Oslo Paintings

Almost every painter in the world use their home surrounding as possible motives. So am I.

Buildings and landmarks in Oslo have been backgrounds for many paintings during my efforts to create a ArneA-style. But my head is so full of different intensions so I do not know if my followers can look at an image and say: "This is  ArneA "

However, in this blogpost I will gather some of my Oslo paintings and thus be up to the blog-followers to decide which is or should be the typical ArneA-style.

I start the presentation showing Oslo City Hall

These paintings are done from Aker Brygge (west) and Pappabuene (east) in an area called Vika.

This painting is also  from the City Hall Quays in Vika showing the steamer "Børøysund" and one of the Cruise liners at the Akershus seaside.

This one is also from the seaside at PiperVika, but showing the Akershus Fortress  in front of Ekeberg Hill

On the other side of Akershus we find the new city development area ; Bjørvika.  Here I have tried to catch my expression of the new sky line Barcode early in the development process.

The Parliament building from 1866 in the middle of Oslo centre at Karl Johan is made in black and white like a sketch

 Higher up the Karl Johan we find the old University Library and the Royal Castle at the top.

Covering the Fortress, City Hall, University, Royal Castle and the Parliament I was only missing the spiritual or religious power factor in our society. Oslo Cathedral and the Courtyard are covered on this painting from "Storgata"

A complete different style of buildings can be found at Tjuvholmen  located on a peninsula sticking out from Aker Brygge into the Oslofjord. It is located east of Filipstad and south of Vika. 

Oslo has a great area around the city called Marka where recreation or physical activities can be done either by walking, running, biking or swimming. This is from Sognsvann 

Mentioning physical activity an image of the pride of Oslo; Vålerenga and Freddy dos Santos also must be included.

 The last three paintings I present in this blogpost is from our (now Rikke´s) city cottage area where I first started my painting carieer. Our garden on top and below our neighbours red cottage

and finally a self portrait in front of out great Fagerbusk (Kolkwitzia Amabilis)

Paintings September 2020

In September this year the weather in front of my easel at the balcony has been perfect for continueing the work with images. My first painting (above) in September was an attempt to get a new way of combining colours and forms.

However because I had a frame similar to the first, I tried to combine two paintings into one by create another shape of stripes figures and colours. These two paintings are not fastened to each other and thus can be used by themselves, but also as a bigger decoration.

I have made several paintings of important buildings in Oslo. The City Hall, the Cathedral, the Akershus fortress and the river Akerselva have previously been shown in my blog. This time it is the Parliament and the square known from many demonstrations in front which is the motive for my painting

Because we now have autumn, the colours in the mountains are really spectacular. The yellow colour is perfect for images although this painting is not from a specific area in the mountains.

 This landscape is also only an artificial expression after a play with colours and figures. 

Paintings August 2020

 The weather in the month of August 2020 has been nice in Oslo. Thus my balcony activity (Painting) has also been on an acceptable level. In this blogpost  I therefore present five of my latest works.

The sunset in Norway during late summer days is often pink/red coloured on the western sky and the affect between dark hills and mirroring water is expressed here.

The farmers fields are yellow during these days and a close-up with the blue autumn-to-come sky has resulted in a painting like this.

Re-doing of previous paintings has been one of my favourite activities when saving canvas instead of overpaining

 

This painting is also a result of changing another work from years behind. Using painting knifes instead of brushes gives also a more rough expression of the motive and also more ArneA style.

At least another black and white abstract painting giving interesting results dependent of how you look at the image.

July 2020 production

This blogpost is covering my production of paintings in July 2020.

On Instagram we are very often presenting photos covering our daily life at home and away. Some of these photos are also inspiration for me when deciding a painting. This image is based on a photo of "gubben og gamla" from our trip to <a href="https://www.kistefosmuseum.no">Kistefoss Museet</a>

 

Black and white paintings have been one of my challenges this year. Making abstract paintings on black canvas and only using white acryllic paint can result in a nice impression like this.

Another painting also based on black canvas but with a touch of more colors give this result of a beach during the corona pandemi.

Like some of the paintings presented in my last blogpost, I sometime feel an urgent need to make chaos on the canvas. Where to put different colors and which brush or knife I am using will be based upon coincidences but also with a plan/hope to create the best result

Going back to my painting activity some years ago I feel satisfied to make an updated colorful female act.

The latest painting from July 2020 is based on green but with white and blach together with purple as shadows. 

Paintings end June 2020

During the last 2 weeks of June I have been working with some more or less abstract images.

As a Colorist I experiment with how to make the right match, and use my wife to help me with my choice if something feels odd or not really correct.
 

This abstract painting is a sesult of using pastels with some dark colors to achieve depths.

Somethimes I make unintended figures in the image. Often I take them out, but in this image my wife told me to keep the houses and trees making it better.

In this painting the result based on various layers gave an interesting expression ready for interpreting by your own 

The latest painting in the first half of 2020 is once again a mix of figurative impression covered up in coloristic free use of abstract landscape.

Black and white, and some more

As a painter loving colors I have in many years used the full palette when expressing my works. This time I am using Black and White as the major challenge, but also put some other colors within the frames. 

This painting "Blacksmiths" is a BW version of a previous motive. In the blogpost it may look like grey and blue but the original is Black and White

This BW painting is an attempt to use white on black canvas. I hace called it "Yggdrasil" with reference to the old Norøn life-tree or mother of birth.

 

In June one of the hottest news stories was the murder of an american black man. I have called the BW+ work "Lives Matter".

From our loving Costa del Sol I found a photo from the full moon over the Mediterranean Sea and made this BW painting called "Moonshine"

At last in this blogpost I present an abstract composition full of colors again knowing that I am mostly a colorist.

Procedure when making a painting

I do not know in detail how professional artists make their artwork as paintings, but during this last week I have shot images of some of the steps towards my latest painting.



A charcoal scetch on the canvas (30x40) at the easel make some ideas of how to build up the colors of the painting.

Second step is to decide colors and painbrushes. Fill water in cups and select which part of the painting I shall start before mixing the basic colors with white or mixing the basic with themselves.

Normally I work very fast with the color adding step on canvas.. Trying to find what I have meant with the sketch and which colors can be placed besides each other

Then we have the most difficult step. Finishing up, but also not overdue. It is very difficult to know when to stop. It is impossible to return to a previous layer, very easy to destroy the intension or to change the colors to the point of no return. Overpainting and new start is one of my experiences, but dismotivating.

The last step is to name the painting. That task of giving the title I give to my blog followers. 

Before May 17th 2020

This short blogpost shows my latest painting during the corona times.



First I have made a skyline from a city with focus on colors and how they are placed together.



This part of a well known city Ålesund, I have made in many versions. This painting here is not how  the area along the MOLOVEIEN is, but how I remember what I have seen based on visiting the area on the opposite side of the city´s inner harbour.

Changing or developing paintings

 I have made several versions of my previous home for 30 years at ES 29 Oslo. This is the last one made during our COVID-19 quaranteen periode. Not the best but finished and presented to the world..

Non figurative paintings have never been by best works, but this Composition is an example of how I think room decorations can be if colors are the main purpose. Landscape or portret style is up to you.

Based on a photo from the Geiranger fjord I made this painting called Mountain farm

This version of a central square in Ålesund I finished today.

I am allways interested in customer´s requests and price offers for my works. It is only up to you during this corona discount weeks.

Life in home quarantine due to Covid-19

Returning to Norway from Andalusia required 14 days in imposed home quarantine due to the pandemic Covid-19.
Two weeks in almost isolation have given us some challenges linked to my underlying challenges after organ transplantaion and repression of the immune system. It would be bad if my 22 prolonged years should end in a viral disease.


Compared to many others in quarantine Tullen and I feel lucky to have family around us, represented here with Rikke and Tor-Marius who bring food and wine to our apartment. They are not entering our flat, but put the shopping bags outside the door. Communication from the hallway with at least 2 metres distance is ok for a short time.

Bags with groceries are delivered once a week but due to the limited dinner possibilities, the Cava must be used also to fish grateng.

                     (I miss the La Farola bief)

The national lockdown make challenges to daily activities.

My wife has decided that we wash the complete apartment. Every rooms, cabinets, drawers and store rooms have been cleaned during the two first quarantine weeks.

The third week have been used to prepare our balcony for warmer days. The grill is ready for bbq and my easel is ready for more paintings. The "primavera" in Andalusia is swaped to "Vår" in Norway.



A complete differet information from our side:

 In September our new RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid will be delivered and we can think about something else than the Coronavirus development around the world, and especially in our second home Spain.