Older paintings
I’m trying to dig up photographs of older paintings planning to have as many as possible posted on this home page. Here is a sunset from Stråholmen, a beautiful little island on the South Coast of Norway. Oil on canvas, 25x52 cm.
Update, finally
I’ve been quiet for a while, but here I’m back. I don’t know about others, but following an exhibition I’m usually rather worn out, feeling empty. and wondering what’s the point of it all.
These days I’m working on finishing and framing some pastels. This one was started in Prévessin-Moëns in February. It’s the largest pastel I’ve ever made, paper size is appr. 67x102 cm, 26x40”. A challenge to paint and also a challenge to frame.
FINISSAGE
The exhibition in Kragerø Kunstforening is soon to be ended. It will be open tomorrow, thursday, from 12:00 to 17:00, friday, saturday and sunday from 12:00 to 17:00.
I will be present in the gallery the last couple of hours.
Utstillingen i Kragerø Kunstforening er snart slutt. Siste dager er i morgen, torsdag 12:00-17:00, fredag, lørdag og søndag 12:00-15:00. Jeg vil være tilstede i galleriet de siste par timene søndag.
Jomfruland
Det største maleriet på min utstilling i Kragerø Kunstforening heter “Bondens Jomfruland”. Selv om det viktigste arbeidet foregikk på jordet der i løpet av noen våruker, tok det ti år å få dette bildet ferdig. Men så malte jeg jo også endel annet underveis. (Noen ganger kan det gå ti år uten at et maleri noensinne kommer i mål, det er verre.)
Jeg opplever at de fleste jeg snakker med om Jomfruland er mest opptatt av utsiden. Selv er jeg mest opptatt av den myke, milde og forbausende frodige innsiden, som er som et stykke av en annen verden som har kommet drivende og lagt seg tilrette utenfor det karrige, steinete landet vårt.
Utstillingen i Kragerø Kunstforening er åpen hver dag 12-15, torsdag 12-17, t.o.m 1. august.
The need to be brutal, or Kill your darlings
Sometimes it’s necessary to be brutal. I strived with this painting for a long time. Somehow the foreground never became interesting enough. The first version of the painting, with the high foreground, is maybe more compositionally satisfying, but for me it’s impossible to keep a part of a painting that I don’t find filled with enough content that interests me. So: “Kill your darlings” is maybe the most important doctrine as far as painting is concerned. This time it was done with a knife and new stretcher bars.
Exhibition opening
At my exhibition opening last saturday I was fortunate enough to have present, along with old and new friends, one brother, two daughters, one son, one son-in-law, one daughter-in-law, one grandson and one granddaughter, leaving only my wife and one daughter to be missed. My son-in-law generously played us a couple of songs.
Plow Tracks
I stumbled upon this motif one day I had to step out of my way on natures behalf. Behind the bus shed by Nesodden’s medieval church, I saw these beatiful fields and forests, with the blue hills on the other side of the fjord in the background.
There is something about old farmland, it has grown organically out of the landscape shapes. If the bedrock surfaces, it becomes the site to throw whatever is plowed up from the ground, and in the course of time becomes islands of jungle in the midst of the fields.
I am convinced this piece of land has been cultivated for more than a millennium, maybe with a break during and after the black plague in 1349-50 which killed maybe half of the population and laid huge parts of the land desolate.
More of early spring
Seems I can’t get enough of that season. This is about the same place as the previous one I published. Another year, though.
Early spring……………….
…………. must be my fovorite painting time of year. Thinking of it, this fascination for dead grass and rotting snow and ice seems rather morbid. On the other hand, the different hardwood trees display endless subtle variations of colour, and give a promise of new life. Whatsoever - I just love it.
Trouville
Painted some ten years ago at Trouville, a small beach situated on the island Hankoe in the Oslo Fjord. Last half of the 19th century this island became famous for clinics where they prescribed, for the good bourgeoisie, water therapies of different natures. Customized to la mode du temps the different attractions were given French names (Trouville is originally the name of a resort town in north-west France, by the English channel). From this beach you could, after having paid a small fee, lower your body into the salt water of the fjord while you inhaled the fresh air from the island's forests, apparently an unbeatable combination for the health.
The cliff wall on the right side faces north. The rocks and stones lying there have been pushed over the edge by the glacier during the last ice age, and protected by the very steep wall, they haven't been grinded round by the ice.
19,5x25,5", mostly Unison pastels.
Utstilling Kragerø Kunstforening / Exhibition in Kragerø Kunstforening
IMPORTANT: Date and time for the opening could be wrong. The organizers website says July 17th. I will post a new message when I know for certain.
Vabukten / The bay
Vakre Vabukten på Hankø. Her har flere malt før meg, blant annet Hans Gude. Sist gang jeg så denne pastellen hang den ved siden av et meget godt Fritz Thaulow-maleri. Det likte jeg godt - vi ønsker vel alle å være sammen med heltene våre.
Beautiful Vabukten on the island Hankø in the Oslo Fjord.
The Ant Lion’s landscape
Furuer ved Ørekroken / Pine trees on the beach. A strange and un-nordic landscape, this place is for me. I´m fascinated, and return here time after time. This place is also home of the (in Norway) rare creature The Ant Lion, Myrmelon bore, a frightening monster if you´re 1/4" or smaller. They dig a cone-sheped hole in the sand, and hide in the bottom of it. When you stumble over the edge, they throw sand at you to make you fall all the way, and when you hit bottom, you become dinner.
Lasse
I keep on finding, formatting and publishing older paintings on the website. Here is a standing, male nude. The model, Lasse, was a very good one. Unfortunately he died young. The painting, which was done during my second year at the State Academy of art in Oslo, was purchased for the Academy’s collections. Rumor has it that this collection has been treated very badly.
Bukten , Røvik
I keep on posting old paintings. Here’s one painted when I was visiting the the Norwegian maestro Odd Nerdrum and his family, a warm and hospitable environment and a beautiful coastal landscape.
Bånn i Bunnefjorden
Keeping up the archeological project, finding and formatting photos of older paintings. This one is one of the first painted in a place called Bånn i Bunnefjorden, literally The Bottom of the Oslo Fjord. I have returned to this place hundreds of times since I first came here. and painted maybe 15 paintings.
On the rock nearer than the pictures lower edge, right beside my left knee, two vipers were enjoying the late summer sun. Very peaceful. An encounter that filled me with awe and respect.
