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My parents gave me a paintbox when I turned four. My first subjects were firetrucks and police cars but a couple of years later I started bringing the box and a drawing pad along when I went birding on the shores of the Baltic sea. Over time I developed a passion for the most down-to-earth technique – a hobby as well as a profession.
I am a member of Konstnärernas Riksorganisation and Västra Skånes Konstnärsgille, a board member of Konstgillet Mittskåne and an associate member of the Society of Animal Artists. As an illustrator I am with the image agency Azote. I also run watercolor workshops in my home village Röstånga, Sweden, or wherever you want it.
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Myself
I was born in Uppsala, Sweden in 1964. I spent a lot of my childhood drawing and painting with a special interest in nature subjects. I particularly liked to stroll the cattle trails of the uninhabited island Långaskär drawing plovers, wheatears and kestrels to learn to identify them. In the 1980s I went on a long journey to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco that gave me unrestricted possibilities to paint the Mediterranean light and birdlife, and I started up a freelance career as an illustrator as soon as I returned home. Most of my pictures ended up in nature magazines and on signs for nature reserves and national parks as well as historic attractions and museums. These days I paint freely on the beaches of Skåne, south Sweden. My love for shapes and colors has also taken me to Icelandic lava fields, the Scandinavian Fjällen mountain range, English estuaries, Californian redwood forests, the thyme fragrant hills of Crete, gum tree woods in Australia and icy fjords of Spitsbergen. My materials Watercolor is my favorite medium as it is the fastest technique and the one that is easiest to carry around. That is why I am so picky about the materials: usually 300 gsm rough paper, a large, round synthetic brush and a handful of carefully chosen colours. I tend to use Burnt sienna, Raw sienna, Neutral tint, French ultramarine blue and Paris blue a lot but I do keep a few others up my sleeve. I prefer painting on site but I also bring a camera for photo references and often finish my paintings in the studio. My telescope is another important stand-by when painting birds and mammals and my binoculars for finding and identifying animals in the field. I stuff everything in a daypack along with a lunch pack. In the studio I have strong, neutral lighting so I can see the colors correctly. Teaching Art teacher at LMG 2000 - 2002 Art teacher at BMSL Preschool 2004 - 2006 Private watercolor teacher 2007 - 2009 Art teacher at BMSL 2008 - 2012, 2017 - 2018 Watercolor instructor at Folkuniversitetet in Lund 2009 - 2018 Watercolor and drawing instructor at Mans' Watercolors 2018 - Art teacher at Kulturskolan Perstorp 2020 Awards Bird Painter of the Year, Birdlife Sweden 1993 Public's Choice Award, the ECWS in Haapsalu, Estonia 2019 Represented Skånes Djurpark S:t Olofs Gille, Falsterbo Svalövs kommun Juried Exhibitions “Birds in Art”, Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin USA 2011 Höstsalongen, Konstgillet Mittskåne, Höör 2017 "58th Annual Exhibition", SAA, the James Museum, Florida USA 2018 "National Watercolour Exhibition 2019", Edsvik konsthall 2019 "59th Annual Exhibition", SAA, the Briscoe Museum, Texas USA 2019 The SAA members' exhibition, The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, NJ USA 2020 |
Collection Exhibitions
Galleri Smedjan, Skabersjö 1994 and 1995 Skånes Djurpark, Höör 1994 - 2002 ”Fågelsträcket”, Falsterbo konsthall 1994 - 2000, 2002 - 2010, 2014 Sveriges Ornitologiska Förening 1995 Getteröns Naturcenter, Varberg 1995, 1996 and 1997 Skansen, Stockholm 1996 Axel Ebbes konsthall, Trelleborg 1996 and 1997 Öster Malma jaktslott 1997 and 1998 Galleri Nykvarn, Enköping 1998 Galleriet i Holmby 1998 - 2000, 2002 - 2005, 2008 Lunds Montessorigrundskola 2002 Mötesplats Hällåkra 2006 Galleri Smedjevalven 2007 Galleri Svanen at Lake Tysslingen 2014 “Ljus, ljus!”. Maria Thorlunds Galleri, Lund 2015 ”Konsten att ge – en konstbuffé”. Maria Thorlunds Galleri, Lund 2015 - 2017 ”Wildlife”. Maria Thorlunds Galleri, Lund 2016 ”The World in Watercolour”, Kunsthuset Annaborg, Hilleröd Denmark 2017 The European Confederation of Watercolour Societies, Haapsalu 2019 Galleri M, Eslöv 2019 Svalöv's library 2019 and 2020 The SAA International Online Exhibition 2020 - 2021 Solo Exhibitions VME Excavators, Eslöv 1994 Galleri Tio, Lund 1995 Galleri Hjortahammar, Tromtö 1997 Gambro, Lund 2002 Store Mosse Naturum 2006 - 2007 Eslöv's town hall 2007 Pauliskolan, Malmö 2018 Galleri KVIS, Svedala 2018 Konstrundan Mittskåne 2018 and 2019 Ängelholm's town hall 2019 Svalöv's town hall 2019 Röstånga Turistinformation 2019 Åkerlund & Rausing 2020 
Painting abandoned buildings in Svalbard 2017. © Anders Hansson
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© Måns Bergendal. All rights reserved.