Yes! Let's be creative!

Making an illustration is in many ways similar to going on a shamanic journey; I have an idea about where I'm going but what happens when I draw, only time will tell. Magic unfolds; characters appear, they want to be in the picture. I am excited because I don't know what happens next! What will appear suddenly in a minute!? I laugh! A cat! Hah! It is so funny and whimsical.

With this years' Christmas card I wanted to show a certain madness of cozy "hygge" time. The scene is set in a cozy cottage with the two main figures going beserk over creating christmas decorations! Magic happens when we just let go and let ourselves be creative. I find that the winter and especially Christmas time is perfect for that.

A Scandinavian childhood

I have friends who live in south and in north of Sweden and when I made the scenery for outside the window, I thought about these warm homes and the view from their windows. I like round carpets like the one under the table. I also had a round carpet under the Christmas tree. I recall this tradition from my Christmases in Denmark.
I know the feeling I want to create with my card. It comes from childhood books and illustrations of Nordic landscapes and indoor life. I think people from all over Scandinavia recognize this feeling. That part of me is familiar, where I grew up and had my Christmases as a child. It is this familiarity that I try to explain in this year's Christmas artwork. The windows are familiar, the chairs, the people. That's what I want to give with my art: a familiar cozy welcome-ness.

How did I make the illustration? 

First I draw what's in the centre of the picture where all the action happens from. In this case it was a round table. Everything else is added on from there.
I have 2 main sketches of the scene; one in my head and one on paper, and together they create the final image. But I don't know everything. I often ask the picture itself what it wants to do next when I am stuck.
It takes two full days to create a detailed illustration such as this one. I don't worry too much about being correct in my lines, but I want the viewer to be able to understand what is happening in the picture even though it's busy.
I like to draw things that are a little impossible. That gets the imagination going. When you draw you can make up solutions that wouldn't work in reality. And it makes it even more fun!


I hope you enjoy the cards! I wish you a joyous wonder-full Christmas!

With love,

Do you remember these guys? This drawing was made on my retreat to north Sweden last October.
I am so happy to be announcing that the Bear Kissing greeting card is now sold out! Yes, it's true! So, so happy and grateful that so many people liked this particular design.
I, myself am happy with how the vibrant rainbow colours in the background turned out. It was a complete surprise to me! The last card was purchased in my webshop. Bye, bye, adjö... but don't you think we'll meet again? ;)

Sometimes it takes a while to fully understand something. I find that answering big questions like that right away, keeps me from discovering the real answer. A deeper answer. 

When my friend asked me this question, I felt that it was a question given to me by the Universe, not so much her. She was being Great Spirit asking me without judgement, without fear; "How do you see these images and relate them to your work?". 

Today, the penny dropped. The answer is that my illustrations and my larger canvases are two sides of the same coin. It's like comparing a one-liner stand-up comedy joke with a 300 pages long novel. They don't compare. In this way I am not saying that my illustrations are 'gone' the next minute - I for one believes that humour lingers on and on, and that the same joke can make us laugh throughout a life time.
And the larger scale images are something else. More intense. Deeper.
And they crave from me two different things. One is witty and simple. Quirky and light. The other is a long-time journey evolving as the painting itself is being made. It is a process of discovery, of finding a core and bringing it out from the deep.

It's all part of the same circle. Expressing and creating. Breathing.

New card design for Radiant Light Retreats, "Ladder". Do you like it?

This drawing is part of my "A Drawing For Every Day In March" project. Meet all 31 drawings

Everyone can draw. But not everyone does it.