Monday, August 31, 2009

Sometimes a painter just have to play

Birdy with can of paint and brush
ink and watercolours on paper
12x18cm
$15

Sunday, August 30, 2009


The Beach II
cold pressed 200g, acrylics paper
24x32cm
$100
p&p is FREE





Saturday, August 29, 2009

My first day in Ayr this summer was wonderful. Beautiful weater and some of the best hours with real sun I had.



Ayr Beach I,
acrylics on paper (cold pressed 200g, acrylics paper)
24x32cm
$100
p&p is FREE

Today's painting is inspired by my walks along the beach at Whiting Bay, Arran Island, Scotland this July. It is not Whiting Bay as such but more my emotion when remembering it. My feeling of meditation watching it walking or from a bench.

One Friday evening sitting at Bar Eden, Whiting Bay, looking out at the beach through the window while waiting for my scallops I wrote this in my travel journal.

I'm sitting her, waiting for my scallops, looking out of the window at the most beautiful weather. A wonderful treat after all the rain most days. A white sailboat drifts slowly past a bit further out on the very quiet ocean. A large gullslowly floats up and down in the water in the gentle waves. The beach is quite bare and long. A few rocks and some seaweeds are decoratively spread around. Gorgeous round stones shaped by the ocean in all sizes, colours and patterns lay in heaps around together with shells of so many kinds in abundance.

The sand is slightly redbrown, almost like clay and almost as easy to shape by the look of the amazing sand sculptures evolving as family after family plays with buckets and spades, sand and water on one side of the beach.



The Beach,
acrylics on paper (cold pressed 200g, acrylics paper)
24x32cm
$100
p&p is FREE

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Today's painting is made by me enjoying fooling around with paint making whimsical animals. As a teacher one of my most important tasks is to encourage and support. This is one of the things we tried to show the parents at tonight's Parentsmeeting.
My whimsical bird of course then had to have its beak up.
Beak Up,
watercolours and ink on paper
21x30cm
$45











This morning I had to teach arts as a substitute teacher. They were supposed to make and decorate a simple folder in A3 size to put drawings and paintings in later this year. This (see below) is the cover of the one I made demonstrating for the students. Several started just scribbling so I decided to show them that playing around a bit with a wet towel dipped in watercolours and an ink pen not caring about making each part realistic also could make interesting and expressive images.



Cover side of folder for drawings - "Fill me up"
watercolours on paper A3











While in Ireland I visited IMMA The Irish Museum of Modern art where among other displays The American artist Terrt Winters had lots of his works displayed. http://www.imma.ie/en/page_200868.htmThat inspired me because he seemed so free from most conventions and seemed from his work just to be following his muse and experimenting with whatever topic or style he wanted. Most of what I saw was his experimenting with shapes and curves. One of his big acrylics where he had been playing with the shapes of eyes had those kind of lumps that paint cans get at the edges where it dries. He had not removed those while painting and also his charcoal/graphite drawings had the fingerprints not removed. http://www.spanierman.com/thumbnails.php?album=2809
In short he seemd to have been exploring and not making excuses and tidying up. I too often torment myself with my feelings that things should be neat and tidy so I do need to see examples of known artists that dare to just express what they want to express and not bothering to make everything right or tidy.
http://www.spanierman.com/thumbnails.php?album=2809

http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=144094&page_tab=Artworks_for_sale

Wednesday, August 26, 2009


Coast up North V,
acrylics on canvas panel
18x24cm
$100
p&p is FREE

Tuesday, August 25, 2009


Coast up North IV,
acrylics on canvas panel
18x24cm
$100
p&p is FREE worldwide
Jack Buther Yeats is one of the painters whose work I had an opportunity to watch live while visiting Dublin and Sligo in Ireland this summer. He like me, worked in several mediums and styles, illlustraitons and cartooons, landscapes and figures and also much of his work was symbolic and expressionistic.
One of the interesting things which made his oils very distinctive was that his canvas seemed to be unprimed and also was left uncovered by paint several places quite like how a watercolourist does. One possible reason for this can be that he used watercolours much longer than oils and that was what he started using. Seeing his work and finding out more about this artist was a help for me because I have been struggling quite much with feelings that I should work in a manner of the majority and using techniques thought of as neccessary for artistic quality by so many.
Seeing one of Europe's most valued artists breaking some of those "rules" allowed me to allow myself to dare to work as I want and not as I feel I should. This is very good for me because I nearly gave up painting this summer.

Monday, August 24, 2009

One problem I am facing these days is that I am painting late and thus photographing late as well which causes some reflections and also that the flash makes the texture of the canvas show clearer than when you see it only through eyes. I guess I need to become a big ahead in my painting so that I have time to take better photographs in natural light


Coast up North II,
acrylics on canvas panel
18x24cm
$100
p&p is FREE

Sunday, August 23, 2009


Sunset travelling from Bodoe in Blue,
acrylics on canvas panel
18x24cm
$100
p&p is FREE worldwide

Saturday, August 22, 2009

While visiting Nother Norway this summer I took thousands of reference photos along the way. These two sketches is done from the view travelling by car from Bodø til Misvær



View when Travelling up North I (below) and II (above),
Ink sketches on paper
21x30cm
$25 per sketch

Friday, August 21, 2009

Quite a bit over the last months I've been fighting feelings of low self esteem and worrying and wondering about where my painting would go in the future. Today's painting is a try to visually show some of that kind of confusion in thoughts.


Lost in Blue Thoughts, book cover illustration
acrylics on acrylics paper
24x32cm
SOLD

Today at school we had a lecture by a very special person, Cato Zahl Pedersen, who is a multiple times olympic winner as well as a mount Everest climber and a traveller to the South Pole.
What is most amazing is that he has done all of this even though he lost both his arms whenj he was 14 years old.

He is a major inspiration to so many. He had a fun way of telling the students that he read IMPOSSIBLE as I'm possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Zahl_Pedersen

Some images from his own home page

There is a big rehabilitation senter named after him

Odd Nerdrum, a famous painter, especially in Norway and the US has painted his nude portrait making him belong to a very celebert company. The painting is worth at least a million Norwegian kroner

Yesterday 9A and 9B with 3 of their teachers - me being one of them - packed theis ruchsacks, sausages, one time grills, fishing rods etc and went out in nature walking. Here are a couple of the photos I took. Due to me not wanting to show my students faces close up without each's permission I have picked most of the photos without persons in it or showing their backs.













































Wednesday, August 19, 2009

It is lovely both to meet my own class and the new students. This first week is hectic but also it is very nice to be back because I love my work as a teacher and my students. At the same time I have began watching some of the photos I took during my holidays. Today's painting is inspired by a reference photo taken at Arran Island, Scotland one evening.


Memories of Arran Island, Scotland,
watercolour
24x32cm
$45
p&p is FREE
SOLD

Tuesday, August 18, 2009


Sketch beach scene,
watercolour
24x32cm
$0

Monday, August 17, 2009

First day of school for the students - very intense day for us teachers too. I've been working untill nearly 11 p.m. preparing so all I found time for today was getting my fingers a bit blue with paint and do some playing around with it. Each day these days seems to be a loosing battle to get properly started painting again. My daughter comforts me that when the day is right it will all be ok and I do believe her but I want that day to be NOW. Well tomorrow is another day. nodp






Warming up Sketch - Blue squirrel


Varmin up sketch - Feeling small

Sunday, August 16, 2009

My daughter is moving to a bedsit closer to her college so today we mowed the last things from her flat and washed it down. Afterwards we went out together for dinner ot celebrate our work. Weather home was beautiful and here are 3 photos showing you that. Unfortunately this means that I did not find time to paint today either. Crossing fingers that tomorrow will be a day filled with me painting.

Friday, August 14, 2009

I used to hate spiders and most insects but the more I study them the more I love them. (nodp)






















Thursday, August 13, 2009

Back to work today in lovely weather. Painful joints in my hands today so in the end I did not paint and ended up spending a couple of hours under the duvet after taking a couple of painkillers instead.

Today I will share with you some photos I took a couple of days ago on another sunny day. These late summer weed flowers are so popular with all kinds of insects that I feel bad mowing the lawn. (nodp)












Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pause

Will be back to posting daily again from tomorrow on. Please excuse my absence lately.

Hugz Trine

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Today as well as yesterday has been mainly spent catching up on rest and sleep. My holidays has been very special and interesting and filled with so many impressions that strangely enough I did not feel filled up but emptied out. Tomorrow I will start sorting through photos and memories and hopefully start using some of the lovely landscape photos I have taken as referance photos for paintings.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Travelling home

Arrived home today after a very long journey (ca22 hours):

First I got a lift by car into Belfast where I joined a Double decker Tourbus and went around Belfast for 1,5hours. Then I went back to Lindsey's by bus from where I finalized my packing and took

a taxi for the ferry

ferry Brelfast-Stranrear

train: Stranrear - Ayr

train: Ayr - Glasgow Prestwick
Then a long wait at the airport

for the plane

Then after some waiting a buss

then a train
then bus for part of what should have been a traintrip



and finally a taxi for my daughter's place to fetch my car to use for the last leg home.
Home sweet home. I have had an amazing holiday and will begin telling you about it tomorrow