Mary andJesus.

Long before I ever ventured into buying oil colours, I got myself gouache colours. I'd tried them at school, and I had really liked the vividness and richness of the pigment in them, and the easiness of using them. They're about as easy or difficult to use as water colours, only with lots more pigment.

So I decided to paint something nice for my parents for a Christmas present, as I think it's always nicer to give something you actually did yourself, instead of just buying something that anybody can buy at a shop. Even if you're not that good at 'creating' anything, it's the thought that counts, and the hours you've spent doing it.


Meet Mary and Jesus. This was during a time when I'd taken an art history course at uni. I was really inspired by the medieval art that was so imbued with religious spirit and motifs. I thought it was a wonderful generalization from the teacher to say that medieval art was characterized by religiousness, both in its subject-matters and functions.

'Medieval' is a great word isn't it: you can sum up in one word an era that spanned several hundred years. And nothing ever changed, right? There was no progress during that whole time, people lead short and miserable lives in dread of God and Hell and purgatory, plagues decimated the population of Europe several times, and intellectual thought was backward and inextricably religious and dogmatic. This is what I 'learned' from Stargåte.

It's really amazing how blindingly bright colours you can get with gouache. And using an oil brush, you can even use a similar technique as you would with oil colours. It's what I did when painting the hood on the woman, sorry Mary, and the clothes. I'm quite proud of the hood in particular, it almost looks like fabric could really fold like that.

One trick I often use is to draw the contours, lines and shadows with a colour that's very different from the base colour, something bright, not just some dark colour. On Jesus, I used scarlet and ultramarine blue, on Mary, green. I love the effect.

I painted these two separately, but intended them to be placed next to each other, holding hands. The colours don't match here, as you can see from the hands, but that's because the photo didn't replicate the colours as it should have. It's no bid deal though, since it's only the fingers of Jesus that were supposed to match.

Let's Roll.

I thought I'd start with the least impressive of my works. (As if any of them were that impressive in the first place...) This is an interior of a spacecraft (duh). I'd love to be able to paint things like rooms and buildings, but I'm hopeless with rulers and dividers. I can't draw a straight line!


But I like the colours in this one, anyway. I tried to create that effect of distance between the viewer and the 'back' of the picture/back of the room by using warm colours for the anterior section, and cold colour for the section you can see through the doorway. But obviously I didn't follow that through, and the result is rather pathetic.

I get my kicks from colours. I don't ever paint things in local colours (their real-life colours, even with the effects of shadows or light), I'm only concerned with how the colours in the painting go together. I usually choose one or two bright, unmixed colours, and blend them with black and white. Often I don't like the colour I chose at first, so I just keep adding other colours until I'm satisfied.

In this picture, you can see that I tried that technique of using small brush strokes, changing the colour little by little from one end of the room to the other. I really admire it when someone can do that and really create the effect of smoothly changing colour. Here, it just looks messy.

Disappointed as I am with this one, there are some nicer pictures I'm actually decently happy with. I mean, you seriously should keep coming back to check them out some day.

Never thought I'd start a blog.

But here I am, writing one. I still fail to see what's so wonderful and revolutionary about blogs that even the biggest dailies are publishing excerpts from them. Especially when they come from blogs written by politicians, celebrities, or boring people in general... Anyways, my aim here is to 'publish' my paintings, in order to get some feedback (which I probably won't even get but what the heck), not so much to write about my deep, meaningful thoughts.

I suppose I could just load my pictures in Deviant Art or other such website, where newbies get noticed and it is easier to get feedback from lots of people. But god, the layout is horrible! Dark green, grimy, muddy and depressing... just what you need to get inspirational and creative?! I just don't get some website layout designers.

So, let's get down to business. I bought oil colours two years ago ( I think). I did one painting with oil paints in senior high school and I quite liked the richness of colour that they give, and the way you can do almost anything with them. If I recall correctly, that picture had some man with a moustache and a predator (from the movie). My teacher was quite impressed, he said I'm a colourist. But he was impressed by a lot of things. Alas, when I wanted to take my painting home with me after graduating, my teacher had lost it already. I think somebody stole it. It happened often in my school... the nicest pictures and other pieces of art always went missing.

After buying the colours, I painted dozens of pictures during the first couple of weeks, and lots more over the year. Last year I only painted about ten or so, and this year, nada. I still get inspired by many things, but over the last year I simply haven't had time to paint. However, having almost finished my Master's thesis now, I hope to continue to paint new pictures. There's nothing more relaxing than painting for hours on end in some kind of a trance.

And before you get too excited, mind you that I'm a total beginner. I had to learn the techniques (if you can refer to my ways of painting with such a fine word) by myself, i.e. I don't have much of a technique. I paint like a kid, splurt some colour out of the tube, take my brush and spread the colour on the canvas (really a cardboad plate covered with canvas). If I'm feeling impatient, I do very quick sketches and end up adding different colours until the picture is pretty much just one big smudge of grey. If I'm chill and relaxed, I like to work more carefully and add details as best I can.

I get my inspiration mostly from music, movies, pictures, photos, and occasionally from books. I tend to be motivated visually, but sometimes I'm drawn to lyrics and try to visualize them, or the feelings that the melodies evoke in me.

Movies are great for getting inspired. I love science fiction films, my first love was probably the Alien movies. I still like the first one best, even though it doesn't look so hightech anymore. It's the atmosphere that's so gripping, it keeps me daydreaming. And the aliens are so darn aesthetic that you can't help but admire their physique. They're so brutal, yet so graceful and elegant.

One of my cardinal flaws is that I can't really paint landscapes, even though that's exactly what I'd like to do when I see a particularly inspiring movie. I'm completely hopeless at creating any feel of depth, and that's quite elemental in landscapes... I know it is a matter of learning the right technique, but I'm not a very patient person. I want it all, and I want it now. So it's not gonna happen.

So I stick to painting people. Not even whole people, but faces, and usually also their necks and maybe even shoulders. I could probably paint realistic looking bodies if I practised, but I don't really find that interesting. I'm just drawn to beautiful, interesting faces. I don't often paint faces out of my own imagination, but rather, I try to paint portraits of celebrities that I dig. (Is it cool anymore to say that you 'dig' something? Probably not. Then again, I'm not cool.)

One person whose beauty I endlessly admire is Avril Lavigne. I've been a fan of hers ever since her debut album, in 2002. It's been a long time, and I'm not a teenager anymore. But I'm a loyal fan, I suppose, and a sucker for nostalgia... Another celeb I find fascinating is Jessica Alba. From Dark Angel. Not only do I think that she's so pretty, but also very intelligent. A third female who I admire is Katee Sackhoff. She's the new Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica. She's so sexy, flirty, beautiful, fit, funny, clever... and all in such a refreshing, unusual way. But hey, I'm not inclined that way - I do paint males, as well. But they're actually more difficult to paint, so...

Despite my many attempts at portraits, I'm not even half good at them. It's crazy how the subtlest change in the shadowing or the outlines of a face can make it look like a completely different person. But I'm resilient, I'll keep trying and getting better. I see some sort of progress with each new painting.

You're most likely bored out of your wits by now, so I'll stop here. I can add more boredom later for you (yes you, you non-existent reader), perhaps even a picture! I just wanted to introduce me and my mightly goals with this blog.