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Another year is coming to an end! This is the first full year that I’ve been a full time artist and I can happily announce that I haven’t gotten tired of it yet!

I’m sure that fellow artists know the struggle of finding your way in the art world when letting go of all other side jobs or main jobs and suddenly being dependent on art as a career. This however is something that really motivates me to stay creative and I’m genuinely excited to see what next year brings. What I do know is that I will start the new year with a bang as I have been offered the opportunity to exhibit my work at Galleri Nord in Örebro in January. I’ve been working for this exhibition for a big part of the year so I can’t wait to see my paintings displayed outside of my studio (and my car)!

So, I think I might have created more pieces this year than I have during any other year, and that’s pretty exciting to me! What else have I been up to this year related to my art? Let’s see.

I exhibited my art in Stockholm twice, once in Öland and in Mijas. Got my printing business somewhat set up. Was featured in a magazine for Eco artists. Assisted artist for a big outdoor art exhibition in my city this summer called Open Art – where I also temporarily worked as a guide. I held painting workshops and received a scholarship from the county to develop that further. I was ivolved in a great project where my art is shared in different nursing homes for the residents to feel inspired and create together with the nurses. I sent in a countless amount of applications for all kinds of artist open calls - some of them with great results and others without. I painted in a van, and started painting on objects a lot more – which is something I definitely want to explore more!

There’s a little list! But the biggest imprints for me this year must be the traveling. I went to Greece for a month! This was an interesting experience as it proved to me that I can actually work on deadlines and solve unexpected complications popping up even when I’m on the road. I was making two paintings that I had to ship to Spain as they were going to be exhibited in Mijas, Málaga. Being in a very none-artsy place I had to slip into a random wood-working workshop to see if these none-English speaking but friendly Greeks could help me build very specific frames for my work, and then find a way to pack the paintings and ship them off to Spain. These types of things tend to slowly stress me out and overwhelm me but they are also the type of things that remind me that anything can be solved!

Another experience from this trip that contributed to where I’m at today is the drive from Leonídio to Prague. This brought back my hidden dreams of exploring what living van life would be like. Which is another thing I dove into this year. I bought myself a van, also being my first car, and drove to Spain. Again with the intention that if I go abroad, I have a very strict goal of being productive. Seven paintings later during my time in Spain whereof a few of them made in my van, I was also proven that even having a van as a studio is so doable! Oh, and also being in beautiful places like these gave me plenty of stunning spots for plein air painting! 

So, like I mentioned above, I can’t wait to see what next year will bring! Maybe this is also the time to set some new goals?

new year art blog
Nine paintings from this year!