Holy Smoke!

Holy Smoke 21" x 17"/ 53 x 43 cm

I recently finished this painting, Holy Smoke. It is actually a motif/idea I have worked on before, a couple of times. I felt a need to rework the image, chance the color scheme, as well as the way the figure was placed.

The inspiration for this painting, originally came from a picture in an old LIFE magazine I bought in Tacoma, WA, years back. Something makes me return to this photo of a very stylish, beautiful and relaxed woman, enjoying a smoke outside.

I added the wings and the play on words - and became quite taken by the image.

I guess some people paint the same hill, tree or lake multiple times. I suppose my thing is that I keep painting a smoking angel...

On the left: the old news paper picture of the smoking woman, who were to become an angel!

Gorm's Portrait

My newest pet portrait - a very cute little Gorm in a Royal Copenhagen cup.

A little while back, I got an email with a request for a pet portrait, in time as a Christmas present. At the time I was still on Guam, but I knew I would be in Denmark early enough to get the painting done, and it worked out quite well. I was exited to get started, and throughout

the process, I kept in contact with the customer, via photos and sketches through emails.

I actually met the customer a few years ago, when I visited the Danish magazine "Vi Med Hund". Back then she saw a portrait I had made of Playdoh, in a similar style. She said she at some point may be interested in a pet portrait as a gift for her husband) and this fall she contacted me, and the timing couldn't be better. I would be in Denmark, so the postage ( which can be very expensive) wasn’t an issue. She wanted Gorm in a Royal

Copenhagen cup, and I asked her to do a “photo session” with Gorm, posing in ways, so I could create the illusion of him coming out of a cup. She took a ton of cute pictures, I picked one, and surrounded the figure with his pet names - a specific wish from the customer. As always I enjoyed making the portrait - and I like to stay in touch during the process. Now I just need to carefully pack it up, and get it sent off, so it can be ready to shine, under the tree on Dec. 24th.

I am very excited to hear what her husband will think of his gift...

The picture of Gorm I picked for the portrait.

Wallpaper that makes my heart sing...

Three examples of new wall paper. Very nice indeed!

I have talked about it before: wallpaper! It is a big part of the way I work. I like the texture of it, and I like it because it adds an extra dimension in the visual story I am trying to tell. So here we go again - yesterday I went into town, and stumbled upon a few very fine pieces of wall coverings. I was quite excited, and couldn't decide between them all, so I had too pick a few out, and ended up with 1 meter of seven different ones. Seven is a ucky number of mine. I love wall paper of the seventies, the bold and often ugly patterns work really well in small pieces, and in small doses. But I also adore the new, modern patterns. They are still bold, but the patterns and color combinations far more sophisticated. Often somewhat asian inspired, with a hint of metallic. Anyway - I could go on, but I just wanted to show a couple of examples from yesterday’s hunt...

A Customized Pet Portrait for Christmas?

This is the painting - or, rather the back of it. I promise to turn the canvas when the painting is done. For now, although I have started, I am still half way in the consideration stage, where I keep changing my mind, and changing it back...

As mentioned recently - I am back in my old room on the Danish West coast, settled in and ready to get started on some new work. I don’t know why it always takes me quite a while to start painting in new surroundings. Possibly because everything else has to be in place, before I have the focus and inner peace to get going. I must have found it, the peace and focus, because I have started my first little painting. A personal pet portrait, commissioned as a Christmas present. A few key words are: VERY cute little dachshund, silver, blue, lots of nick names and Royal Copenhagen...

A deadline can a very good and helpful thing, and in this case I think it helped me getting started right NOW, and not in a week. I love the process of making a painting, building it up in my mind, considering and debating... but sometimes actually getting to it can be a bit intimidating. But when I do, I love it! Why is that?

Well... the holidays are coming up - and so I wanted to give an idea for a present for the pet lover who already has EVERYTHING: a personal Customized Pet Portrait! With December just around the corner, I can’t make it in time, but I can indeed offer a gift certificate, and that way the pet owner can have a say in the finished piece...

On the right ☛ a few examples of Customized Pet Portraits I have made over the years. Various sizes are available. Please contact me for more information: petmepaintme@mac.com

Back In My Old Room

My new/ old room. A very different feel from the room I knew, in the 80's and 90's

Goodness - it has been for ever! Seems like a lot has happened since my last words, but that could mainly be in my mind! I have moved all the way from tropical Guam to a very wintery Denmark! It has taken me a while to get settled, to get out of suddenly-chance-location mode, and finding myself again, back here on the Danish West coast. In the very same house I grew up in...

This is now my living-, bed- and work room. Quite literally, half a world away from my tropical studio. It is my old room, the same one I had since I was a child. There is something magical about being back after so many years, and after having lived in so many places. The room looks, smells and feels very different. It is only because I know it is the very same place that, I can truly tell. The view is different too, and yet the same. The trees have grown a lot, and some are gone. During my first weeks, I have enjoyed the backdrop of orange and brown leaves, and a field full of cows, peacefully eating grass, with their mooing and chains as a nice, subtle soundtrack. Such a change from the jungle, palms, boonie dogs and papayas of Guam. I love the change of the seasons, and the view has already changes much more in a month, than my Guam view did within an entire year.

On a more boring/technical note - I’ve had all kinds of practical issues with my website and blog, the reason it has now changed address to http://collagepainter.blogspot.com/

I have spent a couple of intense afternoons in front of the fireplace, moving all my old blog texts to this new site. What will happen about my website is still up in the air. I am checking out options, thinking, considering the best way... Not quite sure yet. In the middle of the move from Guam my computer crashed, and so did the entrance to my old site. I can’t get back in. Like you wake up from a dream and you can’t get back in there. A little annoying, as I liked the way my site looked and worked, but on the other han

d, perhaps this is my big chance to reconsider new and fresh ways. So maybe it is for the better. We’ll soon find out...

Goodness - it has been for ever! Seems like a lot has happened since my last words, but that could mainly be in my mind! I have moved all the way from tropical Guam to a very wintery Denmark! It has taken me a while to get settled, to get out of suddenly-chance-location mode, and finding myself again, back here on the Danish West coast. In the very same house I grew up in...

The view of fall...

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.

Portrait of a Niece

This past weekend my niece Katrine had her first birthday. Unfortunately I wasn’t there to share a piece of birthday cake with her, but I wanted to give her a very personal gift.

My parents and my sister have kept me well up to date, by sending me photos of our new little family member. It is all thanks to them that, although I haven’t actually met her yet, the photos have given me a sense of having followed her after all, seen her grown and develop, as well as I got a good idea of her facial expressions.

My parents sent me this picture a while back, I loved it, because she has such an attitude in both face and body. So I cropped it, and started to work on a small portrait. I find babies really hard to portray - possibly since their faces are so unfinished and smooth.

But I was determined to do a solid attempt. I worked on it for a day - then left it around so I saw it all the time. That is really helpful, as you over time see what needs to be changed. This ended up as my finished result. I packed it up well, and mailed it all the way from the post office on Guam, to my parents on the Danish West coast...

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