CSN till Florence Academy of Art

Idag meddelade Myndigheten för Yrkeshögskolan att The Florence Academy of Art återigen blir en studiemedelsberättigad skola.

Det innebär att alla svenska elever får rätt till bidrag och studiemedel från CSN.

Så nu är det bara att söka in !

http://www.florenceacademyofart.com/application.php

Stockholm Workshop

After a little over a week living in a suitcase its kind of nice to be home.
But I have had a great time!
Stockholm is a beautyful city and it makes one ponder for excuses to go up there again...

Since my last post I revisited the National Museum with my friend, the artist Per-Elof Nilsson-Ricklund.
Paying homage to Ilja Repin again =)

Last weekend we had our portrait workshop in Solna. I would like to thank all of you guys who participated, it was a GREAT weekend!

Theres nothing better then a group with commited, enthusiastic and hard working people.

So thank you again and I hope to see you guys soon!

Its been an intense start of the new year 2012! All in a good way =)

New Years I celebrated with friends in the Stockholm archipelago and it was beautyful! It was oddly enough my first time in the archipelagos, where Zorn would set out from Dalarö (we were pretty close).
So thank you, Sussie and Magnus!

Then the 3rd of januari me and Nathan got up at 04:45 to paint in TV4 Nyhetsmorgon. Im not usually the sharpest tool in the box that early in the morning but was wired even after maybe 2-3 hours of restless sleep.
We didnt get to say much, or at least not as much as I had expected but it was fine.
You can still see the clips on tv4play.se or just follow this link http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=konstnarerna_nathan_och_gustav_malar_i_sandning_del_2&videoid=2131900

Here is a pic of my portrait of Timothy Atkins

Noon same day as the TV4-show I had another portrait to do with Annika Duckmark. I had met her last year in Stockholm and we agreed to have a little portrait session whenever I would be in Stockholm next time, which happend to be now!
Here it is, a small sketch =)

After we finished I went to stay with an old childhood friend who now lives in Stockholm. It was great to see him and his family. After college, the band of friends in the "Björkhagen Crew" was quickly scattered around the world for work and school and other things in life. So this was a joyful re-connection with the past!
I think I have certainly outdone myself now! I was also introduced to a new medium, Ficher & Price, and this is the magnificent portrait of my brother-of-another-mother Markus. (His kids thought it was Hercules...)

And today I have met up with Nate and prepared for our Portrait workshop in Solna. And I managed to get my hotmail-account back after having it highjacked by hackers!! But its all good now. But for all of you who received "Join my friend network..." DO NOT OPEN IT! It was not me who sent those!

Tomorrow, our buddy Per Elof is swinging by Stockholm before returning for another trimester of teaching anatomy in Florence so I think we are going together to see the Perdvijzniki show at the National Museum again! =)

Ängelholm ---> Stockholm ---> Malmö!

The past few weeks has been quiet busy.

Me and my colleague Nathan Sowa were up in Stockholm for the Peredvizjniki-show (Ilya Repin, Isaak Levitan, Abram Archipov among other great painters) and to participate at Kista mässan and do portrait-demos.

To experience that show was close to a religious experience

                                               Portrait of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov by Ilya Repin

We are definitely going up to Stockholm to see this show again before they take it down. Then bringing a real camera to get some good close-ups to study.

I have also moved from Ängelholm to Malmö and have been working hard to get the place in order. So today I had my first chance to paint in my new studio space. I began a figure painting on which Im going to continue on for at least one more day so maybe I can post an image tomorrow of that.

Titus, my dog, was kind enough to lay still for five minutes. (I let him up on the couch where he usually is not allowed)

So here a little sketch of my best buddy,

Titus

In another post I can tell you how I have set up the new studio space.

The Wanderers - Peredvizjniki

Don't miss the exhibition of the decade or maybe even the century at National museum in Stockholm!

29 Sept 2011 -  22 Jan 2012

Peredvizjniki 

or also often called The Wanderers was a russian group of excellent painters.

If you are not familiar with them already, hold on to your hat and socks because they will surely blow you away!

Ilya Repin "Barge Haulers on the Volga" 131.5 x 281 cm"

Ilya Repin was one of the front figures of this group and this great painting has been haunting me ever since I first saw it (in a book) as a student and now its going to be on display i the National Museum in Stockholm. I can't wait to see it...


The timing could never have been better too.
Im scheduled to go up to Stockholm the very 29 of September to participate in one of the biggest art events of the year,


Konstnärernas Höstsalong  30 Sept - 2 Oct   (Kista-mässan)     

• Me and Nathan Sowa are going to be on stage friday, saturday and sunday doing portrait demos and you can also visit us at our stand nr: G:02 

• Friday             14.00-17.00
• Saturday         15.00-18.00
• Sunday           10.00-13.00 

Click here to find out more Konstnärernas Höstsalong

Finalist Award in the Boldbrush Competition

Today I´ve been struggling with a lot of paperwork from the summer and its just killing me...

So it was quiet uplifting to receive an email from the Boldbrush Competition (an online monthly painting competition) saying I got one of seven Finalist Awards in the August competition.

There was no money in the award but an upcoming feature in the online magazine Informed Collector and the honor to be acknowledged among so many talented artists from all around the world.

Here is a link to my entry http://faso.com/boldbrush/winner/23717

and here is a link to the other winners http://faso.com/boldbrush/winners/61

So thank you Trent Gudmundsen for cheering me up today !

Hamburg 16 September

Im starting to write this blog in english from now and on since I get more visitors from abroad.

Last week I got a chance to visit Hamburg, Germany for to days.
It was my first visit and I had one and half day to explore what Hamburg had to offer.
So a power nap after arrival I put on the walking shoes and set out for Hamburg Kunsthalle, one of Germanys largest museums.
After getting the wrong directions at the hotel desk, it took me a little more an hour to finally find the museum but I was lucky that they were open til 9 pm on thursdays so there was plenty of time.

Hamburg Kunsthalle has the largest Caspar David Friedrich-Collection in the world and they have ,probably, one of his most famous works, "The wanderer above the sea of fog", along with smaller landscapes and studies too.

Caspar David Friedrich is considered to be one of Germanys greatest artists of all time. Yet today I believe many art critiques consider his works to sentimental and kitschy. 

I like this painting.

They also had some paintings of Adolf Menzel, one of the most prominent german 19th-century painters

 "The studio wall"

And heres a guy I didn't know about, which is strange considering the sizes he was working in...

Hans Markat, I looked him up on Wikipedia and it said that when he was studying at the academy in Vienna in 1858 he was considered to hold little talent. In 1879 he became a professor at the same academy.

Hans Markat "The Entry of Charles V into Antwerp"

Next day I walked around Hamburg with my painting gear and did a small sketch ( i would look like a stamp compared to Markats painting...) But size doesn't matter eeh?

Thank you Barbara for sending me this picture =)

And a close-up. I think I heard Fleur-de-lys about 8 times while painting this.

Then the law inforcement got tired of the tunes and showed him off....

Thank you for reading!