Welcome to my photos, paintings / blended media, sketches, installations, etc.

I have not always “loved to paint”, though I have always loved to draw. So-called “good at art” since childhood (cough, cough, sputter) I always poured much energy into it, being invited to make huge tempera backdrops for school productions was a marvelous boost: to work with scenography at age 8!

Also during my childhood, I met with repeated dissatisfaction while painting with oils. Perhaps coincidentally I developed stubborn seed warts on my fingers, which took years to disappear, and which I always assumed came from an "allergy to oil paint" Oils are too messy, I thought, and I got most of it on the sides of my hands and clothing -- but then I discovered the neatness of melting crayons on electric trays covered with paper. While the crayons melt on the tray for me, I become like an ice-skater on an un-ending ice-pond: I can flowingly repeat a theme until I am satisfied.

While many hues are unavailable in the crayola palette, I sometimes melt oil sticks . Usually , though, I'll just use whatever crayola colours are at hand and enjoy the true, true challenge of using whatever is there.

But since about 2006 I'm back into oil and acrylic painting.

Experiments:

I often make my own tools & my current passion is printing onto my painting with bits of corrugated cardboaord -- those parallel lines bring to the painting a sense of order. I glue handles onto my cardboard bits and then stamp the paint.

Crayon-wise I've found that thin newsprint works best, be it ever so frail. A local glazier helps mount my finished fragile works onto masonite. He uses his vacuum device and glue.

Expanding reality:

I like painting the wonderous bodies of animals & humans. Perhaps this is also why I greatly enjoy the exacting discipline of croquis-sketching. If I can't find a person to draw or an animal, then I work from memory. Alligators are fun to sketch live, because all they do is lie there!

If I do work from photos or a live model I like to alter reality and put my mark on it.

Shiny is a colour

I have coined this phrase to mean that shininess (blankhed in Danish) is a force to be reckoned with, in importance right up there with colour. I work with Hammerite, the shiny enamel, and incorporate it in my paintings and installations for a number of reasons: shiny enamel is so permanent, it has a strong fragrance that I love that lasts for months and reveals that this was done with oil-based paint. Shininess apparently works like a magnet when side-by-side any matte paint. I like the contrast of matte and shiny and this alone gives me a huge sense of achievement.