Kentsel ormanlar

[By Nina Johansson, Stockholm] This is a place I have passed by in our car and on my bicycle so many times, thinking that in spite of the grim and noisy atmosphere, there is actually a beautiful light here. And now in summer, there is even this shimmering green playing with the sunlight inbetween the concrete tree trunks. Beautiful, in a weird way. It´s like a forest, even if it´s man-made and very mathematical.

This weekend I decided to explore this place a bit with pen in hand. It´s more fun than you´d think to sit under one of the biggest highways in Sweden drawing! There are some pretty cool perspective problems to work on here.
I´m not used to sitting with my head practically touching a highway, so
had to think for a bit how to capture the depth of these ramps and bridges. (Plus I had to wash my
hair when I got home, this is definitely one of the dirtier spots I´ve been drawing
at.)

In spite of the noise from the roads, it is very still down here. It is dry, dusty and almost unreal in it´s quietude, even though cafés and shops are open just a few minutes bikeride away, and people are rushing past in their cars just one or two meters from my head. Contrasts are not only about colours and values, are they?