Still Life No. 14

Another still life painting completed, also 20 x 56 cm. Oil on plywood.

Strange piece completed

The strange upside down painting I started a while ago is now complete with four images. It was hard to make and it is hard to study it, kind of mind boggling. The painting can be turned around and then it changes. Below two images of the same painting.

Another, larger still life

I am planning the studio tour at Easter in Sweden and need two somewhat larger still life paintings. This one is finished. I have not come up with titles for the still life paintings, but this one should be something like Vitamin C or the real deal?? 20 x 56 cm, oil on plywood.

A portrait of my dear Gunny

My beloved Gunny, a most amazing and wonderful mare, I have been so lucky… Oil on plywood, 48 x 48 cm. Quarter horse and registered paint; her father is Gunner (Colonels Smoking Gun), a famous reining horse that has been a sire for many, many successful reining horses. Every day is a joy to ride her and let her teach me stuff.

New, strange piece

Focus Left or Right (just turn the painting around), oil on birch plywood, 48 x 48 cm. The piece can be hung either way or you can just turn half of your body around to look at it upside down… very weird how the eyes shift direction. I have certainly never done anything quite like this before.

And the last small still life (for now)

This is the last one in the series of twelve still life paintings I have done on plywood.

Purple earbuds now red!

It’s odd, sometimes there are elements of my work that just does not feel right, like the color of the earbuds. Now they are red and I am happier. The Epiphany, oil on birch plywood.

One more little still life painting

Number 11 of twelve pieces painted.

How do you define greatness?

Last night I watched Bruce Springsteen on Broadway and I was blown away by how great he is and I was wondering why he became so successful and not someone like Nils Lofgren, for example? I bought Nils Lofgren’s album I came To Dance in the late seventies and loved it. Then I was offered a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen live in Stockholm in the early summer of 1981; I was not a Springsteen fan and for a while during the concert I was wondering when we could go home. But after an hour or so something changed and after a few hours we were all hoarse and had swollen hands from clapping and singing and having a great time. A truly amazing concert. Today Bruce is a super rich rock icon while not many people know who Nils Lofgren is, except a member of the E Street Band.
How did Bruce Springsteen get so great? Now he is almost 70 and he has probably not done a lot else than writing and playing music for close to 60 years. It is a mystery how some people are able to do so much and give so much, touch people and influence them. Still, I understand he has struggled with depression… maybe that is part of why he is so great? It takes suffering to give. It comes with a price. If you are willing to pay that price, you may become great. And then there are millions who suffer without being able to give.
I answered the call to the Santa Fe magazine THE and entered my application to be one of twelve selected to be featured in the magazine. 453 New Mexico artists applied. I was not selected among the twelve. Does it matter? Yes… and No. I don’t care, I will just continue to work on my art. And maybe I will be more true to my heart and do what I feel is important, regardless what the “experts” and the audience thinks or wants. So here I am in the studio on a Saturday evening, just before Christmas, and I am working, pushing on, doing what I love and need to do.

And here is another small still life painting.

Purple ear buds

I wonder what I shall call this painting?