new space

I enrolled in the local art school.
I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but things just sort of happened, and sometimes you have to go with the flow.

I was feeling an urge to work larger and "messier", but I didn't want to mess up our newly renovated studio at home. I also need to get out of the house and meet some new people (no offense, dear husband!) after all we've been living here a year and hardly know anyone (I exaggerate, but still).

After a visit to the schools Open House in the beginning of summer, I spoke with the art teachers. I was welcome to do a "Project year". There will be 6 of us doing our own projects. The teachers reason that the first year students benefit from this as well.

It means I get access to a studio, art teachers - well, everything that's included in the art school schedule. But I decide what I want to do and when I want to be there. And it's free of charge. That's Sweden for you.

This is the studio, I share it with another woman.


This is my corner, my wall.


Sorry Asta, no pets allowed :(

Galleri Hedengrens Trappa

Photos from the opening of my show at Hedengrens Bookshop on Thursday 28th of August. The gallery is located inside, hence the name Galleri Hedengrens Trappa; "trappa" means staircase in Swedish. The bookshop is situated in the centre of Stockholm, at Stureplan.





Some of my work on either side of the staircase. I'm at the bottom with my daughter Olivia and Anna-Lena, one of three responsible of the gallery.


Nature Morte.


This is one of three bookcovers I've been working on. It's called "The way out". Unfortunately I didn't get shots of the other two. I'll post photos of them later.


"Fall" and "Spring" (shot at home).


A whole bookshop at your disposal when you get bored of your mother.


Hello goodbye.


Everything went well, I was very pleased, though feeling quite exhausted afterwards, but in a good way.

I missed Mattias of course, but also all our friends from Gothenburg - it's just too far to travel in the middle of the week. We still don't know very many people in our new surroundings here. But a really old friend turned up, and it was great to see her again. So I'm happy!

sticks and stones...

... can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.
Oh, who am I fooling. Since the show is in a bookshop, unknown people will pass by during the opening tomorrow. I will have good, heavy, coffeetable-books at hand if they say anything unkind about my stuff (just kidding!!).

Sticks – well, twigs actually (the stones are in the previous post)

twig I.


twig II.


twig III.

burning midnight oil

This is some of the work for my first solo show, here in Stockholm, at Galleri Hedengrens Bokhandel. These past few days have been extremely hectic, especially since Mattias isn't here to cook for us... He's enjoying himself in Greece for another three and a half weeks ;)
I've been working late every evening after putting the kids to bed. So I'm tired, it's 01:45 in the morning and now I have done all that last-minute-stuff that has to be done. I'm even too tired to feel nervous, but that will come in due time, I'm sure.

Now I deserve the bed. Good night!

PS! The show opens this Thursday, August 28th, between 5 and 7 pm.
It continues until September 17th. Welcome!



Pumice stones (pimpstenar på svenska).








Close-ups of the above

creatures of the sea

Rosa and the jellyfish.
I found beautiful ceramics by Heather Knight through design this design that.

bye!

Mattias is off to the town of Kavalla in Greece!

He received a grant from The Association of Swedish Illustrators.
Flight, room and board at the Swedish House in Kavalla. So now he'll draw,
draw and draw for f-o-u-r whole weeks. With no interruptions for cooking,
dogwalks, quarrelling children and nagging wife ;)

Well, only until the rest of the family comes scrambling down to join him for the last week.

Right now he's still on the bus, a 2,5 hour ride from Thessaloniki.
Hope all went well on your trip!
God natt, puss puss!

free dog

this land is my land...


...and that land too...


...mine, all mine..!

where did it go?

Summer is already over.
It just ended, quite abrubtly.
I do love the fall, but it came way too early this year,
I wasn't finished with summer yet...











This was just 3 weeks ago, on our summer island, Stora Kornö.
It's in the archipelago, on the West Coast of Sweden.
The weather was extremely dry and hot for almost two weeks, there was a watershortage on the island and our water pump decided to lay off just then. We went swimming several times a day and washed with salt water soap. Drinking water was fetched in buckets.
Evenings were warm and windless and we brought the grill along. Marshmallows were a must.

happy birthday Mattias!

I gave him a piece of art by textile artist Sara Lechner, whom we both admire so much. He was delighted when he opened the package (I too - I had no idea, didn't want to spoil the surprise). I was so pleased with his joy, he is not an easy man to buy gifts for - no special hobbies, needs or wishes...

Now we just have to decide where to hang this jewel!

morning plunge

The mornings have been lovely these past few days. Later during the day the sky tends to cloud over, so we woke the kids early yesterday and steered our morning dogwalk down to the lake. It was much too cold for Mattias and myself to hop in, so while the kids swam, we sat on the jetty sipping tea and eating bisquits. Asta was totally bored until she discovered the funny playmates in the water...

Lena Olson is a jeweller, and one of my best friends :) she now has a website (at last!)

Midsummer lunch

Midsummer has come and gone, the lightest day of the year is already behind us. The days will get shorter and shorter... :(

Well it doesn't go that fast, luckily. We celebrated a nice, laidback Midsummer, no dancing around the Maypole – the children are not amused of that any more (they never were actually, it was just us parents thinking they should be). We ate the traditional herring and potato lunch out back on our patio. Very nice.

Asta does not behave outside, she runs all over everybodys backyards, wild and crazy. I'm not sure they mind, but I do. I want a well-behaved dog (in my dreams...). We need to put a fence around our garden, but until then, she's jailed in, inside the house. Poor sweet.

violet wednesday

Bookbinding weeks final!

This is the last of the 7 different journals/sketchbooks I've posted in the past week.
These bookbinding projects I've had for a while, half-finished, are now completed. They are all bound in a technique called limp binding; the leather cover is sewn directly on to the bookblock. The bookblock consists of 64 blank, white or cream, pages.

I'm planning an Etsy-shop after the summer holidays. If you're interested in purchasing one before, just send me an email!

cloudy grey tuesday

This is bookbinding weeks sixth day, tomorrow will be the last bookbinding post in this series. This one is as grey as the sky was today...

The facts about this one:

limp binding
grey goat leather
greygreen endpapers
64 blank cream pages
15,5 x 22 cm (6.1 x 8.7 inches)