Another blog at WORDPRESS!

I'm having another blog as well:

https://randomwavesofinspiration.home.blog/

And changing things:

The new blog will have craft, art, food art, inspiration, our essays and other writing as well. I hope it will be a much more active space!

Welcome!

Angel of Courage - Angel 2

It says: "To be frightened means nothing. To still dare, that's courage!"

My second painting (painting class Spirit Wings by Kelly Rae Roberts).

This time it's about courage. (Of course, that's why she's having Princess Leia's hairstyle!)
To just do it.
To take the opportunities. But maybe even more to dare to wait them out, and not be scared of being paralyzed when it's time to act.

It'll work out! After all, I'm most scared of stagnation. 

Angel of Heart Wispers - Angel 1

The writing says: "Dare to continue dreaming your "impossible" dreams. Don't give them up, they're a part of you."

I'm taking an online mixed media course called "Spirit Wings" by Kelly Rae Roberts.

This is my Angel of Heart Wispers. I call her "Kardemummabullsängeln från Odensbacken" ("The Angel of Cardamom buns from Odensbacken"). It's a strange name, but it's a painting, all about dreams from my childhood unfulfilled, now being lifted up to the surface again by life.

(Her mouth is stained from strawberries, of course!)

Finnabair in Sweden in September 2018 - yes, I'll be going again!

Finnabair's new courses this year in Sjöbo, Sweden. I plan to go, as usual. After all, I've been doing this two years in a row, already.

From Finnabair's list of classes::

Art Celebration - collage on canvas

Real mixed-media feast of transparency, textures, eye-catching elements and beautiful, rich metallic colours! This project is a great way to try working with gesso and different kinds of gels from our Art Basics range, building a dimensional, baroque composition including an altered object and tons of intriguing details and finally painting and rubbing on the colours of your choice from my Art Alchemy line to create one-of-a kind, breathtaking collage. Many ideas, tips and techniques combined with a lot of creative freedom - all that and more is included in this fantastic Art Celebration! All the techniques presented in this class can be easily used on many other projects such as home decor and altered objects or journal pages. All the elements, paints and mediums are provided – this project is suitable both for advanced and beginning students.

Class time: about 4h

Moonlight - almost unreal, beautiful double canvas collage based on textures, clusters of elements, dark background and non-conventional painting!

Have you ever dreamed about making your own mixed-media landscape collage? During this class you can try it - step-by-step we will build all the layers and textures to build our small towns and villages out of chipboard elements, create the look of moonlight and stars on the night sky… all that getting a lot of useful tips and inspirational techniques which you can apply to many future projects! We will be using a range of products from my Art Basics, Art Extravagance and Art alchemy lines including gesso, pastes, gels and wax - our main colour substrate in this project! This project is not only a great way to jump into world of mixed-media but also create a blog, breathtaking statement piece for your home or studio.

All the elements, paints and mediums are provided – this project is suitable both for advanced and beginning students.

Class time: about 4-5h

 Rust Painted - Large collage on canvas with tons of beautiful details, layers, rust and sparkle. 

During this class you will not only try building, rich, dimensional composition but also take the advantage of the negative space which will help your composition really catch the eye. Step-by-step we are going to build all the layers using a great selection of elements and embellishments and we will try different art mediums: Art Basics, Art Alchemy, Art Ingredients and more - selection of gels, gesso, acrylic paints and really unique effect of Rust Paste. Rust Painted may be done in a wide range of colours and it may be easily turned into composition with a small photo. All the techniques can be easily used on many other projects such as home decor and altered objects or journal pages. All the elements, paints and mediums are provided – this project is suitable both for advanced and beginning students. 

Class time: about 4 to 4,5h

Heart of the Clock - altered frame with beautiful textures and details

Simplicity and elegance are timeless, but many of us have also the love for the “other side of the coin” – opulence and decadence, richness of colours, elements and meanings all blended together to create one, truly baroque look. Let yourself be inspired by a visual abundance of layers, textures and metallic colours stepping a bit into the ground of steampunk, vintage and everything metallic and shiny.

During this class, we will be working on inside and outside of the metal clock frame. We will focus on altering techniques which will make your project beautiful and unique - adding details, textures and colours using popular range of art mediums from mixed-media collection by Finnabair - you will have a chance to try such products as soft and heavy gels, gesso in composition with Art Ingredients and a range of Art Alchemy paints. Together we will build our projects step-by-step and you will see that presented techniques are very versatile and be easily used on many other projects such as collage or journal pages. I'll share my experience with you and try to give you plenty of information about tools and products used. "Heart of the Clock" is an exciting to dive into the world of 3D mixed-media and altering, working with pastes, paints and art ingredients of different kinds.

The teacher will supply all the paints, mediums and elements needed to finish the project.

This class is suitable both for advanced and beginning students.

Class time: about 4 h

Wanderlust week 9 - Kasia's lesson "The art of layering"

Wanderlust week 9, Kasia's lesson "The art of layering, the transparency of our marks". In my head I just call this class "The tile lesson". Because I created - tiles!

Making my marks, my beloved swirls, in different ways... layering them... and in the end creating tiles.

I wanted to make them look like real kitchen tiles. Old tiles. With the inscription "The future is now!"

I think about that I live now in what I saw as the future when I was younger. And one day this time in my life will be history instead...

The now, the future, it's all entwined. Memories of what you thought this time in your life would be like.

Everyone that has or will live, we're on this planet, we're sharing it, we're guests for a little while. Making our marks. I hope the marks we leave behind will be of the beautiful kind. I think a lot about that.

Stuff I've been using:
Acrylic paint
Stamps: misc. Prima stamps, Everything Art: E³ Everything Art 05 - Alphabet
Uni Posca pen and Faber Castel PITT pen (in black)
Tissue paper, baby wipes (dry)
Black gesso
Gelli plate
Caran d'ache Neocolour II water soluble
Date stamp
Archival ink in sepia and black
Mod podge - matte
Soft Gloss Gel (Prima)

Wanderlust week 23 - Vicky Papaioannou's class "Just Fly Away"

"Summer in the City"

Week 23?! I'm not doing the Wanderlust lessons in the right order, as you've probably already noticed!

Since I'm new to all this mixed media, very often I have to get stuff before trying a new technique. It can be art supplies - or even workspace - that I need to think about, before trying out a new technique. Wanderlust is fantastic, it's a year long class and it's never ever boring, but it can be a bit tricky, for example when a lesson requires another season than what we have at the moment, like when a teacher in Australia wanted us to go outside and collect leaves in February... (It's no leaves here then, just snow!) I don't worry much about that! It's part of the charm, Wanderlust is a global community, and I solved this lesson by putting it forward to our summer. :)

This past week Vicky Papaioannou taught us how to make a journal page, her trademark style. I've been looking forward to this class ever since I signed up for Wanderlust 2017! I was not disappointed.

I made my pages in Swedish this time, they say "Summer in the city, the gulls have nestlings & everything is green". It sums up how it's right now! And that's what art jornaling is about, right?
I couldn't help myself, I had to make this page funny! When you're living with a 3 year old little girl you laugh a lot. We've been discussing trees and all kinds of birds, we have wasps visiting, we try to see the gull nestlings from our kitchen window. This is exactly how it feels, here and now!

When our little daugher saw this page she said "Yes, it's totally okey, mom!" (Ja, den är helt okey, mamma!) She probably heard that expression somewhere and thought that was a cool way to say that she likes it!


Stuff I've been using:
Acrylic paint (Tim Holtz and Panduro)
Masks (Panduro)
Stamps: misc. Paper Smooches stamps, Everything Art: E³ Everything Art 05 - Alphabet, Purple Onion Stamps - 2011 Vintage Calendar
Uni Posca pen and Faber Castel PITT pen (in black)
White gel pen
White and black gesso
Date stamp
Archival ink in sepia and black

The Finnabair Classes, Sjöbo May 2017

I'm back from the Finnabair classes in Sjöbo (in the south of Sweden).

I knew I'd start to long to go next year the moment I came back home, just like I did last year. And yes, that did happen! I don't even know if Finn will come back next year, but I really hope Skaparlusten will bring her back next year.

It's the the ultimate treat - having a holiday all to myself, the Finnabair courses, hanging out with my kind of people... it's how I imagine Heaven! Last year someone said to me: "It's funny how friends can be found everywhere!" I love that! She's so right, that's exactly how it feels hanging out with these people. Next year, I hope I'll see you again, friends!

And I've said it before: If you ever get the chance to take a live Finnabair course - Do it! She's absolutely brilliant (and has the best sense of humor)!

The yearly photo! :)

I took 3 courses this year. This is what I made:

Course: Verdigris

Course: Beauty and the Beads

Course: Book of Rust (cover)