An axe through the painting

Sometimes you want to take an axe and crush your work. In an instant fury can hit you (me) and the impulse could lead to such drastic self criticism… but it has been years since I did stuff like that. Today I felt like doing it, then took a break and a deep breath and just pushed on. First a quick layer of some pinkish color.

After hours of work (and frustration) this is where it is now. I can’t come to terms with it. But with some afterthought, maybe it looks like a doll head. The creator is building a little doll…

I continued the work on the outside painting for the Easter show at my studio.

I won’t do too much more on this one, as it is only going to be seen at quite a long distance. Maybe a protective coat of boat varnish.

I also prepared and sent Illustrator files to the people who will cut my sculpture in corten steel. Hope to have the real thing installed by Easter time!

Preparations for the Easter show, and more problems to solve

I have had a very productive day. A few things I have been working on:

The painting above is haunting me! I have painted this faces so many times, but this time it seems to be more difficult than ever before. But I will keep working on it until I am pleased. Just takes patience because the paint has to dry, otherwise it just gets messy and grey.
The photo below was taken a few years ago. I had a large painting outdoors for a long time. The painting was made in 2007, I think. For a number of years I stored it and last week I checked it and got an idea…

I decided to paint the whole thing black! And it looked pretty cool!

However, if it is to be seen from the road during Easter, the letters need to be painted and something else is needed… so this is what I have done so far:

My new color: black

Lots of black now. Have to take it back one step to be able to forward… Black is not a color in a technical sense, but I nevertheless use it to paint with, ha ha.

I covered the face with bone black (bone char) and then wiped most of it off. Some of the paint from a few days ago was not dry, so it smeared out a bit. Now I’ll let this dry until tomorrow.

Solving problems

I guess the process of painting is like solving problems…

Veeeryyy slooow prooogresssss

I have been swamped with work at the computer, have not have time to paint. Finally a few hours of “painful bliss” at the easel.

New Art Book… and painting again

I have basically been staring into the computer for several days. Working on a book for my old colleagues at Skaltek, but also on a new art book for me, Facing Plywood No. 2. The one I made in the fall of 2010 is almost gone and I have made so much new stuff since then, so now it is finally time for the next book. I expect to be done with it during next week and then the printers will need a few weeks. By Easter it will be available here at Villa Holsby.

Today I started a new piece, kind of a crazy one. The humble beginning: