The Evolution of a Painting (part one)

It has taken me five years to complete this painting. It all started in 2015 when I took my dog for a walk and decided to make a fortuitous stop at some new friends´ house. During the visit I took some pictures of the daughter in the family while she was playing with my dog.

One year later I was flipping through my digital picture library. In spite of poor technical quality this picture caught my eye. The somewhat inscrutable smile of M reminded me of the Girl With a Pearl Earring and Mona Lisa. Disclaimer: I do not in any way compare my work with the works of Vermeer and da Vinci other than that my unintended model M sure can compete with the models in these iconic paintings.

In 2016 my art teacher gave us students an assignment to make sketches based on a theme. I think the theme was “A Memory”. My sketches did not represents any specific moment in time. They were a representation of my feelings of vulnerability and anxiety as my children were experiencing some tough challenges in their individual lives during this time. The girl's gaze was filled with confidence, promising me that everything will be okay.

I never thought the art of taxidermy would be at display in my home. But as an artist you never know what kind of props you might need. To me a kid deer symbolizes both vulnerability and anxiety.

Sketch No. 1, pencil, 2016.

Sketch No. 2, pencil, 2016.

On April 7, 2017 I worked in my studio when I was reached by the news of the terrorist attack on Drottninggatan, one of the busiest shopping streets in Stockholm. Five persons were killed. After the initial shock I felt sadness for the victims and then - I felt anger. What makes a person so detached of human decency so he can comfortably run over unsuspecting people with a truck, aiming to kill as many as possible? As I continued sketching, I felt the need for a more relentless and self-confident animal to accompany the girl. I swapped the deer cub for a fox.

This fox will not let anyone violate the laws of justice and compassion.

Girl with fox, pastel on paper, 2017.

Well, I didn’t follow through with the ideas. Not until 2019 as I was preparing for an exhibition in Rome 2020. The theme of the exhibition was to celebrate the family. Remember, originally the girl and the fox represented the feelings of a worried mother how loves her children but often feel helpless in her ability to help them. In those moments you need a strong reassurance that everything will work out in the end. And you need a cunning but good-natured ally by your side.

In my next blog post, part two of The Evolution of a Painting, you can read about the technical side of creating this painting.

Sketch, 2019, oil on canvas.

All roads lead to Rome...or do they?

When I visited my artist friend Aubrie Mema's exhibition at the Rome Temple Visitor's center last September, I was introduced to the director of the center, Christian Euvrard and his wife. Among many things, Christian arranges concerts and art exhibitions in the center which is in close proximity to the beautiful temple building. That meeting led to an opportunity for me to exhibit my art in September 2020.

After contemplating the logistic challenge that bringing the paintings to Rome presents, I came up with a managable concept: instead of using oil paint on canvas I paint with Caran d'Ache Neocolor oil crayons on matboard. I will be able to put 10-12 big pieces in a special bag to be checked in when I fly to Rome. That is the plan. That was the plan. A plan that has since evaporated because it was made pre Covid-19 pandemic. I don't think I'm going to Rome in September.

Here are some of the pieces I am currently working on. Each painting is built up with multiple layers with complementary colors. Please note that they're all work in progress, to get an oil paint feeling to the painting I need to have 10-20 layers.

Well, is it not a very strange situation that no one on this whole planet can make any plans for the future right now!?

Work in progress: Folke

Work in progress: To eternity and beyond

Detail

Work in progress: Marcel and the puppy

Work in progress: Excellent and Daniela

Picture Book No. 8: Nisses nya mössa

Nisse's New Cap by Olof and Lena Landström, 1990.

An irresistible story about a boy and his love for his new cap. The expressiveness and simplicity of text and pictures are ingenious.

Actually I am not going to include the words, I think the pictures say it all.

My comments:

I bought this book a couple of years before I had my first child. It is a masterpiece. The story is so relatable. To be embraced by your mother or father, finally free to let your restrained tears fall and to get a bandaid on your scraped knee. That feeling!

Today's book is dedicated to my beloved father, whose arms have embraced me when I recovered from a fall. I love you! (He turns 85 years old today).

Picture Book No. 7: The Long, Long Journey

The Long, Long Journey by Ilon Wikland (illustrations) and Rose Lagercrantz (text).

This is a story about a little girl, her dog and how a war affects their lives.

This is what we learn about the girl: her dog is a shepherd dog that guards reindeers and sleeps in the snow but now he is watching her.

Her parents had had a fall out and had moved to live in separate places and they did not want to ever see each other again. They did not care about their daughter so she stayed with her maternal grandmother. When the war started she was sent to her paternal grandmother who lived in the country side. But when the train arrived at the station there was no one to meet her.

This girl, in spite of the dire circumstances, is a spirited and resourceful girl, not easily scared. With the dog by her side she is soon on her way to her grandmother.

But the war was a little further away and it was summer and the wind was full of sea, because the town was close to the sea.

The girl and the dog was together all the time having fun and being happy.

The war came closer. The soldiers came but the girl was not frightened. Not as long as she was with her dog. Every day the dog ran out to see if the world was still there. And after peeing he came back to the girl to see that she was still there and to lick her in the face.

But one morning the dog did not come back. The girl heard the dog barking and barking until she heard a shot.

The soldiers had killed the dog.

How could they? How can you shoot a little dog? Maybe because he had barked at them, but he only wanted to protect her from the war!

But life goes on and children need to go to school…

The war went on and on. Many people in the little town was frightened and decided to escape.

“You have to get away from here”, said the girl's grandmother. “You have to save yourself!”

The girl came to a new country where there was no war.

And suddenly she fainted.

When she woke up she was in the hospital. She had got a serious illness. Fortunately the girl had an aunt who lived in the new country and she came to see her. When she was well again the girl came to live with her aunt.

When the war was over the girl stayed with her aunt in the new country.

But did she ever become really happy again? Yes, many times.

My comments:

This is the true story of the well-known illustrator Ilon Wikland who has Illustrated many of Astrid Lindgren's books. She was born in Estonia and came to Sweden as a refugee in 1944.

Today it is Good Friday and me, my family and friends are joined in a Worldwide Day of prayer and fasting for relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wanted to find a book that is appropiate for this special day. I think The Long, Long Journey is a good choice. Without any sentimentality we are introduced to the complexities of life: war, death, conflicts, abandonment, separation, loneliness, illness and whatnot. The wonderful thing is that the girl, Ilon, is not crushed by her experiences. With good friends, some of them four-legged, love for nature and the ability to express her experiences in art, her life became very good.

Bonus picture: my four-legged friend Boris.

Picture Book No. 6: Bananen!

The Banana by Ed Vere

My comment:

This book is clever, effective and expressive. In a less is more kind of way it teaches the advantage of adding “please” and “thank you” to your vocabulary. And the Joy of sharing.

Picture Book No. 5: Adjö, herr Muffin

Goodbye, Mr Muffin by Ulf Nilson (text) and Anna-Clara Tidholm (illustrations) was awarded the August Prize in 2002 in the best children's and youth book category. It starts off like this:

Here is an old guniea pig named mr Muffin. Mr Muffin is going to turn seven years old and he is grey and tired. He lives in an upside-down, blue cardboard box that looks like a house with a door and a chimney.

Outside his house there is a mailbox where he sometimes finds a piece of cucumber or an almond. Sometimes he gets a letter. Can Mr Muffin read? Usually he eats the letter.

Nowadays Mr Muffin spends most of his time in his blue house sighing and reminiscing and thinking about his well lived life.

Once Mr Muffin was married to his beautiful guinea pig wife Victoria. They had six, small furry children - so cute!

One day they all went hiking to the end of the world. Suddenly they met a bird that pierced them with its eyes, maybe thinking they were wandering sausages. Mr Muffin fainted with fear.

When Mr Muffin was young he dreamt of being lean and agile as a hamster.

One morning Mr Muffin is too weak to get up. His stomach and legs hurts. A veterinarian makes a house call and examines him.

The next morning he doesn’t wake up, he is dead.

“Our beloved Mr Muffin has hastily passed away. A little guinea pig angel came, smiled and then turned around. The funeral takes place in a corner of the garden.”

My comment:

This is the book I would have cherished when I was about 8 years old and my own beloved guinea pig Closse hastily passed away in a similar way as Mr Muffin. My guinea pig also lived in a cardboard box house and when he died was honoured with a funeral, orchestrated by me with a solemn procession and burial in the corner of our garden in the presence of my whole family.

Ulf Stark and Anna-Clara Tidholm are among Sweden´s foremost creators of children’s books. This is a wonderful book about life, love and sweet death.

(Closse died because I fed him raw potatoes. I did not know that it was poisonous for a guniea pig.)

Picture Book No. 4: The Tree Show by Mark Ryden

Mark Ryden is a prolific artist and this picture book was published in conjunction with his art exhibition “The Tree Show” held at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles in 2007. It is not a children’s picture book per se, though the beautiful pictures encourage your imagination and you can make your own story while exploring them.

Disclaimer: the pictures are beautiful and sinister…

GIRL EATEN BY A TREE oil on canvas with carved teak wood frame (not shown here )

GOODBYE BEAR oil on panel

ALLEGORY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS oil on canvas with carved teak wood frame (not shown here)

NURSE SUE oil on wood

YOSHI oil on canvas with carved teak wood fram (not shown here)

My comment:

Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art.

Technical skill, richness of detail and love of nature characterize the work of this artist and that is why he inspires me so much. In my opinion, these paintings are accessible to children and they are great to study if you want to improve your own ability to draw and paint. See how the colors are used to show form, volume and depth. In these particular pictures I detect a sadness that disclose how the artist feel about what happens to nature and in this case, especially to the woods. I close my blog entry with a quote from Mark Ryden:

Trees work in mysterious ways. A branch from a tree is a miniature replica of the whole tree. I believe that if there is indeed a secret to the universe and a meaning to life, I am sure it would be found inside of a tree.

This blog entry is dedicated to Johanna Stenberg who likes pop surrealism. Hej Johanna!

Picture Book No. 3: Titta Hamlet

See Hamlet by Barbro Lindgren (text) and Anna Höglund (illustrations), 2017

Titta Hamlet

On the back of the cover of this thin book you can read: Shakespeare´s most famous drama - now as a picture book! It is a brilliant idea to condense the tragic saga to…let me count …94 words! Hamlet is Shakespeare´s longest play with 30,557 words. Maybe you miss some of the nuances but on the whole I think this short version captures the essential feel of doom and gloom of the classic tragedy.

See Hamlet. Hamlet not happy. Hamlet´s mom stupid. Hamlet´s dad dead.

Hamlet in love with Ophelia. Ophelia in love with Hamlet. Ophelia´s dad shady.

Hamlet very, very sad.

I was going to write that I didn’t want to spoil the end but I’m sure most individuals over 12 years old reading this blog know how this play ends. The picture book ends with these laconic words:

Hamlet dead. Now everybody dead. Good night. Good night.

My comment:

I have to acknowledge that this short version of Hamlet is very appealing to me: for the first time in my life I can distinguish the different characters and their intentions. I think this tiny book is a masterpiece! But maybe not suitable for the very young children.

Time from time it seems like our world is overflowing with tragedy and suffering.

In 2014 the eight-year-old girl Yara was brutally abused and beaten to death by a relative. The atrocities to which the girl was exposed to during the last hours of her short life are unbearable to read about. Yara´s sad, sad story has stayed with me. I don’t know where she is now but I hope that wherever she is, she is unbroken.

Erica Stenkrona: I keep thinking of Yara, 2019. Neocolor I on black mat board. 80 cm x 120 cm

Picture Book No. 2: Tales From Outer Surbubia

Tales From Outer Surburbia by Shaun Tan, 2008

Berättelser från yttre förorten

In one of the tales in this book we meet Eric, an exchange student who moves in with a family. They are happy to have a guest from a foreign country. Eric choses to sleep and study in the family’s pantry which baffles them. Why doesn´t he want to stay in the comfortable guest room? “It has to be something cultural” says Mom. “As long as he is happy”. The family doesn’t want to disturb Eric, so they store food and utensils in other places.

Eric is very curious and asks a lot of questions. But not the kind of questions that they anticipate.

Eric joins the family for special outings during the week because they want to show him the beautiful places in the city and in its surroundings.

Eric is mostly interested in tiny things that he finds on the ground.

And suddenly one early morning, Eric departs with a barely recognizable wave with his hand and a polite good bye. The family is puzzled: “Did he seem upset? Did he enjoy his stay with us? Will we ever hear from Eric again?”

For several hours after Eric left, the family is very concerned. Until one of them discovers something wonderful in the pantry.

This is what our foreign exchange student left for us!” The signs says “Thank you for a wonderful time”.

My comment:

When I read this story the first time, I became teary-eyed when I turned the page and beheld what the tiny foreign exchange student had made for his host family. It´s apparent that the family that Eric visits doesn’t quite understand him and his different ways of exploring his new environment. But they give him space and acknowledge that his different ways is just a cultural variation of behaviour. Their reward for accepting Eric transcends anything they could imagine. A very beautiful story!

Shaun Tan is a great storyteller and artist. Watch out for more tales from him.

Picture Book No. 1: Boris Glasögon

This morning I jumped out of bed (which I rarely do) and started to make an inventory of my picture books. If you feel uneasy about the future, lonely because of the enforced social distancing or just bored to be confined to your home - please let me share some great art and literature from my collection of picture books. Book no. 1:

Boris´s Glasses by Peter Cohen (text) and Olof Landström (illustrations), 2002

Boris Glasögon

This is an adorable book about Boris who one night while watching TV sees everything in a blur. He makes an appointment with the eye doctor .

The eye doctor examines Boris´s eyes. He notes that Boris is astigmatic and that it is probably congenital.

Boris is very impressed by the fact that he is an astigmatic. There are bakers, shoemakers and electricians, Boris ponders before he falls asleep that night. And then there are astigmatics. And it is congenital!

Boris is delighted when he can see a lot of things that he didn’t see before he got his glasses. Now when he has such an excellent eye sight, he decides to seek employment in a radio factory. The personnel manager is intrigued when he finds out that Boris is an astigmatic and that it is a congenital thing. He offers him a job to oversee the plug department .

I will not spoil the end but I can tell you that after two days of intense monitoring he is not so sure it´s solely a good thing to wear his new glasses.

My comment:

I can fully sympathize with Boris being an astigmatic myself. When I got my first glasses back in the late seventies I remember how the world became razor-sharp in an instant - so this is what its supposed to look like! On a philosophical note; it is a wonderful thing to see things with clarity, as they really are. Sometimes, though, it is more restful for your mental wellbeing to not see things as they really are, to walk in a blur, oblivious of what is going on around you.

This book is awesome for children between 3-6 years old. So I think Folke (below) would enjoy this book as well as grown-ups with a curious mind.

Erica Stenkrona: Folke 2020, Neocolor I on black mat board.

Personal Jesus or Images of Jesus

In 2002, Johnny Cash made a cover version of the song Personal Jesus  (written by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode). He said: “That’s probably the most evangelical gospel song I ever recorded. I don’t know that [Martin Gore] meant it to be that, but that’s what it is. It’s where you find your comfort, your counsel, your shoulder to lean on, your hand to hold on to your Personal Jesus.”

Martin Gore´s intention was maybe not to express his belief in a personal Jesus. He said he was inspired by the book Presley and Me by Priscilla Presley; “It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care.”

Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares

Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer

Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess

I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith

I am a believer and I think it is rewarding to explore how artists depict Jesus in their art. For the believers, and also for some non-believers, Jesus Christ is an emotionally charged symbol figure. He is the son of God or a great prophet or a master teacher or a rebel - people are rarely indifferent to Jesus.

Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán, The Crucifixion, 1627. The Art Institute of Chicago. Photo: Erica Stenkrona

Artist: Hans Larsson, 1910-1973

What did Jesus look like? In the preface to his book Le Visage du Christ, French author Francois Mauriac asked this question: Jésus, était-il beau? (Jesus, is he good-looking?) He wrote the following reflections on the scene in Gethsemane:

In the moment when he betrayed Jesus, Judas did not say: “You will recognize him in his stately figure. He is the one who is a head taller than all the other men and whose majestic radiance shines on each of you, it is him that you must seize.” Judas did not say “You will immediately recognize the Leader and the Master”. No, it was necessary to distinguish him with a kiss. Despite the torches, the soldiers could not recognize who was Jesus among the eleven poor Jews that surrounded him.

Isaiah, the 8th-century BC Jewish prophet, put it this way in Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3-5:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.…

Personally I relish art that is not idealized, impersonal and predictable. Here are some images that I came across when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago in May and some images I stumbled upon while rummaging through my own art books and the internet. Among these, can you find a picture that agrees with your notion of a “personal Jesus”?

Click on here to get to my PLAYLIST “PERSONAL JESUS” ON SPOTIFY. I have made a collection of songs that goes well with the pictures.

Artist: Fra (Guido di Pietro) Angelico, ca 1387-1455, Detail of the Christ Child from the Madonna delle Ombre, 1450
Museo di San Marco dell’Angelico, Florence, Italy

Artist: David Popiashvili, Jesus grows up in Nazareth, illustration from the book Stories about Jesus Christ

Artist: Georges Rouault, Head of Christ, 1937

Artist: J. Kirk Richards. Temptation (detail)

Artist: Sadao Watanabe, Japan. Jesus rebuking the Devil.

Artist: William H Johnson 1901–1970. Come Unto Me Little Children, 1943. Oil on compressed cardboard

Artist: Alexander Antonyuk, 1971-

Artist: El Greco, Christ Taking Leave of His Mother, ca 1585. The Art Institute of Chicago

Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669, Christ (study)

Artist: Frans Schwartz, 1850-1917. Agony In The Garden.

Artist: David Popiashvili, Jesus in Gethsemane, illustration from the book Stories about Jesus Christ

Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo, Christ carrying the cross 1515-1517, oil on panel. The Art Institute of Chicago

Artist: Marc Chagall, White Crucifixion, 1938. The Art Institute of Chicago

Artist: William H. Johnson, Lamentation, ca. 1944, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art

Artist: William H. Johnson, Mount Calvary I, ca. 19443 oil on fabric, Smithsonian American Art

Artist: J. Kirk Richards, Why Weepest Thou

Usually I include some of my own art in a blogpost but at this time I don’t have any original work that would fit under the caption Personal Jesus or Images of Jesus. However, I have mentally been exploring what kind of image I would like to produce if the subject matter was to make something along that line. My inspiration comes from two photos of Arne and Marcel taken in Dürres, Albania, 2012 that beautifully epitomize the final words in the song Personal Jesus:

“Reach out and touch faith”

— Martin Gore, Depeche Mode

Artist: Erica Stenkrona, Reach out and touch faith, sketch

Artist: Ivar Lindekrantz, 1902- 1981, Jesus and the Children, Gustav Adolf kyrkan, Sundsvall

Princess Louisa Anne, Tuva and Christmas greetings!

In January 2016 I visited London and the Jean-Etienne Liotard exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) was among the most innovative and technically impressive artist of the eighteenth century. He was a master of pastel, working primarily as a portraitist. The following text is written by William Hauptman in the exhibition catalogue:

"Louisa Anne was in poor health all her life, and shortly after her nineteenth birthday she died of tuberculosis. In the portrait we see her at the age of 6, wide-eyed and with her lips slightly parted as she poses attentively for the painter. Liotard accented Louisa Anne´s youth and frailty by placing her in an oversized chair, as the high position of the armrest indicates. To add to the sense of vulnerability, the Princess is wearing a dess that is clearly too large for her: it slips outward at the bodice to reveal her right nipple, a startling and perhaps provocative detail hardly associated with royal portraits, but evidence of Liotard´s faithful observation."

The portraits displayed at the exhibition were exquisite, Liotard was a pastel wizard, all his paintings were delicate and vibrant! I don´t compare myself in any way with this masterful artist but I came to think of the portrait of Louisa Anne today when I was working on a portrait of another six-year-old child Tuva. It´s a work in progress, I need to change some things and emphasize some things.

Tuva, 2017, pastel on brown paper (work in progress). Artist: Erica Stenkrona

Tuva, 6 years old, screen shot from a short video clip (courtesy of SVT News).

This cute girl has a severe brain damage which means she needs assistance all the time. Today I planned to make a christmasy painting to accompany a digital holiday greeting to all my friends and family. My first attempt to make an innovative tomtenisse (christmas elf) last week failed. My second attempt did not even materialize because when I saw the video clip of Tuva I decided to paint her.  I love her expression and tender charisma. Making art nowadays, I´m always torn between the inclination to do a realistic painting, which is a meticulous and timeconsuming project, or to just let go of all the rules and goof around with color, shape and form.

This picture I messed up!! I do that a lot of the time.

The model, Folke, is a perfectly adorable tomtenisse!

I WISH ALL OF YOU A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tender social realism: Joan Eardley, 1921-1963

Some time ago I was an art student struggling with Charles Bargue´s drawings. I fully understood the reasoning behind this drawing practice but it was not quite my cup of tea. 

Bargue, plate 22. I started on this drawing April 14, 2014. On June 22, 2015 I wrote: "I´ve decided that this drawing is a finished chapter. Sorry Bargue!" My teacher said it was OK to quit but the drawing was not OK.

What kept me going while I was battling with plate no. 22,  was the firm conviction that the benefits of this method by far outlasted the drawbacks. My teacher Farigh Ghaderi used to say: "When you know the rules, you can break the rules".

So you can imagine that when I encountered the art of Joan Eardley, a British-Scottish artist, I was blown away. Her drawings and paintings from Townhead, a poor part of Glasgow, were both revelatory and revolutionary to me. The portraits of the Glasgow slum children are anything but ingratiating. It´s not a cool observation from the part of the artist; with great tenderness she depicts their vulnerability with bold brush strokes and vibrant color splotches. I just love her ragged and raw style. Her art is an inspiration to me, now when I´m entering the phase of my life when I´m allowed to break the (art) rules. See some  of her artwork in the gallery below.

Here´s an article about Joan Eardley in the Guardian.

A PORTRAIT INSPIRED BY JOAN EARDLEY

Untitled, 28 november 2017, Cretacolor hard pastel on Canson paper.