further up in the mountains

(here everyone thinks he's a girl because of his long hair)

Still in Colombia. The other day we went further up the mountains outside Bogotà. The landscape looked very much like Switzerland and the weather was like a mild Swedish summer day in June. We are here a full month (two more weeks to go) and I had thought I would be able to work at least two hours a day - I brought the computer. 

But, No. 

I'm enjoying the time here and I'm telling myself there will be time for work in 2012. This also means that for now I will be posting mostly about Colombia and not that much about my art. I hope you find it as interesting as I do!

the village architecture didn't look much like Switzerland though.

grey side of life: more

"Ok, someone probably got sad, but it made his day!"  [another page from my sketchbook on the theme "grey side of life"]

Christmas eve: Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá

waterfall of crystalized salt representing the lake of Gennesaret (if I understood the guide right - I don't really speak Spanish)

On Christmas eve we visited the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. It is built in a salt mine 200 m under ground and supposed to be the world's biggest church under ground. Long tunnels and huge excavated church rooms were lit with strong changing colored lights - and a very different experience for me.

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Cartagena, Colombia

Sunday night we returned to Bogotà from Cartagena after enjoying five days of leisure in tropical temperatures with both rain and sun. I didn't do much sketching ...  but I sat on the beach summing up 2011  and planning next year. Among other things I'll teach an e-course in Art as Business -  about defining your Master Plan to reach your goals as an artist or illustrator and getting the tools to do do. A Christmas gift for someone you know - or yourself, maybe? (Soon I'll post all the information about it.)

Bogotà, Colombia

After two days in Bogotà adjusting to the hight (Bogotà is situated at 2 600 m above sea level) and not being online I'm starting to feel like myself again. Tomorrow we are going to Cartagena and I'm not bringing the computer .... so no blogging until next week, but then I hope to be back with some interesting sketches and photos.

sketchbook project in the post

Early tomorrow morning we're taking the flight to Bogotà via Frankfurt. I've actually managed to do almost everything on my to do list! YES. We've even cleaned the apartment so my mother won't have to house-sit a dirty place. One of the other things I finished was my contribution for the sketchbook project on the Theme Grey side of life, and posted it. This little creature is one of my sketches. I'll share my whole sketchbook later on.

And now back to packing those last things. I'll be back here in a couple of days, but then blogging from Colombia.

lagging behind

I already knew I would have a lot to do this week, but then I got slowed down by that cold and fever ... We are leaving for Colombia on Sunday (to see the that side of the family for Christmas - I'm very excited about it!) so it's not just my art business stuff that need to be taken care before that...

On the business side I'm fixing some stuff for the Christmas Market Julform that Cissi is arranging (not just her); one of my Snowwhites will be there. Then I have to put together some materials and chose art for a work place exhibition, make two applications for public commissions, send some invoices etc ... I'm having a hard time managing to finish the tasks on my list.  - so blogging will have low priority this week...

my Morran interpretation

my Morran Interpretation.

I met Camilla for a coffee today and got the chance to see the book with images of Morran and flip through the pages. Illustrators/artists from all around the world have contributed with their interpretation and it's looking darn good! Here you can get a preview and order the book. Something else: Many Hands - a collective | online store, offering an eclectic range of prints and gifts created by a select group of leading illustrators and artists, among others my talented friend Thereza Rowe.

guest teaching in Lidköping

Christmas feeling in Lidköping

work in progress

presentation

I'm home from Lidköping, but unfortunately I brought a cold back with me. So snotty and feverish right now. Sleeping might cure it, don't you think?

glass experiment

Oh - and about the glass test: It turned out just as I had hoped. I'll give you a sneak peak later, but without revealing what I might be up to ...

going away guest teaching

Early tomorrow morning I'm taking the train to Lidköping and Formakademin to guest teach screen printing on paper. Last year when I was there we had so much snow - but now it's just raining.

I'll be on a blog break until I return on Friday night!

mural project in book

As a little project to learn how to use some basic InDesign and to practice some book binding I've put together a simple book about the mural projects I made with the school kids at Sandeklevsskolan in spring 2010 and 2011. Today I did those last things like binding it. I thought it was fun to use the same kind paper for the cover as we had used for cutting shapes when sketching for the murals. The art teacher will probably make the connection.

The glass kiln was ready to open today in the afternoon, but I didn't have the time to go and check the results. Tomorrow I will ... Cross your fingers!

exhibition: Love Lundell

Love Lundell is right now exhibiting at  Göteborgs Konstförening in their Big Gallery.  You can roughly say he is exhibiting two slightly different types of works. Both are good, but I think his more collage-like works (above) stand out. They have something that makes me think of them again. And again. What especially appealed to me is the way he works the surface and his feeling for the material, the colour planes and shapes. There's a rhythm. I got inspired by this exhibition. Love Lundell also works with illustration. The exhibition ends on the 4th of December.

this line of work I didn't like as much. This painting was the best of them. Not that they weren't good. It's just that "I've seen it before" ...

today: glass

The container with discarded glass pieces at the glass firm where I got some bits for free for my experiments when saying I was an artist (helps most of the time). I smiled and was as nice as I could - but the man didn't smile back and just kept saying "Don't cut yourself" "Don't cut yourself" . (Did I look that careless?) I found a big piece, even better than I could have hoped for - 6 mm thick and everything. Just what I needed.

Mia Frankedal and Mia Branzell had just opened the big glass kiln when I arrived at KKV

They make glass angels together every year for Christmas. Their angels are inspired by a new artists every year. This year it was Sonia Delaunay, last year it was Louise Bourgeois. 

My glass piece. Tomorrow I'll cut the piece and prepare a kind of form for it before putting it into the kiln. I'll then slump the glass. I took a glass course in 2004 and then I made a lot of test and experiments, but I never really found a way for me to use glass in my art. But now I think I know how I could use it. But I won't know for sure until I've made my tests... It could very well just be a dead end!

big canvas

exhibition: Eric Magassa

Yesterday I went and saw my studio neighbor and friend Eric Magassa's exhibition at Göteborgs Konstförening. I have been very curious to see his latest work as he's not even let me through the door to his studio lately. As always when it comes to Eric's art I was delighted. I love Eric's colour palette and the way he manages to be both playful and serious at the same time.

You have until December 4 to see Eric's exhibition.

workshop details

Paid KKV (artists' collective workshops) a visit today. I booked myself a glass kiln for next week. So I can make some experiments ...

challenging myself

watercolour on canvas

As an artist you will now and then feel the urge to challenge yourself more, to move on, to find new ways of working or new angles to your themes. Or that unique expression that is just yours? But how do you achieve that?

Jarl Ingvarsson, a Swedish artist, said in an interview I read years ago that his best impulses or ideas come when he has spent sufficient time in the studio to start feeling a bit bored. If I remember it right he said he then would be more free as he wouldn't care so much. He could do whatever. (this could very much be me making it up - in that case: Sorry)

Last year I listened to a great artist talk with David Batchelor (an artist I admire very much) and among other things he talked about how he got his ideas in his studio. His art might seem very conceptual, but studio work - or real life experience of materials - is essential to him. By seeing things in his studio piled up on a shelf, or a brightly colored canvas lying temporarily in a certain way, he got his ideas. Just by seeing things that might be by coincident, or seeing things with new eyes. (It's not "just" though. It takes a certain talent.)

I've lately been getting really frustrated in my studio because I felt like I'm not advancing, I need something more to my art to make it better and in order to get more interested in what I'm working with. In some ways I felt bored with it, even though I have had occasional moments of flow. A bit like; "yes, sure a nice painting ... but shouldn't it be more to it? The same thing again... Am I in the 19th century?"  For me frustration is good - if I have the time to explore it. I will go a bit wild then, more courageous.

Cutting things up can be a way - I tried it and laughed a bit, but felt like there should be more to it than that. Changing materials a bit can be a way. So I tried painting watercolor on canvas instead. And bigger. Didn't really do it, but I felt a bit better. Then I tried something else and got a fantastic surprise side effect. I'm very hopeful now. Could this be it? Tomorrow I'll get some advice from an artist working with glass - and then I'll hopefully know if I can recreate what I'm after. Anyway I'm on a new track now. I can feel it