Aase G

Some small drawings

2012-01-23T23:06:00.001+01:00

Rural decay

2012-01-06T21:58:00.000+01:00

Christmas exhibition

2011-12-14T14:18:00.001+01:00

The open association of Kragerø-based artists "Bølgeblikk" exhibiting at the gallery of Kragerø art association. I participated in mounting the exhibition, which is always quite challenging when there really is no common denominator apart from belonging to an artist association.. We did the job, though, and people thought it was a well mounted exhibition.

My works are the three in the middle.

Livingroom view - summer

2011-11-18T19:23:00.001+01:00

As I went through some photos on my computer, I found these from last summer, it's the view from our living room. They are quite representative of this past summer, very wet and very green.

We often see deers in our garden. Beautiful yes, but also a big problem if you want to grow things. The fencing of our vegetable garden was something of a project, but the deers have no respect: They jump over, or else crawl under it, and eat whatever they fancy.

Nice day

2011-10-03T22:33:00.001+02:00

Handcrafted modern

2011-09-10T19:19:00.001+02:00

via despiteeverything

In the cabin

2011-08-08T22:43:00.003+02:00

A weekend in Rauland, in the cabin, no kids. Did some walking, eating, relaxing and reading. Some rain, but nice to stay inside too.

The romantic forest (Per Kirkeby and Efterklang, Denmark)

2011-07-08T23:13:00.003+02:00

Stills from the 1970 film Den romantiske skoven - Dyrehaven by Per Kirkeby and Jørgen Leth. The Danish band Efterklang uses material from this film for their video Modern Drift. It's in color and very beautiful, the song is very nice too.

Painting, Andreas Eriksson and Per Kirkeby

2011-07-05T22:56:00.002+02:00

Andreas Eriksson

Per Kirkeby

Andreas Eriksson

Wood, textile and light

2011-06-15T15:06:00.002+02:00

my father made these

my parents' garden

my grandmother wove this rug

from my walk

my father's woodstack

Seascapes

2011-06-06T14:18:00.000+02:00

The Ash Dome, David Nash

2011-05-31T14:24:00.000+02:00

"...But one of Nash’s most impressive and widely hailed works can never be moved anywhere. Further down the Vale of Ffestiniog, where he stayed with his grandfather as a child, are four acres of prime Welsh woodland surrounded by grand, dome-like hills. Having inherited this terrain, Nash decided to plant 22 ash trees there in the late-1970s. He chose ash because it is a very resilient tree, forever contorting itself in order to seek the light. And over the decades, with the help of careful pruning, and splashing of faux fox’s urine to keep the bark-stripping squirrels away, Nash has made Ash Dome grow into an impressive natural sculpture that echoes the forms of the encircling hills.
Nash loves working with wood. ‘There’s a profound wisdom there, stretching over millennia,’ he tells me. ‘I take my cue from what the material suggests to me. And this exhibition will reveal 40 years of my research. I am a researcher into the science and anthropology of trees and the wood they produce. For every culture and civilisation, wood is a fundamental survival material for building, defending, cooking and so much more. I’m also a maker of objects that are motivated by an idea, an attitude of a healthy relationship with our outer skin, the environment." (excerpt from interview found here)

see film here

Rural spring

2011-05-14T22:14:00.005+02:00

Green, green, green and some brown. And a slight problem above the horizon...

Japanese woodblock session 2

2011-05-08T21:13:00.005+02:00

They may look like kitchen towels, but they are woodblock prints. I took the pictures in the afternoon light, it comes through the window of my work space. I liked the way it made the prints look light and floating.

One of the nice things about Japanese wood-block printing (moku-hanga) is that you can do it at home, and you don't need a huge printing press. You use a tool called "baren" (a disc covered with bamboo leaves) to impress the ink/colour into the paper. There are numerous steps to make before you start printing, though... cutting the block, preparing the paper, making the nori (a binder consisting of rice paste and water) ... But it's all very low tech, non-toxic and the technique has not changed much since it was introduced to Japan by Bhuddist missionaries in the 8th century. I like it.

Japanese woodblock session

2011-05-03T15:47:00.003+02:00

Today I have done some printing again. Can you see the faint blue colour, fading gradually? It's typical of Japanese prints. Gradation, or bokashi. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's something that has to be tried. So I tried it today, and it actually worked pretty well. Instead of making multiple prints of the same motif, I use different blocks and make unique prints. It's more fun, and allows for experimentation.

The papers are all wrinkled, they have to be pressed flat inside some heavy book... A little bit like blocking knitted garments.

Life outdoors

2011-04-19T09:55:00.001+02:00

The little girl has got a new knitted vest. I got the pattern from Gry on fintfôr. Yesterday a little friend had her birthday party and we were invited on a boattrip to celebrate.

No time to stay inside now. Have to go out and dig in the ground.

Odd selection

2011-04-17T22:56:00.003+02:00

A more or less odd selection of pictures. Second picture is a painting by artist Franz Kline. The last two don't really belong in the selection, do they? Or maybe if it's seen like some - well, journey. First the rock, and then gradually... it opens up, doesn't it..?

Watercolour on the verge of nothing

2011-04-02T22:38:00.001+02:00

A couple of small watercolour-drawings made recently. Almost nothing, but still something. I like red watercolour. I like the red colour of barns, it even has its own name in Norwegian "låverød". And I like the uneven structure on old wooden panel. Plus I like being able to hear the sound of the ocean right outside my door.

A walk

2011-03-22T14:39:00.001+01:00

Outhouses, barns, sheds

2011-03-20T22:05:00.002+01:00

What is it about them that I find so fascinating? These are just some recent photos, I have lots and lots of others.

studio and outside

2011-03-10T14:58:00.001+01:00

Prints and drawings

2011-02-15T15:12:00.002+01:00

Some prints and drawings. Finally taken up the Japanese woodblock printing technique that I learnt in Berlin a year ago. The first photo is a print, and the third. Japanese woodblock printing is fascinating, I certainly will do more of this.

Japanese woodblock

2011-02-06T22:45:00.002+01:00

Japanese woodblock prints by Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997). I like these. They remind me a little of a book from my childhood, The snowy day by Ezra Pound Keats (see below). I have taken up Japanese woodblock-printing. It demands a lot of preparation, but it's fun.

Agnes Martin and Richard Tuttle

2010-12-02T14:48:00.001+01:00

If you live near the coast, like I do, and you like to go for a walk, you can either go into the woods or you can go out by the sea.

In the woods you will walk on a narrow path, see the footprints of animals on the snow, admire the beauty of dry, wrinkly flowers against the sparkling white ground - in short: all the small, humble signs of life so easily passed by. By the sea you can gaze at the horizon, the vastness of the ocean, the small ripples forever repeating themselves on the water, the sameness all over and the feeling of awe by it. It struck me today, when I chose to walk in the woods, that this choice relates to Richard Tuttle (artist, living), while the sea-choice relates to Agnes Martin (artist, dead). It was quite obvious when I began to think about it.

See for yourself:

Richard Tuttle: Section IV, Extension E (17,8x13,7x11,4 cm)

Agnes Martin

Martin and Tuttle were close friends since the mid 1960s, and even though their work is very different, not only regarding scale (ex: Agnes Martin's paintings were typically huge; 180x180 cm, Tuttle's work is small), it's as if they are two sides of the same coin. Like going for a walk when you live by the coast.

2010-11-11T13:22:00.001+01:00

Some glimpses from the new neighborhood. Today; beautiful weather, walk in the woods. Tested my up until recently unused macro-lens. I also practiced using the manual settings instead of the auto. My favorite image is that of the empty nutshell, I like it's questioning/ terrified expression. Last image; the habitat of our six-year old.

Anorakk

2010-07-07T22:42:00.000+02:00

A present from Gry. It fits well, and looks cool! I hope her head doesn't grow much bigger, though:)

Thinking about life, death, art and

2010-06-23T20:41:00.002+02:00

... TIME, obviously. Note the central position of the wrist-watch. Not to forget SPACE. (I'm in my workspace, as a matter of fact).

Recently I have offered my hand-drawn pictures as gifts to friends at various occasions. (Nicely framed too.) It has taken some effort to overcome the feeling of embarrassment associated with this act. I am not an apt drawer. I'm a doodler. So how can I be so shameless as to push my doodles on to people like this? I have no real answer. Shamelessness and narcissism, has it come to this with me too? For the time being, I see it as playing. I'm playing when I'm drawing, playing like a child plays, almost mindless, without a definite aim or ambition, but totally immersed in the act and totally serious. It is as simple and difficult as that. So even though my drawn gifts are not accomplished, not skillfully executed, more based on intuition than on concept, I suppose I must feel they are good enough to be given away. I am shameless, in deed.

This is serious business....

Goodbye Oslo II

2010-06-07T16:30:00.001+02:00

In the series Goodbye Oslo, part II:

From above: My former workplace in the city, Oslo seen from Sinsenkrysset, our bathroom view, Tveten gård old farm buildings.

Oslo goodbye

2010-06-05T20:41:00.000+02:00

Above: Oslo (Aker brygge, view from Tveten gård, view footpath along Akerselva)

Below: Rødal, Portør - my new neighbourhood.

We move in a few weeks..

Long overdue projects finally finished

2010-04-22T10:33:00.000+02:00

Spring is coming up, but you never know with the weather. Yesterday we had snow. Good thing I managed to finish some of my long overdue knittingprojects before summer.. I had almost forgot the pleasure of knitting for children! It's so quick! Anna has about 20 cardigans size 6 months, but so few for her present size. Once I finish my ongoing white-garter-stripes cardigan for myself, I will take up knitting for my girl..

almost nothing, but still enough

2010-03-23T13:37:00.001+01:00

A few snapshots from around here, of nearly nothing, except perhaps a taste of spring. Last one is the reflection of sunlight in our bathroom mirror. I think the geometric effect is partly due to spots and uneven surface on the mirror, but I'm not sure. My son and I thought it looked quite spooky, we examined the phenonomen with his looking glass.

the start-again hat

2010-03-06T15:55:00.001+01:00

I promised to post about knitting, and here it is: A new hat. In lack of a better name, I call it the start-again hat, because casting-on is the main design element of this hat.

Kunstformen der Natur

2010-02-20T21:00:00.004+01:00

From the top: ernst haeckl,chris hipkiss , kiki smith , sam messenger , ernst haeckl.

Kunstformen der natur refers to Ernst Haeckl, German scientist (1834 - 1919), and his fantastic illustrations of animals and sea creatures.

(next post will be on knitting, promise..)

other people's art

2010-02-18T18:35:00.003+01:00

In my iPhoto I have stored a considerable amount of photos of other people's art. It can be anything I come across, that tickles my interest, some are pieces made of famous artists, some quite unknown (at least to me). They all have someting that I find interesting and inspiring. I thought maybe I should start sharing them with you. I will try to remember to give up the sources from where I found them, but - I don't always remember.

These are drawings by a woman called Pearl Blauvelt (found via Mieke Willems blog), who lived in New York and who left behind 800 drawings, found after her death. She was self-taught, unskilled artist, she drew things she saw in magazines, in shops and in her immediate surroundings. When the building she had lived in was to be renovated, her drawings were found in an old wooden box. Some of them are now part of MOMAs collection in New York. Quite fascinating. See Raw vision for more.

the girl

2010-02-04T16:04:00.001+01:00

She is a year and a half now, my little girl. She is as adorable and beautiful as she looks. But her birth almost took me away from this world. I thought I had recovered from it, or that I would shortly, but now I'm not so sure. We did the drawing together. I scribbled along, without really thinking of what I was drawing. And then came these faces and this little girl. As a girl, I used to draw a lot. And what I mostly drew was; girls. I liked this one on the right, she looks a little apprehensive and timid, but curious too - waiting for what will come next. So I copied her and put her in my blog. She represents something of what I feel myself these days.

Japan, Japan

2010-02-01T12:16:00.008+01:00

Clockwise: Ryoko Aoki, Zon Ito, Yuka Katagiri. All young Japanese artists, except for Zon Ito, they all do drawings. It may look like a drawing, but on closer inspection you see that it's embroidery. I like this whimsical, naîve style of drawing/ embroidery.
(click to see larger image)

Above a print by contemporary German artist Eva Pietzcker , and the famous Tsunami wave by the 19th century Japanese artist Hokusai. Both use Japanese woodblock print, a waterbased print method.

In beginning of March, I will attend a one week work-shop to learn this printing method. The work-shop takes place in Berlin, and is given by the aforementioned artist Eva Pietzcker. I'm very excited and hope I'll be in good form by then, I've been feeling a bit under the weather (as they say) lately.

2010-01-17T22:27:00.013+01:00

I'm not the least bored these days. As if I ever am. I'm never bored. My only problem is time. If I had more time I would draw, do printing (lino, woodcut, silkscreen), knit, crochet, embroider and weave. . . .

I sometimes ask myself if I have a problem of focus. Am I too scattered? But I try to reassure myself that it is all part of a process, and I have to let it happen, that there is some common denominator there, or some direction in all this frenzy. Direction, there is - in deed, and it's pointing southwards, to a particularly beautiful place on the Norwegian coast. More about that in another post...

happy new year!

2009-12-31T13:20:00.003+01:00

Goodbye 2009. Welcome 2010. A new decennium, a new start.

2009-12-02T20:55:00.003+01:00

This is a glimpse of what I've been doing lately, in the crafting department. Not so much knitting lately. My promise to write a pattern for the yellow cardigan remains to be fulfilled, I'm almost finished, but somehow I find it hard not to spend all my spare time drawing and clipping and playing in my basement studio. I've taken the silk-screen printing course (at Norske grafikeres verksted, Oslo) I mentioned earlier, and it was very inspiring and useful. But to my big disappointment, they don't rent out work-shop space for amateurs like my self. I looked forward to using the photo-emulsion technique, in brief; the whole array of printing gear, but no -. So now I'm hunting for somewhere else to practice silk-screen printing, if anyone reading this know of an open work-shop type of place, please let me know..

Meanwhile, I'm having more than enough to do experimenting with my new scanner/ printer and trying to get a grip of photoshop. I also got a new sewing machine for my birthday a while ago, which I have not yet put my hands on. But I would like to have access to a real silk-screen work-shop!

we make art

2009-10-28T14:16:00.004+01:00

My five year old son and I cooperate in making art. We use a big sheet of paper. The medium varies: crayons, water color, potatoes. We put them on display in our very white kitchen and now they go public. I think they look good!

Migration

2009-10-24T23:33:00.054+02:00

Playing with Lightroom (Photoshop "light"), black and white. I have a free-trial, and really like it. But it's expensive..

A few words on the reasons for this migration: There are several good things about wordpress; an advanced dashboard (!), easy to get your own domain, you can add pages (which you can't in blogger).. but I just cannot seem to get it to look the way I want. And looks are important, I admit to that. I wanted bigger photos, a customized header, nicer fonts, in short: a cleaner look. But going from wordpress to Blogger is much more difficult than the other way around. I ended up using somebody's homemade recipe. The result was not excellent, it took ages to upload the blog ( I think my clandestine import/ export business is to blame for this) there must be too much information in the homemade stew.. So I had to delete most of my earlier posts. Well, well - I'm not so sentimental about that (only a bit annoyed because I have lost a few comments to my posts along the way). I will keep my wordpress blog for a while anyway.

So, I hope you like my new look, and keep stopping by!

Testing

2009-10-22T23:03:00.006+02:00

I have imported my blog from wp to blogger, just to test a little.. My active blog will still be www.thorvalda.com until I have sorted things out.

Finished product

2009-10-17T11:13:00.005+02:00

The Side Tied Sweater (couldn't come up with a better name yet) is finished. I have worn it a lot already, at work too. I'm quite happy with it. I felted it very carefully, on 30 degrees (celsius) and with a tiny bit of pine-sol (grønnsåpe). As expected it shrunk, but not very much, and the texture changed of course - which was my intention. Pattern instructions are nearly finished.

Mountain-knitting

2009-09-20T12:45:00.000+02:00

Not so long ago I went to my parents cabin in the mountains, in Rauland near Hardangervidda. I went on my own, man and kids left behind. Peace and quiet, I must admit I enjoyed every minute of it. And I had plenty of knitting and reading time, too, because the weather was not so perfect. Which made it legit to sit inside.

The yellow sweater on the photo is now finished, and the pattern is about to be written out. I knit it in garter stitch, and that is why I chose to knit back-and-forth and not in the round. The sweater has some similarities to the Honeypie-baby jacket, it's buttoned (or actually tied, as you will see in photos soon to come) on the side, and it has a rather prominent border of stitch pattern.

The sleeves are set-in sleeves (as opposed to raglan), but they are knitted together with the front- and back pieces, not sown up.

Well, it wasn't all knitting. I also had me some strolls up the mountain side. I so much love this view.

And the drive back home was beautiful too, I do love the countryside, and I especially love Telemark.. these are taken on the way from Rauland to Notodden.

Farmlife

2009-08-12T15:18:00.000+02:00

Some glimpses from our summer at the farm.

This is where we stay. Our little red "bryggerhus", it's supposed to be the oldest building on the farm.

By the sea, such beauty.

And this summer the unthinkable happened.. The huge oil spill catastrophe caused by the tanker FullCity. We tried to do some cleaning up, but I don't know if it was of any help. Some say the oil will be gone by next summer, some say it will take decades. Seabirds are dead by the hundreds and life in the sea is contaminated as well. Even though our area wasn't among the worst, it was still pretty bad in some places. Lumps of oil, a thin film of oil on the surface of the sea, the smell of oil from seaweed..

The flowers are innocent and unaware of human hybris and sloppiness, a fatal combination indeed.

And so is our one-year-old little girl and her favorite animal, Pus.

Botanics and time

2009-06-24T21:49:00.000+02:00

This seems to be my favorite motif at the moment. Hundekjeks in Norwegian. Cow-parsley in English. Anthriscus sylvestris in Latin. It's one of the most common field-flowers I can think of. I never used to pay attention to them, but this summer I see them and I'm intrigued by their beauty. Describing the beauty of flowers is a futile endeavor, no need to try. They are speaking for themselves by their own appearance.

I would like to use this for printing, but have not quite figured out how. I'm planning to take a course after summer, to learn screen printing. My attempts so far have not been successful, I must admit. Screen printing demands time, planning and it does take some practice. Time is not in abundance at the moment. I work two days a week, and when I'm at home I take care of my eleven months old daughter.

Which is a very good thing, indeed. Seeing her growing and learning new things every day. This period of her life is so important, and I want to be around her as much as possible. But it is not much time left for doing my own stuff . So I need to be patient. I will have to limit myself to stencil printing, which is much less demanding than screen printing. In autumn my man will take his paternal leave, six weeks, and I will have more time.

Some colors from a stay in our friends cabin by the sea.

Holiday

2009-06-06T22:44:00.000+02:00

We are just back from a week on the Croatian island of Hvar. Stayed in a little town called Jelsa. As usual I took loads of pictures, most of them of flowers and stones. But some of the family too, of course. And the usual pictures of the port, the beach and the sea. Food was ok (fish and pizza), weather a little less than ok (hard rain half of the time), but from an esthetic point of view the trip was quite amazing. So many beautiful flowers and plants, colors and shapes! The little town of Jelsa was very pretty too.

I picked a lot of dried out plants that I photographed close-up. This is of a poppy. I really like the pattern on it. Inspiring indeed. I never knew the poppy had these stripes on them, it makes such a stark pattern. Again the colors (or lack of colors) are beautiful, I think.

I was intrigued with this pattern I found on the many steps that led down to the port. The cement is worn down, revealing a sort of grid pattern. The various fungus/ mushrooms form a organic, soft pattern. I like the colors too, and the contrast between the cement grid and the fungus. Reminds me of some Japanese prints, it became very clear when I included the twig with the leaves. The difference in color is due to the light when the picture was taken.

By the sea

2009-05-26T11:15:00.000+02:00

We spent some days by the sea, at our place on the coast. Beautiful weather, and I had my first bath this year. Cold, of course. I took an enormous amount of pictures, I'll publish them on Flickr. So much inspiration for my printing. Plants, flowers, the pattern on the rocks. I I bought a very good book on printing, June Fish, Designing and Printing Textiles. I certainly have a lot to learn.

Yet another Coraline

2009-01-27T22:12:00.010+01:00

It's not easy taking a picture of yourself. I found the position where the arm is raised upwards in a sharp angle, in order to get a full body photo, the most challenging. Arm a little shaky (to little exercising of biceps?), and picture gets blurred and totally out of focus. But you get the idea. My Coraline no 2 is finished. Well, it has been for a while, it just took some time to fasten the buttons. I decided to have more buttons than the pattern called for. I made size 36 ", in Koigu Kersti Merino Crêpe. It's hand dyed, if I'm not mistaken. I started the project when I was in hospital, quite weak, knitting in bed. Hence the somewhat imperfect hemline. The yarn was strange. In the beginning it was 'bleeding' dye, so my bamboo stitches got all orange and my fingernails too. Now the bleeding has stopped, it seems. The yarn is great, very nice to work with.