Ai Weiwei has been released

Good news, Ai Weiwei has been released. Read the article in New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/world/asia/23artist.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

More news from the bathroom

I am starting to believe I will be able to go back to the studio soon again. The renovation of the bathroom is  coming along quite fine.

Peter from Magnusson & Bäckstrand is helping me with safe plumbing. Great guy!

Benjamin from Höganäs Kakel & Golv makes sure the water will always flow into the drain. I am learning a lot from these guys!

Now we are almost ready to start with the tiles…

Happy bricklayer

Today I have been trying out as bricklayer. Pretty tricky since I had to hide the tubing for the shower and make room for the thermostat unit that is supposed to be built into the wall. The upper square is to be a shelf for shampoo bottles, etc. One of the tilesetters used to be a professional bricklayer, so I had to make a decent job! I am quite happy with my work!

Bathroom progress

Not much of interest is happening in the studio right now. I am basically occupied with the bathroom renovation.

Mattias from Höganäs Golv & Kakel helped me fix the walls. Great job!

My great electrician Magnus Hult installed electric floor heating cables and then Benjamin and Mattias worked on the floor in preparation for the tiles.

I am working on the cabinet for the sink. I am building it out of 21 mm birch plywood and IKEA drawers. The way I have designed the cabinet makes it difficult, as all joints will be visible and a 1 mm mistake will be visible. But it is fun work. Easier than painting…

This and that

The sofa at Kafé Zolo turned out much better than I had hoped for.

After some very slow progress, at least visible, the bathroom at Villa Holsby is moving forward. Everything is ordered: shower walls, lights, tile, faucets, material for cabinets that I will build, sink, toilet, etc. The plumbing in the floor is done and I have been very fortunate with the help I am getting (plumber, electrician, tile setter, builder…). This time I am not doing so much of the actual work myself, but it still takes time to arrange everything, make plans and drawings and so on.

Doing something else for a change…

Today I have been working with the old couch at Kafé Zolo in Höganäs. We ordered new fabric and now I am doing upholstery. I am surprisingly pleased with the result sofar.

A new challenge

I have started a new piece. It looks tiny, but it is 24 x 120 cm…

Surfing in the studio

Let me make it very clear from the start: I am not a surfer! I have tried it (thought I could do it since I am a skier, have windsurfed and skateboarded as a teenager) and have been deeply humbled. The struggle to get out past the breaking waves made me exhausted. Then trying to catch a wave, almost always being too slow/too late. Then finding yourself in a big wave, looking down into the abyss, believing your last moment has come. Once I managed to stand up for about 7/10 of a second before being knocked down and tumbled around for what seemed like ages. But I have experienced the rush on a boogie board…

Working on this painting was a bit like the description above. I struggled, did not believe in it at all. I was working with dark thoughts going around my head. But then, this morning, all of a sudden something happened. It felt like I caught a wave and I believed I could do it. I wiped the brush strokes away from the face of the baby to make a feeling of smooth skin. I left the brush strokes on the face of the mother, added highlight and a touch of warmth (raw sienna).

The painting is photographed with daylight coming down from my ceiling lights, creating a glare in the space between mother and child. The size is 90×70 cm. What next?

Detail: there is still a lot of wood texture in the work. Even in the space between mother and child, where there is a lot of paint, there is a clear presence of wood structure, which you notice as you come close to the work.

Commissioned work

I am working on a piece of a mother and a baby. I am working from a black&white photo. It is always hard to paint profiles, maybe it is because there is no eye contact?

It is also very hard to work from a photo taken with a flash. At this stage the work looks almost scary. I don’t know if I will be able to do this…?

Commissioned work

I am working on a piece of a mother and a baby. I am working from a black&white photo. It is always hard to paint profiles, maybe it is because there is no eye contact?

It is also very hard to work from a photo taken with a flash. At this stage the work looks almost scary. I don’t know if I will be able to do this…?