ENGLISH
NEW LOCATION
On Thursdays you can meet me at Karlstad Art Gallery between 11 ang 6 o'clock. Here you may also pursue my art.
what more?
as though I am inside a flow!
Such good days I have had in my studio! Just as I got better and better at the craft, when I was writing my book, it now goes easier and easier for me to paint – because I have painted a lot.
In the passed couple of weeks I have persistently kept working in the same way as when I paint my commissioned portraits. And stroke by stroke the paintings have evolved into just about finished. Spending hours infront of the easel, day after day, has rewarded me with a desire to paint more. And that is the best thing!
Until recently I was ashamed of my unfinished paintings, that they were of quite poor quality as they were hanging there on the walls next to the perfect paintings by Helena Hjertquist (who shares my studio, but never is there). Now they do not need to feel ashamed any longer next to her work.
And before, I was just about paralyzed by solving the question of what motif to paint next. I am still not sure of what to paint as I finish this serie of paintings, but I am not worrying a bit about it – as though I am inside a flow!
What had made this flow possible?
- It was that I showed up.
- I had made a decision what to do (to - finally – finish my paintings), and now I had a task to fulfill. a task.
- It helped that I have been working in series.
- That I cleaned up my studio and had sorted out which paintings were worth to continue at all and which ones were not.
- I had been inspired also from having been teaching lately and also from having been talking to an artist working at the bottom floor.
The main change for me was KNOWING WHAT TO WORK ON on. It consisted both of four square paintings with my own motifs (photographs) from the House (my home away from here) – and of some rectangular paintings of black and white portraits of some people that had drawn my attention.
I really, really hope I have learned something.
Sometimes I paint. Sometimes I don´t
As I can see, (yes I write I, because I believe I am the sole person to read my blog) I have not written many notes from my art school in the past. That is a sad thing. The reason is that I have not been able to paint. And there has been a lack of joy, I am afraid.
Good Morning!
By the way, I am excited this year to watch Karin Törnblom, who started painting this year ...
A SANCTURARY
Artist Andrew Wyeth
IT WAS QUITE A FEELING ...
the other day as I walked to my artschool (this old schoolhouse in which I create art) for the first time of the semester ...
I was carrying a bag on my back that I had bought five years ago as we first moved here to Järna. I had bought it in order to carry my food to my job in Stockholm.
Then, in February, when I had said "goodbye" to that job, I changed the usage of the bag into a "school bag". I wrote on it, with big letters: www.artschool.com. Doing so, was both a feeling of victory and of tremendous freedom!
That morning, as I walked to my artschool, in the late August, the air was crispy, just as it is when schools begin here in Sweden — and I felt like I was a little schoolgirl again. Thrilled.
PORTRÄTTMÅLARE
(”Porträttmålare” is Swedish for”portraitist”.)
I would like to share with you a huge change in my life.
We all have to earn our living somehow. We cannot escape from that, unless someone is kind to pay for your life, as well as for their own.
One evening in 2010 I looked at pay-jobs. I did it more for fun, than because I really thought I needed one. I typed in “artist”. And I got a hit. No, it wasn’t a work as an artist. But as a “helper”. And I thought that working as a helper could be quite all right, as long as we got along.
So, I was called for an interview – the only thought in my head, as I walked there, was: “Let the working hours be concentrated – don’t let them be spread out!”
My prayer was heard, and from then on, once a week, I was to work for 15 hours. And once every third weekend for 14 hours. I did so – for close to nine years. Until February this year.
THE BIG CHANGE I endure. And I stay at places. But it is an artist I am, not a professional helper (I was never enough). So, I said thank you and goodbye in the beginning of this year. The reason I dared to quit, was another job close to where I live, where I thought I also could work. Where there also were good working hours, (which was the reason I had stayed for so long at the other place). I would not have dared to quit if it wasn’t for another paid job (probably, I would, if I had been alone without a child. But so wasn't the case).
But for some reason – don’t ask me why – I never started working at this new job, despite of several steps of preparation for it. First I was confused. What now!!?? What happened??!! Then ... I started focusing on my commissions.
FOCUS Now I could focus so much better on what I was to do. I could now get up at the same time every morning and go to bed at the same time every night of the week – which seems to suit me perfectly. Now I did not have to feel sad or uncomfortable anymore, for not doing what I was good at.
Having had that income had been making me “money-lazy”, as I would not have to force myself to making money on doing my own things. So I didn’t make any money on doing my own things.
PORTRAITIST I am now the "porträttmålare" that I’ve always been. And a happy one! Some weeks ago, as I rode to my studio on my red bike, it hit me how fortunate I was to have been able to develop this gift and knowledge. How fortunate I was that I knew how to paint deans of cathedrals, governors, headmasters and so on. Because I really can! I never reflected on it this with gratitude before. Now I did – and I smiled!
BRINGING BALANCE Now it’s my time to practice balance in my life. There have been periods I have desired to also paint other things than portraits, of course. And there have been times I have been tired and fed up with painting portraits! There wasn’t enough energy in me though for doing all the things; attending to my pay-job AND work on my commissions. AND paint other things AND have leisure time.
But now it has all changed! My job as a portraitist is now being my paid job and painting other things is also my job now. I need to work on both, in order to flourish as an artist, in order not to get bored. In order to develop! But I am not forcing myself to paint the free paintings. Yes, I have to do it! But even though I have to, I make sure I am being generous and kind to myself as well. I am putting no pressure on me what so ever, to achieve anything great in my free painting. Nor do I put the pressure on me that I have to enjoy it all the time! But still, I have to do it – I have to paint in a free mode beside doing the portraiture. And ... in the same time I am being free. Completely free!
And sooner or later, something lovely may appear before my eyes on my easel. That is very possible. – In its´ own pace. So I am aware now of the necessity of developing a balance between doing portraiture and doing free painting, in order for my joy to last – and grow.
LIFE My life has been quite a confused soup of lots of things. I have my son. I have the love for my House. The photography. The making of books. The singing. AND all the etceteras ...
Now – as I enter my studio, I have a wonderful job to attend to. And I have a life outside of the studio, which I can fill with all those other things. Of projects, amusements, love and rest. It is great to now be able to focus in my studio totally on the painting and not on other projects. On my free time – I can focus on all those other things ...
FREE I am so happy to be free! That made it possible for me going home to my House for three whole weeks!!! (My man and son came there too, for the middle of the weeks.) Not attending to my job as a “helper”, also makes it easier to finish my book project. I will do it with help of Josefin Lennartsson, my friend and fellow self-employed, as we will meet regularly and help one another. And this will also happen with the help of the best thing I have come across on the Internet - the 100 days goal!
NOT A SCHOOL DAY
Today 
TODAY IS SATURDAY. Most people long for the weekends. I don’t know if I would say I wished I did that too. Maybe. But I prefer the days when I work. When I get things done.
What I do in this moment is getting some sunlight and – if I care to listen – enjoy some of the birds singing around me. This is important too.
This morning I looked at some old articles in newspapers about things I’ve done. It is a long time now since anyone wrote about what I do. Seven years to be precise. That was from when Annas and my book was being released.
In the eighties, newspapes wrote ones in a while about artexhibitions that I would have together with my mother, or alone. In the nineties, newspapers wrote about me sailing with my husband at the time. And towards the nineties some was written about my art and exhibitions. And then came year 2000. It was from then and oneward these articles I read this morning were published ...
It is tricky when I do the portraits, because they are not supposed to be seen until they have become official. So in this way it is not so easy to write about me now. Or is it because for the passed nine years I have worked 50% with another job that did not force me to take my art as seriously as it deserved?
Life goes on. Year after year fly by. And you know what? I can get so frustrated when I feel I do not use my time in a wise way.
Now I will pray a little. That, ateast I know is a good way to use my time.
THE BEST IDEA!
I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO PAINT SOMETHING INTERESTING. Interesting color combinations, composition, motive, structure, size. It nearly drove me crazy trying to think something interesting up! I was frustrated.
Then I got the BEST idea. I would paint myself a painting that I liked. Something for the wall in my own house. Now, that was another story. THAT was easy! Oh, how relieved and how happy I was to come up with that simple idea!
I enjoy painting this man with wings with his dog with wings. It is still not ready. But it is getting there. I am a kind of a happy painter now!
THE JOY AND THE PLAYFULNESS
WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, I would sing and sing and sing. Then I begun taking violin lessons and played for many years, but never quite enjoyed it. But as I got a little older, I started taking singing lessons instead. That was SO much fun. I loved every second of it!
When I used to gather with others around a piano to sing, I was always the one to endure for the longest time. For me, there is so much joy in music! (Not so much in listening as in participating). Yes, I would be singing ALL the time. Then ... the singing stoped. (That is another story).
When my man (who is a musician) was a little boy – his mother tells – he would suddenly come in after being out playing with the other children. He would jump up the table with his little harmonica saying he had to come in “because he got such an urge for playing!”. And he would play! That was then. And that was good. That little boy found joy in the music!
My man is a composer, a pianist and percussionist and makes the most beautiful music!
It would have been so good if he and I sung/played together. It would have been heavenly! But we do not. He does not do music for fun. We don’t gather in our house around music for the joy of it. The JOY OF IT...
When I was a little girl I would enjoy sitting drawing. I did it a lot. I do not do that now, although my now 83 years old mother keeps encouraging me to. She does so, because SHE still plays with pens, charcoals lines, colors, paper. Everyday. As much as she can. That is her life. She still finds joy in it like a child.
You know what happened the other day? I got an urge for drawing! Which I ignored. The following morning I did again. (This time I caught a pencil and some paper).
And I realized that I am with my art practice like my man is with his music – I do not do it just for the fun of it. This was a (sad) epiphany!
But I have found so much more joy lately in my painting, for which I am so utterly grateful! I will write more about that one of these days.
Now I know that what I have to do, is reclaiming that playfulness. I must practice PLAYFULNESS along side with my job as a happy painter! Because, it is impossible to JUST and only WORK with art.
Soon to be painted!
I put myself infront of the camera! This is not a thing I would normally do. (I feel brave!) I am talking about a painting I soon will be making.
I AM DOING IT AGAIN!
It's been years since I last said YES to a commission. Not that people ask me every day. No, but it happens. And I have been saying "no". But this time I felt fine about it. It was time. I like the idea of working with a deadline that someone but me, has put on me.
I started as usual, by meeting the person I am to paint and taking a bunch of relaxed pictures of her. Then I played with the pictures in Photoshop, deciding on the composition and on the background for the portrait.
One of the more stressful moments that I used to have when painting portraits, were when I thought I had come a long way, but still did not know how to paint the background. It is so, so important for the picture as a whole! And truth is, (atleast for me) painting a big, solid surface is not as easy as one may believe. Quite the contrary. This time, and last time (about four years ago) I stared instead by painting the background — and then I continued with the rest. It seems like a good strategy. So, dear friend, please wish me luck as I paint this portrait!
WHAT IS KEEPING ME BUSY IN LIFE
My mission is to nourish our souls through art. This is wether it is being my own art or someone else’s.
Now there are numbers of definitions of what art is, you say. I am not going to bother figuring out what everybody else is thinking here, but briefly I will evolve my own understanding and experience of art.
For me art is deeply connected with beauty. But – though it may sound strange – the beauty is not mainly what we see; beauty is about harmony and love! It is a feast for the eyes, offering a sanctuary for our souls in a busy world.
Art is timeless. The experience of art may even, when it reaches its’ peak, connect us with our Creator.
Do you know Alexander Calder?
He made a little cirkus in a suitcase... Now, lean back, make your self comfortable and enjoy the beautiful cirkus by Calder for eighteen minutes!
HOW NICE THINGS YOU DO!
"How nice things you do. I like your expression - as if it was a part of me. It would be nice to meet again. Hugs! ".
A friend wrote me this today after seeing my paintings - and I replied:
"How happy you make me! I wished it was always easy to paint. That I always wanted something. That I always knew what to do! It is a matter of discipline, listening inward, and also of a certain amount of planning, I think. Now I'm in my studio painting again... and I am thinking about a new series of BIG paintings I am to start. What shall I be painting? All I know is how they should feel. Not how they should look. You are welcome here (to Järna) and visit! A hug to you!"
At about the same time, Samuel wrote me after seeing my art on facebook:
"I am liking your page, and so you´ll get that support that I am able to give you through Internet. Also, I´ld like to add that you are brilliantly good".
And I answered him almost with the same words that I had answered my friend a little earlier. Samuel wrote me back:
"The feeling is always true - but not the intellect; the conscious level. Therefore, I quite often exercise in allowing the subconscious to flow through, by being relaxed in my body and for a while pushing aside everything that one believe to be "right" or ”wrong”. It is a laborious work, especially at the beginning... but with time you get better and better - and as a result of that, also the art will become more true, more in correlation with your soul and heart. Good luck, Olga!"
And exactly, so is it! Like Samuel says.
NOURISH THY SOUL WITH ART
These paintings by Kerri Rosenthal makes me feel alive and playful. And joyful! How do they make you feel? They are pure nutrition for my soul. Oh yes! My soul needs desperately to be fed and nourished just as well – or if not even more – as my body.You know, when I have been around visiting little art exhibitions here and there, I have often experienced the total opposite (it is sad); that the art has drained me. Have you ever had that feeling after looking at pictures hung on walls in frames? But the oposite is the best thing! To be filled up with art or by beauty is so healing and so nourishing!
And that is exactly the sensation that Kerris art gives me! (thank you Kerri!). Kerri has no formal training in fine art. (I love her story!) As a lover of colors and with a succesful passed in design, she just started to paint for her own walls. And for her friends!
I think that more of us should be doing just that; take Kerri as an example, and paint for our own walls and for our friends!
I made a miniature painting course which may help kickstarting your friendship with brushes and paint! Below is the link!
Click here!
THIS DAY IS A GOOD DAY
So we all know by now that a real artist shouldn’t wait for inspiration. A real artist shows up. She goes to her studio and she paints wether Inspiration is there or not.
But I must admit that I have really, really been longing for some sort of flow in my painting. I believe that every artist should do her investigations as what makes the painting flow.
Maybe one should think of ideas and collect ideas in daily life when one is out of the studio? Maybe one HAVE TO become close friend with the habit of using a sketchbook? When ideas starts coming they usually bring more ideas along with them!
Yes, I will go home and do some playful sketching after finishing up my cup of tea!
Just want to say that today was an uplifting painting day with progress! I love those days of painting when I leave my studio with a strong desire of getting back soon!