A smack in the face

Does an artwork need to have a name? Some say no. But, I feel this piece is a smack in the face.

It is going to be a challenge to take a proper photo with good lighting. I may have to wait until the spring or a day when there is really good daylight. This is the best I can do right now. I have added a section of the painting below, so you can see the wood grain. The pice is made of four sections, each 1 x 1,6 m, which makes it easy to dismantle the work and move it.

Having fun

It has been a long time since I had so much fun painting. It’s very liberating to work with large brushes and paint flying and dripping. No expectations. Just being free to experiment. Great fun!It looks silly like this. But it is an enormous face. It shocks you when you walk into the studio, it actually smacks you right in the face… A smack in the face… good name?

Large format

I have started a crazy project. What for? Don’t know… The total size is 2 x 3,2 meters.

Die Susanne scheint

Finally I can show a project I worked on recently.

A friend in Arild asked me to make a painting of his wife as a birthday present.
He sent me a bunch of holiday photos, most of them taken with flash, which eliminates all nice shadows. I was able to use one photo and then I went to work…

It was very difficult and I was not happy for a long time. I built up the painting with several layers, I scraped, sanded, and played around. Finally I painted the sides in gold and added two layers of varnish on the entire painting.

Last Saturday the family came to look at it and pick it up. They were all pleased and happy with my work. And I was relieved.

I am in love

Well, I am not talking about myself, but the title of my latest work. I have painted the sides cadmium red, as well as the red part of the shirt. The title is “I am in love”. The background has two layers of varnish, which is not visible in this light, but makes a nice impression.

You almost feel like he is staring right through you, when you are looking straight into his face at a close distance.

What is time?

Today I had a visit in the studio. It was the photographer Jenny Lexander who took a ton of photos of me for a presentation. She told about a homeless guy in Paris who had asked her “what is time?” Did he just want to know what time it was or was it a more philosophical question? She ended up sharing some cheese with him at the bank of the Seine and spending two hours talking about time and other topics.

While she took photos and told about this, I was painting. It was a little hard to focus, but after she left I spent a few hours on my work

A detail below.

The Beginning is not The End

Ok, now I could go ahead with the next step…

I have sprayed orange, bronze and a clear coat.

A smaller version below.

Slow drying paint…

While the titanium white paint is SLOWLY drying, I have started on several new works.

One is a painting based on a photo of an old friend. The painting is 80×80 cm. See the process below…

Next step? Maybe some sanding, some varnish, some zink white, something else???

Working, but nothing to show

I have decided I am not done with my large painting. I am waiting for the paint to dry, titanium white in a thick layers is slow to dry. When it is dry (hopefully tomorrow) I will sand the surface a bit and then add one or two layers of varnish, and then… it is going to be a surprise. All I am telling is: Ed Rusha.

In the meantime I am preparing for several other paintings. I also came up with an idea for a very large painting, 2,4 x 12 meters! The idea is to have it outside and have it ready by Easter next year. I have a good idea about what to paint, More about that later…

Working, but nothing to show

I have decided I am not done with my large painting. I am waiting for the paint to dry, titanium white in a thick layers is slow to dry. When it is dry (hopefully tomorrow) I will sand the surface a bit and then add one or two layers of varnish, and then… it is going to be a surprise. All I am telling is: Ed Rusha.

In the meantime I am preparing for several other paintings. I also came up with an idea for a very large painting, 2,4 x 12 meters! The idea is to have it outside and have it ready by Easter next year. I have a good idea about what to paint, More about that later…