An Art Work A Day

Besides being incredibly busy with grading, I work on building up my own cartoonish characters. At the moment I am working on ideas for FatRat, GrannyRat and these birds.


Orange Birds - Having a Conversation,
acrylics on paper
24x27cm

SOLD

I just love breaking new boundries when it comes to things I can do. To most people they are probably tiny but to me their are significant. This year I have been able to cut my own hair and I love that because when I want it cut I want it done right then LOL.

Yesterday my daughter came home and she has been working on her philosphy home exam all day. On a spur of the moment she asked me to get her an appointment for stripes and a hair cut. The hairdresser did not have a time available that suited her and in the end we ended up with me doing the highlights as well as the cutting of the hair. Best of all the result turned out OK too.
To me that is a major victory. Of course I cut uneven horrible fringes on my poor kids when they were small but this was good. Since we had some leftover colour we did a couple of very light highlight on me too. hehehe.

Well, since this had been a hair day my choice for today naturally is a hippie.

Here is another on of my paintings which comment on sociopolitical issues. Unfortunately way too many women in the world are for all practical purposes gagged and can not safely speak up for themselves or their loved ones or be politically active.

Should this painting sell, then the whole amount will be sent to Equality Now a fantastic organization working for women's right around the globe.

Gagged,
acrylics on paper
24x32cm
$100

p&p worldwide is FREE

One of the symptoms of depression is excessive sleep or problems sleeping or combinations. I have here tried to capture the emotion of taking to bed when life or thoughts become too hard to handle, when the wearyness is too much to bear.


Hiding from Depression in Sleep,
acrylics on paper
24x32cm
$100

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Today I got an email telling me that a wonderful old lady I knew had "chosen a rational death at her own hand" because she was afraid of losing her ability to live alone due to multiple serious health issues that she so bravely had handled for such a long time.

It is horrible that we in our socalled sivilized world do not offer a safe feeling to our elderly and sick people so that they can be certain of getting good care should they need it, no matter financies or what.

Today here in Scandinavia we discuss and mourn the young persons killed in the last school shooting in Finland. As a teacher we sometimes wish we could run away from all the challenges of the young. The big question is always whether things like this can be prevented and if so by whom. I do hope my runner is a young person enjoying using his physical strenght for positive means.

What is great with paintings like this is that different persons see different faces.


Faces,
from the Made for Fun-series,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

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Everybody agrees that people these days stress too much. The big question is how to avoid being on edge and even turning relaxation and serenity into something we do on borrowed time? When watching the ocean's waves or listening to songbirds sing we should not be concerned with time. Well, some of us need hard healthwise wake up calls before they let go.

I work on it and art has helped me a lot. Doing those macro photos this spring of all the insects also helped by forcing me to slow down and really look closely when I was out in nature.



Time's Up, No More Serenity by the Water's Edge,
acrylics on paper
24x32cm
$100
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Sad to say we have such preconceived opinions on how a doctor looks and a president and a criminal etc etc. Hopefully this president election will have a lasting effect in broading our imagery of how the person with huge powers looks- the face of democracy. I am also very happy to know that Israel has the second women in the top chair.

There are certain research that conclude with the unfortunate fact that you have a much better chance if you are slim and pretty. Add to that fact that being white and male also in many situations seems to be what will give the best chances, then most of the world's population are at a disadvantage and will need to work harder and often fight prejudice. We need these examples to show the young of the world.

This issue about people's look mattering sometimes too much is what inspired this semiabstract. I showed it to an artist friend and her hubby without telling the title and their initial reaction was that this was not a person they would like to meet in a dark street. Which goes to show that we do judge this individual as a potential threat just by the look of his face.







Intimidating, Our Image of a Criminal,
also part of the Made Just For Fun-series
acrylics on paper
27x35cm


If not sold within the first couple of weeks, this will be double mounted and framed and displayed at my next auction.

I am of two minds about this painting. Part of me imagines the figure beside of the collection boxes for second hand clothes. Another part lets my imagination run wild on what this box might contain.


Examining the Box,
another one from the Made Just For Fun-series,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$75
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Today's painting is inspired by all the lonely grieving women who in several parts of the world have no grave to attend to because her loved ones went "missing" in wartime and might still be among all those unidentified in mass graves.


Grief,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm


This painting is on its way to the framer for proper mounting and framing before the next exhibition.

Last week I made this charcoal sketch of one of our cats, Lurvepus, for my daughter. This week I framed it and made it ready for her. My daughter visited last night and we had a lovely time watching The Green Mile, eating pizza and enjoying a glass of wine.

I have some problems. It seems the quality gets wrong on the video when I add music. Will work on fixing this.

Although the subject matter is a verys erious one that I care very much about, the painting style itself was one of playing with the materials and the medium.

Even though things has changed for women dramatically over the last 50 years, still most women in the world are in big trouble if they should happen to be unfortunate to become married to a man who uses his fits on his wife.

Only yesterday I talked to a ladyfriend of mine who is married to a nice man about women's situations around the world and through history. One of the topics was stay at home mums or wives. They lose pension points for one things and only this summer I talked to a young mum who told me that still she got the "only at home" comment. That mum was in her early thirties when she started having her children and her husband and she had decided that she should not work for some years because they valued the time together with their small children that much.

One ladyfriend who recently formally became a pensioner told me the same as my mother-in-law did - how lovely it was to get that money in every month with their own names on, no matter how nice husbands they had.

I had a lovely thing happen in one of my last English classes. We were talking about when to use prensent tens -s/-es and dis some exercises. They were to explain WHY they chose so or so. In one of the examples we had a subject with some kind of leadingjob and the boy explaining naturally explained that the verb had to have the -s because that subject could be exchanged for he or she. Ten years a got that subject would have been explained by it could have been a he. Things are going in the right direction.

Still though, equality has a problem when it comes to physical strength and tendency for violence.

Trapped by the Fisted Ring
- from the Made Just For Fun-series,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

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I visited a lovely artist friend of mine today, Magnhild, and we discussed and worked on which works I should get mounted and framed and how to put it all together for the local exhibition in about 2 months time. (see the six below). I plan on using broad double mounts, black closest to the painting and then white.

The Composer, from theMade Just For Fun-series

acrylics on paper

27x35cm

I plan to display this at the Holidays exhibition after having it properly mounted and framed so if you are interested in purchase please email me and we'll take it from there.

Some days it is OK to be just who we are and look how we look. On other days it is harder.









Wringing Hands over Obesity, from the Made Just For Fun-series,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

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I so much need to get started in the gym again. Living on my own I need someone to be strict with me LOL and here he is.

Something about the pregnant female figure intrigues me and I therefore ended up imagining this trendy career woman at a meditation class.



Pregnant in Meditation, in the Made Just for Fun-series
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

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As you can see I have continued to play around with the Just for Fun- series painting rough expressionistic black on white semicartoonish figures or animals.

I have a tendency to get very very enthusiastic about new things when I start doing them and LOL can see no reason to put brakes on unless someone can get hurt. In short I embrace whatever can make me feel alive, lately learning to play an instrument again. I have even bought a keyboard and borrowed a guitar and have had the shop order a recorder for me. It has been 30 years since I played properly last but of course that is no reason not to do it now, is there?

I simply can not understand people that are able ot wait weeks before starting and then doing things one tiny step at a time. If I were like that I would have bought the $15 recorder, and played on that one for months before trying out something more advanced or more expensive. Not my way. I want to do things NOW and properly from the start. LOL I want the intermediate level at the beginning along with the beginners level.

This then is not me being portraited. :-)



Putting the Brakes On, Made Just For Fun-series
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

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Today my visa card and I have had a wonderful time shopping with my daughter. The last time we ended up with many bags, this time we ended up with shoes. :-))

I hope the photo is able to show you this extravagant lady.










Diva, part of the Made Just for Fun-series,
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100



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The word Diva literally means, "goddess," a female opera star, but it is often used to describe a demanding or fussy star. It is the latest meaning I have been playing around with. I wanted her to have an abundance of feathers and the like in her costume.

As the autumn gets stronger day by day bringing autumn rain, darkness and cold weather I very much appreciate living in a warm house living in a country where it takes a lot to become homeless.

Several times during the last 2 years of financial problems in the US, I have heard American aquintances say that yes, it is true: Many are only a couple of paychecks or weeks away from big problems being able to handle basic bills like mortage or rent. I also had a dear friend struggle very hard for a time to get a new job and managing by selling off everything he could on ebay. He also told me how bad he felt for his kids.

I hoped to comment some on that issue by painting someone walking around to keep warm. It was painted for enjoyment as part of my month of painting for fun, yes, but my muse directed me into a subject matter that is very serious.




Homeless and Freezing
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100 which will go entirely to the Salvation army.

p&p worldwide is FREE

Quotes related to the topic

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. - Mother Teresa

I mean, I don't think I'm alone when I look at the homeless person or the bum or the psychotic or the drunk or the drug addict or the criminal and see their baby pictures in my mind's eye. You don't think they were cute like every other baby? - Dustin Hoffman

Seven out of 10 Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless. - Pras Michel

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? - Mohandas Gandhi

Here is another painting done with rough materials in my made for fun-series. In contrast to the old angry man of yesterday's post here is a young girl dancing in her own world. I hope you like it and can hear the music she hears within her head

The Young Dancer Practicing
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

"If dancing were any easier it would be called football." ~anonymous

"Life is a dance, from one stage to the next.

Today's painting does not reflect my feelings these days. I am quite happy with my work as a teacher as well as my paintings lately. On the other hand we have all met "the angry man" sometimes. My daughter, aged 20, found him scary and that made me very happy because I want the viewers to react to the emotions I try to portrait in my semiabstract figure paintings.

This painting, as well as most of this months paintings, is made using scrunched up paper and similar to get the roughness in the expression that I want. I do not want them to be within the lines drawings. I want them to have some of the expressioness of cartoons but not the neat lines. I have called them part of my Made Just For Fun - series.

I hope to find some time soon to study cartoons a bit more again because there is so much interesting going on within modern illustrations and cartooning.

Even though I painted this while playing with paint, anger is a very scare thing which I do take very seriously.




Made Just For Fun - Thinking Angry Thoughts
acrylics on paper
27x35cm

I plan to display this at the Holidays exhibition after having it properly mounted and framed so if you are interested in purchase please email me and we'll take it from there.



Famous quotes about anger found different places online


“In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves”
Abraham J. Heschel quotes
(Jewish theologian and philosopher, 1907-1972)

Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy.
-- Aristotle.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
-- Chinese Proverb.

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.-- Seneca.
The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
-- Seneca.

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.
-- Will Rogers.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
-- Ambrose Bierce.

Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.
-- Marcus Antonius.

Do not teach your children never to be angry; teach them how to be angry.
-- Lyman Abbott.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
-- Marcus Aurelius.

Two things a man should never be angry at: what he can help, and what he cannot help.
-- Thomas Fuller.

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
-- St. Francis De Sales.

Anger is what makes a clear mind seem clouded.
-- Kazi Shams.

No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.
-- George Jean Nathan.

Leo Buscaglia
Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love.

Booker T. Washington
I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

Helen Douglas
Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.

HW Longfellow
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm any hostility.

Marcus Aurelius
How much more grevious are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

John Dryden
Beware of the fury of the patient man.

Unknown
Sticks and stones may break your bones when there's anger to inpart. Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart.

Lord Halifax
Anger is seldom without an argument but seldom with a good one.

Unknown
Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.

Chuck Norris
Men are like steel: when they lose their temper, they lose their worth.

Tryon Edwards
To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is still better.

Marcus Antonius
Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.

Cato
An angry man opens his mouth and shuts up his eyes.

W. R. Alger
Men often make up in wrath what they want in reason.

Golda Meir
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

St. Francis De Sales
There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.

Chinese Proverb
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

Shakespeare
Men in rage strike those that wish them best.

Elizabeth Kenny
He who angers you conquers you.

Greek
Those who the Gods would destroyFirst they would make angry

Haliburton
When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry.


John Steinbeck
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

Willard Gaylin
Expressing anger is a form of public littering.

John Dryden
Beware the fury of a patient man.

Henry Beecher
Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.

Lawrence J. Peter
Speak when you're angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.

Tamil proverb
Great anger is more destructive than the sword.

Pythagoras
Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance.

Pasquier Quesnel
Anger causes us often to condemn in one what we approve in another.

Charles De Gaulle
When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. So we were often angry at each other.

Alfred Montapert
Every time you get angry, you poison your own system.

Daniel Webster
Keep cool; anger is not an argument.

Thomas Haliburton
When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry.

Thomas Fuller
Two things a man should never be angry at: what he can help, and what he cannot help.

Clarendon
Anger is the most impotent passion that accompanies the mind of man; it effects nothing it goes about; and hurts the man who is possessed by it more than any other against whom it is directed.

Jefferson
When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.

Elizabeth 1
Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.

Thomas a Kempis
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

James Thurber
Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) - Greek philosopher
Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not easy.

Proverbs 14:17a
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly...

Daniel Webster
Keep cool; anger is not an argument.Benjamin

Franklin
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

Seneca
He is a fool who cannot be angry; but he is a wise man who will not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self control is the rule.Anger is an uncontrollable feeling that betrays what you are when you are not yourself.Anger is that powerful internal force that blows out the light of reason.Know this to be the enemy: it is anger, born of desire.

Dr. Robert Anthony
The angry people are those people who are most afraid.

Tyron Edwards
To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is still better.

Thomas Fuller
Anger is one of the sinews of the soul; he that lacks it has a maimed mind.HoraceAnger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you.Walter S. LandorThe flame of anger, bright and brief, sharpens the barb of love.

George Jean Nathan
No man can think clearly when his fist are clenched.

William Shenstone
Think when you are enraged at anyone, what would probably become of your sentiments should he die during the dispute.AristotleAnybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power, that is not easy.

Elizabeth Kenny
My mother used to say, "He who angers you, conquers you!" But my mother was a saint.

Eric Hoffer'
The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.

Frederick Buechner
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

James Thurber
Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

Thomas a Kempis
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

William Blake
I was angry with my friendI told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow.A Poison Tree


"It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured."
Tacitus

"Anger as soon as fed is dead. 'Tis starving makes it fat."
Emily Dickinson

"I know of no more disagreeable situation than to be left feeling generally angry without anybody in particular to be angry at."
Frank Moore Colby

"Many people lose their tempers merely from seeing you keep yours."
Frank Moore Colby

"Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one."
George Savile

"Look not back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around you in awareness."
Ross Hersey

"A man is measured by the size of things that anger him."
Geof Greenleaf

"Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten."
Siddhartha Buddha

"The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts: the less you know the hotter you get."
Bertrand Russell

"I conquered my hostility by putting it away until the day I might need it."
Nachman of Bratslav

"An angry man is unfit to pray."
Nachman of Bratslav

"In time we hate that which we often fear."
William Shakespeare

"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."
Thomas Paine

I am very much a thinker and have problems shutting my mind off. Sometimes it is like one gets lost in all the thoughts working in circles within ones mind, also in dreams. Todays painting tries to express some of how that can feel for those of us who thinks too much


Within the Hurricane of Confusion, Made Just For Fun - series
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100
p&p worldwide is FREE

Some days this is how I feel hehehehe

Today I continue playing with paint and expressions.

We love to Jump in the Puddle of Mud, from the Made Just For Fun-series
acrylics on paper
27x35cm
$100

p&p worldwide is FREE

Seaching for the word puddle of mud in English I came across this amazing group and texts that really hit me. I am sure it will inspire me in the future
Puddle og Mud playing Blurry on Youtube

Everything’s so blurry
And everyone’s so fake
And everybody’s so empty
And everything is so messed up
Pre-occupied without you
I cannot live at all
My whole world surrounds you
I stumble then I crawl

You could be my someone
You could be my scene
You know that I’ll protect you
From all of the obscene
I wonder what your doing
Imagine where you are
There’s oceans in between us
But that’s not very far

Can you take it all away
Can you take it all away
When ya shoved it in my face
This pain you gave to me

Can you take it all away
Can you take it all away
When ya shoved it my face

Everyone is changing
There’s noone left that’s real
To make up your own ending
And let me know just how you feel
Cause I am lost without you
I cannot live at all
My whole world surrounds you
I stumble then I crawl

You could be my someone
You could be my scene
You know that I will save you
From all of the unclean
I wonder what your doing
I wonder where you are
There’s oceans in between us
But that’s not very far

[chorus]

Nobody told me what you thought
Nobody told me what to say
Everyone showed you where to turn
Told you where to runaway
Nobody told you where to hide
Nobody told you what to say
Everyone showed you where to turn
Showed you where to runaway

[chorus]

This pain you gave to me

You take it all
You take it all away...
This pain you gave to me
You take it all away
This pain you gave to me
Take it all away
This pain you gave to me