painting trips, and art holidays. An important aim is to collaborate with other German and international watercolour and art associations. In 2014 DAG signed the statute to become a member of ECWS thus establishing a firm connection with the European watercolour community. Already in 2021 DAG felt established enough to take up the task of hosting the 24th ECWS Symposium and Exhibition which took place in and around Ulm. To this date DAG has grown to comprise of more than 360 members who enjoy the possibilty of taking part in activites and exhibitions.