Freedom to Speak & Freedom Not to Listen

I have had another intense and focused day. Mostly cloudy, windy and a bit cold, it has felt like being in the Faroe Islands. But I have enjoyed my day. Have had several nice talks with passers by. people are surprisingly positive! I am thinking of naming the work Freedom to Speak & Freedom Not to Listen. (Someone famous has defined democracy like this. I forget who.)

No spray paint, just old fashioned oil paints, a lot of linseed oil and brushes.

I will let the painting rest for five days. I will be back on Tuesday. What will I see then?

Is this what you call a landscape painting?

A long time ago there used to be a train track here. Now it is a gravel road for walkers and bikers.

If you look closely there are many interesting things happening long after I have worked with my brush.

A long and good day

Today I was able to work all day. The weather was windy, but good. I have used about five liters of linseed oil today. Pictures from this morning until evening.

Around eight this evening I felt exhausted and had to give up. There was still plenty of light and I could have painted a few more hours if I had had the strength, but it is quite physical to paint such large format and being concentrated for so many hours wears you out in the end. I will be back tomorrow.

Tags, bad weather & Ewerdt Hilgemann

The weather has stopped me from painting for a few days. Right now very strong winds are approaching and more rain. I inspected the “wall” today and it is still standing and a few additions have been made, which could be expected.

I seriously hope there will be more artistic contributions later.

Fult means ugly in Swedish. Somebody is not happy. Just wait. Tomorrow the weather will probably allow me to paint again, if the plywood wall makes it in near gale winds this afternoon…

More bad weather approaching.

Yesterday I witnessed an implosion of an art piece made by the German / Dutch artist Ewerdt Hilgemann. More of his works can currently be seen at Galleri Mårtenson & Persson at Påarp (between Båstad and Torekov).

The finished result after half an hour of sucking out the air…

Stolen Facial & Rain

I arrived at the site today just as the rain started. I have to admit I am a bit relieved because my grass allergy is seriously weighing me down and maybe the rain will help? Yesterday I placed a Facial at the end of the painting and today it has gone missing! Cool! Somebody maybe liked it? I will have to make more Facials… I guess the art work is now in full progress.

A good start

Today Simon and I were able to finish the construction of the entire wall. It worked out pretty good.

In the afternoon I started painting. It is weird working so close to such a large painting. It is a good thing I am working outside, because the linseed oil is splashing everywhere. But it was a bit hot today and my grass allergy is making me tired and miserable. Now the weather is supposed to get very rainy so I don’t know when I will be able to paint again and how the rain will affect the plywood. Interesting!

It is very interesting to watch all people passing by. Some are very curious, stopping to ask and when they hear about my plan they are all excited. Some are passing by without even looking, others seem almost nervous…

Not so easy…

Today we have been struggling to erect the twelve meter long wall. It was not as easy as expected (I did not really expect it to be easy…) so we did not get it fully done. Four sections are remaining and I need to get more lumber. People passing by are very curious, a bit suspicious at first, but then when I tell them I am going to make a huge painting they are pretty excited and very positive. I will have to allow plenty of time to talk to people. I guess it is going to be a pretty social summer. I am looking forward!

Summer Art Project: 12 meter painting

My new assistant, Simon, and I are busy preparing for the summer art project. I am going to paint something like a mural; a painting 2,4 x 12 m. I am going to paint outside, at the location where the painting will be on view for bikers and others who are on the way from Lerhamn to Mölle or the other way.

Simon is painting the back side of one of ten sections. Stay tuned, I will post the progress.

Pocket Art & All Seeing Eye

I am adding layers… still not there…

I became inspired by the brown eye and wanted to do a series of paintings. This is the first variation.

To me this is one of the most intense eye-paintings I have done. It is like an eye that you cannot hide anything from. An eye that has seen everything and knows everything about you at the moment it focuses on you. Almost scary. Size 80 x 60 cm.