Wednesday in the studio

Spring is definitely in the air. A calm and concentrated day. I finished making myself a little screen printing table (with vacuum suction) for using in the studio, tomorrow I'll show you how I did it.

Scandinavian Studio Styling

a lot of white, a casual piling ... and silence

... I made rolls of the paper bits I tear off from the borders of my watercolours. Why? So they'll take less space in my trash.

Sun Xun - and screen printing big format

Last week I saw the the animated film (art piece I would call it) 21 G by Sun Xun at the exhibition "Hell" at Borås Art Museum. Dreamy black and white drawings erased and changed make the animation into something very special. Sun Xun is counted among the most aspiring representatives of a younger generation of Chinese artists - and I can see why! 

Something else: now you can apply to the summer course I will be teaching through HDK: screen printing big format! If you fulfill the requirements to study at University level and have been working with screen printing before you can apply to the course (you don't have to be studying at HDK, the design school).  Here and here and here you can see photos from last year's course.

Art as Business: the return

I have for some time been thinking about restarting my Art as Business series and now - in two weeks - I will!

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback lately (even though it's been some time since I wrote the majority of those posts) which now made me decide for sure. I plan to review some books, interview artists and galleries, go studio visiting - and more. But I would also like to ask you, my readers, if there is something in particular you would be interested in?

this is your chance to come with a request!

shoplifter (Hrafnhildur Arnadottir)

The main reason I went to Borås yesterday was to see Hrafnhildur Arnadottir's (=Shoplifter) exhibition at the Textile Museum (ends on Saturday). She received the Nordic Textile Award 2011, the reason for the exhibition. I enjoyed seeing her art a lot! I left the exhibition with a smile on my lips and an urge to go more experimental. There were to ways of display; one part in brighter light, another in darkness with spot lights on the bright synthetic fibers.

a rainy day in Borås

"Ute" (Outdoors) sculpture by Charlotte Gyllenhammar, in Borås Today was a dark and rainy day, well symbolized by this sculpture - but I was all sunshine inside! (that sounded horribly perky)  I spent all day in Borås seeing some exhibitions and got some great input. I'll share some photos tomorrow.

spring in the air

maybe it is not for real, but it felt like spring today; the sun the melting snow and my good mood

testing

tape and spray paint - thinking about screen printing (though the motive isn't the planned one ...)

Fine Friday

Today, after more struggling, I decided to go for another strategy to find my way again; get an overview of last year's paintings. I've just put paintings on one of the walls yet - but I can already feel it's helpful... Have a nice weekend!

still life

Could still lives be my new thing? (or is it just my lunch?)

Malin Kort has started a project building Olympic Games Stadiums in match boxes. I'm looking forward to see how it will develop! (first one is great!)

hard times in the studio

I've decided that all spring - until end of May - is to be just for working in an unconditional way in my studio. I've been feeling for some time that I need a change in my art - a challenge, something new. It's been very frustrating. In the end of November I felt I was on to something ... but now I'm not as sure any longer. I hope it is only that I have some trouble getting back into it ... and that it will come. Next exhibition isn't until next spring. So I have time. The thing is though - that I don't really want anyone to be looking at what I do - so I might have to blog about other things! Minor experiments with materials, maybe?

daffodil

In the lunch room in my studio. (I'm kind of wordless, but I will be more wordy soon again) Aris' drawings are just getting better and better...

Just noticed that the Jealous Curator has been jealous of me - again. (I don't mind)

exhibition: Dan Perrin

Last week I went to Dan Perrin's opening at Galleri Thomassen - I very much liked his drawings! Playful and childish, but with a darkness and melancholia. I saw the exhibition with Camilla who posted some photos of Dan Perrin's paintings at her blog. The paintings aren't bad either.

I wish I had been able to see Cecilia at Stockholm Furniture Fair these days. (But I will have to settle for just photos and her stories about it)

not making it easy

In order to not get too skillful I constantly try to challenge myself. Making it less comfortable when working has always been one of my way strategies ... but now it really was super hard.  The canvas is so broad that I can not stand with one foot on each side without risking to slide further down in a split. The painting can not be standing because I paint in watercolour and I don't want it to get stripes. Standing on the side trying to reach and paint without getting the right angle isn't good either. So - I had to construct a little bridge for me to kneel on when painting with totally stretched arm (big movements). It's not totally stable and I can feel I'm putting to much weight in the middle... You know what they say - why make it easy if you can make it hard?

sketching with tape

Normally I don't sketch - I just attack - but with this canvas I felt I needed to plan a bit more. It's huge, costed quite some money (with expensive stretch frame and special canvas prepared with three layers of gesso) and took time to prepare... Another thing is that I can't be as tough with this canvas as with paper - which means scrubbing and washing away isn't an option. I have to do it right straight away. (still working with watercolors)

So I sketch with yellow paper tape. And I really like the way it looks with just those straight lines. A thought to save for something else

studio lunch

I was completely struck  - and overwhelmed -  by the joy I felt when I opened my studio door this morning. I've missed being here working ... and now I will spend more or less four months in my studio ... (if nothing drags me away - like an offer I can't refuse)  I wouldn't mind staying at the Treehotel

the Big Adventure

Staffan Wettre's grandchild looking at the photos

Today after dinner we went to the opening of the exhibition Det stora Äventyret (the Big Adventure) at the Maritime Museum. Photos, drawings, diary extracts and film clips recreates the journey that Staffan Wettre and Gunnar Stenström took in 1959 aboard a three masted topsail schooner, The Flying Clipper. Staffan and Gunnar were only 17-18 at the time and part of the crew.

Graphic designer Jonas Wettre, Staffan Wettre's son, published Flying Clipper Logbook in 2009 which I assume must have been the origin of the exhibition. It's an exquisite book. Find out more about the book at Shane Lavalette's journal.