First layer of oil and it looks like this - I see details I want to change but it just has to dry first.

..& a closeup of the fingers. Here it is more obvious it is painted.

Next part to paint is the petal to the right (it´s still in acrylic). 

When I took the pictures for this painting, I decided to make a little photo-art project afterwards with the roses I bought. I had been inspired by a picture I've seen of Marina Abramovic who was about to get shot by a man holding a big arrow. She looked so "naked" in the picture but she didn't try to protect herself, she just let it happen. That´s the first time I really understood why Cupid shoots people. It symbolizes the pain related to love and in my picture the rose symbolizes his arrow. 

I let the rose petals lie on the table for a week, and even though they´re dead, there is something tragically beautiful about it, don't you think. 

My painting aint that negative though, it also has to do with love, but it has more of a Matchpoint theme (if you remember the last scene of that Woody Allen movie). 

Everything I know about the behavior of clay, I've learnt at Krukmakeri Hemgjord. If you are interested in learning about ceramics you should visit their home page, new courses start in autumn. It is a very nice atmosphere, the sessions are about 2,5 hours long and you get homemade cookies and different sorts of coffee too. 

In January I got to meet one of my inspirations, Eloy Morales. My admiration for his work began when I got a book with paintings by him. Eloy is famous for his enormous portraits with paint in his face and they are so realistic you can even see the pores and tiny tiny blood vessels on his nose. I got to meet him personally in Madrid in his studio and seeing his paintings in reality added a very important dimension - the surface aint plain, you can see rich chunks of color and even though the artworks look like photographs from afar, they dissolve when you come up close. Parts are detailed and others are not. Very intriguing! And to all those skeptics, his paintings are for real - there's no photoshop involved.

Anyways, in Madrid I picked up a study for one of his paintings which I think was on display at the Jonathan LeVine gallery in NYC not too long ago. It is a study of his brother David. Eloy gave me an idea for the framing - to make it look like it floats by separating the drawing from the background. Hard to explain but you´ll get it if you look at the pictures. The framing is done very professionally by Unos Glas.  

Honestly, this is the most precious thing I own and I can watch it for hours! It makes me think about the stage between being awake and falling asleep when you feel like you are hovering a little bit above your bed. 

Do you see what I mean about hovering? It looks like the drawing is weightless and defies the law of gravity.

You know these little things in your everyday life which adds that extra dimension and sense of luxury? It might be fresh flowers, a glass of fine wine, a home spa etc. This drawing does that same thing for me.

The transformation of a shapeless lump of clay to a sculpture I'm really proud of (and I don't say that very often since I'm very self-critical..). :)

It took me two sessions to shape it. Between the sessions we put it in an airtight box with a wet towel over it so it wouldn't dry.

The greatest challenge as I see it is that when you mold one part of the clay, other parts start to "move" and change too. The material is very dynamic and it is very hard to call it done or to make it look perfect from every single angle. 

Another big NONO is to have long nails or you will surely damage the sculpture by accident.

After the molding phase, we let the sculpture dry, because if it is still wet when you put it in the oven it will surely break. And actually it did break, but for other reasons - In session 2 I had put on some extra clay underneath and most probably there were air bubbles in it. 

After the oven it was time for glazing and I chose a glossy white for this sculpture. I was a little worried I had put too much glaze on since you cannot see the wrinkles of the hand that well.

But I didn't have to worry! After drying in the oven the hand came out like this.

I'm holding my hand in my hand, hehe :)

If you look at the bottom of the hand you'll see where it broke. I'm not disturbed by it though, you don't really see it when the sculpture is placed on a table/ window ledge.

You can see a bit of the yellowish clay through the glaze, a very nice unexpected effect.

All the stuff I made broke in one way or the other. My bowl broke when I was about to glaze it, and my other hand broke in a place that makes no sense (other than it was still wet inside when it got burnt..? just guessing). The bowl couldn't be saved, I didn't care too much about it anyways.. but my hand, I really wanted to save it and my step dad glued the pieces back together for me. I will paint it and then I'll show it to you!

Making sculptures has been such a great exploring and learning process for me, this is really something I enjoy. Maybe more than painting...:)