Greetings! I am Filippa Sovré, a 21 year old student in the first year of the Certificate programme at the FAA/Sweden. I came here a few months ago for the eight-week course, having studied drawing and oil painting at an institute in Florence, as well as having taken a year at a prep art school in Stockholm. I came here with the ambition to pursue further studies in art conservation, but I soon realised that the FAA’s specific approach to drawing and painting was what I had been missing. After the eight weeks I started the Immersion year, and a couple of months later I was accepted at the Certificate programme. My conclusion so far is that the more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. This is evident especially when you try to capture the human form on paper, and practicing figure drawing for hours daily has proven to dramatically improve my skills.

One of the primary attractions the school has for me is the focus on drawing and painting as a craft, not only as a form of artistic expression. Teachers with a deep understanding of traditional materials and techniques were rare at my previous art schools. I’m truly learning to see and understand the world around me in a new way and it’s inspiring to see how far the more senior students are able to push their work. In addition, the weekly lectures on art history, materials and other related subjects is what ultimately convinced me to stay.

The people here are really nice! I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but what I found was a group of people from all walks of life, all committed to understanding how to practically translate three dimensions into two. Students come from all over the world, which is something I appreciate as well – there’s an international school environment. Since the school days are long, and some students come to the studio on the weekends, we spend most of our time thinking, and talking, about drawing or painting. It’s a bit intense, but that’s part of why it’s effective. We are all going through the same process and the people who are here really want to be here.

When people ask me who my favorite painter is, I always answer Caravaggio. I am, like many before me, drawn to his dramatic use of chiaroscuro and warm colour palettes. I love the Baroque style. Since starting here I’ve been able to explore this together with teachers and I’ve discovered more painters that inspire me, such as Velasquez and Lievens. To be fair, I had discovered the benefits of copying the masters before I arrived here – it has vastly improved my technique, essentially copying work by an artist I like to try to understand how it was created. Right now I’m attempting to etch a copy of a self-portrait by Rembrandt. I’ve recently started making etchings and I think I can learn a lot from Rembrandt’s seemingly effortless use of lines to create form.

Paintings:
Saint Jerome in Meditation, Caravaggio,1606
A Woman Cooking Eggs, Diego Velázquez, 1618
Still Life with Books, Jan Lievens, 1627

On Sundays some of us students meet up in the school and pose for each other as practice for making portraits. In the Certificate programme we only start making portraits in the third year so I’m really happy that we found another way to practice. Since it’s very informal, it’s also an opportunity to experiment with different techniques – for instance, my most recent drawings are made in red chalk. I’m excited to continue my studies and learn as much as possible!

Text and image by Filippa Sovré (unless credited in caption)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fsovre