A blog about my work and the way it happens. Things I see, hear, feel and find interesting, funny, odd or just plain curious. News about Everything and Anything Art wise, Expected or Unexpected. This blog is an open work diary for myself, and you are very welcome to follow me on my journey...

onsdag den 23. april 2008

Women in old ads

The beginning of a ‘vintage’ portrait. The blue makes the skin color deeper and more interesting.


Recently I was looking through a stack of old (and basement smelly) LIFE magazines from the 1950s. I have always enjoyed looking through magazines from this time period, I like the esthetics of the time - and what his me on this day, was all the advertisement pictures of women, some photos and some drawings. What they all had in common (except of course from haircuts and the kinds of dresses) was that they all showed some strong (and at times odd) emotion on their faces. Some were looking at you in an overly coy or shy posture, others were extremely excited - obviously happy to show their husbands - as these came tired home from work - how they had just saved a significant amount of money by buying a certain brand of ham.

Some (quite a few) had big surprised eyes and a round red mouth, clearly taken by surprise by something. I have to say I loved these pictures!

I cut out some of them to use for later use, and I am recently working on a series of small square portraits, inspired by the women in the old ads. They all measure 8” x 8”, and are half collage and half acrylic. These sizes was what I had in store at the time - and I actually like the small intimate images.

When I paint a portrait or just a human figure, I always start on a light blue background. The blue is nicer to work on than a white foundation, but it also makes the faces deeper, the blue can be sensed through the skin color.

I will make a new post with the finished piece.

tirsdag den 1. april 2008

Vintage Wallpaper


For a while now, I have experimented with vintage wallpaper. I absolutely love it; the texture, the patterns, the smell of forgotten paper in a basement for decades... Sounds bad, but it seems to add to the authenticity, at least for me!

The patterns are often crazy to say the least - big, bold & (from a modern standpoint) violently intrusive. The idea of an entire room covered in these patterns, sounds like a severe nightmare, but in small doses, cut up and mixed, I think these wall coverings are absolutely stunning.

I am always looking for sample books, and seem to find them in the strangest places. I recently got this little cute one (in the picture) from 1951, with an elegant house wife, deciding between two pink (tasteful!) choices, with the help of two christmas pixies(?)

I love it!

And today I received a thick, huge sample book with true, colorful & very believable 70’s super patterns... I could not wait to open it - I did - and saw, felt, heard & smelled the 1970s.

I look forward to incorporate it all in my work in the future. And hope to continuously find more wallpaper treasures...