Wines in Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion, Cognac and Arcachon

This week we have been on a tour to the south-western part of France; to the departments Gironde and Clarente.
I will cover our days in the coming blogposts, but give you some ideas of the great wines we tasted during the four days stay.

 When arriving Bordeaux late Sunday we had dinner close to the Cathedral and got both white and red wines from Chateau de Respide . This red is a blend og Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The next day we visited the city Saint-Emilion and in one of the hundreds wine shops we took this 100% Merlot from Chateau Barrail Saint Andre Saint-Emillion Grand Crue 2014 with us for a taset at our hotel. We loved it.

During dinner the same evening at Chateau Viux Sarpe in Saint-Emilion these three very good red wines was served. From left to right the prices was 10 - 20 - 40 Euros. I liked the 20 euros wine, served together with an Entrecote, best.

Beeing invited to lunch at the Braastad family castle Chateau de Triac in Cognac was a great experience. The food was perfect and the chateau´s Pommerade Rose and Red was perfect to the four dishes meal. I do not need to mention the aperatif and the cognac fefore and after the meal.

Our lunch wine in Bordeaux city was this Chateau de Camarsac served to rosted duck or Confit de Canard.

Before returning home we had a boat trip in the oyster area at Arcachon Bay, and lunch at Cafe de la Plage at the seafront promenade. No photos of wines here, but the volumes of oysters on board and seafood starter at the restaurant must be evidents of the kind of food we had together with all the lovely wines this week.

Ending the painting season 2018

 The painting season 2018 is over. Almost 50 paintings have been finished (either new or repainted)  in front of my easel since the middle of May when the temperatur at my balcony became acceptable for outdoor activity. Now I am closing down for 2018 move to southern Europe and make sketches for next season in 2019.

 The first painting presented in this blogpost is from southern Italy, and named "Summer night in Taranto"

 The next painting is a new version of some sketches made several years ago when I was experimenting with different colors. I have used the famious peak Slogen above Øye in Hjørundfjorden as motive. I have made many paintings of Slogen in different styles, and still am facinated of the possibilities this area give. Name: "Hjørundfjord with Slogen)

The remaining paintings in this blogpost have motives from my birthtown Ålesund.

The above is from Fjellstua and inspired of a visit to Høvikodden Gallery where Jacob Wiedemans paintings can be seen at the moment. His 1950s paintings, in perhaps cubistisk style, is as I see it his best works. This painting is named "Siblings"

 Brosundet with the Fish houses on the northern shore is normally the most photographed image in Ålesund. I therefor wanted to make a painting of the other seashore, and made this named "The southern bank of Brosundet.

 The same paradox can be said about the northern image of Ålasund. Many and I included have made paintings of the area belowe the yellow schoolbuilding and with Moljå lighthouse, but this time I wanted to present an image from the entrance of the city from north with the mountains behind. It is named "The city in front of the mountains"

 This painting is covering Sulafjellet and the promontory of the island Hessa with the sea fog coming inn the fjord. Named: " The ocean mist is coming"

 This painting is from the same area, the headland of Slinningen, towards the east. The weather is almost cloudy and grey in Ålesunf so therefor the dark colors of the kay and the old Sea Bu. Named: "The Slinning Sea Bu"

My last painting from Ålesund covers the Bay of Aspø surrounded by the city and with the silouett of the mountain "Sukkertoppen" during sunset. Named: "Sunset behind Sukkertoppen"

Hope you have enjoyed my blogposts covering paintings from May 2018 till this of September 2nd. In the months to come the longstay at Costa del Sol autumn 2018 will be covered

Inspired by T.Heramb and J.Rian

When you are an autodidact painter with only a few professional assisted sessions, studying painters like van Gogh and Munch is a more important element in my education. However, I believe Thore Heramb and Johannes Rian has had most influence on my development.
I therefore present an old and some new paintings that are linked to their style

First an improved work of Heramb´s "Randi spiller" which I called The piano player

Second is a new painting from the harbour in Oslo with Akershus Beach and the Cruiceship kay which I have named "From Pappa-Buene"

Johs. Rians paintings developed rapidly to color abstract art after he had passed 70 years, and he made many fantastic color compositions with almost no visual reference to the world. I have tried to work out some paintings that are in the "same style" but cannot totally free myself from the real world yet.
Therefore I still make titles like "Hyttegrend"

The last one just finished today, I have called "Oksekjake med paprika og French fries"

Only for the purpose of making documentation of all my works in my blog, I add this portrait of a man at his cafe dressed in a Burberry coat.

The Silhouette painting style is over for this time.

In my latest four blogposts (this included) I have presented 16 paintings in the silhouette style. Many positive responses (although few sale orders) from friends and the market, and I have myself been happy during the intence working procedures.

However this blogpost gives you the last three paintings in that style (for this time at least) and also give tribute to the sunny visit to Helsinki, Finland, by using yellow as the main color.

At the same time I use the opportunity to honor my wife´s family by presenting images related to her ancesters. Her Great-Grandfather and his sons migrated from Sweden to Norway mid 1800 and worked as Blacksmiths in Maridalen outside Oslo.

This painting is a tribute to my wife´s father and my father-in-law and his passion for playing violin and mostly viola. Every day when my wife came home from school and he had finished his job, he asked her to sit down at the piano and play with him in different "Concertos". Her accompanies made her great in reading notes and express them into her instrument; The Piano

So then it is time to turn the bruches and canvas into something different expressions. What that will be may come in my next blogpost, but an indication can be found in this painting.

Just another paining blogpost

Before I start working with my new paintings with motives from our visit to Finland´s capital Helsinki, I have to give you the latest works of this summer production.

When visiting places around Europe I allways look for motives that can be transformed into paintings.In Mijas Pueblo and outside our favorite restaurant "Secret garden" I found a painting on an easel, and with the steep street uphill it resulted in the above homeproduces canvas.

The same idea came out of an image of the Parliament in Budapest. The night sky and the river Donau in front of our Dinner Cruice resulted in this painting.

Playing with colors and making the best out of their interaction to eachother has been one of my challenges. Finding the right tone when working out an image is not easy, but studying many other painters and their results, give me a better basis for desicion. This painting is one good and successful result of that challenge.

Exhibition of motives from Oslo, Costa del Sol and Budapest

 In Malaga we very often visit Plaza de la Merced where Malags´s best burger can be found at one of the restaurants along the birth-place of Pablo Picasso.
Artists sometimes exhibit their paintings on the square and many interesting motives can be found.. This painting 50x60 acrylic on canvas I call "Exposicion en Merced" and the price is 2500 nok

Back to Oslo and restaurant Festningen at the walls of Akershus. The view from here against Oslo west with Aker Brygge and the hils in Bærum made the frame for this painting.
50x70 acrylic on Canvas  "Evening lights" 2500 nok

 When in Budapest early in june many motives found their way to my iPhone. A river dinner cruice on the Donau is almost mandatory in Budapest and when my wife dreamt about Titanic this motive was natural.
50x70 Acrylic on Cancas "An der schønen blauen Donau" 2700 nok

A variation of another painting made from the backstreets in Malaga "Stalker in Calle Trinidad"is in privat ownership alreay.

This morning I finished my variation of E.Munch´s painting from 1901, but called it "Kvinnene på Broen"( Las mujeres en el puente) due to the fact that very few young girls walk alond the coastal pathway from Calahonda to La Cala de Mijas.
50x70 Acrylic on Canvas 2500 nok

The last panting presented in this blogpost is "Calle Marques de Larios" and an exprecion of the main street in Malage where shops are the dominating activity on ground floor.
70x50 Acrylic on Canvas 2700 nok

New painting style.

Is it true that an artist must find his own expression to be known and interested in the art marked. Is it necessary to develope a specific style that people immediately recognize as "that is he or her", or kan you work in different styles in the same periode and still be valuable.

Anyway, in this blog I present some of my latest paintings that have been well received and liked by friends and people on FaceBook, and even resulted in  a clear message : "that painting I want!!"

Lately I went back to the primory colors: Red, Yellow and Blue plus Black and White (all colors and no colors) and tried out the effect these colors had on eachother, and more interresting the effect when combining them to black and white. In the summer night in my last blogpost I even used the secondary color Green.

On the painting above "The wall painter" I made the figure paint red on a black surfice. To get the figure in the foreground I made him yellow.

In this painting "Home from Shopping" I made the yellow indicate light in the end of a narrow street with dark walls, and the near figure white.

In this painting "Nightwalk in Budapest" a lonely man with a stick moves into the night represented by a dark blue sky.

The last painting in this blogpost is in a way Op Art.
That means that how you see the image is dependent of how you focus on the picture. If focusing on the black starry sky you may see the Orion´s Belt, but may be also a black monster coming against you. If focusing on the blue colors the buildings along the street "Gran Via in Madrid" may be easier to recognize.

In all these paintings I have put in depth and distance by using colors and perspective. When Braque and Picasso developed Cubism, the first technique was to ignore perspective, and many others have tryed to do the same by weighting colors as cultur and not nature. If you want a natural image use photo. Painting is culture.

More to come.

Evenings at Skansen in Ålesund and Skansen (The Fortress) in Oslo

In the middle of the old Jugend city Ålesund there is a square called "Skansen" (Saint Olav´s square). The impressive old sea house from 1907 Rønnebergbua is well known, and I have for some time had plans for making this painting. Hope you like the painting "Skansen".

In my second city, Oslo, the "Akershus Fortress" is much older. We believe that the work with the castle started late 1290s. The fortress was first used in a battle in 1308. Here you may read more about the history of Akershus Festning

On the walls around the castle we have a great view of the inner Oslofjord called "Pibervigen" and the new city on the western shore called "Aker Brygge".
This painting I have called Summer evening at the Fortress.

This painting is also the beginning of a new paintig style (may be) by me. Some new paintings will be presented in my next blogpost.

City motives Oslo and Ålesund

With reference to some of my friends, buildings are one of the types of images I am best in when painting. How to express these motives may vary from canvas to canvas, and today I present two paintings in that genre made last weeks.

This one is from Oslo; called The Cathedral. Acrylic on Canvas (70 x 50)

This one is from Ålesund; called The Cinema. Acrylic on Canvas  (70 x 50)

From Marbella to Oslo

Two new paintigs are ready to be shown.

The Fortress or Akershus Slott is the name of my last painting. Acryllic on Canvas 50 x 50.

Before the Fortress painting I finished the painting from Marbella; Playa de la Fontanillas Acryllic on Canvas 50 x 70.

Finished Paintings June 2018

Once again it is time to present my last finished paintings. Three of them have motives from Ålesund and one is an experiment of matching colours through a reorganized selfie.

"Slinningsbua" has been one of the Norwegian coast´s pearls. Due to bad weather I have made the painting without the mountains normally shown in the background. No doubt I love the blue color.

This painting is from the canal as people in Ålesund call Naftadjupet of Brosundet. The storehouses along the sea "Sjøbodene" was built after the city fire in 1904 and have been used for fish-drying and storing up to present time.

Another way of presenting "Brosundet" from Hellebroa to Nørvøya with a full freedom of playing with colors.

Playing with colors (red, blue, yellow, turquoise and white + black)  resulted in this painting too. I call it "Summer Selfie" because the faces in the image became visual when making dots in some of the fields.

Visiting Budapest and what I did not show in previous blogposts, Post three

At the Chain Bridge it is impossible to ignore the lions. The question is however if you are brave enough to check out if the lion has a tongue.

Under the bridge there is a walking tunnel so you can avoid the restricted areas with heavy trafic.

On the other side of the pedestrian passage this sculpture made my attention. High heals in front of the Four Season Hotel

However, the sculpture of the great Hungarian painter Ignac Roskovics (1854 -1915) is my favorite.

The bronce sculpture in the Zrinyi street facing the Basilica, must be the most touched stomach in Hungary

On the Buda side of the river Donau the Semmelweis Museum have large sculptures outside covering the first World War, and showing the horror and suffering of the soldiers. (ps: if possible you should read Rierre Lematre´s novel : Sacrifises)

As we say good night from Donau and Budapest at the end of this blogpost, I hope you have enjoyed the journey together with us from our visit to Hungary. If you found this post first, go further into my blog Life is Great and see the two other posts from the Hungarian Capital together with over 2K other memories from our life.