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...

My Tropical Container

A little red van had crossed Denmark to bring me the small wood container. The box was packed among palm trees and geckos, and unpacked on a frozen, Danish January day...

Finally on Wednesday, my long lost container arrived from the tropics. Just before I took off from Guam (beginning of October), I was able to get a small, wood container full of art work (and other bits) sent to Denmark. It was supposed to arrive by mid December, but (obviously) something delayed the process... And it got delayed by about a month. But better late than never, and everything is in mint condition.

I felt that my own flight from Guam to Denmark took for EVER, but surely it is nothing compared to the journey of my small wood box. Plane, ship, waiting in ware houses around the world - I have no clue...

When I agreed to do the art show in the Kammergalleriet, I was expecting to be able to show some brand new art work. But when I realized that wasn’t going to happen I had to improvise. Luckily I already had some newer work I got shipped from NJ last summer - and from December to now, I painted a few new pieces, and managed to fill the gallery, luckily.

So, everything worked out well - I will participate in another local art show in February, and then I’ll have new pieces, so the two shows won't be quite the same. I suppose it all happened for a reason.

Oh, and more on the new show a little later...

Leaving Guam

A view of my Guam Studio. It has been the perfect work room, a lot of space huge, open windows and an amazing view.

After only a little over a year, we are now getting ready to leave our small tropical island. The plan was for us to stay here for three years, but suddenly we got word that my husband would be stationed elsewhere for 12 months. I decided to leave as well, moving back to Denmark to be around my family and friends. It has been a busy few months, getting ready for this suddenly move, mentally and practically. My work has been on hold, which is also why my blog has been so very quiet lately. But, hopefully, as I get settled into my Danish life, my work and blog will take off again...

The paintings I did while living on Guam - against the Jungle of our back yard.

Prints In the Gift Shop

Art prints and note cards are now availible in the Gift Shop at Andersen AFB

Art prints and note cards are now available for purchase in the Gift Shop at Andersen AFB. The prints come in two (matted) sizes, 11 x 14 and 8 x 10, and as a new feature, blank note cards are now available too.

The Gift Shop is located at Andersen Air Force Base, opening times are:

Tuesdays 10:00 - 14:00 and Thursdays 15:00 - 18:00

G.A.I.N (Guam Animals In Need)

Tomorrow GAIN (Guam Animals in Need) have an adoption event. In the past I have been involved with various pet rescue organizations in the United States, mainly by donating work for fundraisers. By coincidence I got in contact with the good people of GAIN. It is a shelter, caring for homeless and abused cats, rabbits and dogs. They are doing an amazing job, managing to get a lot of pets new homes, as well as educating youth about responsible pet care.

I have agreed to paint a mural for them at a later date, but for now, they have borrowed a few of my portraits of Playdoh (which were newly fix after a damaging move) to decorate the walls for theirAdoption Day this Saturday.

Hopefully the event will be a big success, and a lot of cats and dogs get to move in with a new family. For more information about GAIN, please visit their website:

http://guamanimalsinneed.blogspot.com/

New Prints Available

This week I took 11 new art prints down to The Chamorro Village. They come in two (matted) sizes, 11 x 14 and 8 x 10, and are available for purchase at the Guam Gallery Of Art

Art Prints

Recently I have started making a few prints of my work, matted and framed. It is not something I have ever even thought of doing before, but Filamore Alcon at the Guam Gallery of Art mainly sells prints, and he suggested I should look into it. It is still a project and a thought in the making, but I like the idea. Especially since I was able to get great quality prints made - it has GOT to be good quality. So far a few prints are available in the Guam Gallery of Art, but in the near future they should also be available at the Gift Shop at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Island Time

My husband and I went to the Infusion Cafe recently, and came across the new issue of Island Time, a quarterly magazine about life on Guam - sport, entertaining and dining.

I flipped through it, while enjoying my tea and looking out on Tumon Bay. It had an ad montage over a few pages, presenting foods at different restaurants. On page 32 my eyes fell on the ad for “Sugar and Spice”, the great restaurant I currently show my work - and the picture was obviously taken after I hung my art on the wall. Pretty fun to have my work (kind of) featured in a Guam tourist magazine...

The Perfect Guam Quote

There are a lot of quotes out there, and once in a while you come across one that sums up your life, your situation, or both. I usually don’t look for quotes, but I do wonder if I was meant to stumble upon this one:

“Do what you can,

With what you have,

Where you are”

To me, that is the perfect quote for Guam Living (and probably for living in a lot of other quiet places). Here you are left to your own devices in many respects, and it is up to you to get the best out of it. NJ is busy, busy, busy... On top of that we had NYC around the corner: entertainment and activity was (almost literally) thrown in our laps. The same was the case while living in Tacoma. Everything was at your fingertips, all you needed to do was to reach out and choose between the options and enjoy. Life on Guam takes more effort. You create your own life here, you look inside, and take a step back. This goes for life here in general, but also for art and painting. I no longer have NY’s Art Museums as my cornucopia of inspiration whenever I choose. And perhaps that is a healthy thing to try. It certainly affects the way I live, work and think. It is time for reflection...

On Guam you are surrounded by flowers year round. Exotic, colorful flowers. This photo is taken in our garden. Suddenly they have found their way into my mind and my work...

In the past I have never really been that interested in flowers in art! While still living in NJ I did make a couple of paintings before leaving that, contained flowers. I don’t know where they came from, but somehow they fitted in with the theme and feel of my work. I wonder if my mind was slowly trying to get used to the idea of living on Guam...? Here on this tropical island, you are surrounded by flowers year round: Easter, Christmas - midsummer. Makes very little different in the flower department! Nature is full of colors, often in the shape of flowers on the ground or bushes. Perhaps it is seeing all these stunning nuances and gentle shapes around me - maybe the view from my studio - or simply the heat? But whatever it is, I have gained an interest in the world of colorful exotic flowers in painting... And of course, when I realized this mind shift, the first artist I went to explore was Georgia O’keeffe. I now own a little art pocket book with one hundred of her flowers.

I was always aware my work changed with my surroundings. Never the less - I never really saw a flower chapter coming...

Georgia O’Keeffe has recently moved into my art library...

Cleaning out the Studio

Cleaning my studio was long overdue. It wasn’t dirty, nor messy really, just disorganized!

Ever since arriving in Guam, I have worked between my things, without having a true space for each item. We were so busy arranging the rest of the house that when I got to my studio, I just wanted to PAINT. But last week, I finally decided it was time to do just that: arrange my studio to make it work better on every level.

I took everything out and started over. I got rid of things I know I would never need again, and it felt good to see the get-rid-of pile growing, and all the extra space I didn’t even know I had.

Over time I have collected boxes and folders full of pictures, photos, cards etc. The hardest part was to sort through those. And actually, I must admit I gave up and kept most of them. I remember where and when I got most of them, and the story behind each card and image. And (my best excuse:) they don’t take up THAT much room!

Another nice addition to the studio is that I now finally have all my art books around me. That had been my plan all along, but until now they had lived on a shelf in the living room. I like them them upstairs, with everything else ART related!

By the end of the day I felt so good - the studio was clean and organized. And seemed much roomier. And best of all: I now actually know where everything is.

The Arrival of a new Art Book

”Painting People - figure painting today” by Charlotte Mullins

When I went to the base this morning, and checked my PO Box, I got a pleasant and very anticipated surprise: the ART BOOK I ordered on Amazon months ago (”Painting People - figure painting today” by Charlotte Mullins) had finally arrived!

Guam is in many ways a different world, so isolated and remote, and somehow it takes the mail months to get onto this island, and into my PO Box... But anyway - I got my book, and couldn’t wait to get home, make a cup of tea, put some great music on and open it... I still haven’t, I am trying to hold on to the excitement just a little bit longer...

A new art book on Guam is my closest substitute for an Art Museum. Since here’s no MoMA, Guggenheim, commercial galleries, or anything remotely close, this book will be my next art experience. The Internet is also invaluable, for inspiration, art news, brand new pieces of works, shows, etc., But there’s something extra special about a book. Better go make the tea, and put on the right kind of music...

Reworking an old painting

The old ‘Diva’... and the new one

Once I was being asked if I ever continued to work on painting after I considered it done, after showing it, perhaps even years later. I remember thinking that was a strange question - only because I had never even considered it. I feel that at some point the painting ‘closes’ and it is almost as if you can’t get into it again, even if you want to. But I also like the feeling of being done, and moving on, to new projects.

I made this painting ‘Diva’ a few years ago - about three, I think. I have showed it in a couple of exhibitions, and also used it in promotional material.

When we moved to Guam it was soon after hung over our bed, and I would look at it every night, before going to sleep. Suddenly I started seeing things in it that wasn’t right. The texture of the skin looked strangely see through, and the eyes were too wide open - all in all, I took it down and it went back into my studio.

I was not sure if this was a good idea or not, but a bit intrigued to get started. It took me only one afternoon - between other paintings - to come to a new result. A result I am very happy with. Maybe because it had been so long, it felt like a new face, a new painting.

And because I felt the painting was a different one all together, I decided to add it to the (generally) newer paintings I am showing at SUGAR & SPICE, here on Guam...

Sugar and Spice

A couple of weeks ago Kevin and I went to a little restaurant on a Saturday afternoon. I had heard of the place, but never visited. It was small and very cosy. The food was

really good, and the staff great.

The restaurant had an large empty wall, and I asked the manager if they ever showed art - he said he was very interested in seeing my work. So the next day we stopped by with a few originals. I was given total freedom to hang my work on the entire wall, so I went home, looking through my work - and found six available pieces, and also managed to finish a seventh painting, before hanging the show yesterday. A great start on the new year - and a great reason for getting back in the studio.

The restaurant’s name is

SUGAR & SPICE

and is located in the Star Building on Marine Drive (across from St. John's School)

in Upper Tumon, Guam.

Please call 671-647-7423 for more info on opening times etc.

The Guam Gallery of Art

“Visitor”

New small portrait, I made specifically for the show, “Orange Spondylus Night”,

in celebration of the Chamorro culture and in remembrance of the ancestors.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a meeting in the Guam Gallery of Art, in the Chamorro Village. It was a very memorable night, where I (as well as Moe, a friend of a friend) met the owner of the gallery, Filamore Palomo Alcon. Among many things, we talked about art, the gallery, Chamorro culture, and ways to promote art. Fil mentioned that by the end of October he was going to have a special event, an “Orange Spondylus Night”.

The Spondylus is an orange shellfish, and the central element for this celebration. Therefore the theme color is orange in every shape and form, and Fil invited me to bring a (orange inspired) piece of work for the show. I went home, thought of it, and decided to do a small portrait of a Scandinavian women, a visitor in the Guam culture. I still feel very new here, the culture is different to anything I have ever known, and I do feel like a visitor. So that was a suiting motif to me.

Yesterday I went to the Chemorro Village to bring the small piece, as well as my portfolio for display. Fil was excited about the event tomorrow night. We are planning to stop by - preferable wearing something orange, I was told!... Have to go through my closet, I don’t think that is the domineering color...

The Guam Gallery of Art in the Chamorro Village

The Art Of Finding Art Materials On Guam

On Monday, my husband and I drove South on Guam, to run some errands. At the same time I thought it would be interesting to check out the art supply stores on the Island. I have already started working in my new work space, and I noticed I was getting low on burned umbra, as well as light cadmium red. We stopped in at the first place I was told about, a fairly large arts and craft store. They had craft materials in abundance, yarn, scrap-booking, you name it... But the painting was less than impressive. I found one little lonely tube of lemon yellow, laying there alone in a sea of water mixable oils in all colors. I want acrylics only, and I left the store, crossing my fingers I would have more luck in the next place...

The next attempt was an office supply store(?). I was told that they did at times sell art materials as well. I quickly found the art section. Not much luck here either. They had gallons of children's‘ arts and crafts paint with and without glitter... Hmmmm. Still not exactly what I was after. The canvas section offered three small canvas boards, dangerously overpriced. That was it.

My enthusiasm was getting pretty low, as we stepped into the third shop, another office supply store. In my mind I was thinking I probably had to order online instead - always a hassle when it comes to these matters... But I was pleasantly surprised. This third store actually had a very nice art area. Quality art pads, charcoal, pastels and just about everything else you may need. I fund a shelf full of small acrylic paints only. I went a little overboard - almost emptied the section, thinking I may not be that lucky next time. So far been my experience here is that, with any item it is a hit or miss. The grocery store may have mangos one week - but the next you can only get pomegranates. So I filled up on acrylics in all the colors of the rainbow and went to pay. By the cash register I was told that I can in fact special order any art supply I need, and I was given the name of the person in charge. I went home happy and quite hopeful. And with a missing thought on my regular art store in NJ, “Pearl” - That was indeed a true cornucopia of art supplies... Guess I didn’t really appreciate until now. Had I thought ahead, I would probably have filled up before leaving.

But, maybe there’s still hope as I may be able to order supplies. I’ll start a list of things I need to continue my way of painting...

Guam at First Glance

A look at my new Guam studio. Still a lot of organizing to do before I am ready to start working. But I like it. A great room with lots of light and windows. The view is beautiful; looking over our backyard jungle, and the silhouette of palm trees against the pink and orange Guam evening sky. What’s not to love?!

It has been a crazy summer. I notice that my last blog was written back in April. Time has gone so fast - and so much has happened. Moving from NJ was exactly as stressful as those things are (and perhaps should be?) We sold the condo, moved into an Extended Stay - I went to Denmark for a few weeks, then back to NJ. Kevin and I then spent two weeks in South Dakota with his family, before we - finally - took the big anticipated step and moved to Guam. We had been excited for so long, but had no real frame of reference. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into - none of us had ever been on a tropical island before. After our share of diver’s ear and food poison, heavy jet lag and two weeks in a fancy hotel - we found our house. And a lovely one that is: big and cosy, in a quiet neighborhood, and with a tropical jungle of a garden.

The heat on Guam is extreme. It is a moist, uncomfortable heat, that it will take some time getting used to. So will all the geckos, poisonous frogs and big colorful spiders. Not to mention the thought that a brown tree snake can show up on your door step any day...

We are basically moved in at this point, and have begun to explore the island. I still haven’t had a chance to check out the art life on Guam, but I look forward to it, and I am excited to see what I find.

I am more than ready to start working again. And talking about work - above is a picture of my new studio, “a work in progress”. It is a perfect art room. And although I still have a lot of organizing to do before I am ready to actually start the painting part, I love it, and can’t wait to spend my days in there. It has been a long spring and summer since I did some work, and many ideas has developed in my mind during that time. I am curious what it will be like to work in there. My rooms, their views and atmospheres have always means a lot to me, as I spend hours in there. They become significant and (I feel) somehow influential to the work I produce. That’s why I do like to change the rooms once in a while. And believe me: this new Guam studio is a huge change from my little room in new Jersey, looking over an urban parking lot...

Studio On Hold

It has been a very long time since I wrote an entry. So much has happened that wasn’t really art related, and I was just too busy and too restless to accomplish anything artwise.

We knew we would be leaving NJ this summer, but not until mid-March did we know the actual destination. We were dreaming of moving to Europe, Germany perhaps - and I was so deep into my thoughts of being there, living somewhere in the heart of Europe that it hit me like a fist, when I was told we are in fact going to GUAM. It could not be further away, nor more different.

It took me some time (a good couple of weeks actually) to digest the news, I googled info about this truly tiny Island between Australia and Japan, and slowly I got used to the idea and began to look forward to our next assignment. But it took some time, some huge twists and turns of the imagination. In my mind’s eye, I now see palm trees, turquoise water, colorful drinks, (necessary) sun block and straw hats...

On top of this, we are selling our condo, and in order to present the place in the nicest way possible, I have severely cleaned up my studio - taken all unnecessary items out for it to appear larger and tidier. I like it clean and simplified, just waiting for activity and new stories to begin.

I know how much the environments has affected my work in the past - and I am curious to see what Guam will add, change or move. I feel my work is done in New Jersey - my mind and body feels far too uneasy to take up more projects - It will have to wait. So really, my studio is on hold...