The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun
Christopher McCandless
Life and nature are my major sources of inspiration. The dazzling speed of life gives me the need to stand still, to really watch, see and paint.
Nature inspires because of it’s vastness and beauty but most of all it’s power. Usually I just sit and watch – landscapes feel too big to paint. And sometimes, when I am out there, I just have to paint so I give it a try. I try to catch the heat of the desert sun, the cold of the snowy mountains, the moisture of the swamp… And sometimes it´s just a fun pastime. See my modest tries below.
SWEDEN – 2024
Trying to travel light on the Kungsleden in Sweden, since we have to carry our food and everything else on our backs. We brought food for 17 days so our bags weigh at least 20kg at the start. I made a tiny paint box out of a matchbook and took a few thick paper sheets to make some watercolor paintings. There wasn’t much time to paint, as most of the day was spent walking, looking for a good spot to pitch the tent, washing our clothes, cooking food or swimming in the freezing lakes and rivers, trying to keep our smell bearable. The views were breathtaking. Above, my tiny box of pandora and one of the paintings I made.
After a few stormy and rainy days, we got blown out of our tents at 6AM. We walked to the closest mountain hut and arrived at 8:30AM. The host told us they recommended people not to walk today – the gusts of wind were extremely strong and there was a rain and snow prediction.
Many tents broke down on the stormy days – our tents didn’t (yet). We decided to stay and sleep inside this night. The painting above is made from the window of the hut. We spent the day chopping wood, eating a lot of food, drinking warm drinks and washing our clothes. The hut had 70 beds (it was the biggest hut on the whole trail!) and hosted 140 people that night. We cozily slept on the restaurant floor while the storm raged outside.
This tiny painting, painted on the cardboard cover from my sketchbook, is an imaginary painting about the feeling of being one with nature.
TANZANIA 2023
Tanzania: the colors and smells! I would have loved to bring the smell of Africa back home. It smells like fire and spices almost everywhere. I brought some different earth colors back home, which I will try to make into paint later. Earth pigments are lightfast and strong in general, so I have good hopes!
Left: three men in a boat in Signida, a village that used to make a living of salt extraction from the lake. A practice that is still carried out today. Middle: two woman in Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. Right: view on the mountains from Morogoro
AUSTRALIA – 2021
Panjoo lookout, Australia, 2022. Watercolors on paper. We camped the van along the road in a dark night, and awoke to the most beautiful view! Mesmerizing… Staring into the jungle with a meandering river reflecting the morning sun
SWITZERLAND – 2020
Some of Europes highest peaks. The beauty and serenity of the mountains which can turn into life-threatening ferocity in split second will always be fascinating. It felt like the hardness of a pen could capture the mountains best.
ISRAEL – 2018/2022
Some years ago I spend some time in the Negev desert. I was fascinated by how different the colors were from home: the warm sky radiates warmth, and the sunset looks so different from the ones back home!
A few lonely trees standing in the desert sun and a sunset.
Some places in the middle of the Negev desert are so desolate you can walk for hours without seeing anybody. This was one of those days, and during a long, lonely hike I passed this dry riverbed. The contrasting colors and utter silence are fascinating. Even the wind barely makes a sound, and there are few animals – the ones that can live in this brutal environment are shy and usually hide during daytime. I was lucky to spot a desert fox, many lizards and some hyena’s! According to the tracks near the waterholes there were coyotes and wolves too.
Left: A horseshoe in the Negev desert – a long, long time ago the ocean ruled the desert, and it wore out beautiful riverbeds at the bottom of the ocean. Nowadays they can be very dangerous when it rains because of flashfloods. It’s hard to imagine when walking through these Western-movie sights.
Right: a small thank you card for somebody who randomly drove me to the start of this trail (which I found out later, you have to do the other way around – the steep way down was terrifying!)
Moon above the Dead Sea, Masada, 2018. Oil on panel, 30x40cm. Again, these colors which are so different from home… The sky is blue, but a different blue.
It it filled with yellow, green and orange and most of all, warmth. The temperature doesn’t drop below 40 degrees Celsius, not even at night. I went hiking and slept beneath the stars – my backpack filled with 12litres of water. The desert is a crazy yet amazing place to be. The silence here is one of the most mesmerizing things on earth.
The red sea – relieved to see water after spending a long time in the desert