Bye bye Website:(

My website yesterday... And below is how it looked this morning...

Although I knew it was happening, it was still annoying to wake up to a black page, saying "MOBILE ME is closed", where my website used to be! I was well aware that yesterday was the last day of my website, but still! I suppose I'd somehow subconsciously hoped that it would have stayed the same. That I just could not make updates. But nope, it is  a b s o l u t e l y  gone! I was a huge fan of IWeb, the program I had used building my site. Not sure why they chose to shut it down - perhaps I was the only one using it, and loving it? Who knows! I will have to build a new website in a new program in the future, but for now- this blog will have to do. 
With a (relatively) new baby in my life, as well as a big move in the near future, I haven't found much time for making art lately, let alone building websites. So, it maybe a while before a new site is up and running! Until then, this page is it, and it is not actually a bad substitute! 

Oh Baby!

Bunny and Bear

My blog is cocooning at the moment, I know... What I haven’t shared, is the fact that I am pregnant - in week 40 - so I could give birth at any given time! Time has flown, and I am happy to say that for the most part, I’ve felt great. My energy levels have been down, and that is partly why my work has been on the back burner. But, as the person I am, I can’t entirely stay away from creative projects in one form or another. They’ve just chanced character, and have been rather baby and craft inspired. I’ve been handsewing various mobiles and toys in felt, and actually really enjoyed it. It has been relaxing, and giving me time and room for thoughts regarding this new chapter in our lives as parents. And then I suppose I thought it would be nice to give the baby a few personal, handmade items.

We don’t know the sex of the baby, we wanted to keep it a surprise for the big day. Both my husband and I are new at this game, but everybody’s telling us that there will be very little time for anything else but B A B Y the next few months, and I believe it. So chances are that my blog will be snoozing for a little bit longer.... I do hope, however, that pieces of art news worth sharing, will pop up and make it to my blog...

Max - the Blue Heeler!

This is my newest portrait - of Max, the Blue Heeler. It is my first painting since I got back to Guam (and actually my first blue heeler as well). I always really enjoy painting the pet portraits, and this one was no exception!

I am very pleased to say that the customers were very happy with it as well. (the portrait was commissioned for a Christmas present!)

Max is currently living on Guam with his family, he loves food, and his favorite toys are these blue racquet balls. So they had to be somehow incorporated. I love this photo, it was the perfect image to use for the portrait. I guess this guy is well know for his goofy expressions, so this is a typical Max-pression!:D

Back On Guam

My studio is currently on hold. Although I do still have everything ready for inspiration to hit...

My blog has been a bit quiet lately. After a very busy year in Denmark, I am now back in the tropics, back on Guam. In the past few weeks I've had a few loose ends on the Danish side to finish before returning. And since arriving here, we have done very little other than unpack. But now we are finally settled back in, in new surroundings. Very little (if anything) seems to have changed here on the rock this past year.

And it IS in fact very nice to be back!

We do live in another house (hence the new surroundings). So, my huge, light and stunning studio is no longer in existence. This house is a lot smaller, and with no real room for an actual work room. But that is okay in every way. As I have something else on my mind at the moment: I am pregnant, and that takes up a lot of my thoughts and mental energy. I am very excited about this new aspect of life...

I have kept my art supplies handy, and I am sure I will be working on various project, throughout the year. (- I do have a pet portrait to finish in time for Christmas) I will just work a little differently this time around. And this blog may change a little, take on a new form. And then again - maybe not. I'll have to see that happens in my work and in life...

Huxi & Chico's Portrait!

As my very last project before leaving Denmark, I have worked on this pet portrait of Huxi and Chico.

They are good friends of mine (as is their owner) and it was fun to make this portrait which became extra personal because I knew them all. And also because I was able to do the portrait in this vintage poster inspired style.

I have painted only a few boston terriers other than Playdoh, and it was interesting to do it again. Even though they look so alike in real life, painting them is different. You look out for the small details that make them who they are, and not JUST another boston terrier.

And pugs - what can I say - they are always both fun and challenging to paint.

I was nervous showing the finished work (I always am) but they liked it a lot, and I got this photo from where it now hangs in the living room, on the huge, main wall. It looks like Huxi is content with his portrait as well.

Inspiration And New Ways...

Right: the finished painting.

Below: my painting in various stages

When I packed up my bags for a week at the art school on the island, I really had no clue as to what to expect. I was very excited, and googled the paintings made by Maria, the teacher of the course. Her work was very intriguing, and I was curious to see that I’d take away with me. I brought along my usual materials, and prepared a few canvases - just in case. But in the back of my mind, I was hoping to be inspired in a new direction. And I did.

For me, this week became a week

of thoughts. Of considerations, ideas and motifs. I spent the first day studying art books in the library. Going for walks in the stunning surroundings, while I though of my “art situation”. What did I want to say and express? Which stories did I want to tell? I had some really good talks with Maria. It was interesting to learn more about her work process, as well as hear her ideas as to what direction my work possibly could/might take.

I feel that everywhere I’ve lived, has added something new into my paintings. My year in Denmark has been a very busy and interesting one, showing work and making new work as well. I thought it would be great at this point, just before going back to Guam, to bring something new and concrete with me. Things to consider in the tropics, where I am really not expecting to make much work this time around. So Maria and I talked a lot about ideas and twists in visual storytelling. What makes a painting interesting and intriguing? Maria showed me her sketch books which were full of simple and often slightly bizarre ink drawings. From these coincidentally arose sketches, she’d (after filling out a whole book) pick out a few, and base a whole series of work from them. But first she would arrange a photo session to recreate the images with real people, often friends that would pose for the photos. I was inspired by this work method, although I probably would never work this way specifically. But learning how other people collect ideas, I find very interesting and inspiring.

On our second day, Maria brought me and another fellow artist to the “red school”. A building that house another group of (very young) students. She’d already asked them if we could take some photos of them, and luckily they were a good sport.

Four girls helped us out, and we spent a good half an hour taking photos, have them pose in various ways, played with light/ shadows and angles. Basically just playing around with different ideas.

We took a ton of pictures that we brought back to our studio and looked over. Out of all these countless photos, only one really caught my attention. I cropped it, so only two of the girls were to be in the painting.

So later on, still on day two, I slowly started my painting, and this same piece was to keep me busy beyond the week. I went trough a lot of considerations during the process, tried various practical ways (suggested by Maria) to get the drawing onto the canvas, and all the time keep the details within the “frame of the photo”. I worked on the first portrait, and it was really coming along well. But the second one gave me all kinds of problems, I don’t know HOW many times I started over. It was never good, and since I was very happy with the first portrait, this was really frustrating. I talked to Maria, and we discussed my idea: to repeat the first portrait on the second person. That is what I decided to do. But, before I got to this point, the week was over, time to say good bye to everybody and pack up our things...

When I came home, the half finished painting were untouched for a while. I placed it in a spot where I would see it often, and suddenly I was ready to continue to work on it.

I like it now it's done. I feel it is different than my other work, yet I can totally see myself in it. But I don’t know if the break was a good thing. I think I would have worked better, had I finished it at one time. By the time I worked to finish the piece, I was getting ready to return to Guam, and had a lot on my mind. I guess I didn’t feel entirely a 100% into it, during the last part. A bit of a shame, but that was just the circumstances.

I did take a lot away from the course. Maria gave me tools and ideas to how I can continue my work, while also thinking of things to do, to move it in a new direction. Sometimes a push from an outsider is desperately needed. I’ve often found myself stuck in my own painting world, not being able to find a way out and look at it objectively. I think this is a very typical artist issue!

Below: the photo I worked from.

Juried Show - Kunstforeningen Limfjorden

Kunstforeningen Limfjorden (The Art Fund Limfjorden) hosts a jured art exhibition every fall in Struer, only a short drive from my hometown of Lemvig.

I had work admitted back in 1998, 2001 and 2008.

This year I decided applied again, since I am in the area, and I was lucky enough to get one painting admitted in the show:)

The private view was this past Saturday, Oct. 8th. The exhibition is open until November 6th. Here's a few photos from the opening.

For more information:

http://www.limfjorden.com/efteraar.htm

A week of cake, memories, art and thoughts...

I took this picture last week. It looks identical to one I took in 1994!

Well, I am back from an extraordinary week at my old art school. In so many ways, it was what I expected, but then just a bit better. (I am thinking it could have gone both ways: It may as well have been a disappointment.) It was certainly a trip down memory lane, but at the same time, I brought back a lot of new, useful (and yet a bit confusing) mind material.

I was surprised how much there, is still the same. There are a few more houses, and a few extensions are build on to the school. The old printmaking room has changed into a Mac-filled graphics- and movie room... But the atmosphere, the pure sense of the place is EXACTLY the same as it was back then, 17 years ago. I couldn't help being happily, pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed my experience in this personal time machine. It was very sweet to see the old staff members, and be back on the island, with it’s sense of innocence, romance and good, old days. Tea and cake, brought to the various studios in little wood trolleys... Loved it!

Now, as back then, the school has a very contemporary and modern approach to art. It is essential to the place, and such a contrast to the beautiful nature and surroundings. It hit me now, as it did back then.

But also... on top of enjoying and taking in the place, I took a lot home with me as well. The course truly made me stop and think, and consider new ways and methods. I wasn’t sure how to prepare for the week, and (as somewhat expected) I didn’t need any of my preparation, I ended up working very differently to how I normally do. As I’d hoped, the teacher was great. Very good at understanding where I came from, and good at giving me some ideas on how to grow, and move on from there. I didn’t finish my painting during the entire week. Which I took as a sign of something moving, happening. I am still working on it, and I am hoping to return later to this blog, with the painting and the journey of it. (And believe me, it has been a journey!)

Great teacher, sweet fellow students, wonderful food, fantastic weather and new knowledge. What’s not to love?!

Going Back In Time

One of my photos of the school from back in 1994.

Today and yesterday I have been packing. Yesterday mainly mentally, today in a more practical sense. Tomorrow I am leaving for a week, for a class on an art school in the south of Denmark. More specifically, on the small island of Ærø. The course is on portraiture and figure painting, and I am curious to know what I will bring home from this week.

This school has a very special meaning to me, as I went there on a long course back in 1994. I haven't been back there since. I can't help thinking of the place as it was back then, in the mid nineties. I know perfectly well that it has changed, it must have - it's been 17 years... But I feel I remember every little nook of the place, the sense of the rooms, the views and the surrounding nature. I was really young then, I was a different person to the one I am right now. So I am excited to find out how the place will feel now. And then, naturally, I am really excited about this course, on many levels. To meet the teacher, the new people and the old staff from back then (yep, I've been told the kitchen ladies and the secretary are still the same good, old people:)

What exactly I am hoping and expecting to take home with me is hard to say. Actually, I really don't know. I am mainly seeking general and broad inspiration and fresh mental air. And then I hope to get a few tips, new ideas and ways. If I am lucky, perhaps my work can be moved in some way, and aimed in slightly new direction. I've packed all my paints in a (fairly heavy) suitcase, and have brought a few brand new canvases in a bag. It is hard to come prepared when you don't now what to expect. But I've tried to come as prepared as possible. I sense that the course will be quite individual, and that suits me perfectly.

Ærø is (to put it mildly) a bit out of the way: train, bus, ferry, hours... Not quite as bad as going to Guam, but it feels like it on a tiny level, sitting here the day before. Travel fever and high expectations.

Link to the school's website:

http://www.kunstaeroe.dk/

Well... once again - a pet portrait! Actually even two of them. This is Sveske and Vanilla, my first two cairn terriers. And mother and daughter as well.

Their owner gave me some ideas as to what she'd like, and this is the result. I always really enjoy the part of talking to the owner and gather all the information about the pet - all the little goofy anecdotes. Those are what make me able to paint a personal portrait, which (hopefully) fit both the owner and the animal.

In these paintings, I particularly like the fact that one is a head shot, and the other full figure.

I used rawhide in the background of Sveske’s portrait ( a big hit with her!) and on Vanillas portrait, I used images of the actual sandal that she loves to chew.

I was very excited to send them of to the owner, who was very pleased with the result:)