Drawing safaris

Edible creations

2012-02-19T15:07:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been dedicated to celebration. More specific, the celebration of coming to the magical age of 4 for a true little princess. As the current residental artist in the family I was called to the department of creative decor, especially on the side of the famous Norwegian Marzipan Cake. For those of you who are not aware of our celebration tradition, the marzipan cake is THE cake. It is the symbol of a REAL celebration. You might have cupcakes. Which we did.

Chocolate&avocado cupcakes with cream cheese & sugar toppings, “Princess” cupcakes with pink icing, glittery sugar and Disney-themed medaillions.

Then there need to be Gell-O. How else to bring that special anticipation of a bunch of kids of whatsup in these interactive media world than by carrying the dessert, making it shake a bit saying with a funny voice “ohnoohnoooo….. uhunooooo!!!!! I will be eaten soooon……. Iam sooooo scaaared…”

Multiple coloured gelly with fresh fruit, vanilla cream and some bling.

Ok, okey dokey. Not done it for like… 20 years but my brain or at least my hands still found the way after some wonderful spunking about with geggamoja with some help from the jubilant herself, dressed in pink, of course, for the occasion.

The celebrant googing around in sugary substances with us while the real mummy expert (NOT me!!!) get down to the basis for vanilla cream filled buns.

Finally! Then it was The Cake. Fine! Not scared, nooo…hehe.. !!! Looking forward to reconnect with the magical mystery behind doing the definitive cake that makes all true Norwegians close their eyes if only for a split second when taking the first bite anticipating the mixture of sweet and nutty and fruity and creamy and--- how wonderful you are going to do all that and I will now sit down and bask in your glory and have a coffee and hmm?? waitaminutewhat… mmm… uh oh. You would like to have a… what as decoration? Crosscountry skier? In 3 dimensions preferably looking like the celebrant ?

The Cake for a moment looking like something that should definitely be kept behind the bar for… well… why can they not just eat all those other things???

Oh, ok. eh. sure. Are you sure? Yes? And you bought the most expensive ecological marzipan avaliable on the market to create it in? to be colored? by this… by me?? oh. Well. Ok. They asked for me, they will get what I can…, eh, not eat, and like along the way…

Marzipan, chocolate, cream, licorize and golden birthday candles on cake, princess cupcakes in the background.

Mummy is very clever. She knows how to nudge and she judges well. Well, it is creation, after all. So it went well. And it was fun. Especially eating the superfluous parts of the composition before publication;) (but oh I’m So finished with sugar for this year…)

We closed down ovens, took our aprons off, blew the balloons, had more coffee, the kids and parents came from sledging in the park ready to eat and relax and have fun and celebrate.

That was fun! Already booked for the party next year…

Winter pleasures

2012-02-13T12:37:00.001-08:00

People may travel. Places, light (ambience) and landscapes may not. That might be why travelling will never go out of style. And why we sometimes just get a strong urge to go to be somewhere specific.

There are many places to visit on Earth. Some we tick off the list. Some places we come back to again and again, always finding it fresh, new, exiting, invigorating. This is one of mine.

Fruvika beach, Vesterøya, Norway.

I find the ocean even more beautiful during winter. It’s like its quiet, powerful presence is more acute at this time of the year. Or perhaps the inwardness of winter make us more sensitive?

I like walking briskly on winding roads and pathways past fields and through forests to reach the sea from where I am based when here.

The forest is quiet now, just a single bird was heard, but there were many tracks from deer, showing its movements from the road into the forest, over some fields, then back again... Canine tracks: some obviously from dogs, but some smaller longer clawed ones might be from foxes, I know they are around… or badgers, perhaps? It is nice to stop and look and listen and enjoy.

The birch (Betula pubescens) stretch its branches towards the blue wintery sky, enjoying perhaps the longer days, feeling the spring is due in some more months, sensing the pleasant glow from the rays of the mid day sun…

The last days has been sunny and some snow had melted some places in the forest, creating interesting reflections in small temporary ponds, its transparancy revealing hidden stories and treasures…

Where the shades are deeper the ice is textured in a different way, the surface opaque, silklike in lustre, rendering other outlines, equally beautiful but different.

I know this area well. But there are still places I have not explored. You don’t want to disturb anyone and signs are scarse… So I was very happy when this area became designated as a Nature Costal trail, meaning I can wander along in any direction that takes my fancy, finding my way by following small patches of blue with signs at intersections showing different options for a way forward, knowing I will not end up in someones yard having to think of lame excuses for being an airhead not knowing the whatever was an obvious (really?) sign of… well well.... No more of that.

Not knowing the area is no hindrance – just follow the signs!

This way the residents get their privacy, the visitors get to know and explore beautiful areas with confidence. Maps have been made, historical descriptions is available, you can walk, bike, ride, ski or boat and the pressure on the most popular areas is down with the spread. You can find a place to be alone. You can find a place with buzz. Everyone is happy.

I like walking here. When – or if – you meet someone, they greet you with a nod, a smile, a quick hello. You can ask for advice, directions, tips on what to see, where to go, or just have a small chat with a stranger about their dog, something you have seen, or would like to see, then walk on after mutual greetings and wishes for a pleasant day. Or not. You can keep quiet and just smile. Or nod if you feel serious that day. It’s ok. It’s still friendly. Unpretentious. I like that. It makes me want to paint it from within.

I find an old Oak tree clinging to a cliff, caught up in a struggle for survival. It is squeezed but fit for a fight… I climb a small pathway and find ice hanging from the rocks, fluid water transformed into frozen moments of time…

It is all very fulfilling. I finish my walkabout, go home, grab a bite, do some work, read a bit: And then, the sun sets over the Fjord and I get up and put down my book to bask in the moment.

The sunset is slow here in the North. There always seems to be time, somehow. Or, rather, the days and the weeks change fast but the daily rhytm, especially at sunrise and sunset, is just so massively impressive and grandiose that spending time in nature, like most people around here do when they have a chance, really reminds you of your place in the Universe as less than a speck of dust. But a lucky one.

Reflections in Water, in Mind. Trees. Mountains. Snow. Sun moving on elsewhere. Time to rest now. Then to work.

Drawing safaris…

2012-02-06T00:08:00.001-08:00

Well, it must be allowed to enjoy good press when one gets it, no?

So I am happy to tell that in their newest special travel edition on Africa, the well established Norwegian magazine “Reiselyst” found space for a six page article about my Drawing safaris…

The head title, for those of you who do not read Norwegian, says “Hunting with a pencil”. How fitting! The image above shows me with the journalist Toril Moland who together with the editor Ronny Frimann came and spent some days in the Mara on a Drawing Safari with me a few months ago taking a cultural break after climbing Kilimanjaro...

It was an interesting visit, and a new experience for Torill who had never really drawn before even though she is a very creative person covering many fields!

After some initial fumblings due to lack of experience she quickly grasped the concept and after a few suggestions got her drawing going really well!

Obviously going on a safari is also about enjoying the animals, the landscape, the food, the people, culture… And I was pleased to find they did take it all in full.

I like doing these safaris. And I think Saruni Camp is doing really well looking after everyone accordintto specific likings regardless of where they come from or what their preferances are.

From an artistic point of view it took me a few years to get really started painting again as well as I wanted, and it took a lot of – real! - “beating around the bush” – to get it. Which perhaps is why I have a LOT of patience – as well as a genuine- interest in what can make people tick away creating happily from exactly where they are.

The main key, to mine, as well as my students, blissful and creative mode, is to relax into the genuine gentle beingness of the bush. And oh how the animals around is assisting us in our efforts! And if it seems to difficult to get a hold onto how to get a painting by a giraffe done, well, the tree is not going to walk away anywhere soon, is it…

All in all we had a joyful time together, and we were all happy they came.

The Drawing Safaris is all about to be out there, to observe, to watch, to try and try and try again… and to be happy with the day when at the end of it we go back to camp and the fire and the good meals doing smalltalks with the drink of your choice in your hand… and then, next morning, when you open your sketchbook perhaps with a slight anitcipation to be dissapointed at what you did the day before because you think you are so dumb at it, instead you are delighted and happy and suprised and impressed with yourself! … and so you set out again refreshed, knowing that you have done something useful and worthwhile already and bent on doing even better this day…

Thank you also to Sigurd and Kari of “Safari Opplevelsesreiser” for creating Torilds and Ronnys itinerary! If you should ever want to travel for a safari from Scandinavia you can rest assured to be in the the best of hands should you book with them;)

…

Hmmm… well as I am on it… there was also a nice article in a newly started Kenyan magazine called “Focus on Getaways” kidogo time ago which I post as below… A sister magazine to a very popular real-estate magazine as well as hosting links for expats they have been doing really well: thank you, Michelle, for giving me and us such a good press throught your fascination with the concept! When up and into it: Go check the magazine when you can! Available all over Nairobi and through subscription;)

Ok. Starting on the front page…

On the first edition! And on front page! Very honored. Then, as I got the magazine and opened it to read…

Iwas humbeld and felt again very honored to be mentioned in the editors letter…

Stevie Mann took the beautiful photos from the camp. A fantastic man and a true artist.

Meeting the local people, eating and drinking well is a part of the “hum” of a safari regardless if you shoot with camera or try to graps it with pen and pencil!

…and least but not last it is good to know where you are… to which Michelle worked on making clear. Easy to find the way to your home away from home with this!

Then there was a nice feature article about me in Sandefjords blad in relation to my summer exhibition..

Kudos to you all! And thank you for the support!

Things cats drag in…

2012-02-03T07:49:00.001-08:00

I have always held the firm belief that it is not we who have cats. Cats have us. According to Wikipedia the domesticated cat stems from no more than 5 self -domesticated desert cats. I wonder who the woman was who took the time and effort to befriend them. Did she live in a tent? A cave? a mudhouse? Did she just find herself with a litter of cats recently born, their mother disappeared, or was it the mothercat herself choosing to trust this strange biped?

Uh, oh, well… Who can resist a bunch of kittens? Suprise party came up… whaddado but love them?

Mummy Snapper found an unconventional mate – a wild card, a wild cat: a bit unexpected, perhaps, but then, again, hey: I am not one to complain! There is space in the bush! And I like their company! She did a great job rising them.

Mummy Snapper enjoying the warm light of sunset.

Well, back to the unknown lady: She, whoever she was, must have had a way around her husband as well to avoid him clubbing the dear little creatures for an easy meal when hunting was down. Did he strike a bargain with the darling little things to bring in surplus protein as a bribe in tolling time? Or is that just part of how cats are from natures side? That they share? I am starting to be inclined to believe the latter.

This is one of the newest additions to the things the cats brought in to their pet (me). Carried nicely into the studio, promptly put down and of course “played with” on my favourite Maroccan kelim carpet under the drawing table, I could not resist to promptly rescue the poor thing as it was still in relatively good health; so, here it is:

…it was just too cute, sorry girls…

This might be an African Zebra Mouse: they live in kinship groups and are quite social. It could, however, also be - according to Jeannine McManus from Sout Africas Wildcliff foundation (big thank you for your friendly note to my request!) an African Field mouse. If this is the same specie only with a different common name has not been entirely verified yet. No worries. This little darling looks very young: is it not something about the eye/head/ear dimensions that suggests it? Also it was quite without resistance when I took it up and it stayed in my hand for the photo session. More mature animals sometimes resist a bit if and need to be caught in a firmer yet gentle way.

Well, the cats need to be fed…

Oops, that was indeed a slightly larger relative of the ones in my house but even this one dragged her… well, meal at this time of the victims life, closer to and not away from us…

Krhm… back a kilometer or so to my domestically blissed world…

As mentioned in the last post Kitamu is the hunting master (hunting madam?) of the family. Being half wild perhaps it goes with the type: I have been amazed by her snatching huge spiders, bugs and other protein- rich… well …things... I am certain her larger relatives is not above that sort of addition to their diets either… However I never expected to find myself glimpsing up from my work at the easel at the studio to find this sight quickly moving towards my feet:

Mmmwhoops!…

Jumped a bit there but the photo opportunity was just too good to miss although the photo itself is not great…

I hoped it was a grass snake and had somehow thought of giving it a go for the outdoors but I could not entirely get my head around how to catch it safely if it was of one of the 42 poisonous types we have around… meaning, well, to put it blunt, with means of defense above what my kitcen kabinet could give as relief… and since no avaliable tools was ready at the moment: painting brushes and cameras are, after all, for other types of hunting… I kind of just, well, backed up a little bit…

No, no, no, sorry, me, I am NOT mummy!!! sorry!!! can not help you right now!!

The poor thing was up at a fight to everything – or was it looking for relief? I dont know! I have to admit I just said to it: “Sorry! But you might be one of those things that just get so scared and all, that they bite regardless of my intention, so I think I will just stand on this step for a while and see how you manage to fend for yourself until I figure it all out better…”

Mmm. well. It went as it had to. Cat got addition to dinner, self caught way that day… Nothing left than a small stain of blood on the studio floor… and I definitely got some of the closest to a snake I have ever been during my 6 years in the bush…

Thats all for today folks, and so the story ends… for now!

Thank you for reading!

Two of a kind…

2012-01-27T08:11:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, in the beginning of October 2011, we had a new addition in camp! Sarikoki the eland had been quite lonely up here in the hills, and although he sometimes hung out with the zebras when they visited the garden they left and he remained… spending far too much time in the workshop. Then, one day, some of the elders apporached us; they had found a baby eland and wondered if we would like to have it?

Of course we said yes! …but I have to admit I was concerned – Sarikoki had behaved rather agressively towards other orphants in the past such as a zebra and a buffalo. However, I had noticed his different attitude towards Ariel the bushbuck, so I just crossed my fingers and… got not only suprised but very happily so!!!

Sarikoki and Embe with the new baby eland in front of our house

Sarikoki and Baby, both orphaned, bonded fast! Now at least they have eachother… It was amazing to discover how they instinctively knew they were of the same kind even though they never have been part of a herd.

Talking of which… As you might know, I live on a Safaricamp in the wild so there are already quite a few animals around… to which we have added a few:

Two dogs, Embe and Kidogo has been here almost from the start 9 years ago:

With Ric & the dogs on the terracce of Nyati wearing my favourite “Out of Africa” style of hat – very comfortable for eyes and skin!

The dogs are of the local Maasai breed; playful, kind and always ready for games and fun - and fierce with baboons! Visitors just love them and children especially has been known to profess when asked about which of the animals they have seen so far they liked the most: “…The dogs…”

Then the cats came, Snapper first… Snapper then went on to produce Kitamu and a few other beauties now living good lives in Maasai and Kiisi villages;). I have to admit I have a special soft spot for this one, though: she is a rather interesting cat as her mother, living far away from other villages mated with a wildcat so she is halfbreed…

Quality time in the studio recliner, Kitamu in front, Snapper in the background.

But it is not the mix, it is the resulting character which amazes me. The mix leads to some interesting things, such as her catching and eating snakes, huge spiders and bugs! Not to mention climbing Acacia trees in total disrespect of their fearful spines… climbing down with her head first reveals her wild genes… She also like walking on the top of the roof of our house… While mummy just sits and watch and wonder! And yet she never acts in agressive ways, she is always attentive, affectionate and secure.

Kitamu in action mode

Well, enough of that, it was Baby and Sarikoki I was about to tell you about!

The development has been very good. They always hang out together, never go far from eachother, Sarikoki taking the lead (in fact his name, Sarikoki, means “The one who leads” in Maa). Eating, resting, exploring… and interacting with all of us here at camp, biped, fourped, four or twowheeled, the sky sets the limit.

Sarikoki and Baby in the garden resting in the shadow of a Pepper tree (Schinus treblintifolius) in the mid-day heat.

Baby has, as you can see, grown a quite a lot since october!

It seems almost to good to be true, as elands are known to be extremely skittish so… is it all tell and no show?

Well, as they say, a picture say more than a thousand words so here is one from this morning:

Embe and Baby by the sundowner bench in my garden.

And that should about say it all, is it not… except I guess, with my philosophical streak, there is one.

We, as humans, behaving in a relaxed and accomodating way around animals, can help species accepting and getting to know eachother even though they from Natures side would be sworn enemies as hunter and prey. They need to be given sufficiently space, food and attention to accept eachother as part of a group.

Hmmm… having said that, still working on how to include the vegetable part of living life to the community feeling, though…

In the meanwhile fences just have to do the job…

Sacrificing to protect… Sarikoki checking out Jackson building a fence around my Silk Floss trees grown from seeds collected in the Nairobi Arboretum… Jackson is a rather tall fellow, so, yes, Sarikoki IS rather huge by now… glad he is friendly most of the time!

Have a lovely day! Mine has been!

An eventful summer…

2012-01-18T03:04:00.001-08:00

This summer was the first time in many years to hold a painting exhibition in Norway.

Gallery Flood is situated on an island just outside the city of Sandefjord. Just130 km southwest of the capital Oslo it is reached by exellent roads with great views of the ocean along the way and is a very popular holiday destination.

…overcast morning down by the Fjord: water is cool but immensely fresh, if you find the guts, an early morning bath leaves you feel refreshed – and brave! like nothing else…

Featuring the almost obligatory breathtaking views over the ocean and fjords it also happens to be next door to where I have spent quality time in the past on holidays as well as on other occasions as my aunt lives next door.

the gallery in the preparation phase as I am trying to work out the best ways to hang my things in harmony with the craftwork already there.

Having had favourable receptions on my work in Kenya I should have been totally at ease by expanding my circles but it is alway the way, I guess, that every time one enters something new there is this slight anxiety. So, being slightly nervous about the reception of my work in my native setting this gallery gave the best possible frame as a good combination of something new, something well known… bringing the past and the present together.

me slightly nervous but trying not to let it show, however, the clasping hands let it all away, isnt it…!

I came to Norway a few days before, visiting friends and family and taking photos to share with you here on this blog both from the famous Vigeland Sculpture park but also from the Botanical gardens of Oslo as they recently had a new addition I wanted to take a closer look at.

This lovely addition is a garden created with the specific purpose of giving people with Alzheimers desease a sense of belonging and rememberance as it contains “oldfashioned” plants and features from gardens in the Eastern part of Norway.

The idea is that they can come here, sit on a bench and reconnect with memories from a distant past, and to give them a sense of stability through recognition of something familiar.

I think this is a lovely idea. By making the estethical pleasures of the gardens made for beauty and relaxation vivid in the mind through the eye, the touch and the olifactory senses one can connect to deeper levels of self and otherness.

It is always nice to have a quiet bite at the cafe…

Then: Preparing for departure “down south” next day I cycled downwards through Oslo City Center to buy my train ticket and check the departure times. Then back home past the Government quarters to avoid getting stuck in the tramlines next to the Catherdal and then zigzakking up to Frogner via the castle and its lovely park.

Learning that the train tunnels in central part of Oslo was under reconstruction and it would be a complicated journey with buses etc., I chose to ride my bike with my paitings rolled up and my gear on my back to Lysaker - the nearest station open – the next day.

taking a break at Lysakerkilen - my fabulous foldable bike is a new love!

I started early, passed through Vigelandsparken and took these images of people having fun posing as the sculptures, strolling about, enjoying the weather…

It was the morning of the 22nd of June 2011.

And little did I know that the world, for us, would change dramatically that day.

I tried to write about this earlier. Somehow my computer crashed and the blogpost disappeared. Having other things coming up; travels to Italy, Marocco, England… death of a loved one… health issues… I never musted the force to write as I felt I had to deal with this post before anything else. and the time was just not right. Whatever came out too raw, somehow, or it felt too platonic merging the loss and sadness with the happiness and joy of the wonderful experiences that also had been part of this last months so I kept postphoning it. until now.

As I came back to the house after bringing my paintings to the gallery and setting myself up for stretching them we settled in front of the television to watch the news.

There had been a terrorist attack. First a bomb. then shootings. Filled with dread and sadness I remembered passing by the exact spot at the exact time the bomb had gone off the previous day. My thoughts went out to people I know working in the area. were they ok? no answer on the phone. then the details came. the children enjoying companionship and happiness gunned down. it was too much to take in. I was devastated. and in doubt: should we cancel the show? would it be disrespectful?

the gallerist and I talked and thought and decided; we will go on. but on a smaller scale.

I am happy we did that.

Between 150 and 200 people showed up for the opening. And they continued to come. They wanted to talk, they said; we do not want to be stopped by this. life must go on. perhaps we have become complacent, perhaps we have become spoiled. we must open our hearts and mind and embrace life, embrace eachother, grow closer.

it was magical. it changed something in me listening to these people reflecting on themselves in such an open way. At the opening I tried to give an impression of what life in Africa is like and got quite engaged, it seems… (btw the painting in the background is from Langebybukta, based on a sketch I made the previous year…) and I tried to tell the tale of how the strong togetherness in our local Maasai Community is working and how important it is for them to have foras where all aspect of a problem or an idea is discussed at length regardless of your position until an agreement is reached.

the next weekday I went to Oslo. Being very Norwegian, not wanting to pry, not wanting to be in the way for the investigations, still wanting to pay my respect and face the facts I silently made my way downtown.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I came closer to the Cathredal. Even before I saw the hundreds of thousands of flowers I could feel, tangibly, an atmosphere of silent togetherness and strength.

It was as if the normal sounds of a busy city had gotten mufled, somehow. There they were. thousands of them. families with small children. young people and old. all composed. talking, not in hushed but silent and clear voices. standing. feeling. thinking. masses of flowers and greetings, stopping here, reading there. walking through the pathways made. most had flowers, some cards, some flags. and pictures. drawings. it was as time itself had come to a standstill. and I fell in love with my country again, with the strength, with the difference it can do to dare to be silent together, to allow the immensity of what was truly a national tragedy come forward not in loudness and cries of revenge but in a silent intimacy. that touched my heart in a deeper and more lasting way than any outcry would have made. Is it not always so? that silence looms larger than words? when true strength is manifested, is it not so that it does so calmly? that the terror came from within, did that not also show that we had not been present enough? not caring enough? that we needed to rethink?

To be together in silence is a very intimate act. To experience gently move around in a crowd who all move deliberately, consciously, knowingly, respectfully, is, in a way, to experience love on its deepest level.

these people did not belong to some specific group that had made it a point of showing up as a political standpoint. they had not been through years and years of training in empathy and lovingkindness. they were no hardheaders present there to criticize. to condemn. to demand. the point was simple. These everyday people were there to be there. to show that they cared. to feel together and to show by the act of coming there and to participate in silent respectful moving around bringing their most precious ones – their children – that they could be counted on. it was like a dance! magic! It showed, and they wanted to show, that they had their hearts intact, their minds set to overcome and to understand the tragedy. and to continue to live their lives with love and kindness.

Impressingly profound. the very act of being there as individuals, as families and as friends, completely unorganized, yet capable of this great… gentleness. and I, by myself, I walked around in this, I watched and thought and then, when the moment felt right, left for the other things that was on my agenda that day. but it did not leave me. and it never will. and that is exactly how it should be.

perhaps it is time to move on, now.

Challenges

2011-06-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I had hoped to be able to post some wonderful pictures from my giant gladioluses, irises and other wonderful flowers that were about to come into bloom when I had a suprise visit from a group of baboons that tore up every single one of the bulbs... s i g h... also they took a swing in the hibiscus (that did not go very well either), snapped a few branches of the wild camphor and managed to get into the studio where they thank heavens strangely decided not to tear anything apart (they normally does that just for the fun of it). That visit was followed by a group of elephants that helped themselves to some of the larger aloes that also was about to go into bloom, and probably either dikdiks (a small antelope) or hares and white tailed mongoose (which also comes into the house to drink water and feed on insecrts attracted to the kerosene lamps on the terrace) have almost completely browsed down my new bougainvilleas... and all the nasturtiums... Needless to say I am not too amused... but such is life when wanting a garden and living in the wild, one just have to keep on trying - what survives, survives...

A I am not particularily fond of baboons I painted a BIG snake on the wall in the back garden (that gave me some satisfaction!) so I hope the remaining plants will be left alone during my stay in Norway for my summer exhibition...

Bluffalo “Bigear” Bull

2011-05-22T00:17:00.001-07:00

I find that in order to get a painting going in a way that works for me during the process it is useful to have experienced the subject matter myself so that I can tell a story. Sometimes they are a bit silly, perhaps, but it is a fun way to work with colours and shapes - and this is one of those. Meet Bluffalo “Bigear” bull… acrylic on canvas 100x70 cm, it is the story of this large elderly African Buffalo that often come to graze in my garden… as you can see, his ears are very large and kind of pointed – the buffaloes are rather smelly, and their eyesight is not all that developed, so they use their hearing a lot to detect dangers…

I normally talk to the animals that come around to get them to know me and recognize that I am not of any danger – the “normal” animal behaviour – and, so, when Bluffalo is around the house now, mostly after dark (which is also why he is blue) he does not run away any longer but stand still, albeit on a distance, gazing in my direction and holding his ears out in a particular way perhaps as he recognize the sound of my voice as something familiar and not connected to any immediate danger…

The triangular leaves are from the Mollus Treblintifolius – the pepper tree – which is in abundance around the camp (the tree trunk belonging to it is what gives shade to the entrance to my studio) and the hill behind him is the view in front of our house, in which we often see elephants, impalas, waterbucks, zebras and the larger herd of buffalo that Bluffalo often hangs out with when he is tired of being alone… ah, the freedom of artistic expression is wonderful!

...addition: just as I finished writing this post I heard some noises from the part of my garden behind my studio, and there he was! did he feel someone was talking about him?

Nature into Art – or, how to create a Living Paradise on Earth…

2011-05-01T07:03:00.001-07:00

Gardens have always held a special attraction for people: nearly all great civilizations have embraced gardens, although their forms and purposes have differed, as it has differed through different epochs in time within the same cultural circles. The walled garden of mediaeval times, to take one example, was seen as analogous to The Garden of Eden: it embeds the idea of a garden as a sacred, private place where safety could be found. For many of us, that idea is still with us: it is a place for contemplation, for contact with Nature, for extraordinary pleasures of aesthetical (and culinary!) pleasures.

-Apple tree in blossom in the Village of Giverny

One main reason for wanting to visit Paris this spring was to have the possibility to visit the Impressionist painters Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) famous garden in Giverny. An hours ride with train from Paris “Gare Saint Lazare” take you to Vernon, from which there is a short bus ride or a 3km walk through an idyllic rural landscape.

A typical house in Giverny Village

A poor artist widower with two small children, living together with Alice Hoschede and her six children, he swore when he received yet another eviction notice for unpaid rent in the early spring of 1883 that he would set out on foot following the river Seine and not return until he had found a place they could stay, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

(historical photo)

It was May, and the apple orchards in Normandie were filled with blooms: the fields with wild poppies, forget-me-nots and myriads of other wilds flowers. A true painter’s paradise!

Crab apple tree in glorious springtime bloom

Monet came past an abandoned cider farm – Le Pressoir – and its pink stucco façade, green shutters, trees in full bloom and an impressive alley leading up to the front door gave promises of a charming bohemian-burgeouise life. The surrounding fields, the river nearby and its large garden promised access to inspiring and fascinating painting subjects.

Monets house in Giverny as it is seen today.

Making his enquiries he was allowed to rent the property, and later to buy it. He was 43 years old, and fate would have it that he was to spend exactly the next 43 remaining years of his life there, painting, gardening, and living a harmonious family life with Alice and their total of 8 children…

(Historical photo)

Having this place as a secure retreat at last allowed him to create that special world from where he would send out in the world paintings that would reflect not just a paradisiacal garden, but even more, reflections of a State of Mind.

The house in Close Normand who was a constant painting subject, and his later addition, The Water Garden from which he found the inspiration for his large Water Lily Series that still captivate us.

Why do we love Monet and his paintings so much, still today? Perhaps he was one who truly searched, and found, like so many of us who adore his work, that to create a garden is to invite into one’s life many lifetimes of pleasures for the benefit of the Soul, Mind and Body.

Flowers in all colours make your heart sing with joy!

Needless to say this was a wonderful and inspiring experience, and as my own project moves along I will post something about my own sucesses and failures – an arch leading to my studio entrance is already in place, Gladiolous have been put in the ground and are starting to get their heads up, climbing Roses have been planted together with Hibiscus and White Oleander and something blue that I did not really get the name… More Bougainvilleas along the arches are in place and various elements that hopefully will stop the elephants and buffaloes to create a total havoc absolutely every time they come by have been put in place (a windchimer so far being the best remedy together with sturdy bush fences… but that is for later! No go gardening some more… when to paint in all this??? well… even Monet had that problem but he did certainly manage after a while, so it is just to once again find inspiration not only in the approach to painting, nature and colours per se, but also in the dedicated work in the artistic field during a long and happy life.

-The famous “japanese style” in the water garden

Thank you for reading!

For Monets garden as well as paintings see the website: http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

And, ah, for those of you living in or visiting Japan: The Japanese Emperor visited Monet in his garden: He had a japanese gardener helping him finding rare plants, and there is a garden in Kitagawa-mura reconstructed by mr. Gerard Van Der Kemp as a Milennium project along the same principles as Giveny to be visited: More info is in this link: htpp://www.vernon-visite.org/rgb3/monet_garden_kitagawa.htm

-You are still in our thoughts and hearts and prayers…

Animals and emotions

2011-04-19T04:44:00.001-07:00

Finally home in the bush from an intense and very interesting visit stretching over several weeks to Paris and Northern Italy: The first impressions I would like to share from this journey is about a little gem of a museum called La Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature: that is, the museum of hunting and nature. www.chassenature.org

Located in a beautiful mansion in the fashionable Marais - where we stayed, of course;) - this museum is an intentionally strange museum, which the readers of my earlier post will know is just my thing;)

illustration of point: a stuffed? fox in a vintage chair? Well, Hello there!! jumped of course a little bit just as planned by the exhibitors!

And what about these creatures: Grrrrr… ooops! Not this is not what one would expect to find in a living room, is it?

And here, facing the Grey European Wolf – on parquetted imported hardwood floor floating with Persian carpets we find the Stunning and Dignified Stag…

It is an amazing job the taxidermists have done on these creatures… and the approach behind the display is stunning: The Wolf and the Stag facing each other in a Very Posh salon… Both animals are positioned in front of large tapestries depicting allegorical hunting scenes - can you see the stag in the 15th C tapestry directly behind it? and with corresponding paintings on the walls and a very comfy seating area in the middle of the room it gives you the peace and quiet and space to read the very good descriptions on separate information leaflets leaving you with a very properly rendered historical and philosophical context for the images we see around us.

I just loved this place.

Created as an offspring of the foundation “Fondation de la Chasse et de la Nature” in 1964 by the famuos conservationist and industrialist couple Francois and Jaqueline Sommer it had a twofold aim: one to support and inspire ethical hunting that respects the balance in nature and secondly to show the vast collection of hunted related artworks and objects the couple had collected.

The collection is enriched with loans from many other nature and art-related institutions as well as embellished with modern pieces. Together the mix create an eclectic, intelligent and humourous combination that want you to stay on and on reading, exploring, feeling, thinking…. The contrast to the elegant surroundings of the mansion, The Hotel de Guenegaud (app. 1650, attributed to the architect Francois Mansart) which, at the beginning of the project was in a sorry state of disrepair, is intentional: the restoration project had as a goal to “recreate” the decor of a typical eighteenth-century collector and wow how it does that well. Being a “work in progress” so to speak it is not a fixed set of displays – rather, the institution strive to embrace recent and truly up to date and contemporary ideas related to both art, philospohy and conservation within a genuine historical context, and it is therefore able to show the relevance of history as well as remining us about the neverending possibility for freshness in an istitutional approach that should get the juices flowing for anyone related to the public sphere:) (Hear! Hear!)

Let us look at this typical “Trophy” room. It is kinda scary, but also impressive…I had to allow it to sink in for awhile before embracing it. I would, for instance, like to point your attention to the VERY contemporary ceiling treatment – just one of those quirky touches that leaves us – or at least me! with an impression of freshness to this collection that would otherwise have felt both stuffy and depressive given the fact that all these animals have lost their lives due to the personal eagerness to show off importance and social status through mastering the life and death of other living beings, holding them captivated even after their death… But that is all done oh so long time ago and it IS remarcably done so lets put the current politically correct moral aspect aside for now to allow us to indulge in the visual experience of the place: Personally I would have liked the ceiling frescoe to have been a little more coherent designwise as I feel venerance towards these creatures even in their aftermath and it is to hope that another artist with less of a degree of distance to the subject matter surrounding him will be given the task in the future to mirror the collection in a less visually confrontational way. (Me, for instance;)!) Equally, or even more impressive is the display of artefacts connected to the hunting

this image show one of many different original dog collars used in hunting – the spikes is to prevent the dog from being killed by suffocation by wolves: they were also wearing heavily quilted vests made out of horse hair to protect them from the razor-sharp tusks of the Boar…. Wow!

The collection shows the part hunting has played in civilization– mostly Western - but it also higlights the evolution of the status of wild animals in the human mind – always a fascinating subject. From the ancient veneration of Predators as animals to be feared as well as respected, to the veneration of the Wild Boar as the Ultimate hunting Subject only for the Experienced Craftsman to dare going after (the favourite object of hunt for the Roman Goddess Diane), the hierarcy of animals in the mind of people shifted quite abruptly with the advent of Christianity. The Wolf, especially, was seen as Evil incarnated due to its preying of lambs, the image of Christ, and no means however cruel and lowly was allowed in its persecution. On the opposite end, the Stag, with its antlers falling off and growing back was seen as equivalent to the resurrection of Christ, and its 10 points the equivalent of the 10 Commandments and therefore the hunting of this animal took on Very Dignified proportions … which we can see in the care, dilligence and artistic wonders the hunting tools were shaped.

Later development, particularily the advent of Humanism, moved animals away in Western conception from being Creatures of Divine making (albeit underlying Mans dominance) to pure Utilitarian consideration. The usefulness of the Domestic animals came to the forefront, with the Dog as its most useful, lojal and therefore Dignified of Creatures.

Jeff Koons contemporaty Terrier sculpture in porcelaine on marble top table with 17 century fox hunting trumpet in front next to it, 18th century hunting hound portrait on the wall in the background.

The historical descriptions given on the information leaflets together with the actual displays of genuine historical artefacts was an eye opener to me. I am reasonably well read in European Intellectual history as well as in Philosophy (apologize already now for a later rambling indulgence); I think I have mentioned somewhere that did one semester studying Classical Mythology in Rome pairing it with art history and literature -Classical as well as Baroque to get a better grasp of allegorical representations of Mythological subjects in writing, architecture and Arts- but coming from a rather Barbarian country, who – thanx heavens – (and sorry if I offend someone!) –have kept their love and closeness to the wilderness somewhat intact - never really have had the opportunity before now to see this amazing wealth of artifacts combined with the scientific understanding juxtaposed and contextualized in the historical setting – and place! - in the way they manage to do here (Rome is WONDERFUL, but it is, after all, the city where the Vatican is placed… so they do not overdo the Scientific approach to things, do they, competing for positions at the Papal Court … sorry again…))

Allow me to take one example that for me helped to put things into context and grabbed my attention.

Have a look at this painting. It seems a bit oversweet and kinda… kitchy, no? I walked by giving it no special attention, but as I grabbed one of the forementioned explanation sheets and put myself comfortable to read (yes, I did spend about 5-6 hours there, and I DID read it all…) I nearly jumped out of my comfy sofa to get a closer look (and take this photo)

J. B Oudryas “Bitch feeding her pups” 1753

This image, Ladies and Gentlemen, however overly… posed? we might find it now, is one of the very first painting of an animal showing emotions. It is a genuine response to the new sensitivety towards animals, and a true expression of a release from symbolic prepresentations of the world. Amazing, isn’t it?! Of course, what caused this shift in sensibility was a complex process strenghtened by the creation of the public sphere and the informed reader through Gutenbergs printing press and later newspapers; the growth of a middle class, the shift from drinks to alcoholic to non alcoholic beverages etc etc through the coffee houses that we all know almost by heart and ad infinitum and so forth and of course the great shift in economical prosperity that made Individualism a way of life possible for a vastly larger number of people than anytime possible in the History and the Colonializations etc etc (sorry if I am lecturing just my head is full of these things so …) all this made some very important aspects of Renee Descartes (1596-1650) philosophy being met with a public outcry (you know, the Cogito ergo sum which severs the bond to religious worldviews and unravel the Authoritarian hegemony to knowledge etc etc which opens up for a total Materialism etc etc… sorry again but is is important to keep these aspects somewhere in the back of the mind to get things right here).

Descartes wrote that animals could not feel suffering. His writings have been used / and someplace still are / as a justification to use animals in testing. Now, this might be my own mistake, but somehow it has evaded me through the reading until now that this postulate was objected against so strongly already in his contemporary time – and for sure this is the first time I see it mentioned and oh so well illustrated - from dog owners!!

Now these obviously Bourgeouise readers who equally obviously belonged to the fashionable circle of “modernist” subscription readers of his writings came to protest very loudly and publicly when he denied that animals could feel suffering. They were attentive to canine behaviour and they found in their pets and hunting companions an acute ability to express feelings and emotions that shook the foundation of a worldview that placed Men above Nature.

And so it was that the New Modern Man - and Woman – found themselves not only accompanied by feeling beasts and companions worthy of respect and loving care: but also the sexes found themselves in company of fellow human beings with whom they could share feelings, thoughts and emotions on a scale and in depth never before being experienced – but that is a subject which will have to wait. Let me just mention already now that this development has been the subject of a whole range of books including one,especially, of 43 books and hundreds if not thousands of articles written by the now forgotten writer and literature critic Hjalmar Elster Christensen (1869-1925) – my Great Grandfather on the maternal side -on the evolution of Human Emotions through the Enlightenment age (his dissertation was on the writings of Flaubert).

Until now I did not get it. Your Humble Writer has diligently worked her way through most of his writings, but due to lack of proper insight in the French side of things (and he was VERY much into continental philosophy and literature) I could not get hold of the flavour of it, so to speak. It is a little bit better now, but there is still a LOT of work to be done to get it right.

Perhaps it will be possible to frame my dissertation on Individualism at one point after some more reading and ramblings after all? that would be nice….

thank you for reading! Now go gardening of which I will post something about later;)

Traces…

2011-03-27T08:20:00.001-07:00

We just came home to the Mara after a wonderful time in Samburu – and I noticed something strange just next to our tent that I had not noticed before…

can you see that there are marks on the rock?

I pondered what this might be for a while and then one earlymorning the solution presented itself in person: this is the place the night watchman sharpens his sword!

I asked the warriors whether they normally return to the same place to sharpen their swords and spears, but they said when out and about they just find a place on a rock that is smooth and sharpen it there… and this mark is there solely because it is a convenient place and he happens to be there every day… so, next time you see a mark like this on a rock somewhere, take time to think about the likely possibility that someone passed there before you in a different time, a different world… and say hello in your heart!

Chasing Dreams.

2011-03-07T01:03:00.001-08:00

The more I work, the more I feel an almost physical need to go back to the basics re-learning (and some times un-learn) fundamental elements in drawing. Being on my own I try to learn from books as well as through my own work, stretching my abilities, being honest about the fear and panic that sometimes comes out of the blue when I feel lost, keeping the goal open, trying to let the process show the way to new discoveries. Trying to be kind to myself when I get frustrated, leaving things as they are instead of overworking, starting afresh with the new problem at hand instead of doodeling around. It is scary. But it is the only way to progress.

Illustration of point: I have since long felt a need to include more elements in my paintings. I felt I had done enough of the silent landscapes and it felt like I was about to repeat myself. Not good. So I looked through some photos I had taken and found a scene I liked: a Maasai sheperd walking home from Aitong after a day out grazing his herd.

I combined that with a painting I had started on but had gotten stuck with out of fear of “destroying it”:

and it ended up like this:

(Walking home, acrylic on canvas 100X130 cm)

Now, it is not perfect, I know. But I am going to allow it to stay like this. In fact, I am taking it to an exhibition that I am having in the town of Nanuki opening next week to see what the reactions are.

I also made a smaller version of the sheperd using more decorative elements to see how that could come out:

(Acrylic on MDF, 20X30 cm)

So, now I have a new world to explore. Let’s see where the road goes…

dealing with this more naturalistic approach led me to read again Betty Edwards book on drawing actually doing again all the exersizes that I have somehow dreaded. It went well with reading Buddhist philosophy (H.H. Dalai Lama, “How to see yourself as you really are”) art philosophy (Rudolf Arnheims “Visual Thinking” and R.G.Collingwoods “Outlines of a Philosophy on Art” are books I come back to again and again). Books on writing &creativity (Steven Pressfields “the War of Art” is a MUST for anyone stuck anywhere, anytime) as well as other miscellanious things. Listening with an open mind make me realize how many similarities there are regarding battles we all must face, and how many ways to solve them that exist. So, it is realistic (to say it with His Holiness) to work on attaining some insight as it surely is more beneficial than living in a world of illusions and misunderstandings. And we need help, because many ways that works are counter-intuitive until we are shown how it works. So I am very grateful that these people have worked so hard to show their way so we all can benefit in our own processes, whatever they might be.

Engaging in a craft, with the aim to master it is a very good tool indeed for living a good life. (Dog breeder? Cultivator of wines? Carpenter? Writer? Trombone player? Fashionista? sure! Bureaucrat? mmm… no comments… but perhaps he or she does something creative in after-hours?)

I have to understand the dimentionality, solidity, angle, flavour, weight and lightness of my subject in its context before I can draw or paint it successfully. Some call that empathy with the subject. I empathise with this idea. But, at the same time, it is scary. I realize my shortcomings. It takes a lot of dedicated time and real battles with inner Demons to be allowed to enter unknown territories. But, since we only live one life at a time we can just as well take on the job of living it fully. Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Don’t be disturbed. Uncomplicate yourself. … Life is short, That’s all there is to say.”

So easy. So difficult.

How the Zebra got its stripes

2011-02-27T22:41:00.001-08:00

When I first moved out to Kenya, a friend gave me a vintage book with Swahili myths and stories. It had many interesting and fun tales to tell, but regardless of those, the stories I have been told by our guides and staff are far more interesting as I recon those are stories told by their Grandmothers around the fireplace as entertainment and education. So they are a living record of a tribal understanding of the world…

Most stories include God. Or Laibon, as they call him here. Laibon created all the animals as well as the different peoples. When he had done so he had them coming to him with requests for things they wanted or needed (which is of course asking for trouble…). The maasai asked for cows and was given them – meaning all the cows in the world belongs to the Maasai and therefore they only take back what was originally given to them when they go for cattle raids… The white man asked for knowledge (and until recently the Maasai thought very little of it, but now they have started to change their minds a bit an elder told us. It must be the cellphones…).But I am sidetracking myself. This morning it was the story of the Zebra I wanted to share. It came naturally to my mind as I went out to put on my coffee this morning.

The pyjamaman is here! Funfun! It always makes me smile! But. What is this thing with the stripes?

Well, you see, it happened like this. The animals had been on Earth for a while and was getting used to it. And they were getting bored. Everyone looked the same! grey brown grey brown everywhere. Blah! So they went to God to complain…

By now Laibon was getting a bit fed up by these constant demands for attention and needs and wants from the creatures he had created so he told them: ok ok, I will do it. But you have to find out among yourself how to distribute it: I will place a variety of materials in a cave and it should be suficcient for all of you but I refuse to be involved in the designs…

All the animals were very happy when they heard this, and so they started the journey to the cave with all the materials. The zebras, saw the migration, and, being a bit greedy, they said to eachother: wow! look at this! everyone is gone, the plains are all ours! lets eat! and they ate and ate… as the different animals started to come back looking really sazzy and smart they said to each other: wow! look! The lion! cool! I want a mane like that! and the Peacock! What feathers! I want those too! But they continued to eat as much as they could…

Finally they realized that everyone had returned so they went to the cave… but, alas! the only thing left was a small piece of black cloth… that would had been just enough if the zebra had not kindof put on somewhat after his bingeing earlier on the plain with all the others gone. …so… after much huffing and puffing and pulling and squeezing it finally had his new suit on. But! as it started to move a big Crack! Riiip!!! was heard, and the suit snapped in all its seams!

And so it was that the zebra came to get its stripes.

Sarikoki the eland;)

2011-02-26T03:30:00.001-08:00

Recently I wrote about Ariel the bushbuck (Living with the wild in the wild). She was one of many orphaned animals, and unfortunately she did not make it… But not all projects to raise abandoned wildlife ends like that. There are also success stories.

And one of them is living with us right here at the lodge.

Meet Sarikoki….

The common eland - Tragelapus Taurotragus oryx - is the largest African bovid. The bulky males can reach a weight close up to a ton! With a shoulder height up to 183 cm and long spiraled sharp horns up to 67 cm long they can most definitely fend for themselves. But first they have to grow up…

A Maasai shepherd out with his cows on the Plains found him abandoned the day he was born. He brought him back to the village where his wife fed it with cow’s milk, and as soon as he had regained strength and had grown up a bit he took him with him on his daily walks with his herd of cows, goats and sheep to search for fresh pasture and water.

He grew fast, and being a wild animal, and a male, he was soon engaged in competitive behavior with the other animals, trying to assess his status in the herd. That, obviously, was not a very easy situation to deal with for the sheperd, so one day he came to us asking if we would like to have him at the camp.

Sarikoki aged abt 7 months in may 2005

We said of course yes to that request! He was feeding by himself by then, but he was still small so he needed protection. With Kenya Wildlife service duly and all oks given informed we built a stable for him to spend the nights so to be safe from predators….

Sarikoki at a year and a half in our garden

After a few years he was fully grown and it was not so easy any longer to lure him into his boma. We were also worried that he would not get enough food as they spend most of the night grazing and when the temperatures are lower than in the heat of the day.

More than five years later he is still with us… Having survived several attacks from lions – running away from them – he spend his time around camp, seeking out company with people as well as the zebras nearby and he seems to have a jolly good time…

Sarikoki at two and a half looking for attention

He comes around for cuddles every day and of course he believe that everything I put into the ground is for his personal culinary pleasure and entertainment…

sarikoki at 3 years interfering in my gardening…

of which I have a slightly different opinion…

So the staff has become really good at building fences… and I compensate by giving him access to the compost heap as well as feeding him the leftover fruitpeels from breakfast…

Sarikoki a few months back REALLY looking for attention (and getting it) playing with the waterhose and getting entangled on purpose outside my studio

…and of course, being a male, where else to hang out for some quality time than in the Workshop…!

Needless to say he is the source of endless entertainment and sometimes frustrations, but it would be impossible to imagine not having him around! and the guests LOVE him!

The latest news is that we have been asked to take in yet another two elands… a male and a female… lets see how that goes… we will certainly give it a try!

Embrace your inner Pippi Longstocking;)

2011-02-21T05:41:00.001-08:00

I took an Astrid Lindgren quiz today and ended up – not surprisingly – as Pippi Longstocking… a great honour to resemble my greatest childhood heroine (still is…)!

(Illustration of point: Me participating enthusiastically in a Maasai Wedding dance in my local community wearing my beloved overbleached, cutoff-sleeved kanga dress that I made myself. I am not entirely sure I had bothered to put on shoes that day… Needless to sayI had Great Fun;)

Later today I stumbeled upon this lovely poem that kind of embrace a lot of the things I believe in… and somehow seem to live by… and I always have a LOT of fun in my life when I embrace its principles. Hmmm. Did it stumble itself into my path for me to share, I wonder? Anyhow, I want to share it here. For the fun of it. Enjoy! And Please Please Please Be Inspired! The World need NEED more women – and men!! – to bring out their Inner Pippis into the World for it and you! to shine just a little bit (or a LOT) brighter!

Love, Mariane

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

http://www.poemhunter.com/

Fatal Attraction

2011-02-18T02:32:00.001-08:00

My great-grandmother, Olga, studied Fine Arts in Berlin when she met my great-grandfather, Hjalmar. A writer, journalist and critic, he was on a research-trip covering the conflict zones in Europe (which falls along more or less the same lines as today.) A classical - THE classical theme unfolds. They fell passionately in love. The second classical theme: He was already married. The third complication; And she was his sister-in law. Aouch., ... and also: they were both from very promonent families. Aiai.

I can not know their real feelings except that it seemed to have been a real passion. Possibly both were forced by his and her family, And he did what he had to do, divorced his first wife, an actress with whom he had a som, Thomas, and married her. And so my grandmother, Elen, was not born out of a wedlock.

Their marriage was turbulent and ended in divorce some years later. Why we can only guess; his writing about it suggest differece in character. He married a third time, with his best friends widow. That marriage lasted.

These two conflicting lovebirds continued to meet in a most modern fashion for rendevouz a long time after the divorce. The setting was extravagant: in the most fashionable hotels and places of the day they would meet for weekends of passionate indulgence. In true Bohemian fashion he drank Champagne out of her shoes and they had wild sex until dawn.

Later she married a priest – a single mother with a child! it is almost unheard of even today!

She must obviously been Quite a Lady. And rather complex. Which I find interesting.

My mother grew up with her and her steph-grandfather the priest. She always told stories about her grandmothers unbending love and affection for her. She could be very firm, but always fair. I like that. But she was not very happy. That is sad. She really loved Hjalmar and although her second husband was a good man he was not really a match for her strong personality.

I have been thinking of her today. Olga Helberg. She was a gifted artist but never came to take it up as a profession. Her daughter, Elen Elster Christensen, my grandmother, went on to be an acclaimed sculptor. There are quite a few monuments made by her in towns all around Norway. Unfortunately she died when I was only two years old, the same year as my maternal grandfather aslo passed away, so I never got to know her properly. Of course also she married repeatedly, but that is another story.

I own several pieces of Elens beautiful sculptures and would like to write more about her one day, to get to know her better. But today, as said, I am thinking of my great-grandmother, Olga.

Perhaps it is because I am trying to learn how to paint roses. As I was working I came to think of the delicate mocca-cups inherited from her, the ones with 24k gold in ornamented pattern on the edges and delicatelly rendered lush pink roses all around the cups. She painted them in 1956, and they always held place of pride in my mothers kitchen.

So, here I am. painting flowers. Thinking of the past, the present and the future.

This one is for you, Great-grandmother. You might have wished for something else for your life. But you did what you could,

Thank you for your legacy. For being You.

Ariel dreams in Never-Everland

2011-02-16T08:35:00.001-08:00

Working in the studio the last days has made me realize how many options of vision there are looking at a subject. And how many, but not all, that are appealing to me. I have been working on some landscapes, trying to utilize some industrial manufactured paint I bought some time back in order to overcome some problems related to getting hold of paint in this beautiful but not entirely well-organized and –stocked country consumer-wise, and it has opened some more doors that will be explored in more depth later on. But I am getting ahead of myself. The visions.

What comes out of these exercises is a genuinely felt reluctance to … I am not sure I can call it naturalism, but it might have to do for now. I am not sure why, exactly, but the idea of rendering something as faithfully as one can is in one way deeply appealing and on another hand revolting. Should one not be more than a monitor? I feel a deep need to understand my subject as well as I can, unclutter confusion, looking deeper – but it has all to do with the underlying structure and not surface. Because surface always changes. You see? Surface tells you the quality of the outer layer of things, it being hard and shiny, soft and flurry and shiny and whatever. And sure, it might tell you a lot of stuff. But it is the underlying structure that tells the story that interests me. And then there is light. Colour is never what it appears to be. It is all about light. So, when I am working on a painting portraying Ariel it seems natural to me that her shadowed areas should be in this amazing Ultramarine blue coming from one of those delicious little expensive glass jars bought in a shop in Breschia some time back updated with another found in an equally wonderful artists material shop in Trastevere, Rome, where I used to live and study among other things art history and classical Mythology because this material and the fascinating hue of this particular blue holds a fascination to me beyond colour. You see? But then again, since I feel her so ethereally beautiful and since I try to move beyond my emblematic or symbolic rendering of her features I am for once looking at a picture (my own) to get some details right and I feel I am slipping into this realistic mode which moves me away from what I want to do which is indeed symbolical as I would like to portray her vigilante stance as a young creature of the wild alert, awake, forever vigilant. But, alas. The more I look at that image the more I see the marks of death approaching. And it makes me sad, that I did not see that that day. Not that it might have done some difference. How do you communicate with the inner organs of a sick antelope? Well, that it exactly what I thought I should had been able to do, isn’t it?

Running away from the point again, sorry. So, I work on this portrait which is supposed to be and most certainly is going to end up being an emblematic thing blabla mariane style. And the reality disturbs me. Because it has meaning, it is there, was there, is, in its own way a monument to something in the past. The allure of the photo is that strong. And I do not want to take it in entirely. I want to distance myself from it, using the esthetical elements to get at some kind of understanding of underlying form, shape, structure. But by doing so, and by working using a picture of a small creature I spent time with, waking up in the middle of the night to go feeding and warming and looking after seeing the marks of death but being unable to beat it, this time, makes it different than it being an image of a creature that came to live. It is not guilt. But it is surely sadness there, grief, as well, I suppose. So, I distance myself. Not going in the direction of finding the right streak of grey matching the stripe of long hair coming down her neck as she turns her head towards me from under the drawing table where I have propped her up against my Moroccan cushions and carpets for greater comfort and company as I work. I want to make her eternal. And that means to look beyond. And with what I have. Which these days has as a foundation this industrial paint bought in Karen hardware store in Nairobi. Choosing colours hastily from a chart while a queuing was building up behind me remembering the words spoken by somebody I know to another person I had just met – you must choose the Silk Vinyl! Doing so finding the weight of the pigments lacking making the work a repetitive one which in someways was liberating albeit frustrating after a while when the intended flickering effect did not materialize itself due to the poorness of essence in the pigments chosen for this brand (another story) anyhow, she keeps following me, as I fluctuate between these different modes of relation to her as an image and a soul and I want to make her stronger, braver, healthier, stranger, more familiar, more different, more real, more surreal, more symbol, less cliché, something of meaning. I want her to be a survivor.

I do not know why this is affecting me so much. It is not the death– or is it? I focus on the technical side of it. I guess I could go blue-yellow or green-red or rather purple - cadium. More burnt siena and paynes gray. But it is not right, you see. It is there as I look at it but it is not what I feel. So I struggle. It is like I must always move the things I see one step beyond what is there to see it, to own it as mine or rather it is by moving it that I become intimate with it and it becomes me or I become it.

And when that happens I feel peace. So, perhaps that is what I seek. Peace with it. To have digested it. To have let it become part of me or having given a part of me to it loosing and gaining something at the same time.

So, today, I finished it. It is a time for reflection and a time to let go. There are surely many and better ways to solve the different aspect of it. But, it is what I had in me, now. So I made the choices. And I signed it. And then I posted it. And then I pulled forward another piece that I have not been able to move forward it to make that one another stepping stone on the path that I am making for myself. Because I am going somewhere, see? So I cannot be too fuzzy about delivering up to my own expectations every time. I must allow the process to unfurl. So, here it is. Sure. I could have made the blue more radiant. I could have added more value to the yellows and the pinks. Perhaps I will, one day.

but not today.

Impressions from the wild

2011-02-15T08:46:00.000-08:00

Last night I woke up early feeling something was going on.

it was.

a large group of impalas merged with an equally large group of Waterbucks intersped with bushbucks and zebras. Together they tried out my new gardening devices - fences.

unfortunately I did not have my camera but I can tell you this much; they loved it.

squatting in our bathtube behind the shadenet I watched as one after the other of the zebras and waterbucks leaned and then, finding a perfectly off-nodded metal piece stearing its body to scrzatch its head, neck and tummy.

wow.

I feel like a wildlife coozymummy now.....

Living with the wild in the wild

2011-02-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

Occasionally mothers will abandon their young ones for one reason or another; the mother might be unexperienced and abandons its calf or she has fallen prey to some predator making the baby an orphan.

It is never easy to know what to do in such a situation as often you do not know the correct circumstances regarding it being alone. What if the mother is somewhere close but hiding out of fear of humans? Or it might be away feeding telling the baby to "stay put!" So to leave it, hope for its mother to return is one option. But if in reasonable doubt, do you take it with you, knowing it might not be able to fend for itself in the wild as it grows up, "dooming"it to be semi domesticated? There are pros and cons depending on the specie involved so each situation must be evaluated in an individual way.

The other day we were faced with such a situation in camp. As the guides returned from their evening game drive they found a small Bush buck calf in the workshop. Being after dark, and a busy mecanical workshop not being a likely hidingplace for the shy antelope the staff decided to bring her to me.I called her Ariel, and as you can see I made my best to make her feel comfortable: a hot water bottle, pillows, shade and leaves to hide behind...

Ariel was weak and easy to handle and after some initial confusion she accepted the diluted cows milk I fed her with a pipette. The next day she seemed stronger and even came along for a short walk!

Young bucks need company so I took her with me to the studio where she seemed to have picked up strength from the previous day...

She had met with the dogs the day before and did not seem to mind them - she even tried to suckle Embe! (here seen in the background).

Unfortunately later that evening she all of a sudden seemed weaker. She made calling sounds, and even if I tried to figure out what to do she just grew weaker, so I let her into her box again hoping she just needed to rest. Alas. when I came back from dinner she had gone.

It was a blessing to have her for the few days she lived. It made me realize how prescious these little lives are, and how hard work it is for creatures of the wild to rear their young ones. It made me admire and respect even more those fortunate creatures that make it into adulthood. And it also reminds me how important it is to make sure we make space for our wildlife in our lives.

Painting in the Bush

2010-12-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Took some canvases out in the bush trying to work from our old Landrover... and it was amazing! love this place - inspiration everywhere!

Come Drawing with us!

2010-12-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

The website http://www.drawingsafaris.com/ is now officialy launched! It explaing in images and words what a drawing safari is about and how it is organized. A completely new way to be out in the Wild suitable for profesionals as well as amateurs. Even if you have never drawn before but just have a wish to do so come!. I can show you the basics. And I promise that after this you will look at the world around you differently...

Studio dreams...

2010-12-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

I't raining, a perfect time to light up the fire and read a good book in the studio with music in the bacground... My dogs seem to agree... closest to Xmas feeling we can get here in the bush;)

It is also a nice time to work at my sketchbooks and read in them: I often gather snippets of information from here and there mixing them with own thoughts and ideas. a hands-on-blog so to speak;)

musings... as usual probably too philosophical but what the heck...

2010-12-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

launching my drawing safari website and have as a goal to blog more - not regularly but only when I find something that can be of interest - quotes, ideas... I have worked with my sketchbooks like that for a long time, and several people have asked me to publish them - but I thought: why not put some of those things here? then lets see... quite a few might find it a bit... stuck up, and all I can say as a defence is - what do you expect after 7 years of studying philosophy? I like it, thats all... I think deep thoughts and thinking adds to the beauty of life. and personally I get rather sick and tired of blah-blahs and funnyisms after too long (but no bad feelings, gotta have some fun too!) Most of the things that resonates with me these days are connected to creativity in some form or another, thereby to life itself. To dare to create in a true and honest way despite shortcomings and warts and inkspots and all is not a small thing.

the first quote of the day is from Carl Rogers, the american psychologist and founder of the "person-centered" therapy (he was, by the way also a friend of Martin Buber).

"There is a desperate social need for the creative behavior of creative individuals" he wrote as early as 1952

It is interesting to se that this still rings true today.

and how do we get there?

well, lets look at what Seth Godin has to say about it in "Tribes":

"The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success"

so, with that I will take my sketchbook outside in this glorious sunny day and see if I can come up with a new way to catch the colours of this landscape around me that I have come to know so well...

ciao!

Mariane

The artist's aim...

2009-04-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

...after lots of practice, is to be able to believe what you see, then draw it with enough conviction to communicate to other people what you have seen...

Sounds easy, is not so always...

esoterica...

2009-04-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

"The Garden Lover's Companion" (1974, ed. Peter Hunt), has an amusing story: "in Oxford in the 1880's ... a root of the ivy which then covered the masonry of Magdalen Tower penetrated the wine cellar beneath, groped its way through the cork of a bottle, and brazenly drank up all the exellent port inside."

cheers!

2009-04-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Our very existence is based on ignorance of where we are going. what's important is having the fortitude and patience to dig around and try to find out... as someone more clever than I wrote once: personal refinement of vision makes creativity worthwhile.

These women in Samburu, though, know what they are up to: the main task of the day is to transport water back to their remote villages... and as you can se, they use quite a lot of creastivity loading those donkeys!

Art and Landscape

2009-04-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Continuing with my philosophical musings... sorry! Just skip if tooo booring...

M. Andrews says of art and landscape in the book ”Landscape and Western Art” (1999) that the idea of ”Landscape” itself is a construction:

…”A ‘landscape’, cultivated or wild, is already artifice before it has become the subject of a work of art. Even when we simply l o o k we are already shaping and interpreting.
A landscape may never achieve representation in a painting or photograph; none the less, something significant has happened when land can be perceived as ‘landscape’. …

Whether or not we are artists, we have been making this kind of mental conversion for centuries. The habit is part of the whole history of our relationship with the physical environment – and landscape representation is a vital element in that relationship. “

It is true that we look at our physical surroundings with a different eye related to our interest in it. Homers description of Odysseus surveying of the foreign lands he visited during his long and windy way back home tells the story of a colonizing people looking for opportunities to settle and use the land. Personally I look for something significant and focus on that element in the piece I am making as that feels like a way to tell a story about what I have seen, what I have felt being in that place, that time, looking the way I did on familiar shapes perhaps altered by the light of the day, the clouds or my own mood… losing myself in contemplation yet finding myself again through the process of creating a physical object that later can be reflected upon in its own right.

2009-04-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

2009-04-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Martin Buber (1878-1965), was a Jewish professor of philosophy, a reviver of the mystic Hasidism and an authority on dialogue. He studied art in his youth and we find in his classical and very beautiful "I and Thou" (1958) some thoughts about art that I would like to share for the beauty of it.

"...This is the external source of art: a man is faced with a form which desires to be made through him into a work. This form is no offspring of his soul, but is an appearance which steps up to it and demands of it the effective power. The man is concerned with an act of his being. If he carries it through, if he speaks the primary word out of his being to the form which appears, then the effective power streams out, and the work arises. The act includes a sacrifice and a risk. This is the sacrifice: the endless possibility that is offered up on the altar of the form. For everything which just this moment in play ran through the perspective must be obliterated, nothing of that may penetrate the work. The exclusiveness of what is facing it demands that it be so. This is the risk: the primary word can only be spoken with the whole being. He who gives himself to it may withhold nothing of himself. The work does not suffer me, as do the tree and the man, to turn aside and relax in the word of it; but it commands. If I do not serve it aright it is broken, or it breaks me. I can neither experience nor describe the form which meets me but only body it forth. And yet I behold it, splendid in the radiance of what confronts me, clearer than all the clearness of the world which is experienced. I do not behold it as a thing among the "inner" things nor as an image of my "fancy", but as that which exists in the present. If test is made of its objectivity the form is certainly not "there". Yet what is actually so much present as it is? And the relation in which I stand to it is real, for it affects me, as I affect it. To produce is to draw forth, to invent is to find, to shape is to discover. In bodying forth I disclose. I lead the form across - into the world of it. The work produced is a thing among things, able to be experienced and described as a sum of qualities. But from time to time it can face the receptive beholder in its whole embodied form."

I just love this book. There is something delicious yet down to earth that delights me in ways not easily found elsewhere. It is strange, it needs pondering, some sentences and passages seems muddy and then all of a sudden a revelation come and I see clearer than before and I know it is not his or that’s’ writing or thoughts that are obscure but that is all on my own behalf and shortcomings - my perception was blurred and sidetracked until the moment of insight or clarity came through the meeting with the text, creating a merge of intellectual and emotional delight I can feel in a physical way in my body as a release. And after such a moment I can create better, see clearer, I feel more energized - it is a delving into the soul through time that leave my senses refreshed and focused.

Ah. Almost forgot. I bought this book 2nd hand on internet through Amazon and when it arrived I found a personal note inside… “Mariane, Thank you for your order. God bless you! Peggy, The Uncommon Book”. I’ve kept the note. I felt the blessing. Still makes me feel warm. Thank you, Peggy, and bless you too!