still sketching

Last two weeks of sketching for the public commission now. I've arrived at the final modell building. These little trees are in scale 1:50 - and I must say my laser cutting skills are coming in handy!

sketching for public commissions

These are busy days, as always this time of the year. Right now I'm sketching for a double public commission - and preparing for two series of different workshops in the forrest. Both commissions and workshops are for preschools (my new focus group?)

My exhibition is still going on at Grafik i Väst Gallery, you have until the 1 of April to see it. 

Inauguration at Stensjön's Preschool

Today I attended the Official Inauguration of Stensjön's Preschool. It was a grey and chilly day - but the balloons, the children singing and the pedagogues' enthusiasm when acting totally distracted us.

... and then I got flowers. I so love getting flowers.

(the fence behind the Portal is just temporary - to protect the grass to give it a chance to get rooted)

Like the birds

The book that comes with the Portal is called "Såsom Fåglarna" (like the birds) - here you can see some of the spreads. (Only three of the spreads have text.) Basically it's the story of a child going through the Portal - by following a woodpecker - to the land of the fairy tale where he/she hangs out with some birds doing things birds do. The story is supposed to work for children between 1,5 to 6 years old - which I found to be a challenge; to make it simple enough to be understood by the youngest and still keep the oldest children intrigued ...

playing with the Portal

Yesterday I visited the preschool -  now that the children have moved in - and showed them how to use the theater curtains and read them the book (photos of the book coming up very soon!). And of course I took some photos - but I haven't yet gotten the permission from the parents to use the photos - so therefore I've blurred the faces above . (If I don't get the permission I'll have to switch their faces for my son's face in different ages in photoshop ... so I still can use the photos for applications and such. Because I don't want the photos the blurred way!)

Update: I got the parents' permissions!

waiting for the test print

Last week I finished the final details for the book for the preschool and now I am just waiting to get the test print. The drawing above is a little extra something I put on the last page, as a surprise, to suggest another possible adventure for the main character.  By the way - do you see the child as a boy or a girl?

and the Portal is ready!

Monday was cold and a bit snowy, but the mounting was easy. I tried it out with a curtain right away. The base plate (also yellow) is going to be covered with stone plates, so the little door will come on ground level.

I'm still working every day, but I am finishing things up these days - so I will be able to take the weekend off!

almost there ...

saying goodbye

I've been working every single day (and night) since the 17th of November. Mostly on the children's book for the commission, but also on the portal and teaching screen printing. I don't think I have ever worked this hard and so long days... but now I am almost almost there

Tomorrow we are mounting the portal and I seem to have finished all the illustrations 10 minutes ago. Now I just have to adapt the text, put image and text together in InDesign - and order a test print of the book. And then sew the curtains, of course.

the portal in the book

I'm advancing ...

sandblasted - and putting it together

Today we picked up the sandblasted aluminum parts and started putting the layers together. 

... and then aluminum

We are now busy with my portal at the metal workshop at KKV. Everything is proceeding as planned - and I'm so happy having Arta helping me for the third time with one of my commissions.

from paper to plywood ...

the portal is first transferred to plywood so I can test it in more stable material than paper - before cutting it out in aluminum.

... et voilà!

I just have to get back another day to take some photos with kids in the stairs. Because they were having a day off yesterday, which was the reason we chose that day for mounting the art pieces (two other artists also installed their art in other parts of the school the same day). I wonder how the kids reacted today?

mounting!

Today it finally happened. I'm super exhausted right now, but pleased.

at the industrial powder painter

Today I visited Guson, the industrial powder paint company that I use for my public commissions. There's a layer of grey dust over everything there and the place is probably a location trendy interior stylists would die for. I inspected all the parts for my commission - perfectly bright coloured looking kind of out of place - and packed them for tomorrow. Because tomorrow it is finally Mounting Day!

continuing with the portal

This week and next I'm concentrating on the portal I'm sketching for the preschool. Having it in real in size - even though it is just in paper - helps me a lot. This art piece is not "just" to be a sculpture, but also something you can use and transform into a theatre. I've had my son (8 years old) interact with it (he loved it!) and next week I'll try it with smaller children. As it is to be outdoors on the playground, I have to take a lot into consideration when it come to safety restrictions and construction. I'm learning a lot ...

checking the fitting

I've tripple-checked the measurements for the hand rail - and made a real size 2D copy of the hand rail to test the fitting - to avoid any unpleasant surprises when it is time to mount the art piece. So everything should be fine ...

... and then superman

It feels great to finally see this commission taking form in real size. But in some way I feel like I'm working on a miniature now... because compared to the one I made two years ago it is kind of small. Superman above is one meter tall. The Phantom having a luncheon from 2011 would be - if he could stand up in his full hight - two and a half meter tall.

Snow White in progress

Snow white in progress; with distances marked out and then in a break when being welded by Arta.

back working!

I was waiting and waiting for a rainy day to go back working - not been that many rainy days this summer - but finally I had to go back anyway last week (in spite of sunshine). I'm now in the execution phase of this commission and it's exciting to see it all take form in aluminum. I like the way the aluminium looks in this phase in the workshop; rough edges, scratched and dirty with fingerprints. In some way I would like to keep it like this, but that's not what I promised to do ... so I can't.