Where will it end? What will I do next?

The picture above is the first marks I did on my newest painting. It is on canvas, and 60 x 60 cm. This is a very expressive start, and I see that I often start with yellow and red. Why? Maybe because these colours give me a boost to continue?

For fun I posted it on Instagram, and I got a lot of likes on it. Even good comments.Then I thought; wow, can I really just leave a painting like this? But I did not. I went on. Below I will show you some of the stages I went through, and finally the painting I ended up with.

I added more red and yellow, and then the black colour in order to get some contrast. In the next panting stage I introduced more colours; green and blue and some white. And I turned it around. Why? Because it is so easy to be hung up in things you see early in the process. And the colours were added to calm it down, make it less chaotic. In the next stage I realised that the yellow was almost gone, and I like yellow and went in with some more. Some places very thinly, and I scraped a bit in order to create some kind of structure.

Now I have come to a stage where I start to think and choose. That is not good. I should keep going, playing, paint over and so on. But it is hard. But I decided to go on.

I turned it around again and wanted to calm down some areas. I went in with light green several places and some marks. And I painted over a lot of the yellow. But the person and the bird was still there. Then I turned it again.

I looked at it now, and I still saw a person and a green bird. But I did not like it, it was too obvious, I guess. I did not know what to do next. Then I turned it around again, and suddenly another image turned up. This I liked, and I kept it. Made some marks with a piece of coal, found an eye, then another, drew a mouth, added some more white, even a littler bird on his shoulder, and now I call it finished. When I look at it I see it has contrasts, some areas of quiet, some white and some black. I think also the design works.

Now you have seen part of my process, creating a painting. It is actually so many choices to make and ways to go. But this was my way this time.

Coming up soon is May, and thereafter summer. I will be having two exhibitions, the first one is at Holmsbustuene, in Holmsbu, Storgaten 17, opening 4th of May at 1200 hours. You are very welcome. My paintings will be there for the month of May.

Du finner Holmsbu en times biltur fra Oslo, en snau time fra Drammen.
Skal du reise med buss, planlegg nøye…
Det kan være rift om parkeringsplassene på torget, så vi anbefaler å parkere oppe ved kirka –
fem rusleminutter unna – gratis og uten tidsbegrensning.
Under vernissasjen blir det løvesaft med eplesmak,
lokale musikanter og kunstnerintervju på direkten.
Ta gjerne med en venn som kunne trenge noen kunstneriske impulser
Det er tre stuer i galleriet, hvorav jeg har en av dem, de andre to er viet
Marit Solum Småskjær og
Kari Lena Flåten-Lindbæk

Gjennom Holmsbumalerne og Holmsbu Bildegalleri er Holmsbu
viden kjent her til lands. I sin tid hadde Holmsbu Nordens største og
mest stabile kunstnerkoloni og gjorde sitt for å gå Skagenmalerne
en høy gang. Holmsbustuene videreutvikler den sterke
bildekunsttradisjonen Holmsbu har hatt i om lag hundre år. Galleriet
holder til i Schulerudgården, en staselig trebygning fra 1830-tallet
som ligger i Storgata 17.

Senere på sommeren: I will show at Grimstad, Atelier Sanden, Vesterled 15, opening 29th of June at 1200 hours. Just me there. It would be great to see you there if you should be around. The exhibit ends the 13th of July. I will show my newest paintings there.

Then I wish you all the best for the coming Easter time. I will be in Drøbak, meeting the spring, the birds and the flowers that brighten my day.

Thank you for following me.