Sunday, April 6, 2014

Litli Botn



Littli Botn is an abandoned farm deep in Hval-fjord in a valley called Botnsdalur. It is very close to the tallest waterfall in Iceland called Glymur which I have often visited and painted a few times. This painting of the farm is a larger work done from smaller sketches. I was lucky because just as I was beginning to sketch, the sun was coming round the building which made for a dramatic play of light and shadow. I was fascinated by all that texture both in the concrete of the old building as well as in the grassy patches of the foreground. 
As I was painting on location I was visited by some very curious sheep. We have more sheep than people here in Iceland so your quite likely to run into them in the wild. At one point they were so close that I was starting to be a little concerned.  But when I stood up to take a picture of them they decided they had had enough of art for one day and ran off.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Vinter at Lake Helluvatn

oil painting of a red cabin by lake helluvatn in iceland

I did this painting of the red cabin about a month ago. I have been hiking at lake Helluvatn many times before, both for my own enjoyment and also for painting. I love to paint there. It is a large lake right out side of Reykjavík surrounded by small forrest´s and lots of summer cottages.

This particular one grabbed my attention early on, but I always put off painting it for some reason. I think I was saving it for the right moment, and anyway there are so many different subjects there so I was in no rush. I did take a little artistic license with this house, especially the placement and shapes of the windows on the building, but I don´t think anyone will mind that. All in all I am pleased with the piece, it was actually larger than this, but I ended up cropping about 3 inches from the bottom of the canvas. I felt it was stronger like this with less foreground showing.

The colors for the red of the cabin are mainly: Terra Rosa, Cadmium Red, Transparent Oxide Red and White. The colors for the background, sky and snow are mostly: Terra Rosa, Cobalt blue, Yellow Ochre pale with white and some Viridian.

I wanted to do a painting that showed off this beautiful building and I am happy I finally gave it a shot. I am looking forward to the next time our paths cross, perhaps when that red of the building will be complimented by all the greens that summer will bring.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Trumpet Daffodils 2

An 8 x 10 inch oil painting of trumpet daffodils by Þorgrímur Andri Einarsson


A second take on my Daffodils. I think I did a little better job with the colors of the flowers in this one. I felt more confident in controlling the shadows and overall tone and I felt like I could see more color. The composition might even be a little stronger. Its like they say, practice makes perfect.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Trumpet Daffodils

An 8 x 10 inch oil painting of trumpet daffodils by Þorgrímur Andri Einarsson


Easter is almost here which means that these little beautiful flowers start popping up in stores everywhere. We call them Easter Lilies (Páskaliljur) but in english I think they are called Trumpet Daffodils. I prefer that name since these aren´t lilies at all.

The main colors I used for the background in this painting were Viridian, Transparent Oxide Red and Cadmium Orange. I painted a very thin transparent layer of these colors to begin with, and then wiped out the spots where the flowers came with a paper towel damped in mineral spirits. That gave me the basic composition. As the painting progressed I added more of that under wash color to build up the values that I wanted behind the flowers.  I was surprised to see how much green was in the shadow of the yellow leaves. For this I used a mixture of transparent oxide red, with green and yellow, but this was mixed optically on the canvas which makes for a wonderful lively color effect (to my eyes that is).

Painting the Figure (SOLD)

An oil painting of the female figure by Þorgrímur Andri Einarsson


The figure is becoming one of my favorite subjects to paint. Although the drawing and all the subtleties in color and value can be quite challenging for me. But, slowly but surely it is becoming easier and more satisfying to do.
When I am painting the figure or portrait, I tent to paint more on the realistic side. I am doing this intentionally because I think it is good to be able to copy what you see tone for tone, to be able to better get a way from that realism in a convincing way. I really want to understand what I´m seeing when painting the figure. I want to get to know all those proportions, shapes and lines, and I want to familiarize myself with all the colors. I am always surprised to see how many different colors there actually are and I find it absolutely fascinating.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

A study in Robot

A small oil painting of a little toy robot

My girlfriend has a fascination with robots (mild obsession), so we have quite a few of these toy robots in the house. I found this one super interesting and decided to make a study of it. It is only about two inches tall so I had to zoom in quite a bit and draw the setup close so see all those funny little drawing elements.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Lemon or Lemon juice

A small oil painting of a lemon


I have to say that I prefer the lemon. It is more beautiful to look at, it certainly tastes better, and it is a lot more fun to paint. I was making fish for dinner, and for some reason we always use lemon juice to “season” it before we eat. And since I have been painting quite a few lemons lately, I thought it might be interesting to see them together in a painting.
I see my self as a student of painting first and foremost. Every time I sit dow to paint  I try to relax and calm my self down a bit, cause really I get very excited to start painting. Then I see how I can learn from my subject, how I can make a better painting than my last one was, and how I can learn from my mistakes, and let me tell you I make quite a few of them.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Red, Orange & Yellow

An 8 x 8 inch still life painting, showing of a red pot, an orange and a lemon


I just got my hands on this great little item, the red pot from Indonesia. I love the deep red reflective surface, the golden rims and the architectural shape it has.  When I was starting out as an artist, I was not interested in still life paintings at all. I found them quite boring to be honest, until I came across paintings by great still life artists such as Qiang Huang, Richard Schmid and others alike. I was amazed by their ability to make seemingly boring subjects  very fascinating. I realized that for me it wasnt so much about what they painted, but how they painted it, and that was an eye opener for me.
Now I find great joy in doing still life paintings. They are a great exercise in drawing, color and value, and also in designing a composition. This little piece is all about painting loosely. I am trying to think of ways to make ordinary things look interesting and beautiful, even more so then they really are. I think a way of doing that is by painting loosely, creating lots of variety in edges and color temperature.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Antique coffee grinder and fruit



I finally got around painting one of my treasured antique coffee grinders. I am a huge fan of coffee (addict) and am interested everything related to it. I have two of these old coffee grinders both of which look very interesting. Both of them found in a small antique shop in down town Reykjavík called Fríða Frænka, meaning Aunt Fríða (a name also meaning pretty).
In this particular painting I was focusing on the color and drawing, trying to keep my brushwork loose, especially in the color and value transitions in the orange and lemon. I wanted to see see those changes in values as the light bends around the form.