Sketches

I sketch much  but never use the sketches for paintings

They just get piled and forgotten , but some are not bad so I thought

to show a few of them here. Some sketchbooks I gave away
 forgetting to take photos of the sketches in them.
If any of you still have this small books of mine, please scan the content and send me.

Pia Ranslet
Wood
Pencil drawing



Pia Ranslet
Danish Wood
Pencil on Paper

Pia Ranslet
Clouds  over fields on Bornholm
Pastell on Paper

Pia Ranslet
Bohuslen
Oil on Canvas

Pia Ranslet
Blue Hour on the north of Bornholm
Watercolour on Paper

Pia Ranslet
Cows in midday light
Pastell on Paper

I love cows, the smell of them and their heavy calmness, love the sound of the flies summing around them and their constant chewing. They are kind animals. And so patiently still, always willing so be painted. Each is an individual with a different character and different behavior.
 I think the life on Bornholm was as close as one could get to Paradise.  
Now with economical bad times it is no longer possible to survive with a small farm and 14 cows who all know their  name and love their place in the stable and wait for the daily nice brushing.  Farms have become factories.Cows have only numbers and weight, age or milk quotas they have to reach to be profitable. No time for the individual animal.They don't get sick any longer so filled up with Antibiotics. 
How do they feel in, their complicated stomachs from so much antibiotics? I know how I feel after 10 days of penicillin. AWFUL! 
Open big stables without windows with full light on the whole night so noisy from 400-4000 animals, how can they sleep?  I pity them, this is inhumane. I guess it is as close to Hell as possible for them.

Pia Ranslet
Cows in afternoon light
Pastel on Paper

Pia Ranslet
Staring cows
Pencil on Paper

Pia Ranslet

Pia Ranslet

Pia Ranslet
"Cows grassing"
Oil on Canvas

Pia Ranslet
The Pole, Svolvaer Norway
Pastell on Paper




There is a nice artist house in Svolvaer in the North of Norway. Artists can seek to get 
a period of time there, The house has nice workshops big kitchen and a small rowing boat so 
one can catch a fresh Codfish  for the meal.   I went there once. 
Found it hard to capture the sizes of the mountains. There were bikes for the artists use ,and I biked around. But to get around or just pass one single mountain I had to bike one or two full days. It seemed like all my movements became slow motioned compared to the size of the mountains. 2 hours heavy wheeling and still the exact same view as if I had not moved a centimeter.  Should have sketched on cartons 2 x 3 meters or 10 meter times 3 ,that would have given the unsteady feeling in the knees,and the a better feeling of the view. On an  island without mountains you are always having the feeling of control, it takes an hour at the most to get to a point in your horizon. But in Svolvaer just give up, you are no bigger than an insect and You'll never get to the horizon.