The winter in Norway has been exchanged by this lovely beach in Cha-Am in Thailand

When January comes, Tore and I travel east in order to shorten the winter. Our stop the last 7-8 years has been Thailand, and the little town of Cha-Am. Now we have been here already for two weeks, and we will stay for another two. This year I have not brought any painting material, ok, some watercolours, paper and a few brushes. I can’t be completely without doing something creative. As I say; a drawing a day, keeps the doctor away! So here are a few:

I dreamt I was a mermaid
What did you say?!
Where is my prince?

Munch is moving

Before we left Oslo, we went to see the last exhibition in the present Munch museum in Oslo. The exhibition is called: All we own. It was not much to see, but what we saw was interesting enough. Because the museum is very soon moving into the new and large Munch museum downtown at Bjørvika, they are packing down all the artworks, more than 30 000 all together, but they have left some to still make an exhibition. It was works by Edvard Munch and art from three other collections, also given to the Munch Museum. In addition to Edv. Munch we also saw works by Amaldus Nielsen and Ludvig O. Ravensberg, artists that we don’t see very often. Here are a few works by Munch that at least I have not seen before.

Munch's Swan lake
Bathing women
Forrest

Preparing for painting courses

Before we left, I spent some days in the studio, preparing for the coming painting courses coming up after my return from Thailand. As you may know, I love to learn new things, and in this field Pamela Caughey and her Artandsuccess.com website and her painting courses gives me a lot of inspiration and new knowledge. Do check it out.

One of the things I learned from her was how to use a gelli plate. It is a kind of a soft plate that feels like gelli, and it is used to make one to one prints. I bought mine at Torso, an art materials store in Oslo that also sells the brand Golden paint. With this gelli plate you can make your own collage paper. It is quite easy. Here are the ones I made before I left.

I made my own collage paper using the gelli plate.

These collage prints I use in my paintings to make texture and tract creates another kind of look that are not easily made just by brushes.

My painting courses are now fully booked, and I really look forward to start again when I get home. This spring my students will learn about colour mixes, value and design, glazing and collaging, among other things like markmaking and techniques.

Painting equipment

This year I have only brought with me a small watercolour kit, and I say to myself that it is not the size that counts when making art. At the Munch Museum we saw his palette and painting kit, not much to write home about, but he made great art with it.

Here are Munch's palette and brushes
Munch's painting kit
My travel kit with watercolour. Very well used.

I am definitely not in the same class as Edvard Munch, but here are a few examples of what I have used my watercolours for here. And there is more to come.

This way! Watercolour play
Summer in the country. Watercolour play.
Lucy in the sky. Watercolour play.