This is my tuesday morning portrait class.
This week we were working with the grisaille layer of the portrait
- the layer where we work up the values of the face
using just paine's grey and white.

Next week we'll start painting with the full palette,
using all the colors of the color wheel.
That's when it starts to look like something.

The concentrated ambiance 
of people deeply focused,
is something quite special. 

Afterwards one feels tired but so welcomely recreated!

Planning and preparing my workshop in plain air painting at Tangen farm these days.
This old place is full of charming remnants of the past
and there are motives literally everywhere!

A huge part of learning how to paint is about finding your subjects
- what appeals to you so much that you will dedicate quite a bit of your time
to make art of it.
So one part of a workshop like this
is about opening your eyes to the not-so-obvious beauty of life
and accessing your heart 
to find out
what really moves you.

I'm looking so much forward to these days at Tangen! 

My daughter Erle is my favorite model.
From she was a wee little baby 
I've photographed and drawn 
and painted her.

She's not always so happy
with me looking at her as a motive,
but she's normally very patient and cooperative
when I say "Hold it right there!"
and run for my camera.

Thank you my sweet! 

Today was another fine day of summer:
watercolor sketching,
roses,
coffee 
and a screen printed, black & white table cloth.

Who could ask for more??

As an artist,
for me
summer holiday is no good reason to relax.
Because I love to work. 
It's simply what I like the most in this world.
So when the motive above appeared 
I immediately photographed it 
and started to think
how I'll use it:
will I make a watercolor 
or a screen print 
or an oil painting
or a pencil drawing
of this?

Time will tell!

My favorite place to be
on a rainy day like today
(or any day, really!)
is in bed
with plenty of work,
good books
and,
of course,
coffe.

Definitely today's moment of bliss! 

I love this way of working:
to let myself be engaged in something in the world
and then recreate the impression of it
on paper.
Without any thoughts about how it will be used.
If it will be used at all. 

It's simply the best way for me to spend time
and enjoy life.

This is another screen print
from my "Botany" series; 
it's called "Clematis".
.
I have always worked very hard 
to make an object appear as 3-dimetional in drawing and painting.
Now I really enjoy the flatness of the screen printed forms,
because it is new to me
and therefor challenging.
I love this kind of challenge
- to have to make an effort
and learn to think in a new way. 

Another of my new screen prints.
It hasn't got a title yet.
I'm thinking about giving it another layer
with a text printed on top
- maybe in brilliant pink.
What do you think?

These little watercolor sketches 
give me so much pleasure.

I'm not quite sure what I'll use them for,
if I'll use them at all in fact.
They're not made as artwork for an exhibition 
or anything like that.
I make them because I want to,
because they give me pleasure. 
Simple as that.

Making plans for future prints.

Can't wait to keep on working with more screen prints
My mind is working day and night with new ideas
and, 
after some time of restructuring, 
suddenly I see the world with screen-print-eyes 
- possible motives everywhere!

I love painting these unpretentious sketches 
which are not intended to end up as art work
but give me infinite pleasure 
in the making.

I find so much joy in the natural world
and recreating parts of it on paper, 
like this,
sort of prolongs the enjoyment 
for me. 
It feels like in a way I'm holding fast something good,
without any other intention than that.
No plans to exhibit or sell.
I do it simply because it feels good. 

Inspiration is everywhere - have a creative day!

Yesterday was a new day in the printing studio of Pål Gunnæs. 

I'm slowly getting the hang of the screen printing process, and I'm loving it more every day. The more I work with a new medium, the more I understand it and see it's possibilities and limitations. 

I find it interesting that I like the limitations of a new medium as much as I like the possibilities. In the case of screen printing I love the fact that I can't use the approaches I normally use to build volume in an artwork - the screen print does not invite to use various values and to blend transitions. This makes the process challenging to me, I have to work really hard to make my brain adapt to these new limitations and it makes the process so much fun!  

Yesterday I made two new prints and I'm happy with both of them. The botanical is printed in two different colors - the blueish grey on the photo above and black - and the top photo is also printed in two colors. It's a very appealing aspect of screen print that you can vary the colors as much as you choose. 

I like gold.
It's a bit tacky, I know
but I can't help myself
- I simply like gold!

So this is my tree of life in gold foil.
I had this image in my mind
and something special I mean to use it for,
so I tried it out.


And I like it! 

Last friday I had another go at screen printing at the printer in the forest,
this beautiful, peaceful spot on earth
where aesthetic surroundings and professional skill
blend into a perfect mix 
- oh joy!

My first botanical print in the making! 

Art student Erle was home from school this friday and tagged along.
She did not regret!

I had been looking forward to last week's appointment with the artist and printer Pål Gunnæs for a long time. My friend and I contacted him back in january because we wanted to learn how to screen print and we thought maybe Pål could help us, but it took until may before we found a date that suited us all. 

I had not been to Pål's studio in the forest before and was totally blown away by the beauty of the place. 

We started with a cyanotype print of an old, Norwegian broche, blew it up and printed it on transparent film.

This film was then transferred  to the silk screen.

And this was the result of last week's printing. 

We're going back to learn more this week - I can't wait!

This is a portrait in the making by one of my clever tuesday morning students; Veslemøy Jansen.