Climbing a mountain

[box type=»info» style=»rounded» border=»full»]Akvarell is for me the only medium for artistic interpretation of a motive, be naturalistic or more of an abstract version. The play of the colours, the various shades have always fascinated me from I made my very first uncertain brush strokes. Little by little I have learned to dance with the brush, learned to make the right amount of paint and water….and most important, I have learned that it is still a long, long way to go…..[/box]

Great excitement at new climbing: Storehesten (mountain) upwards …and down again. ‘Fjellvettreglar’ (‘Guiding rules for safe walk in the mountains’ for watercolourists does not excist. ‘The road is made as you are walking’ is the first item. So comes the weather conditions… they have a big impact on what colours to use…. But the point in the rules dealing about ‘it is never too late to turn’ ….hm… no, not by any means…. After so many preparations, fome selection of the angles, the size, the mood…. and not the leasr ‘walked’ the path with a pencil; to turn is no alternative! I have to go to the top! One day or one week og even one month, it does not matter!….It is good to meet other people on the path, but in the most difficult sections, you need compete silence and peace…. But then: Meet you on the top!

   There is always
   a way up
   from the deepest cliff
   and the higher
you reach
   the more
   you will see
   glims
   of the blue
  heavenly sky

*)

[box type=»tick» style=»rounded» border=»full»]Kvamshesten, 1209 metre is one of the highest mountains between Førdefjorden and Dalsfjorden in Sunnfjord. The marked profile that raises steeply from the landscape around, especially …seen from south…be similar to a horse’s body.. Locally in  Sunnfjord the mountain is named The big horse, it is the highest of many mountains with a horse name in this district.[/box]From the first time I ‘discovered’ Storehesten, this mountain has fascinated me. The lines, the light and the shadows in the front, the multicoloured rock are always in changing…. Sun, rain, Spring and Winter…. the mountain have got so many facetswhere it majestically show up towards the sky. It eill forever have a place in my heart, and I would so dearly want to call it mine. But I have to stand behind in the queue…and it is OK…..as long as I own a bit of this monument!….

*) In Norwegian we have one word for heaven and sky: ‘himmel’

Christmas Joy far into the New Year…

…..is it possible?… It is so easy to be expectant in the Advent time. We are sort of programmed to be happy at Christmas.The New Year’s joy is an explosion of hilarious happiness. And thereafter the ‘grey’ days are coming……Then you have to dig deep to find the joy inside. It comes from thousands of golden stars in the sky, from the red Robin quickly coming to catch a grain of corn from the gavel….. we all have our special sources and talents… if we think carefully….
For me happiness is connected with colours. I have just finished the first strife of an new water colour painting… I haven’t caught it yet…  I am still in the searching for the soul of it…. But then…in a magical moment colours and lines are right… Oh, holy happiness! Cooperation between knowledge and powers, fantasy and talent… and not the least the unfathomable love for the work; wether it is preparing a lesson as a teacher or building a stone wall at the roadside or giving a lecture in a big assembly…. a creating a water colour painting. I want everybody to experience the joy to create and see something grow under your fingers and admire the result….. a plant you have helped to give life..

Good luck with a new creative and colourful year… grey or red, turquoise, green, blue or lilac… and not to forget yellow, the colour of the sun…..

Go
with happy colours
on wandering
searching for
new methods
and new ways
Always alertly looking for
new challenges
at the next hight
.:.

New year….

Those two words contains a universe of possibilities. Christmas is soon over.. the Christmas tree is still standing with lit candles, shining glitter and the star on top….all good words from the holy time, all good deeds and intensions have given us new energy. Good moods, good whiles and moments…alone or with family and friends… Now we are ready to give content to a whole new year….A.D. 2014. Overwhelmed and quite shaky…..standing at a sea shore in Florida…at rolling hills of Yorkshire….beneath the mighty mountauns of Norway… or simply under our shared deep blue starry sky …….thinking that every single 365 days og 2014 is waiting to be filled….

Inspiration
Where I find inspiration
for my paintings?
….
From mind
and from heart
from your openminded
watching
from children’s laughter
and their wonderful wondering
from a kind touch
of my friend’s warm hands
from tear drops and dew drops
from speaking flowers and twinkling stars

Inspiration
is just another word
for hard work
with joy

We have all of us our inspired moments and inspirational sources….
We are all part of making a chain, we are all pearls….

Just before the belles chime for the New Year …

A new year has announced its coming… new-year’s resolution? I recon not…. I am old enough to remember that such promises were difficult … something went wrong and some items became awkward… while some thing went very well…. And I am young enough to hope that the new year will give me lots of possibilities to raise what fell and make right what went wrong…. say what I did not say and ‘not say’ what I did say…. One of our national poets wrote ‘House rules’ about «the day has got many hours, the year has got many days»…. days in which we can make up for……..

Heavenly red clouds on fire..
then she climbs over the mountain range
….the sun…
explosion over the fjord
Then the sky changes to its usual suit
But it keeps in mind
the ecstasy 
from the happening
as a new day
is ready on the staring line…

In these days of counting your stock….

17 years ago I said farewell to my job. I wanted to try out other talents than teaching. I met with many a challenge and many a joy. In this my new life I also met some bodies in the official administration.  I had to handle some bodies in the municipality thar had not affected me in the same way before…..such as the tax body… that was new and not familiar…… When I was finishing the more complicated tax form, I got some thoughts about this official room of which we all play a part in…..! These reflexions became a little text:

An account
is to count all your fortunes
You start with counting your incomes 
thereafter you count your outlays
Then you subtract all your outlays
from all your incomes
So you are left with all your blessing
of which the tax authorities know nothing about
…..they are so difficult to count….