Gordon Skalleberg

New work

August 13, 2020

Finally an update… I forget to update, doesn’t mean I am not working… Here is an image of the latest piece. Me Then, oil on plywood, 47″ x 47″ / 120 x 120 cm.

The Virus…

June 30, 2020

A new painting, The Virus Could Be Anywhere, oil and spray paint on plywood, 78,5 x 49,5 cm (31″ x 19.5″).

Is a bigger animal worth more than a small? Is the life of a swan worth more than that of a sparrow? Nobody would pay a nickel for the lizard, while my horse is worth thousands of dollars. But morally, are they not worth the same?

Gunny and her little friend

June 9, 2020

For a really long time I have wanted to make a fairly large painting of a horse. Now I have my own horse that I can paint. This painting is 39 x 59 inches (100 x 150 cm) and it is, of course, oil on plywood. Have not decided what to call it and if I am done. I like the emptiness of the background…

With a glance at one of the masters…

May 17, 2020

Apparently Leonardo da Vinci worked on Mona Lisa for several years. I can’t imagine he worked uninterrupted, but kept coming back, looking at the painting with fresh eyes now and then. And supposedly he added layers of light and dark colors to the canvas before he started painting the image. I returned to an image I have worked on several times years ago. I built a birch plywood “canvas” in the same dimensions as Leonardo’s Mona Lisa: 77 x 53 cm (30.25″ x 21″). Leonardo painted a very dramatic landscape behind Mona Lisa and I made a different landscape… I will rest now and come back to this with fresh eyes later. I am thinking of building a fairly large frame, but make it black as Rembrandt preferred. Glossy black.

A lot of action in the studio

May 6, 2020

Even if I don’t update the blog so often, I am very busy in the studio. This is a painting I have wanted to do for several years. It is loosely based on a photo of my dad as a young handsome man. It is made of two pieces – theoretically it is a diptych, but they have been mounted in a black frame as one. The Artist’s Father, Oil on plywood, 65 x 41 cm.

Productivity in corona times

April 20, 2020

This lockdown can hardly be noticed, as I am spending most of my time in the studio. I started on a fairly ambitious piece and was not sure if I had taken on too much. But I enjoyed the work. I will call the painting Isolation and it is 120 x 80 cm (47″ x 31,5″), oil on birch plywood.

Suffering for my art

March 20, 2020

I have been painting a series of miniature horizons. This is the first with a couple of clouds. Oil on birch plywood, 9 x 9 cm. Pardon my fingertips. Very lucky to still have them after an incredibly stupid accident with my table saw.

Nora

February 18, 2020

In the summer of 2019 I found an old photograph of a young woman and I was intrigued by her pose and the confident, calm look on her face. One hand was hiding behind her and the other hand was clenched in a fist. I wanted to make a rather large painting of her, but as usual I never quite know what will happen when I start painting. I probably had some #MeToo thoughts and I placed a big kitchen knife in her hidden hand and made a contrasting background. While I was painting her, she was calmly facing me and it was quite a challenge to ”find” her and paint that confident face. At times my heart was beating faster and maybe I was a bit nervous about her calm gaze patiently waiting, while she was ready to strike. I had to leave her at times and after several small adjustments I was happy and felt like I could respectfully leaver her alone. I gave her the name Nora and I hope she will be treated well.

Exciting things are happening

January 11, 2020

I have recently been included in an exclusive group of artists who are working with Artwork International of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are working hard to promote my name and my art and all I can do is to increase my time in the studio and work on new pieces. Here is a pretty ambitious painting that I have been working on for some time. It will have to rest some time, I need distance in order to see with clear eyes. Oil on plywood, 80 x 60 cm / 31.5″ x 23.5″. What is the story? Who knows…?