Category Archives: Paintings

Water in motion

29 Friday Aug 2025

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To capture the movment of water is a very demanding task for any artist. In order to grasp this subject, it’s useful to take a look at some of the great masters of this subject. Amongst the many talented painters we find Fritz Thaulow. His ability to represent the tones, shapes and movement in water is paramount in the field.

“Åborenuten” 125×170 cm. Acrylic on canvas 2025.

As for me, I would have to approach this using references directly from the image and then build up layers of shapes that could create motion. I’m always using a photo as reference. However, for moving features like a spring or river, it’s hard to capture the energy without having a clear memory of the actual site.

This challenge proved to be very interesting and will probably be revisited in future projects.

Into that quiet Winter Night …

23 Thursday Nov 2023

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Over the last year or so, I have been experimenting with some additional features in my paintings. The magic of a Norwegian winter night is hard to capture and present, so my thought was to engage in some effects that would illustrate the atmosphere of a starry night. In risk of getting a bit tacky, I thought I ought to allow myself to indulge in some flashy effects, have some fun, and perhaps offer my audience a slight touch of extra entertainment along the way.

I purchased a couple of products from Andreas Wahl’s excellent online shop nerdebutikken.no and started experimenting with extremely strong diamond glass flakes and a powder pigment said to be the strongest glow in the dark component ever made. As you might have guessed, I was shooting for the stars.

A mixture of the pigment into some Lascaux gloss medium and a small portion of white acrylic paint was used for the stars. The diamond glass flakes were gently broken down to smaller parts in a mortar, and sprinkled over the still wet varnish at the end of the entire process.

My latest exhibition at Galleri Giga in Leirvik contained a selection of these paintings. During the opening event the works were partly shown in a muted light (and here comes the real kicker) with the artist moving a UV touch across the canvases. This rally brings across the effect of the glow in the dark pigments. After the light came back on, the reflections in the diamond glass made the night sky sparkle as you move across in front of each piece.

You might say this is a set of cheap tricks, and I’m totally aware of this. It might lack the post modernist ironic approach that may have validated the use of such means in the modern art world. However, I enjoyed the experiment, and so did the audience. I guess this was my little share of guilty pleasure.

The images I post will never be able to illustrate the concept, so I wish you can get in front of one of them at some point.

The long walk home

04 Tuesday Oct 2022

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After more than a decade of working with snow as the focus and most prominent feature in my paintings, I came to a point where it seemed natural to explore a different approach. A photo taken on a hiking trip a few years back caught my attention, as it had the structure and clean patches of sand, gras and rocks that could step in for the discipline I get from patches of snow. I knew this would take me trough a much broader colour palette. The danger of ending up with a giant mash was imminent. So, this called for structure and discipline. Keep it simple, or …

The motif is a grand lake in the area I get most of my references for my works. The lake “Løkjelsvatnet” was used as the reservoir for a grand hydropower plant built in 1918, and the natural water level was raised by 11 meter with a dam, and lowered by the same measure by drilling. In total this lake has the potential of being regulated a total of 22 meters. This cause for huge changes in the local environment. However, the moon-like landscape has always intrigued me.

Well, I soon had to surrender my firm strategy. This could not be done without a very high number of visits with the masking tape and some fresh cut stensil to facilitate the enormous amount of small rocks and patches of moorland, gras, gravel (exposed by the lowering of the water level), ponds and further features. My hours at this piece were adding up, as did my frustration of never quite hitting the mark on some of the illuminated parts in the background.

I will now take you through a small part of this process. These images shows my third visit at the river and the lake. I had two different layers down, and I was not quite happy with the lack of reflection.

The azure blue was a little off.
I used a roller to create the reflections and highlights in the river. I also gave the lower section of the lake some shine.
This is before the masking tape comes off. Note how the paint is sitting on the surface. This is a titanium white from Lascaux with a slight touch of cobalt blue. I use their “artist” series due to the thick quality. It has an oil colour feel to it.
A close up of the result.
The current state after this visit. Hopefully the piece will be finished in a couple of weeks.

So, this is just one of many typical small operations that comprise one of my paintings. I will come back with a new post when the piece is completed. This experimental work has proven to be a tough one to break. It sure feels like some of those long walks home after a hike. You know you’ll get there, but the last hills are a bit of a climb.

Working outdoors

27 Wednesday Apr 2022

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Spring is excellent for working outdoors. The sun speeds up the drying, and makes for perfect work light. I have been working on a few commissions for ICART lately, including a series of paintings for the Artic class 6 cruise ship Viking Octantis. At the moment I’m doing two new paintings for a new ship. I will come back to this in a future post.

As for now, less works are getting into my galleries, as they are mostly reserved. The outdoor option will hopefully speed things up and get more new canvases going.

Here are som pictures from the batch I’m currently working on. None of these are finished.

Haugesund Billedgalleri

20 Monday Jan 2020

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Fredag 14. februar opnar utstillinga “Den Store Stillheten” i Haugesund Kunstforening (lokalisert i Haugesund Billedgalleri). Denne utstillinga vil visa eit stort utvalg av større format, inkludert eit motiv frå Løkjelsvatnet i Etne. Dette er eit triptyk på 150 x 390 cm. Dette er det største enkeltverket eg har utført, og det blir interessant å sjå det presentert i den store salen på Billedgalleriet.

Mot Stillheten

“Den Store Stillheten” 150 x 390 cm.

Verket er inspirert av eit fotografi eg fekk låna av Erling Bjarte Rullestad, og er delt inn i tre individuelle lerret. Eg har behandla dei tre delene med litt ulik tilnærming, slik at dei framstår som tre individuelle sekvensar. Korte augneblikk der lyset og atmosfæren skiftar ørlite mellom kvar “ramme”.

Utstillinga skulle opprinneleg ha tittelen “Den Siste Snøen”, men i eit såpass stort utstillingsrom er det viktig å ha eit godt spenn på motivvalg og fargebruk. Om ein ikkje har fokus på dette, kan det fort bli noko monotont. Difor har eg utvida tidsramma for når motiva er tatt, og inkludert nokre verk frå midt på vinteren. Likevel er det størst fokus på snøsmeltinga i april-mai. Uansett måtte utstillinga få ein ny tittel som fanga opp heilskapen, og valget fall på “Den Store Stillheten”. Denne tittelen er inspirert av ei utstilling eg var med på i Marie Tak  van Poortvliet Museum i Holland.

Hestaskarnuten

“Inn i Stillheten” 125 x 170 cm.

Eit nytt motiv som blir presentert både som grafikk og maleri er “Hestaskarnuten”. Dette er eit fjellparti der far min tilbrakte mykje tid i sin ungdom. Fotografiet som blei brukt som utgangspunkt er tatt av Helga Markhus.

Nordstøldalen

“Nordstøldalen” 115 x 135 cm.

Det har også vore tid til å prøva ut nye måtar å henta inn motiv på. Bror min, Albert har ei drone som gir motiv i skikkelig fugleperspektiv. Snøsmeltingsperioden er ei tid der det er nesten umogleg å koma seg langt innover fjellet, så slike hjelpemiddel kan visa seg å bli svært nyttige framover. Motivet frå Nordstøldalen er resultat av eit slikt dronefoto.

Frå Olalia

“Frå Olalia” 125 x 170 cm.

Eit motiv eg lenge har hatt lyst til å gjera eit nytt forsøk på, er “Olalia”, som eg utførte for nokre år sidan. Den gongen gav dette motivet meg store utfordringar, så eg tenkte det var på tide å utfordra det komplekse terrenget ein gong til. Heldigvis vart det ein noko lettare prosess denne gongen, men dette er uansett eit motiv med mange nyanser som er viktig å treffa korrekt om det skal bli eit godt resultat.

Vinternatt

“Ei Vinternatt går mot Slutten” 125 x170 cm

Eit motiv som fekk mykje merksemd sist eg utførte det, var “Vinternatt”, ein versjon av “Mot Sørnuten” der eg gjorde stemninga om til eit nattmotiv. Dette var meint som ein homage til Harald Solberg, som hadde utstilling i Nasjonalgalleriet samstundes. Eg har no gjort ein ny versjon i litt andre fargenyanser.

Dette er kun eit lite utvalg av dei ca 30 verka som blir presentert.

Almost there, but out of reach.

13 Saturday Jul 2019

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Kattastølen 200x140_edited-1

This 200 x 140 cm canvas has been been kicked around in the studio for a while. Larger pieces like this take a bit more courage to manage. It’s more physical in every sense. I for the most part prefer working with the surface in about level, allowing the high viscosity paint to flow naturally. It’s also a bit more forgiving towards my back and shoulders. However, as the formats get in the execs og 140 cm across, the sentral regions of the canvas get out of reach without ending up in a rather harsh working position. The solution is to alternate between this and something a little more easy to handle.

So what about this piece? Is it finished or does it need some more mist. At the moment it’s possibly lacking a little depth.  It’s hard to say. I will be back with the final version soon.

Around Holmavatnet, The last Snow.

08 Monday Apr 2019

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Sometimes people approach me with some really interesting motifs they have captured on camera. As long as the pictures correspond with a specific set of features I want in my works, I can take on pretty much anything. It’s actually rather convenient as I don’t have to make the somewhat hard journey far into the mountains in deep and soft snow. It can be really hard to negotiate for the most.

Terje Fosse captured som really nice images from an area I remember well from my childhood. Some of my friends families had their cabins in this area, and my family went skiing there quite frequently. Terje kindly allowed me to use his images and this has so far resulted in two large pieces.

The small birch wood is just about able to survive this tough environment, and they make a really interesting touch when included in the composition.

2019-04-08 08.44.46“Mot Lysenuten” 190×130 cm. Acrylic on canvas.

 

 

Ved Holmavatnet“Ved Holmavatnet” 145×110 cm. Acrylic on canvas.

“Den Siste Snøen”- Galleri Hagalid

30 Thursday Aug 2018

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29. september vil mine arbeider bli presentert på Galleri Hagalid, som ligg i vakre omgivnadar i Hjelmeland kommune. Du trur kanskje du har køyrt feil på den smale vegen som snor seg oppover, men når du kjem opp på platået der det gamle tunet ligg, finn du snart ut at denne plassen har mykje meir å by på enn ein skulle tru. Her finn du eit svært særprega galleri i autentiske eldre bygg, vakkert restaurert og respektfullt påbygd.

Galleristen Hanne Sundbø var svært ivrig på å få til nokre lokale motiv, og eg har no arbeida med tre ulike arbeider utført i akryl og olje i små format, tilpassa galleriet sine intime rom. Eg har også utarbeida ei trykkplate i mezzotint der Reinarknuten er tema. Dette er eit motiv som har mykje kraft og tyngde. Ein nut, men også ein kolossal knytneve i stein. Ein tenkjer at kanskje berre snøen på toppen kan gjera den balansert nok for ei trykkplate. Eg lot meg riva med i prosessen med det vesle maleriet, og vegen vidare var lett å velga. Dette måtte bli eit grafisk blad. Eg vonar desse to uttrykka kan utfylla kvarandre.

Det blir eit variert utval av Maleri, kullteikningar og mezzotint. Skal tru om galleristen diskar opp med noko også? Eg trur opninga kan by på inspirerande overraskingar.

Utstillinga står til 21. oktober. Her har du ein perfekt sjanse til å kombinera ei flott utflukt eller ein fottur med ei kulturoppleving.

Ta gjerne ein kikk på heimesida til galleriet: http://www.hagalid.net

Reineknuten

Reinarknuten. Akryl på plate.

 

 

Reineknuten

Reinarknuten. Mezzotint.

 

 

 

Hagalid

“Den siste snøen på Hagalid”. Akryl på plate.

 

 

Austmannaskaret

“Austmannaskardet” . Akryl på plate.

A commission for Etne Omsorgssenter.

03 Tuesday Jul 2018

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Over the last months I have been working on my largest canvas ever. It sure has been an extraordinary process, scaling up to 280 x 180 cm.

 

Mot Flokatveitnuten 280x180“Mot Flokatveitnuten” Acrylic on canvas. 280×180 cm.

 

Although this format is to be regarded as rather insignificant compared to many great works of art up through the ages, it proved a bit of a stretch (pun not intended) for my modus operandi. How could I ever reach the centre section, considered the canvas always has to be flat on the floor during some of my operations?

I soon managed to adopt some clever tricks in order to reach the “hard to get to” areas. I attached an extension to some of my tools and brushes.

Then came the issues with the weather. What if it would start to rain whilst the canvas was on the ground outside my studio? In order to keep within a minimum of the recommended health and safety practices I do make en effort to conduct all applications of hazardous art materials such as turpentine and most varnishes outdoors. However, some of these are applied in generous amounts floating on the surface. If a rain shower would appear, I would be rushed to bring the canvas inside, and considered my studio door does not accommodate a 280×180 cm format unless it’s raised up standing, you may imagine the disastrous impact.

However, the weather gods were on my side for a change, and the forecasts proved to be correct. I will probably arrange for some sort of roofing over my out door work area next time, but all in all I would have to say this was a process that proved less problematic than anticipated. Next time I might even try to stretch it a little further.