The Hounds of Falsterbo - a Great Discovery

Inspiration on the beach

It has been an interesting week, finally catching up with people after the break, and taking delivery of a couple of belated Birthday presents. And oh joy! What a lovely "booky" surprise from my friend Val and Lassa, and how apt. The book feels like a coffee table book, but can be enjoyed by young and old just by the way it is written with short witty poems.   

The Hounds of Falsterbo 

The work by local artist, Jules Nilsson was inspired by the curious antics of her dog and those of a friend who owns the local cafe Kust....

They are lucky enough to get their kicks on the local beach near me and these are some of the images... 

You can see more about the hounds here. I love the way she has captured the characters of her dogs, and the atmosphere around the beach huts and heather. If you  get a chance take a look. I am also pleased to find someone else who describes such fine canine characters as "the fluffy gentleman".

I think that I will be making some Crazyhound characters inspired by these fellows, and I am going to get to meet them in the fur next week.... so watch this space. Thanks Jules and thanks to those dogs.    

Happy weekend and keep warm out the wind. 

   

   

Dogs on the Beach

Dog Days of Summer... 

I walk the dogs on the beach most days, come rain or shine, whatever. As summer arrives and it warms up in the sea, literally everyone and their dog is out in the sand.... 

The Yummy Mummies with their young, and perfectly behaved pedigree dogs surveying the chaos in front of their eyes... 

 The Keep Fit enthusiast, running, their eyes fixed in the middle distance, just like their big, lopping dogs, on a mission. Blissfully ignored by the Syd Svenskan" reader who is also unaware of the chaos just about to break out with their dog and the new arrival....   

 An not forgetting the Sun Adverse walker, kitted out in black cotton gear and adoring Westies. She keeps walking on collision course with the runner, but somehow they miss each other and sail by. 

My Two believe that it is truly Doggy Paradise.  

 

Happy 1st May ! and hoping for Summer !

I turn the page on the Calendar and it says "May" and in all kinds of calendars that means Summer is just around the corner. Around these parts, May 1st is "VALBORG" and that means as far as I can see, collecting up all the old branches and trees that fall during the winter months, putting them in one big pile, and setting fire to them, while singing a happy song with your friends and neighbours. This is what we did last night, on the eve of Valborg... 

This was on the dunes about 100 meters from the sea, a small procession walked from the church to the beach with lit flares held by very small children.... it all went without a hitch.  Song sheets were given out and a little choir of locals sang out while most around chomped on hot dogs and drank Coke and gazed wistfully at the bonfire hoping for a good Summer! I forgot to mention that most were dressed in duvet type ski jackets, hats and gloves because it was so very cold. 

One of my favourite artists, Inge Look from Finland have just issued a May day card to celebrate the day, showing a May Day that I would like to be at. They've got frocks on rather than ski jackets for one thing. You can order her Calendars and cards even if you don't live in Scandinavia, just drop them a line.  

Mr Mole gets some new boots...
I finished Mr Mole a while ago, and something was missing, no feet or should I say paws. Well, this week I have finally put things right and given him a wonderful pair of wool boots and pipe cleaners inserted into his legs so that he can be a bit more mobile. 

I think he likes them... 

Dog Portraits and Thierry Poncelet

I have always had a thing about dogs being superimposed onto human forms and have played a bit with it myself. Here is my Great Grandfather...

And here is William Robert's body with the head of Graham, my old, mad, bad and fun to know dog from Bucharest. William Robert was known as having a manically strong grip when he arrested people in the opium dens of East London, and Graham, well Graham was a crazily energetic small grey dog with a whippy curly tail that barked at all and sundry - so they were a good match maybe..... 

I was quite pleased with this, and then I found the pictures of Thierry Poncelet and his fantastic dog paintings, I just love these, and now, whenever I go to a museum or antique shop and see an old painting I can't help but think of which dog bread would suit the person's character most. Addictive really. If you are near Wavre in Belgium now you can get to see TP's paintings for real - follow the link above.  

Belated New Years Resolution - will do better !

I always feel that I am as my mother always used to say "where the cows tail is" when it comes to getting things done on time, and so this New Year resolution thing is well to be honest, a bit after time. 
But, here goes - I was really inspired by the graphic on January Jones Prints on Etsy based on Henry David Thoreau's quote, and it jolted me at the end of last year not to get stuck in a rut now we are nicely unpacked and settled here in Sweden for a while. 
I wanted to take the quote and drop it into a sort of Dorothy and yellow brick road view of me this year. (Lots of tea and chocolate biscuits required to get this one done!). 
 RESOLUTIONS !
I am going to start Swedish lessons in February and  try to use it afterwards.
I am going to put in a submission to try to get into Ostra Grevie Public University this May - to do textiles. So, heads down and watch this space. 

The little guys in the hall will cheer me on when I flag, Let's keep our fingers crossed for this year.

 

Sketches in Copenhagen

Well, sorry for the long break from the blog, we moved house this summer from the Netherlands to Sweden, via Copenhagen in Denmark for two months. Finally have unpacked most things and have the internet back after a break of nearly 5 weeks ! Really missed being able to keep in touch easily and being able to Skype my Mum and Dad. Anyway, I did manage to do a few sketches, and they brought a smile to my face.
The first pair of sketches are called Danish Runners - and they are a homage to the active role that fathers seem to play in Copenhagen looking after their children. I noticed when I was walking in the park every Friday afternoon a lot of men would jog by, with baby buggy in hand, or should I say out front with Dad pushing behind .... big chunky buggies with big wheels for the ruts.

Then after a while I noticed that the Dads were running at quite a pace across rough ground and not slowing in their training ! So.. I penned the other sketch of my imagined front view from the child's point of view. I am not suggesting any ill treatment here, and the children probably enjoyed their bumpy roller coaster ride ! Has anybody else noticed this phenomena ?

   

Copenhagen's Antique Market

Last Saturday the sun shone brightly and it was a great day to step out and find the well known Copenhagen antique market in Gammel Strand by Hojbroplads. 

The guide book said it was a place for ming vases, delft tiles and not to expect a bargain ! What I found was very relaxed, buzzing with people, and instead of "just" high end antiques there was a smattering of junk as well....

Have to admit, I was sorely tempted by the blue kitchen enamel ware and Scandinavian vases, but resisted....... just. 

                                     The Cassock ( is that what it is ? ) was just hanging from a "give way" sign by a                                     

market stall, lovely gold and brown stitching detail on fine wool fabric. 

Painting the Dawgs

Can't believe - just spent 20 minutes writing a long overdue blog, uploaded photos... and the computer crashed, so have to start again. It will teach me to save my post as I go, here we go again then.....

I have just finished two watercolour / ink sketches of my dogs, I have been really inspired by Sueellen Ross, and American artist who used to be a printer and she combines black black indian ink with watercolours and colour pencils. Her technique gives you darkest darks and light transluscency. Very nice, if a bit time consuming, it takes forever to make your initial layout sketch detailing lights and dark areas, and some may say it is a bit like "painting by numbers" - but at least you are creating the numbers right ? OK So hope you like them...

Just going to make the supper, Friday night means it must be curry.