Art in the Park

I am beginning to recover from the weekend and Konst i det gröna (art in the park), our annual outdoor art exhibition, organized so well by Luleå Konstförening (the local art society). This year, instead of placing the screens in a row, they had them in the shape of a wheel, with the hot dog stand and the secretariat booth in the middle. This way, no one was really in the back, though I suspect those who paid their fees first got the screens between the booths and the parkinglot. We did, but then I am pretty alert about these things.

Anneli and I, hats against the sun. I am hiding my feet - they burned! To the right sits Gun, whose watercolour I bought.

By we, I mean Anneli Simonander and myself; we coordinated this year and made sure we were placed next to each other. It is always good to have a friend nearby, if you need to go to the bathroom, forgot your nails or whatever. As it turned out, the weather was smashing (again) all weekend, and both the mum-in-law and the husband spent lots of time hanging out with us, as well as members of Anneli´s family. She also knows a lot of people in the artist community, as she has been attending the local art college for several years, training to be an art pedagogue. She is also a trained frame maker, and I can always lean on her for information on such things. I realized I must learn a bit more about framing; people are increasingly interested in aquiring my photos (I sold two, maybe three!) - I take this as a sign that my images are becoming more interesting. Actually, I was less pleased with the selection this year than last, but the husband pointed out that it´s because I know more now, and have developed some taste. I guess he is right. I had so many ideas I didn´t  have time to carry through. Maybe next year...

I exhibited some drawings, partly because I had room on the screen, partly as a declaration of intent to really develop my skills this coming year. It´s something I always wanted to do, long before I wanted to write, and since my writing project kind of crashed this spring, I am taking a break with that to focus entirely on drawing for a while. I have signed up for a course this fall, I feel I need a teacher for this. Finding an old folder when I was spring cleaning made me realize I have hardly developed at all in the drawing department since 9th grade. It is basically just luck if a drawing turns out well, and I want some more technical skills. It would be nice to know that I can rely on getting a decent likeness, whatever I turn my attention to. I am very happy about this decision; doing this is fulfilling a dream very close to my heart.

I also aquired two paintings for myself. I bought one watercolour from the lady on my other side, Gun Nordin, who had come from Umeå to exhibit. And I found a wonderfully expressive acrylic painting by Tim Svensson, a gifted young man indeed. "What?" said the husband. "You bought a crying child?" Hm, I suppose I did. But it has none of the cheesiness of those crying child painting by Bruno Amadio that were all the rage in the 80´s (which I would never ever touch!). No, I really related to this. It doesn´t make me feel down at all, rather uplifted, as good art does, whatever the subject.

Two days in the hot sun, people coming by all the time, talking and looking - it certainly takes its toll on me. My introvert brain is practically buzzing for a couple of days afterwards, making it hard to be of any use at all.

I am slowly building a proper website for myself, a virtual home of sorts, at viktoriaberg.com. I have just added a gallery section with the photos I exhibited this year. It is hard and slow, but fun, to learn how to build a website. I attended a Frontpage course fifteen years ago, have built some very simple sites in Word (!) even longer ago, and it seems like the principles are the same, but there is so much more functionality to play with now. I try to keep it simple, though.

Being on Konst i det gröna has inspired me every time to become a little better, both in my art and in the way I present it. You just wait till next year, I will be so much improved!