summer vacation glimpses: Denmark

going on summer vacation ...

... but I'll pop in here now and then sharing some images from my summer.

visiting Camilla's new studio

Camilla has got a new studio at Konstepidimin - it is big, light, airy and has a lot of storage possibilities - just great in every aspect. This is the only photo I have to show from today's visit though.

decisions decisions

last week before vacation.  I have four days to take some decisions about what I should prioritize to finish in August. But my studio is a total chaos and I can not think clearly there ... and I don't feel like cleaning. Luckily photoshop can help me picture what it could look like (above) ... (not what cleaning would look like)

light effects

when waiting for my students to arrive to KKV (collective workshops) in the morning the other day, I got the time to notice the light effects

... and a little screen printing for me

big format screen printing course

The summer course in big format screen printing is in on it's second week. (I'm therefore kind of busy.) This year's theme is the exhibition place itself - the ruin after the old fort of Elfsborg - and the site specific possibilities there (contextual and/or formal). Today a historian gave us a lecture and a tour.  I'm looking forward to seeing what my students will come up with in August!

what the fort (castle) looked like in the 16th century

midsummer

very much screen printing

test print for exposure time

The summer course I'm teaching in big format screen printing started last Friday. Today I'm so wasted after talking and demonstrating and talking. I never talk that much normally, so I'm kind of untrained ... but manage on will power (I'm a talkative person, though ... those few times I get the occasion!) 

Art in Progress - Leonara Hamill's project documenting empty studios in art schools. Great photos!

... and the final result

... with and without the lamps on. Both ways have their special advantages, and how I show this art piece will depend on the specific circumstances I finished this sign two weeks ago and looking at it now I can finally see it as a whole piece, not just the details. Two more signs to go (there will not just be laughters!)

slicing laughing faces

for the real thing

those little details

Some days it feels like you don't achieve much, even though you work all day ... but very often it is those important little details and preparations you need for a great result in the end. Like the day I painted the frame of my sign white (degrease, mask, paint, wait, paint, buy more spray paint, paint, wait - and ready) and prepared watercolor paper (measure, cut, wet, wait, tape).

Just white results, not a single line. And I did a lot of waiting

paint

wait

the results of a hard day's work: 4 white watercolor papers ready for painting and a white border on my sign

second trial (recorded)

... and it worked

HDK graduation show

Yesterday I went on a guided tour of HDK (school of design and crafts) Graduation Show. This is what caught my eye (you can tell I am an artist not a designer ...). Unfortunately I was so hungry all the time that I missed the titles.

Art piece by Elina Nilsson. Elina is standing on the right

same art piece from the side

Kristina Skantze

Kristina Skantze

Anna Ask

first trial (recorded)

it turned out to be really sensitive when turning ... anything uneven and sticking out even the slightest stopped the machine. I had to cut more paper aways and use glue and not double folded tape ...

sketches for testing

May 9, 2012

First step was to perform a test. So I made some simple drawings and cut them up. One of many questions to consider: should I just slice them and glue them (getting a broader image because of the distance in between the slices when mounted), or should I cut away a stripe in between?

could it be a sign?

Actually there were three signs in the big box - with light and that fantastic possibility of changing in between three images. I've always been fascinated by them - and now I was to make these babies mine ... To be continued ...

how long does it take ...?

... to make an art piece? Exactly one month ago I got a delivery I had been very much looking forward to - and last week I more or less finished the first art piece in a series of three. But the art piece actually started before that, when I got the idea when I was out for my morning run in early April. After some research, emails and phone calls ... I finally got my hand on the three xxxxx inside this box. tomorrow I'll "open the box" for you ... and let you in on my latest art piece.

Cissi and mice in my studio

Today I had Cissi - the pattern queen - working with me in my studio all day. We were both wearing yellow shoes (Cissi's shoes above) and she gave me a short pattern making class ... and then we worked side by side making patterns. Me just playing around to get the concept, Cissi working to meet an important deadline.

After the mice I also started making a pattern based on laughters. I just couldn't help myself. I do love my laughters, even though I whine about them sometimes (they are very tiresome to make as I have to smile all the time to get the right feeling ...It's like the deep love you have for your kids, but sometimes you get irritated and need a break)

[the text poster sketch in my last post wasn't any sign of despair with my own art. I was just taking a break and having a laugh referring to the current trend in interior design; posters with text on the walls - instead of art]

Check out this amazing doll house

text

I've been spending far too much time on my own in the studio just painting laughters (I'm so sick of laughters) - today I actually thought screen printing an edition of this text would be a great idea. Seriously.

I really should, shouldn't I?

the mirror trick

so simple, but it gives me more ideas.

carpenter's rule

carpenter's rule:

Measure twice

Cut once

everything you learn might come in handy one day. Like the carpenter's rule - even when it is about paper. (But of course I was only reminded of the rule after cutting something I had measured just once and not right). 

brown paper bag (an art blog emphasizing work on paper) has got a series of studio visits

exhibition: Roger Metto

Feeling frustrated over my own art yesterday I went and saw Roger Metto's exhibition Oilstove Country at Galleri Thomassen. I think Metto is a truly original artist and I love his humor and color palette (made me miss oil painting ...). The exhibition lasts until June 10.

small paintings - approx 15 cm broad.

close up of the middle little painting

"Bus" - this painting is a much bigger; 50 x 200 cm.

detailed from the above

why is it so hard?

Why is it so hard for me to make art almost all the time?  Almost never flow - or calmly working on.  Sometimes; almost there, almost there  - yes this might be something! ... but - No, nothing.  Not good enough. Am I asking for too much?

laughters in my studio

Time flies. Now it's almost end of May. I have to pull myself together and finish at least the first part of my latest project within three weeks. This is of course just a deadline I've set myself. But the plan is that I'll be able to have all the material ready for my book in August/September ... and I have in total five weeks until September when I can work on my own stuff (teaching summer course + vacation will take little more than 2 months away from working on my art).

Check out Fideli's amazing still lives made out of paper (first under 3D paper cut)