What I paint
I was given a crayon before anyone tried to teach me to eat on my own. At a small desk my father had built, I sat and painted before the rest of the family woke up. Both my parents were artists, and there were considerably more visits to art galleries than to amusement parks .We had arguments about abstract art every now and then. I didn’t understand the point of pictures that didn’t depict anything. But I shared their interest in images — even if a visit to a funfair might have cheered things up.
I grew up on the countryside
I was born in the late 1960s and grew up on a farm in the Uppland countryside. My mother had her studio at home. The house was full of paper, beads, buttons, paints and fabrics. As I remember it, I was free to use whatever I liked. My father was an art teacher and part-time farmer. I learned early on to drive a tractor and handle a welding torch. My interest in agricultural buildings and tools becomes obvious when I scroll through the photo gallery on my phone. An old bolt joint or the fixing of a roof beam can capture my attention more than a work of art.
How I started to paint
From crayons I moved on to pencil and charcoal. As a young adult I had my own darkroom in a wardrobe next to the bathroom. But I never had the patience to learn the technical side of the craft. I wanted to combine elements from different photographs, but in the analogue era that was far too complicated. The digital camera opened up entirely new possibilities for blending images. But I didn’t have enough stillness in me to sit and fiddle with pictures in front of a screen.
A few years ago I stumbled upon a box of watercolour paints, a few brushes and some paper. It felt like coming home. With watercolours I can mix the motifs I want, without a screen. Since that day I found the box of paint, I have painted almost every day.
I allways look for motives
I paint what I have seen and what I love. Faithfully. Sometimes reality gets a little help and I paint what I wish existed — slightly less faithfully. Even as a child, when I accompanied my parents to exhibitions, I liked best the pictures that depicted something and felt like part of a story. Like a comic book. I still enjoy reading comics, and I enjoy figurative and narrative images.
Painting is freedom and calm. Every day I look for motifs wherever I am. Even if the images are realistic and figurative, they are often part of a story I haven’t put into words. Not until now. They might be a seafarer’s memoirs, a navigator’s reflections, or perhaps an aeronaut’s adventures. I have put together this website to show my watercolours — and perhaps you can sense the story behind the images. Or perhaps a story of your own comes to life. Welcome!
Fritjof Karlsson