Sigurd.

As you might be able to deduce from the last few paintings in the 2009 section, I have recently become a father. I have done one painting of Karen pregnant, one of Sigurd asleep in his crib, and one of a more freeform jumble of impressions from the birth. Here is the little dude;

After easter, I decided to have a go at painting, from photos, some of the mountains from around my family's cabin. This is a pretty different motif from what I usually do; more decorative and perhaps also less dense with meaning and emotion.

Fugl Fønix

Use of symbols

I have usually not been too keen on the use of symbols in the paintings, as I think this very quickly becomes more of an intellectual exercise than the more immediate emotional impact I tend to aim for.

However, my latest painting has seen symbols creeping in; a nest, a lifesaving buoy, a tree. I guess this will be ok as long as symbols don't overpower or obscure the feel of what the picture is about.

Borderline infant.

I have decided to blog some of my thoughts on certain paintings(the ones that have thoughts behind them), and this weekend I finished the one above.

I called it Borderline Infant, and I guess the image symbolizes the paradoxical demands babies(and, by extension, all of us) put on their caregivers. They are utterly dependent and absolutely demanding, living in greedy and devoted symbiosis with their caregivers. I guess the task of the caregiver ultimately will be to somehow extinguish the flames of their own need for freedom and self for a while, which, I have noticed, is easier for some people than others.

2009

A new year, a new gallery on the website.

I have been experimenting with some new techniques that more resemble watercolours than anything else, and my experience thus far has been very mixed. The paint sort of flows all over the place. When it dries, it sometimes creates striking happy accidents, and it sometimes frustrates the hell out of me for hours and hours.

It is interesting, though, as the happy accidents, when they are good, are beyond what I can achieve by my usual means, like in this picture; my first of 2009.

Bacon at the Tate.

Went to the UK recently, and had a chance to look at the exhibition of one of my great favourites, Francis Bacon, at the Tate. Amazing stuff, but way too many people.