Oskar Ekholm

Oskar Ekholm is a watercolor painter based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and almost every one of his pictures begins with a ferry ride out from Saltholmen into the skerries. He spends an hour or so looking at granite rocks and open water, rides back, and paints nothing at all that day. Before art school at HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design, he was an apprentice wooden boat builder, and that work taught him patience, an eye for how water shapes a line, and a respect for letting good material speak for itself. He will admit that the cinnamon buns at the harbor kiosk are part of the routine, too.

The painting happens the next morning, from memory, once the view has gone a little foggy in his head, which is exactly what he wants. Working in watercolor on handmade Scandinavian paper, he reduces the archipelago to a few soft washes: a low rock, a pale horizon, a stretch of gray-blue sea and a lot of quiet space. The result is calm, minimal coastal art that fits naturally in bedrooms, reading corners, bathrooms and light-filled living rooms, or anywhere you want a wall that breathes. Below are Ekholm’s canvases in our shop, ready to hang.