I signed up and got my sketchbook a few weeks ago, so it was fun that so many mentioned this project in the comments yesterday. We are so many that already has signed up. It will be fun to follow along with those who post their progress online as I plan on. Well, if you haven’t signed up (yet) it costs 20 dollars to get a Sketchbook and be a part of this huge experiment/exhibition! You must finish your sketchbook and send it in before January, so there is plenty of time. I plan to start working in mine after summer, probably in September.

At the Art House site you can read more:

Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the US.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view.

Anyone - from anywhere in the world - can be a part of the project. To participate and have us send you a sketchbook that will go on tour, start by choosing a theme…

I choose the theme Grids and lines.

I am excited to work with a theme in a whole notebook like that. I like the thought that pages I create will be in an exhibition - and then stored somewhere in the US together with lots of other cool art. I stumbled upon The Sketchbook Project when visiting Fiona’s blog (at love fibre) and signed up at once. Since then I have seen this project everywhere - well in quite a few places already. I got quite intimidated when I saw that “real drawing artists” has signed up, but I guess all can not be pretty birds and girls… Someone must submit messy charcoal lines and crayon marks in grids. I think it must be me.

So go check out The Sketchbook Project and sign up for a book of your own!

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It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live…
/Bette Midler

I’m posting my Dia de los Muertos celebration photos a month to late, but a Swedish saying is “better later than never” and I will try that approach for now. I wanted to post these photos because they are so colorful and fun, and very unSwedish of course…

Just look, isn’t this table inspiration per se?

When I read in the paper that there would be a celebration of this holiday close by I just had to go and see it for myself. I’ve known about Day of the Dead for a few years now, and I read about it on many cool blogs each year. This year I experienced it myself at the Ethnographic Museum (Etnografiska museet) in Stockholm. Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures. At the museeum they had put up a colorful table (ofrenda) with sugar skulls, flowers, beautifully cut paper flags and photos. The ofrendas are left out as a welcoming gesture for the deceased, like a offering of food, drinks and decorations for joy.

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Hi, I’m not an expert but…

…I have my favorite places in Stockholm, Sweden (I was born just outside the beautiful capital of Scandinavia)!

…I’ve been asked so many times (and recently twice by e-mail) about my Do Not Miss This When You’re in Stockholm List by flea market hunters, artists and crafters who visit my creative blog. I thought I’d publish a small list here to help out if you’re new in town!

…I hope this guide to Stockholm will point you in the right direction so that you can go from there!? It’s a huge beautiful city, so let’s get started.

Craft and Art in Stockholm

• Swedish Handicraft
  Hemslöjden is a chain store filled with Swedish craft (and also an organization and a magazine that you have to buy!). You’ll find traditional Dalahästar (Dalecarlian horses) for tourists and new hip stuff made from wood, cotton or wool! My favorite is at Sveavägen 44 close to Myrorna!
• Craft & Art Supplies
  Panduro Craft Store is a chain of stores with almost every craft materials available in Sweden. The biggest shop is at Kungsgatan 34 in the city, but another one can be found again in Skärholmen outside Stockholm. If you’re at Kungsgatan an have the energy also go to artist shop Kreatima at Sveavägen 42, that’s where I buy my favorite pens (like the Pilot G-tec in black)! Note though that these shops are huge in size for little Sweden, compared to an American Michael’s I think they will be pretty tiny?! :-)
• Yarn in cozy places
  I would’ve never found one single yarn shop in Stockholm if I didn’t have expert advice from my knitting friends because yarn shops are tiny and cozy in Stockholm. You’ll find the best ones hidden away on car empty streets behind the big shopping streaks. Go to Österlånggatan in Gamla Stan (the Old Town) to find both Anntorps väv and Sticka for example.

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More mixed media art inspiration today as I just have to post about this lovely exhibition I’ve been to! It is called C’est moi - impressions from Bonnieux and it includes sculptures, goauche paintings and collages by one of my favorite artists, Lisbeth Lindqvist Forsberg!

I’m not spoiled with real life art inspiration that speaks as deep to me as her Lisbeth’s art does. This is mixed media fun to me. I especially swoon over her non-figurative collages built up in different levels of painted paper. I tried to snap a few photos at the exhibition to show you her style if you are curious of this Swedish artist. Her art style is very different from Traci Bautista’s (that I posted about yesterday), but actually she uses her own painted papers and mark making just as Traci (and I) do!

Lisbeth makes her collages out of painted and discarded art that she has piles of in her studio in Vännäs, Sweden. She gets her inspiration in Provence, France though, where she has been visiting for over ten years now.

My photos here does not make Lisbeth’s collages justice at all, this is the kind of art you need to experience live as I did. You need to walk in close to the framed art pieces to see the depth and texture that fascinates me so.

My photo of the artist is one I took two years ago when i meet Lisbeth at another exhibition of hers. Isn’t she the cutest lady ever?

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Viking Age is the time from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History. The vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. But we vikings apparently did more than steal and plunder, as it was mostly bearded men sailing out from the villages and the rest of the family stayed at home! Back in the Viking village there were a lot of activity going on, like weaving, crafting, cooking and decorating…

This weekend I visited a viking village at Stallarholmen with a lively market, games, boats, food (wild boar!), activities and to my surprise; a lot of viking time crafting!

I’m sharing some of the photos I took at the market in this post. Enjoy!

The first thing I saw was this wood trough (trätråg) that made me think of Maria because she has made a similar one by hand!

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When my friend Maria came to visit we went to the Summer Craft Exhibition at Nordiska Museet in Stockholm. This year the exhibition is called Wooden Figures. Maria is a woodcraft teacher so of course she wanted to go see it and I was happy to join her. Anything creative gets me going.

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Today was the first day of Nordiska trädgårdars Garden Fair in Älvsjö. If you don’t have anything special planned for the weekend I think you should go there. I

I’m not a gardener at all and I don’t even have a garden, but I love walking around at the Garden Fair. It’s inspiring to look at all the flower arrangements, the colors and the beautiful outdoor rooms that artists and other creative people set up there.

This year I was most impressed with a Thai woman who made these orchids with her handmade clay:

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There was a garden exhibition at Taxinge Castle this weekend. We made it into a day trip and brought my 89 year old grandmother too. She is very fragile but wanted to come.

I brought my camera. Gran and me walked slowly slowly through everything and finished at the café, famous for its beautiful and huge cake table. We sat outside behind the castle where the big oaks grow. A couple of hungry ducks were visiting and one came so close that I could tough it. The coffee was great, and so were the sweets.

My favorite was the Italian garden where we met one of the artists who were exhibiting sculptures. I took a lot of photos of blue dogs, dragon flyes with mirrors and a kangaroo there.

If you want to see more photos I took at Taxinge click here!

Even more blogging about Taxinge this weekend can be found here and here in a Swedish interiour design blog.

Today I’m adding a new categorie that I call Other people(s)… because I have some images that I want to feature here that is not about me and my creative life, but that still encourages me and maybe some of you too. It’s about Other peoples projects, art, houses and exhibitions. Enjoy!

First out is this post about a local artist, Lars A Persson, that I meat in the beginning of the summer for a short interview. He is well known around here, and his exhibition at the library is showing sketches from a trip to Paris where he went to paint, find a new style and work (with painting new things all around Paris every day).

Normaly he paints mountains and nature views with lots of grey colours, so these Paris images are something new to him. He told me he had a great time, but a lot of work. He walked, drew, painted and walked.

Here are some of his sketches:

I really like these. More here.

I hope you get inspired.

Go paint, or go visit a museum… Or do what I’m doing right now. See Project Runway, they are in Paris tonight. I’m voting for the yellow tart dress! ;-)

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”
Zen Proverb quotes

I’m elsewhere, like at this exhibition at our local library.

Maria and I have some crafted stuff there during May. It’s a fun way to look at our stuff, through exhibition glass. It’s nice to have it at a library, since it’s one of our favorite places to be. We have the wood letters Maria made for us there, my H in white and her M in green. Nina has got a pink N now, that Maria made for her. I love letters so much, and words, and phrases…

And so much is happening right now that I don’t have time to sit down and write. No art journaling for 1,5 week, no craft time. When I’m home I sit and stare at the TV, too tired to move.

I’m getting great inspiration everywhere. I’ve been to MADE, a music and dance festival, another Design Fair and yesterday I spent time with a creative man that was so inspiring to talk to. I’m in love with his house, built in 1824, with a blue staircase and wooden floors. His studio, with white walls, organized shelves and a big window. The freedom of the house cat walking through the wet grass.

I think it is great to see somebody else having the life I dream of. It gives my own dream life again. It is possible to live like that.

If somebody actually is living it, it should be possible for me to, someday.