BREITHOLTZ BILDER

2010-12-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

No.68. Someone contacted me a while ago, by e-mail that is, asking if he (or was it a "she"?) could make an interview with me. I didn't mind, so I answered a few questions, some of them quite interesting as a matter of fact, and here it is, just clic: HERE!
This painting is in acrylic with a broad brush.

2010-12-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

No. 67. ... and in the summer of this year (2010) I showed some acrylics and water colours at a gallery (Gallerie Ardehed) in the nearby town of Ystad. The theme was "Fruit of the loom". Here are some pictures from that event.

2010-12-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

No. 66. In the summer of 2009 I had an exhibition of some acrylics and water colours at Komstadsmölla Gallery by Gärsnäs, a nice place in the southeastern corner of Sweden. Here are some photos from it.

2010-12-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

No. 65. A water colour, like all images on this blog, I made this one fairly quickly, without really thinking, a sort impression of Simonne sitting by the window. In the meantime Nanci Griffith was singing some sort of Spanish melody, just like this one.

2009-11-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

No 64. To paint or not to ..

Pictures and paintings usually have names, so I thought, maybe "Maybe?" could be a name to this one? But as it happened it got another name. Mixed media - water colour, gouache, metal, about 45x46 cms.)

It suddenly crossed my mind, that labyrinths as a subject matter is quite an interesting one. I am not the only one who feels like being in a labyrinth without finding the very point or the exit. Take buraucracy for example. Anyone who has tried to apply for a new passport knows what I'm thinking of. My in-law tried to renew her passport the other week, but her application was rejected because she was - smiling! True! She was. But who wouldn't being in the labyrinth of modern buraucracy of Western society?

2009-10-17T05:29:00.000-07:00

No 63. This is not a Labyrinth

is what I call this little water colour I made the other day.

Well, is it or is it not? That is the question.

2009-06-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

62. Sometimes inspiration just isn't there, sometimes it comes all of a sudden. Strange, isn't it? Just like in real life. This little piece came into being when I heard someone singing - Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye ... that wellknown nursery rhyme, you know.

2009-04-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

61. Many an artist stress the importance of light. And so it is, of utmost importance, of course. Who e.g. would like to paint in a dark coal cellar? On the other hand the light by the sea is very sharp indeed, especially if one is used to indoor life of the city. So in this picture, a detail of a water colour from last week - I call it Cool Waters - the light is very bright. The thin blueish strokes is from a colour called Smalt or Dumont's Blue. That helps, I think, to create a feeling of texture and depth.

2009-02-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

60. South of the picturesque little town Eksjö in the province Småland there is a manor called Kvarnarp, well known from the charming song about its mayor, Lorentz Munthe, who used to ride on his old horse from Kvarnarp into town, in Swedish "borgmästar Munthe, red på sin brunte...". Somewhat of the atmosphere around this 19th century Swedish mansion is still there, I think, in this water colour, which I painted some years ago in a very traditional style. Click on the image and have a look at the entrance to the house and you will see a lady dressed in white - my great grandmother, Hedda Rothlieb - inviting you to her home.

2009-02-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

59. Jesus Christ! This is a fairly small picture (mixed media) which I made some time ago. For some odd reason I haven't shown it before, so this is a sort of world premier! Some people say that the Bible and the holy gospel doesn't inspire artists nowadays, but thats not true. As long as people are interested in one another the relation to God will always be of utmost importance. Marc Chagall, Georges Roualt, Willem De Kooning and Gauguin are some artists which came to my mind in respect to this. The Swedish artist Jörgen Hammar is another one. His interpretations from the Bible are really worth seeing.

2009-01-25T03:15:00.000-08:00

58. Lets start the new year with some fresh fruits. Fresh? Well, I painted this watercolour quite some time ago, but they still still look afresh though, I gather. That's a quality that water colours have: the impression of freshness in colours can be preserved over quite a long time!

2009-01-05T02:38:00.000-08:00

57. A Happy New Year to you all! Gott nytt år, gott folk!

2008-11-23T03:26:00.000-08:00

56. With some water colour pencils and some small pieces of paper I drew a few lines without intentions or any requirements what so ever. These images shows how they came out. I called them etudes (as I play the violin), images of trial and error. These days there are so many requirements on people, hidden or outspoken, which makes creativity suffer. People ought to begin to appreciate mistakes and errors for what they are - beginnings to a change, beginnings of new directions in life.

2008-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

55. This water color is about 50x70 cms, the image is a variation of a theme, Blue Venice II. My idea was to repeat the forms of the vaults and make them fading, creating a sort of dreamy atmosphere. Well, that was the idea. Obviously it's quite another matter to make an image.

2008-09-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

54. Seaside rendevouz - a water colour, 50x70 cms. On a walk by the sea I was struck by the variety of pattern and colour in the landscape.

2008-09-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

53. Bits and pieces put together. That's what this is. A sort of collage in other words. Heavenly light I call it and the light in the summertime by the sea could be just like that. Sort o f stunning. One really needs sun-glasses!

2008-08-26T02:33:00.000-07:00

52. Hope you have had a nice summer! Just now I'm sitting by the computer with the Bluegrass Country radio (in the US) in the background, singing and banjo picking, well, not me but the radio. Kerstin reading is the name of this water colour with black ink painted with a rough and dry brush.

2008-06-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

51. "Farewell, my love!" is about wishing someone farewell, but also about aiming at new horizons. - It's a collage I made from a painting of water colour and black ink.

2008-05-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

50. With a bit of water colour and ink on an ordinary copying paper I made a few sketches on the theme Gone with the wind. This one is an interpretation of the Swedish 18th century character Father Movitz, created by by the poet and composer Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795), entertainer to the court of king Gustaf III as well as to anyone who wished to listen to his songs at the pubs down the streets in the old town of Stockholm. "Early morning pipe" I call this little image, maybe "Early morning drink" would have been a more proper title to this image! Should you wish to listen to some of his melodies, feel free to just pop in to his website www.bellman.net. (only in Swedish though - sorry!)

2008-04-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

49. Well, there it ends, the story about cutting the lawn. Maybe an odd end, but never mind, life is odd at times.

Thank you for looking at my pictures so far. I hope you have enjoyed it. They are not for sale, by the way. Well, that could possibly be discussed.

The next image, No 50, is coming within short. It's based on quite a different idea - variations on a theme. So welcome back!

2008-02-21T02:02:00.001-08:00

48. - "I bought some oranges on the market today" she said, "well, have one", she continued, "they're so fresh and juicy!" Although I don't fancy oranges that much I just couldn't resist the offer, so I took one, said "thank you so much" and began to peel it slowly, thinking of something completely irrelevant. (A detail of a water colour I made some time ago) .

2008-02-21T01:23:00.001-08:00

47. So I sat down by the kitchen table and looked out of the window too. Doggie watered the flag pole, quite unnecessary as it had just started to rain. A nice and mild summer rain. Lovely, I thought, now I don't need to cut the lawn today either! (water colour and black ink on ordinary paper).

2008-01-21T01:36:00.001-08:00

46. Whatever opinion one has of that picture, it's anyhow a little piece of traditional rural Sweden, I thought. I shouted Hello! yet another time and went straight on, opened the door to the spacious kitchen. And there she was, sitting by a table looking out through a window, obviously dreaming of something that I didn't have the foggiest. Suddenly she woke up and said: "Oh, you scared me! Can't you say Hello at least! " So I said: "Hello." For a fourth time.

2008-01-21T01:19:00.001-08:00

45. There was a narrow path beside the boat houses, through the pine forest and up the hill. There it was, the whiteish mansion that I saw from the seaside. The door was open and I came into an entrance hall. I shouted Hello! a couple of times but nobody answered. Nobody at home, I guessed. There were lots of pictures on the walls, one of them was a colourful photo of a fishermen's village nearby, red wooden houses, built in the traditional Swedish way.

2008-01-13T04:56:00.001-08:00

44. "Next to the boatyard" there were some colourful small wooden houses clinging together by a bridge. Obviously they were built in whatever material and whichever paint that was at hand for the moment. That's where the boatowners used to keep there boating gear when they weren't sailing.

2008-01-13T03:08:00.001-08:00

43. Up early in the morning, long before anybody else, brought my watercolours, went out to the bridge. A thin layer of light in the atmosphere, complete silence, the birds still asleep, not even a fading wave on the water, just like a mirror. Fixed an image on the paper in a minute. That was it. Suddenly a soft wind came sweeping from the sea, dived into the bay, passed the bridge were I was sitting, the little boat yard and the whiteish mansion nearby, raised along the steep cliffs and shook for a second the red pinetops overlooking the islands, scattered all over this part of the Baltic. And with the wind came the waves and the mirror was gone. I jumped into the clear water, swam a little, went up again, lit my pipe and thought: "A new day".

2008-01-05T04:57:00.001-08:00

42. "Happy Days!" she said, saluting with a glass of pink champagne. "Happy days!" I returned. This newyears eve had been something very special, something of the kind one couldn't forget that easily. Cheers, I said, just to make sure she followed me in this complicated conversation. For some ungodly known reason my thoughts went to days, after which many a newyears eve had passed. It was a summer morning somewhere by the Swedish east coast.

2007-12-17T15:33:00.001-08:00

41. I suppose An Apple speaks for itself. A very simple water colour I made when I didn't have much spirit or fantasy. In such situations an apple or two could be of great importance!

2007-12-17T15:27:00.001-08:00

40. In Sweden the dark autumn is also a time when people use to light candles at home and if they can at work too, hopefully creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. What else could this little water colour be called but Lit Candles?

2007-12-17T15:06:00.001-08:00

39. A farmhouse by the woodlands. A water colour where I used burnt sienna and other green-brownish colours to express a feeling of rural countryside in the late autumn.

2007-11-29T05:18:00.001-08:00

37. A greek young lady dressed in a nice red-striped sweater. So this picture I simply called Red stripes. Water colour and black ink.

2007-11-29T05:01:00.001-08:00

36. Sweet love is the title of this little picture in black ink and Windsor & Newtons water colours. I just love these colour combinations, so the hand simply had to be in ultramarine with red nails! But whose hand it is I haven't got the foggiest!

2007-11-29T04:40:00.000-08:00

35. In wintertime lots of sailing-yachts, small motorboats and one or two house-boats are being kept on land, close to the river, slowly floating through the old Swedish university city of Uppsala. Plastic sheets in bright colours protect the boats from rain and snow. This little water colour on paper is my impression of it, once when I strolled along this pleasant boat-yards. A boat yard I call it.

2007-11-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

34. I prefer colours when they are clear and bright, as if they were singing. I'm sure you understand. Stripes is what I call this picture, what else? It's a water colour on cotton paper, about 25x12 cms), quite small in other words. But that doesn't really matter. It's something else that counts.

2007-11-01T03:11:00.001-07:00

No 33. Stones and sunbeams breaking through the water, by the west coast south of Gothenburg, that's what this little picture is about. Water colour, made just like that, instantaneously.

2007-10-27T00:42:00.001-07:00

No 32. I created Jessica at the piano early in the morning, a silent Sunday morning it was, with only some birds singing out there and Jessica trying to find the right harmonies to her melody.
Water colour and ink on cotton paper. Small size.

2007-10-25T15:18:00.001-07:00

No 31. Fading light at dawn is a picture in water colour and black ink. The air was vibrating of the smooth wind from the salt sea nearby, of the fine dust from the rough farmlands and of a hot day's heat, still burning on my shoulders.

2007-10-25T14:52:00.001-07:00

No 30. Blue Venice, an image of a detail of a house in Venice, this ancient Italian city, living, as far as I understand, in a somewhat complicated relationship to the sea. Water colour.

2007-10-24T02:01:00.001-07:00

No 29. The Palace of King Minos. Ink and water colour.

2007-10-23T01:50:00.001-07:00

No 27. Slim Lady in Blue is a small painting in water colour and black ink on brownish paper. I saw her at a party, I bet you've seen her too, dressed in blue and surrounded by blueish smoke.

2007-10-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

No 26. Ye olde chair. One day I went up the ladder, up to the attic of the barn. Suddenly I caught sight of an old chair, standing in a corner, lonely and not used for ages. Although not very inviting, behind all that dust it had a great character, I think. - Water colour and ink on paper, c 50x70 cms.

2007-10-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

No 25. Collosseum, finally repaired, now with a top floor restaurant. I got this idea and developed a series of pictures on the same theme - "finally".

2007-10-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

No 24. A smile is a water colour. An image of someone passing by, smiling at a glance.

2006-12-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

No 21. The Tower of Pisa, Resurrected At Last (a water colour).

2006-11-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

No 20. Turkish delight - a water colour as an hommage to Paul Klee. He went to Tunis, this is in a different direction, but never mind, all roads lead to Rome anyway.

2006-10-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

No 19. Jumping at the Savannah. This is a fairly small water colour with black ink on fine textured paper. A jeopard jumping for joy right in the middle of the night, moonlight, way out in the desert. The title i of course a play with words, I was painting it with Jumping at the Savoy (the melody) on the radio.

2006-10-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

No 18. Sitting by the Window (water colour) , dreaming of ...

2006-09-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

No 17. The Tower of Babel (water colour with black ink).

2006-09-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

No 16. A Haunted House III (water colour and ink painting). This is a variation of a picture I made , inspired by a deserted barn in the countryside. One wonders if the wall really is a wall or possibly something else, e.g. an image of the sky when the suns sets? Anyway, to me it is a thrilling picture.

2006-09-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

No 15. In Love II (Water colour). Being in love is a fantastic state of the heart. Most people would agree on that. Can anything compete with it? - I painted till picture very quickly, with clera colours and lots of spontaneity.

2006-09-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

No 14. Benedict (ink painting). A portrait of a little boy, yet a great philosopher.
Black ink and a brush on paper.

2006-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

No 13. Dancing in the Woods (water colour). I was on a cycling holiday on an island in the Baltic sea (Åland), when I caught sight of some windtorn trees. It looked as if they were dancing or like some mysterious creatures (elfs?) were carrying out a ceremonial dance.

2006-09-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

No 12. Two friends talking about life (ink painting). A chat in the sofa, relaxed. Maybe one could call it a double portrait.

2006-09-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

No 11. The Green Sea (water colour on paper). Sometimes the sea could appear greenish, nice with the yellowish sand on the beach I thought, and painted this picture.

2006-09-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

No 10. No Name, No Title (Water colour). This painting was inspired by the colours of grass by the shores where I live and made in a furious speed.

2006-09-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

No 9. A Haunted House (water colour and ink). Buildings tend to fascinate me, they seem to have a soul. And they respond to the way one treats them. This is an old deserted barn right in the countryside, with broken glasses and doors half open. Does one dare to enter?

2006-09-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

No 8. Kerstin and Jessica watching a film. One evening I was a bit bored to watch TV so I made a quick water colour of these two ladies, my wife and my daughter, sitting in a corner of the drawing room, watching a thriller.

2006-09-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

No 7. When my daughter was a little lady of maybe five or six she had long curly hair, was always running, dancing or doing things. However, for a tenth of a second I got this impression of her. A Very Peculiar Lady With a Beautiful Hair is the long name of this little picture, a water colour with ink.

2006-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

No 6. Another picture I made on a theme - Water. How suitable for a water colour.

2006-08-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

No 5. I thought I should try to paint some still lifes, went into a departmental store and bought some exotic fruits. Why not combine work with pleasure, I thought. The technique in my previous pictures shown here, is a sort of "wet in wet", fluid. In this still life the paint has dried in layers and new layers of colours applied over it. From light to darker nuances. Still life with department store fruits.

2006-08-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

No 4. On a holiday in Denmark we passed a bright red field, first I thought it was tulips, but soon discovered it was poppies. This water colour with black ink was painted on a Schoellershammer paper, which gives an impression of a rough texture. Distant poppies.

2006-08-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

No 3. The light and heat from the sun meet the cooling water of the sea, a drama one could watch every morning. Unless it isn't raining, like today.. Good Morning, Sunshine! is a fairly small watercolour, about 18x24 cms. I love the manganese blue.

2006-08-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

No 2. Life is full of sharp angles. One could easily get hurt by them, I thought, so maybe one should create something soft instead? So I invented this staircase with a lead for people who hate right angles. Not a very useful thing maybe, the more necessary though, wouldn't you agree?

2006-08-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

No 1. This first picture is a water colour on paper and I call it The Big Hug. The red area is the back of a man, a woman has her arms around his waist - the greenish area. Their heads meet in the left corner at the top. The rest, I suppose speaks for itself.