Various pages from my sketchbooks, July - August 2026. A variety as usual, with a focus on environment design. I have also discovered the ballpoint pen over this period! I will always prefer the soft shading that can easily be done with pencil, and since I make a lot of mistakes I always like to be able to erase. I will though have to make a lot more drawings in pen in the future. ***

Some recent drawings of random streets in Kyōto. Kyōto is one of my favourite cities. It is a wonderful eclectic mix of the old and the new, the traditional and the modern. Japanese urban streets have a fanstastic unique character. There are power lines criss-crossing everywhere, colourful signs, narrow alleys, bicycles, small houses and buildings in all different styles, and of course the majestic temples and their gardens. If you are lucky, you will also find a friendly cat (laughs). I could spend all day drawing Japanese streetscapes. Here is also an environment study of the shopping mall "SMS" in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. I have a special affinity for shopping malls (I worked in what was at the time the world's largest back in 2009-2010). When I first stumbled across this building while walking in Tórshavn in 2016, I was blown away by how cool it was. The concept is quite simple: seven volumes with pitched roofs are lined up along a rectangular central "indoor street". Despite

Recently I have been doing some more digital paintings of zen gardens, inspired by the aesthetic sense of "yūgen": the profound, mysterious beauty that is sensed rather than seen, and that suggests depths of experience beyond human understanding. I draw these free-hand on an Ipad with the Procreate app. I will add them to the "Drawings" section of my website soon. Occasionally I like to browse through some of the books that I have lying around my studio for inspiration. A couple of years ago I found a short collection of essays "Three Japanese Buddhist Monks" from Penguin Books' series "Great Ideas" in a bookstore. On one page, Yoshida Kenkō (c.1283-c.1352) offers some insightful thoughts about house design which are in my opinion still valid to this day: I was also reminded of this amusing story about the priest Jōshin, also told by Kenkō. I have great respect for strong personalities, people that dare to create their own meaning in the world and do what they want. Personally I have a

Some random drawings from slow summer days. I have been enjoying making watercolours recently. Here is a pair of environment studies of some back streets in Zadar, Croatia (size A4). A simple concept sketch of a space between some houses, which I drew while watching a movie (laughs): ...and a random drawing of a meeting. Something interesting is being discussed here. In the future I want to do a lot more illustration and storytelling in this style. ***

Recently I have found the time to make some watercolour drawings of zen gardens, inspired by the temple gardens of Kyōto. The Japanese-style garden is one of my favourite environments, and I have devoted a lot of time to studying its patterns and meaning. Musō Sōseki (1275-1351) was a well respected priest and garden master of the Kamakura period in ancient Japan (1185-1333), and he almost single-handedly elevated gardening to an art form by applying to it the aesthetic principles of Zen Buddhism. He wrote the following poem about garden design: Poem on Dry Mountain (A Zen Garden) A high mountain soars without a grain of dust a waterfall plunges without a drop of water Once or twice on an evening of moonlight in the wind this man here has been happy playing the game that suited him. Watercolour is a medium that is perfectly suited to the spirit of wabi sabi. All of these drawings are size A4. ***

Various pages from my sketchbooks, made over the months of May and June. ***