my father napping

The other week I was asked by a student for how long I've been working with watercolours. Truthfully I answered I took it up last year (to teach!) after many years only painting in oil. I said I had just used watercolours for sketches while traveling. I mostly used that material in my late teens. But of course that is a truth with modification; when I consider not using - it might just be not using a lot. I've always kept making sketches and portraits - private stuff.

Checking some old materials (wondering if I had been painting any watercolours the last years) I came across this portrait of my father. My father died in 2001. This portrait must be from around 1999 (I didn't write the date). I miss him.

space and boxes

working space

materials in boxes for taking teaching

more teaching manga

This Manga drawing (more realistic style) is based on a promotional picture for Ang Lee's movie Lust and Caution. I've made it to show my students how you can base your work on photos.

I thought this week would be less work, but no. I've been asked (last week) to give a Manga workshop for children on Friday. (which is great!) This is also including tutorial material for a class before - and after my workshop. It's just that right now I feel a bit overworked. Late nights. Working. In front of the computer.

Akino Kondoh makes manga style art, animations - and manga.

sprout

pinkish

Opening

if you want to get a closer look on my paintings check here
if you want to get a closer look on my prints check here

hanging exhibit

My exhibit opens tomorrow at Konstnärshuset in Kungsbacka - by then you can (hopefully) read some words (in Swedish) about the exhibit and see some of the art pieces here.

The post was faster to Portugal then I thought - Ana Ventura already got my mobile (check also her nice blog).

But when will I get mine - and made by whom?

waiting

mobile: ready

So, now I've put the mobile in the mail. Hopefully it will arrive on Monday - to Portugal.

Meg, at elsie marley, posted some of her favorites from the swap a week ago. Birds is a popular theme in mobiles - but I've never seen one with laughter. This one is sweet. See more at the Flickr group. I'm not posting any photos there (of my contribution) until I think the package has arrived to one lucky girl (moi, self critical? - non, jamais).

almost there

Tomorrow my contribution for the mobile swap will be ready and posted. It took me a little bit more time then planned...

cutting shapes

Another "art piece" from my creative sessions with the offspring. I cut our old paintings and use their variations not adding anything extra. And then very often my son cuts my art piece into small small pieces. ( the elephant was so nice...). And laughing. (kill your darlings?)

Cutting paper you can make very nice things. Marie-Louise Sundqvist had yesterday a post about paper art. Nikki Mcclure and Peter Callesen both make cut outs - but totally different. Peter is my favorite though. Found through MoCo Loco.

my red bowl

...is broken. A little boy playing fire brigade got wild - and the bowl that I grew up with in the 70th - will now just be kept as a memory. It was a Margrethe bowl (in melamine - a hard plastic) from Rosti designade by Sigvard Bernadotte och Acton Bjørn in the 1950. I've used that bowl for making meatballs, baking Christmas cakes and as my special bowl for eating popcorns for more then 20 years. And it was used in my family before that - for how long I don't know.

I've always liked the feeling of continuity, to still be using old things from my family - like the mortar I wrote about the other week. I have actually many things - everyday objects, books and clothes - with interesting stories behind them. Bibbi's request (to write about something special) has actually inspired me - I've decided to - now and then - share a special object with an interesting story behind it. (I'm not sure this one counts though)

enamel: final steps

fitting and screening text

cooling on grid on the floor after being in the oven

after additional orange detail and text: ready!

enamel: step 4 and 5

Step 4: scraping to get sharp contours or lines.

Step 5: into oven 820 degrees Celsius (approx 10 minutes).

Coming out steaming hot - and shiny.

Valentine Lunch

time flies

Oooooops. My exhibit at Konstnärshuset opens in one and a half week - and I almost forgot to send the invitation cards (real and e-mail)... I have to fix it tonight!

enamel: step 2 and 3

So - having prepared the enamel plates with a warm tone (see Monday) - I reach for the screening frames to continue with the next step

Step 2: I use a special enamel screenprinting colour (expensive and very toxic).

and there goes the blue colour

Voilà: the eagle on the enamel plate. You can see the guides lines I used to get it where I wanted it. I'm not printing very detailed or exact as...

Step 3: ... I continue painting (adding some water to the screenprinting colour) because I want a painterly look - like on old blue china. I have small printouts of my sketches on the side to guide me. Now I'll have to let it dry for at least 40 minutes. (This photo - as you might have noticed - is not of the eagle (I'm not changing it that much painting), but of a viking style dragon.)

... to be continued

100 posts!

This is post number 100 on my blog, which calls for a celebration.
I love tulips.

enamel: step 1

This week I'm going to share the process behind my enamels (for the commission) .
Step 1: spray painted a thin layer of yellow to give the enamel a warmer tone. A lot of the yellow disappears in the oven. It's just by comparing with one without the tone that you'll notice.

Today the photo copy machine was refusing to help me to prepare the originals for screening. Luckily I prepared 6 frames last week - and have 4 copies for others. But I have to solve this - I need to make at least 8 extra copies on transparent paper to make the commission.

Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) - take the time to see the clip introducing her world of photo. She committed suicide. Most photos are self portraits. I especially like her as Alice in Wonderland - a reoccurring theme in my own art.

weekend wine

I've discovered this red wine I really like: Coteaux du Tricastin. You can buy it at Systembolaget for only 77 Swedish crowns.

going manga

On Thursday nights I'm teaching kids (10-15 years) how to draw Manga - and to become Mangaka (the one who draws Manga). To be pedagogical I've designed my own Manga character: Ayano. The strip above (under construction) shows how I introduce my heroine.

Yoshitaka Amano is right now exhibiting at Gallery Michael Janssen in Berlin.

KKV in sunlight

The sunlight was very strong today when I went to KKV (the collective workshops). It revealed how dirty the windows were and how dusty it is on the inside. But I didn't mind. I can feel spring is coming.

Vanna Bowles - drawings can be so good. Just pen and paper...

blue

I'm right now having three very very very busy weeks:
- finally I'm making the enamels (first sketches were made in July 2007 and it has been an ongoing story since) for the commission for eleven entrances. I hope to have finished with the enamel ovens by the 16th. (but there's more to do after - of course) The photo shows some sketches for the project.
- my upcoming exhibit opens the 23rd
- the mobile should preferably be ready and sent by the 20th

(all dates are in February!!)

sneak peak

Ok. You'll get a sneak peak of some parts of the mobile I'm making for the mobile swap. (I don't think she - mentioning no names - is reading my blog anyway). What is really nice is that I always smile when I paint smiles/laughter - like getting into the feeling of it - so I've been smiling a lot lately...

Aki Kaurismäki's movie has the English title The Man Without a Past. Thanks Gracia for the hint.

livin' in a box

Context. Sometimes it's all about context. This is the view from my kitchen window - showing exactly the same kind if building that I'm living in. The houses are from the early 80's and are not giving the impression of care for details (brown plastic trims (svenska: lister) instead of wooden ones for example). But suddenly they don't seem that uncool any longer. It's like living in a container - the Container City in London - so contemporary.

And then there is Aki Kaurismäki's movie from 2002: The man without Memory (I'm not certain about the English title). The man who has forgotten who he is, is living in a very nice container - but totally different from the ones in London. A very good movie.

revolt

last week mansuetude gave me a you make my day award.

"You make my day-Award" works like this:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo with a link to the post that I wrote. (Optional)
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news

Which is very nice - and I've been thinking about it ever since. Actually that's the reason why I didn't post anything on Friday. Because I'm really against all form of chain letters.

By principle I hate being forced (very often by people I like) to pass something on just to be nice - even if I don't want to. So - I'm the one who never passes it on. Even If I'm declared an Angel by someone I like (are you reading this?) and I am supposed to pass it on. So my friends have learned not to send me those kind of things in e-mails. (And I never read the funny stories people forward to me and 100 other people (not that it's really the same) - I delete it without reading it. Always). But this being a blog is a bit different - I understand that these awards can work for spreading the word about each other - so maybe I should collaborate? Do I want to lose readers?

I don't read that many blogs. Most of the ones I read have all been getting this award - and nicely followed the instructions. So I don't want to pass it on to them - again. Being asked which are my favorite blogs, in a more personal way, would have been different. Or invited to do something. It's the passing on I don't like. (and kind of feeling forced) It's not spontaneous. Mansuetude - I really like your reoccurring comments: long and personal. I'll compromise. 5 links to blogs:

Camilla - my first good blog encounter. and still the one
Bibbi - another side of my Cultural Göteborg. personal
Sandra - like her illustrations. Fun to see her view of what she and Camilla does
Stef - nice with drawings and not to many words
Lars Wilks - heavier. and not.

but I'm not passing it on. I'll just tell them (comment) something nice when it comes naturally instead.