You’ll have to forgive me….in an effort to be really efficient with art this year, I’ve already started thinking about Christmas 2012. Really, it seems like December blurred by so fast last year that I didn’t get much of a chance to enjoy it, so I’m going to be leisurely about it this time around.
My love of Swedish folk art is still alive and well, and you’ll find me at school pick-up reading books about Scandinavia or looking up tomtes and Swedish shops in my spare time. Really, I think I’ve got the Nordic fever.
Something particular I love from Sweden is the art of Carl Larsson. He was an amazing man and an amazing artist. He used his large family and his home as models for countless illustrations depicting holidays or family life. They are always colorful and beautiful and gentle. They are like snapshots into a daily life that was a very happy daily life.
So Carl is the inspiration behind this painting. I wanted to show a tender indoor holiday scene similar to something he might have set up, although my scene is much simpler than his and done in my own particular style. But I wanted that same ‘feeling’ of home and holiday.
This painting is called “God Jul Sisters” (God Jul is Merry Christmas in Swedish) and depicts and older sister lighting the candles on a holiday table while her younger sister looks on. This is another piece I will file away for epic Christmas plans, and I hope you like it 🙂
And speaking of Swedish sisters….I have totally fallen in love with the Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit. I love their music. They’ve been filling my little art room with their beautiful melodies as I’ve painted. If you haven’t heard this one, I think this cover they did of another favorite band, Fleet Foxes, is a perfect introduction….
Til next time,
~H
Sleightholm Folk Art 
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