Halloween

Thought this wolf would be fitting for Halloween - it's one of the sketches of the animals for the enamels I keep referring to (yes - they showed the good taste and went just for the animals!) . Check this out for Halloween.

tree art

I've finished my idea for the preschool - the deadline is 1st of November... so I have some time to double check things. My suggestion is a tree for every department; a two dimensional tree made in painted plywood. The idea is that it covers a whole wall from floor to ceiling. The tree is naked - so to say - and is supposed to "be dressed" by the children and their teachers. It might be covered with drawings and photos, animals and leaves, letters and numbers etc. And then of course a tree has many symbolic meanings - I 've written a page about it in my explanation. Let's hope I'll get this one!

My suggestion is practical and pedagogical, but tree art can also be more poetic (my opinion).

Commissioned art and animals

Today I've spend all day in front of the computer working on two different suggestions for public art:
- one is the enamels for the eleven entrances I'm working on since summer
- the other is for the Open Call for a preschool.

I keep coming up with other ideas ... kind of like spin offs, like the mirrored deer above. A blue watercolour has become solid red and voilà: Xmas. But I should work with the sketches for the enamels - I'm meeting my "clients" Thursday morning to show how I'm advancing. I want to make the animals from the Aesir Cult only, but they would like to have some Goods as well. Which I think risks becoming kitschy - and suddenly all of my efforts of making Oden (the main Good) is sooo kitschy ... Help - let's hope that's not what they want. There are a lot of kitschy things on internet when it comes to animals - check this link out for example.

And then there's the idea for the preschool. I'm working on a tree the children could interact with. But more about that later. Got to work some more!

modeling clay

Bunny family with carrots. I've been playing with my son's modeling clay (and with him of course); and got so into it - that I'll have to get some for my studio! At the moment I'm trying to come up with some good ideas for art for a kindergarten (preschool). It's an open call so I'll be competing with quite a lot of other artists.

sketching manga

Two Manga girls I'm sketching for my Friday class. I'm basing the drawing on a H&M ad to show my students how you can work from photos of real people (that is if models are real?). Japanese Art when we make money not art writes about it.

Review of my exhibit

Today you can read the review of my exhibit in Borås Tidning. (It is in Swedish - of course.) The review is a very good one; so I'm happy.

Workshop

Last week Eric and I were having this workshop for approximately 50 it-consultants. The workshop took place in the former old theater "Storan" and we had to be very careful with the delicate interior.
...So - this is what I dreamed the night before: Every centimeter of the old floor was covered with my grandmother's precious Persian carpets. The consultants were very non-collaborative and most refused to participate. They just hanged around - blasé - drinking wine and spilling on the carpet. The few - around six people - who actually painted spilled paint on the Persian carpets and walked around in it rubbing it in...

But of course my dream didn't come true. After a little hesitated start the consultants painted like pros. The photo's above are from that night.

Coffee and art

Last week Camilla Engman had three nice photos of different "fika" (that is coffee) on her blog. On Saturday I had a cup of Java (or at least something with caffeine) in Borås in a very non-trendy place: the Salvation Army's Café. I've been there every time I go to that town (which is like three times). Anyway - I thought of Camilla's nice photos - and decided this was one to share as well (above). It's very different. They don't know what caffè latte is, there is no French pastry or biscotti. The guy behind the counter got problems adding all the numbers handling a big order (not mine) - and said "let's say 100 crowns (10 euros) - that's a good deal for you"

Coffee as art.

Vernissage!

For you who can't come and see my exhibit: some photos. The gallery is very nice; divided into different rooms and with a lot of space. My paintings can breath.

For those of you who came: Thank you!

Exhibit tomorrow

Yesterday I hanged my exhibit. It opens tomorrow, but now it's "out of my hands" which is a relief. I'm very tired. Thank you so much Morgan for lending me your car (it was packed to the ceiling) to drive my art to Borås!

For those of you who can't come and see my at "live" I've finally updated my painting section.