LAPLAND NATIVE, watercolor

Lapland Native, watercolor, 6x9 in.

One of my last paintings while Resident Artist in Ricklundgården,  Sweden. The deer run wild, although they belong to the Sami population. The variety of designs or growth patterns of their horns is amazing, and very beautiful.

Rosalyn Yalow, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1977, wrote: "The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning, you're not old."

KULTSJÖN LAKE V, watercolor

Kultsjön Lake V, watercolor, 4x6 (10x15 cm.)

Kultsjön Lake is in Lapland, Sweden. For this month, I live in front of it at Ricklundgården. It is huge! I have only walked a couple of miles one way and the other way, making small sketches when the time permits, and taking photographs. There are many houses in the forest, near the lake, most of them are painted red, occasionally you find one in yellow or white. Here you breath viridian, and your eyes feast on cerulean and turquoise!

EMMA'S HOUSE IN THE AFTERNOON, watercolor

Emma's House in the Afternoon, 10x14 in ( 27x37cm.) watercolor

I will have a show at my studio in Ricklundgården this coming Sunday, June 16,  from 11:00am to 1:00 pm. You are welcome to come see the original paintings posted on this blog, and more original paintings and sketches. Ricklundgården is in Saxnäs, Sweden.

"When you and I no longer exist, these pictures will remain. This is why I sit here day after day, painting and writing. For me to remember, and to be remembered by, pictures of beauty...."
from THE SAMI-People of the Sun and Wind.

EMMA'S HOUSE IN JUNE II, watercolor

Emma's House in June II, watercolor, 14x10 in (37x27cm)
Emma Ricklund owned the house, when Folkes and Emma separated. He left and started a new life. She stayed here and continued opening her doors to artists. She also started painting herself. The Spring is very short in Southern Lappland. So here in Saxnäs, a few shy flowers opened their eyes at the end of May, and by mid-June there is a riot of flowers all over the place! Lots of birds are loudly announcing their presence, butterflies appeared scattered here and there, not sure in what direction they want to go, and Emma's house, museum and art gallery Ricklundgården, witnesses it all with charm and elegance.

RICKLUNDGÅRDEN 9, SWEDEN, watercolor

Ricklundgården 9, Sweden, watercolor 4x6 (10x15 cm.)
Sent as a gift to my grand-daughter Emily-Sebastian.

"They say that time changes things, but we actually have to make the changes ourselves." Andy Warhol.
"Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with dreams or wake up and chase your dreams." --twited by my son a couple of months ago.

So here I am, in this inmensity of lakes and forests in Lapland, painting,  pursuing my dreams, changing my life experiences. It feels good.

RICKLUNDGÅRDEN 7, SWEDEN, watercolor

Ricklundgården 7, Sweden, watercolor, 4x6 in (10x15 cm.)
This watercolor was mailed to my grand-daughter Marina a few days ago.

I've just finished reading PURPLE HIBISCUS, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. It is the story of Kambili, a 15 year old who lives in fear of her father, a charismatic yet violent and abusive patriarch who is respected in the community. He is fanatically regilious at home. She and her brother Jaja discover a new way of life when they visit their aunt. A way of life full of laughter. They had not known laughter before. A beautiful book, I strongly recommend it. A page turner, I finished it at two in the morning!

RICKLUNDGÅRDEN 5, SWEDEN, watercolor

Ricklundgården 5, Sweden, watercolor 4x6 in (10x15 cm.)
Not available, sent to my grand-daughter Alejandra.

Walking around this area, I find so many beautiful places to paint, that I am working as fast as I can, painting several watercolors a day, every day, today, tomorrow, and forever!
I recently read the poem TODAY, TOMORROW, FOREVER, by Sussi Gabrielsen. Here are some lines:
"They were here first, the mountains
then the fjords, the forests, the rivers.
The first artists
Ice and Water
ardently set to work
with tools provided by the Maker Himself:
sun, wind and rain.
With heat and cold,
with love and pain,
with fantasy and the urge to create
They were carved, the monuments:
the tides, the gorges, the cliffs,
then they carved out the grottos
the caves, the harbors
all under the artist's direction..."

RICKLUDGÅRDEN 3, SWEDEN, watercolor

Ricklundgården 3, Sweden, watercolor, 4x6 in ( 10x15 cm.)

"A work of art is not put in a place, instead it is the place." Martin Heidegger.

I recently read that the great change in art in the 20th C. has been that the viewer has become " a partner in the discussion". So I will ask you, the viewer of my painting: how does this watercolor makes you feel? I'd like to hear from you...please write your feelings in "comment". Thank you.

Painted here in Lapland, Sweden, last week. Not available. I mailed it as a gift to my grandson Matthew.

EMMA RICKLUND, pastel

Emma Ricklund, pastel, 12x9 in (30x21 cm.)

I have done this pastel today from a black and white photograph of Emma Ricklund I found on the internet. I know her eyes were blue, but the hair color I imagined. I hope she forgives me. I told yesterday the love story between Folkes and Emma. Well...nothing lasts forever, and their love didn't either. They separated, he moved away, Emma stayed at the big house in Saxnäs, and continued to welcome artists to her house and to the hotel next door, Saxnäsgården. Before she died, she left her beautiful house and art collection, for public viewing, and the studio for artists to come from all over the world to work. I am blessed to be here at Ricklundgården, thanks to her generosity.

RICKLUNDGÅRDEN, SWEDEN, watercolor

Ricklundgården I, 4x6 in, 10x15 cm,  watercolor.
Not available, I  mailed it as a gift to my granddaughter Natalie.

Hello from Sweden! Painting at Ricklundgården Residency, part of the Museum and Art Gallery created and donated for the community of Saxnäs, the country of Sweden, and future artists, by Emma and Folkes Ricklund. This is a place for meditation and creation, overlooking lakes and mountains, a beautiful home surrounded by gardens and forests. Next door is Saxnäsgården, an Inn/spa which used to belong to Emma's parents at the beginning of the 20th Century. Artists used to come here at that time, and that's how the painter Folkes Ricklund met Emma and they fell in love.

Keep watching my blog for more from Sweden, the Land of the Midnight Sun!