My First YouTube Movie

As mentioned, my studio has been been very quiet lately, everything in there is hibernating, breathing slowly, just waiting for the big move, for new surroundings and fresh air in the shape of new ideas. The same goes for my inner painter, I don’t have the peace to work at the moment, so many things to remember not to forget before taking off. Restlessness are happening at the moment, so I am saving up for later. I can’t wait to move into a new studio, keep imagining my new place, knowing perfectly well I have no chance of knowing what it will be like...

So for now I have instead worked on a little YouTube movie, showing some of my smaller portraits. It was fun making this little piece, picking the right music, deciding the right order for the paintings. It is a great way to show work, and it feels like it all comes together in a new way, and in the way I truly wanted.

Link to movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN2usOokofU

The 40th Face

Back in summer I made a few paintings, based on 1940s photos of women from LIFE magazine. I painted the faces from looking at photos, and then surrounded them with heavy pattern wall paper from roughly the same time period. I enjoyed making these small portraits with smiling or surprised faces, often taken from soap or toothpaste ads. They all measure 8” x 8”.

Overtime they became various studies of faces, and I started using more modern photos, which changed the feel and expression of the paintings.

Just this week I completed portrait # 40. I didn’t know I was going to do this many or how they would change overtime. I like them as individual portraits, as well as put together in a big block as the above photo. For now, I have decided to take a break, but may return to this format the future.

Daily Painters

I have mentioned in the past that I make these little portraits, inspired by vintage advertisements. I like the small format - they become studies for faces, as well as experiments with color and texture of the background. And I love how they happen so quick, I often don’t even think about it before they appear. They tend to decide for themselves, which is very exciting for me, as I always plan my paintings ahead, almost down to the smallest detail.

I have just made a new gallery on my website for those paintings in particular. Daily Painters is a movement where the members paints a few small paintings a week and post them for sale right away. I am not a member of the group, but I am intrigued by the concept and I decided to give these little (if not daily, then weekly) paintings their own page in my web gallery...