Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

East of the Sun, a blanket of left over yarn.

@brittarnhild

East of the Sun, a blanket of left over yarn

It all started during Lent, two years ago. For several years I had been working with rainbow projects during Lent, and I put my thinking cap on to come up with a 2022 project. I ended up with, not seven, but only three of the rainbow colours, red, orange and violet.

In my something I had read in a British interior magazine years and years back, from a London flat, designed with colours from the Far East, floated.

I gathered left over yarn and started.

I crocheted in my studio, in the greenhouse.......

.......at a pizza restaurant in Stockholm,

at Villa San Michele in Capri,

 in Venezia/Venice,

and the pile of squares grew.

Some periods the growing blanket rested for a long time, then another square was made, and another.

And then, yesterday, after hours of work, the blanket was done.

And I am so happy.

Dyeing Easter eggs

brittarnhild

Back in the 1990ies I worked as a deacon. For some time there were many asylum seekers from former Yugoslavia staying at an asylum seeker center not far from our church. I often went there to pay visits, and one year, before Easter, I invited the women and some of the children to our youth club. They told us about their Easter traditions, and taught us to dye Easter eggs.

I did some egg dyeing last night, not with the best result, but.......
The grey eggs and the lighter brown one, are from the workshop we had with the asylum seeker women, the rest are from last night. All are dyed using onion skins, yellow and red onions.

I have been playing around with the eggs today, trying to see how I can use them in different decorations.

Like in the flower urn I have outside, on the terrasse.

I made this small quilt, or rather a wall hanging also back in the 90ies.
Down the right side and along the bottom I have quilted in a line from an old Norwegian nursery rhyme, kom kyllinger små, som neppe kan gå/come small chicks which can hardly walk.......

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By the way, I have collected different Easter eggs for years and years. Would you be interested in some blog posts with them?

 

Art by our Queen

@brittarnhild

It is Winter holidays for the schools, and we decided to take our oldest grandson downtown. We all wanted to go to a café, he wanted to go to the library and Terje and I wanted to take him, and ourselves, to a gallery where they for the moment have Art Prints on display made by our Royal Highness the Queen of Norway, in collaboration with the artist Håvard Homstvedt.

Here you see our grandson in front of my favourite picture, "Monotypi"
Many of the pictures had ceramic pots in their motives, pots designed by the queen and used in her clay production.

   

The colours in these two graphic art pieces sang to me, and looking close, I was fascinated by the way the curtains were made, using simple, quite broad strokes.

 

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I am filling my life more and more with art these days. I am taking online classes, I read book and I visit galleries. It enriches my life.

 

At the Art and Crafts Museum

@brittarnhild

The Art and Crafts Museum in Trondheim is closed due to a major renovation of the building. Meanwhile they have small exhibitions in this small building, Gråmølna.

There are many small art museums and galleries in Trondheim. Today is a rainy day, and Terje and I decided to go downtown to visit an exhibition with art made by our Royal Highness Queen Sonja. Unfortunately the exhibit will not open until later today, so instead we went to this Art and Crafts place, where there is for the moment an exhibition connected to the Art and Crafts Movement - really a favourite of mine.

Only last week I learned about the Norwegian textile artist Frida Hansen and her art nouveau tapestries, inspired by gardens and flowers. Frida Hansen was born in Stavanger in 1855 and died in Oslo in 1931. The Norwegian National Gallery wrote about her in a post on Facebook last week, which caught my interest. I stated to read about her, and was pleasantly surprised yesterday when a friend sent me a message to let me know that one of Hansen´s tapestries were to be seen at Gråmølna.

And today I was able to study and enjoy the tapestry myself. Here is a small piece of it, you can see the whole tapestry in the previous picture.

After we visited the home of Karin and Carl Larsson in Sweden back in August, I have been studying Karin Larsson´s work. And as always, one thing leads to another, Karin Larsson was inspired by the Art and Crafts Movement, so I have also dug out my books about Willian Morris and his daughter May Morris.

I was very pleased today to find two of Willian Morris´works on display at Gråmølna.

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Over the last few years I have been playing artistically with my knitting. I already know that Karin Larsson will inspire me in my future work, probably William and May Morris as well, and now I am curious to see more of Frida Hansen´s textile art.

     

I took loads of pictures today, and here is one more impression I want to share with you. An embroidery inspired by the Patheon in Rome, sewn on wall, using strands of hair from horses, made by the Icelandic artist Málfridur Adalsteinsdottir. 

 

Carl Larsson-gården in Sundborn, Sweden

@brittarnhild

Oh, what a day. A visit to Carl Larsson-gården, the artist home where Carl and Karin Larsson used to live.
Back in the 80-ies I, together with many others, loved the Carl Larsson paintings, but then kind of forgot about them. Then, a couple of years back, I discovered a lovely book about Karin´s garden, I min trädgård vill jag vara Karin / In my garden I want to be Karin, and learned that Carl was not the only artist living at Lilla Hyttnäs. Karin really was a very talented artist on her own. And a dream was created in my mind to visit their home.

Finally, the day was here.
We had a guided tour inside the house, where we were not allowed to take pictures,

but in the garden we could walk by ourselves, and take as many pictures as we wanted.

I have previously visited places like Charleston in Great Britain, the home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Claude Monet home in Giverny and Astruptunet in Norway. Carl Larsson-gården is another great member of this interesting list.

After the visit at Nya-Hyttnäs we did a lovely walk around the city, along fields,

through the woods, where we met an old friends,

and to the church yard to find the burial place of Carl, Karin and their descendants.

 

The Gigantic Spider in the Palace Park

@brittarnhild

Two days ago this gigantic spider was unveiled in the Palace Park in Oslo. The spider, which has the name Maman, is 9 meter high and is made by the late French-American artist Lousie Bourgeois (1911-2010) The National Gallery in Oslo/Norway, will host an exhibition with Bourgeois´s work later this year, and Maman is part of this.

Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were in the park on Monday for the unveiling. I was not able to be here then, but all the same, I met the queen in the park today, in this statue. Our queen loves mountain hiking, as you can tell from the statue.

I have had a great day in Oslo today. I met a friend for morning coffee and chatting, I have been walking a lot, I have been shopping books and cloths, I had bacalao for lunch.......and now I am on the train back home to Trondheim.

 

Preparing for a travel

@brittarnhild

Sunday Terje and I are flying south to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. Our 9th trip there, and the first one after the pandemics.

 

Today I have been making plans for some knitting I want to bring with me, a pair of wrist warmers inspired by the amazing paradise bird flowers which grow on the islands. Already on our first visit there, back in 2011, I fell in love with the beautiful flowers, and could not stop taking pictures of them.

I am no painter, but I love doing it anyway, so today I tried to make a watercolour to use as a kind of pattern for my knitting.

Painting is one thing, finding the correct yarn/colours is quite another. I do think I am into something now though (I have done some changes after I took the photos) and really look forward to start knitting.

And to shoot more photos all through next week.

 

The colours of Lent. Red

@brittarnhild

If you have been following Britt Arnhilds House in the Woods for some time, you will know that Lent is a lot about colours for me. Seven weeks of lent, seven colours in the rainbow, and so I have given each week is own colour, starting with red. Two years ago I expanded this rainbow  calendar to also include knitting. I have talked a lot about this in my YouTube videos the last few years.

With Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, and each week starting on Sundays, we are already into the third week of Lent, which according to the rainbow calendar is yellow. I will come to that, but since I haven't been here for some time, I want to start with the beginning, with red.

This year I want to knit wrist warmers in the different colours of the rainbow. Using my own designs, kind of, I find inspiration in a wonderful book I have with watercolours by the Austrian Swedish painter and designer Josef Frank. In the images in this post you see both the painting which is inspiring me, and also the finished wrist warmers.

What a balm for there soul in is to sit here in my studio, looking at colours, making drawings, knitting.

 

If you want to see and hear more of my rainbow calendar, you are welcome over to this video, which I posted during red week.

 

 

 

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You can easily find my other active blogs through my new webpage, brittarnhild.no
The other blogs, which focus on different themes, are all in Norwegian, but the images are all our shared language, and you can always easily use google translate :-)

I have a list of different instagram accounts:
@brittarnhild
@akeleiehagen (the blue garden)
@brittarnhildsstrikkedagbok (knitting)
@brittarnhilds_naturdagbok (nature notes)
@brittarnhildsbokhylle (my bookshelf)
@brittarnhildsflora (wild flowers, active during the summer months)
@brittarnhildsmatseddel (menue)
@dagenslillegrønne (green living)

On Facebook I hava a page connected to this blog, which I call, obviously 
Britt Arnhild´s House in the Woods. Feel free to subscribe to it. I am also considering making a group connected to this page, where we all can post, chat, have discussions, sharing and so on. Would that be of interest for you? Well, let's see where this path leads us, shall we?

I do have an account on snapchat as well, mostly for family and a few close friends. Let me know if you are interested in getting the stories I share there, and we might connect :-)

 

RE-COVERED BOOKS

@brittarnhild

During one of my many walks in Venezia I passed by Scuola Grande di San Teodoro, its door open and a huge poster as you can see in the above picture. Re-covered books.......what is that? Curiosity got me and I walked in.......and was sold, transferred directly into another universe, the universe of re-covered books :-)

Title: Entering the Path of Enlightenment

A posted near there entrance wrote:

Artist statement:
With technology, a new way of life has emerged at an astonishing speed. While many remarkably improvements are taking place, I feel we are plowing full speed ahead without considering what is at risk of being lost. I use books to symbolise the change occurring in the world today.
To many people, books are sacred and evoke warm, nostalgic feeling. They are a reminder of times past. The devoted and contemplative act of reading is losing its meaning in today's fast paced world, along with other human endeavours that require thoughts and care. Are we evolved enough to handle our own creations?
In most cases, my ideas are driven by the books´titles. They inspire me to comment on many social issues, using humor to engage the viewer. For me, the most challenging and rewarding part of the process is creating imagery that transforms the title into a new meaning - other than the one intended by the book´s author. Regarding technique, I prefer using vintage books because their linen covers mimic fine canvas and provide an ideal surface to paint. Creating art with repurposed materials attempts to realise the untapped potential in the world and offers up the idea of looking at things in a different way.
Mary Jean Canziani

Title: My Self and I

Title: Everyday Ethics

I walked slowly along the wall of the church. Stopping for a long time in front of every book.

Title: Where There is Vision

Smiling. Nodding my head. Looking closer.

Title: Here to stay
(my favourite)

Sometimes looking even more close. Is this really hand painted on a vintage book? Amazing.

Title: Meltdown

Title: The Outsider

Title: Our Sex Life

Title: Let's Believe
Oil on Assembled Book Covers. 2018

Based on Icarus Myth, this iteration explores the possibility of different outcome. Rather than plunging into the sea, there is hope that Icarus will be caught in time to survive. Will humanity learn from its mistake and adopt the changes necessary for its future survival?
The female figures were inspired by a Veronese painting, "Juno Showering Gifts on Venetia" (1554-56) located at the Palzzo Ducale. It is among the magnificent panels on the ceiling of the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci.

 

I am deciding not to add too many of my own words to talk about these pieces of art. They stand much better on their own. Look closely, pretend you are in Venezia. Enjoy.

 

After the two rather sat artisan meetings I wrote about yesterday, this was truly a highlight of my wanderings. Thank you so much Mary Jean. For your art and for the lovely chat we had after I had seen the exhibition.

 

 
Title: The Origin

Here you find Mary Jane Canziani´s website

Go over and take a look. You will not regret it.
And I especially love the photo of her sitting in the Alta Acqua Libreria :-)

 

Hard times for artisans

@brittarnhild

I passed her little workshop while walking around. Looking in through the window I was drawn in by the bright colours and soon I found myself in deep conversation with the artist, a young woman named Ketty.

Ketty told me she was in the process of closing down her shop. "It has become too hard for artisans here" she said, continuing to talk about how the city has changed from a place where people appreciated and paid for art, to a place where cheap souvenir shops pops up everywhere and tourists not wanting to pay for the real stuff.

We had a long and interesting talk, while I admired Katty´s work,

ending up buying one of her pieces, though I had no intentions to do so when I walked into the shop :-)

 

 

The next artist I met was Davide at Pagine e Cuoio, where I for years have bought my journal. Every time I come to Venezia I go to his shop to buy a new journal, which I use the coming year. The first thing which met me was a sign on Davide´s door; "Sale. Shop is closing down!"

"Why? What is happening?" I asked.

"Venezia is getting too expensive" Davide replied, "and people don't want to pay for real handwork!"

I bought two journals, not just one as usual, feeling really sad for his closing down.

 

 

The third artist I met that same day was Mauro, my dear friend for so many years now. He invited me home, he cooked dinner for me, and while eating, together with his wife and daughters, we discussed the problems for artisans in Venezia.

 

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I am afraid that part of the problem is the tourists, like me and you. We love the city, we come here to enjoy but in many ways we look upon it as a Disney Land, like it is made for us, to enjoy. And we don't want to spend our money, the city is there anyway.

 

I am not sure this post is understandable, but I had to air my frustrations somehow, for the city I love so deeply.

 

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By the way, typepad is acting up tonight, refusing one picture after another, telling me they are not valid....... I have struggled with this post for ages, now I want to do something else!