In love of the blues..

Marimekko, Ittala, Finland

Isaac Grunewald, Sweden

Alhambra, Granada, Spain

The Red Sea, Egypt

Magritte

The Blue Train, South Africa

Peacock, Gotland Sweden

Interior, Gotland farmstead, Sweden

Ming urn, China

Baie des Anges, Nice, France by Roul Dufy

Ladies´fan, China

Blue eggs.

Blå Blom. Gustavsberg, Sweden

19th century Swedish wall paper
Blue view from my window

Vintage blue..
The Blue Parlor. Gotland

Belize

Not mine..

Spring blues..
China blue
Cowboy blue. Young fashion. Washington.

Blue shadows. Nyhamn, Gotland

Blue flairing dress. Vogue
A piece of coastline. Gotland
Would like one of theese!

Greece, no doubt!

Henri Matisse´s blue girl

Snow Blue. My winter garden
Feeling blue? Nails to match.

Sampling blues

Monet´s blue mood.My blue mood takes over. Normal cherries from the garden. Fake blue.
Vincent, marvellous Vincent

Greece.

Sandhamn

Blå Porten, Djurgården, Sweden

Another of my artist neighbours..

..is the gifted sculptor, painter and stylist Carola Edlund of Ungesmiss, Stenkyrka.
She is very skilled at her craft and most of her sculptures are chiselled in marble and with a sensual/erotic focus. Last year, she called our then Bishop of Visby, Lennart Koskinen, and asked him if he would object to her having an erotic sculpture exhibition in one of the many church ruins of the Gotland capital. To which the Bishop promptly answered: "But of course! Anything on the theme of love can be displayed within the walls of the church!"
Carola Edlund in addition spends a month a year in India to manufacture clothes for the popular Medieval week on Gotland that takes place every August.
This year she produced a calender on Medieval Erotica (together with photographer Carolina Bosdotir and a number of models,) shot in parts in the church ruins of Visby:

Month of July

This model is the great guy who installed my new fireplace last winter. Here he really looks like the crafty handyman he is! :-) (He is also Carolas husband)

Miss Medieval February

Sweet May Love!

Merry "Christmas-kind-of.."

The woods of Gotland..

Finding the needle in the haystack?
October.

A beautiful photo of the artist herself dressed in one of her Medieval dresses.

This week, the many artists in Gotland..

..are inviting the public to view their artwork in their ateliers. Maria Brandsjö-Fredin - and very old friend of mine and neighbour here on the island, is showing her production in her studio by her home in the parish of Stenkyrka .

Maria and I went to the same school of Journalism in Stockholm and spent some time on the US West Coast together in the groovy 60´s. She has been painting all along her years as a professional journalist.

She has a great studio covered with canvasses and paintings on a number of strong themes that doesn´t excactly leave you unaffected. Her satires of local Gotland politicians are stunning. Maria always tries to add a bit of warmth to her satires which is not the case about her series of paintings on the theme of mobbing ..

Growing up..

..trying to cope with your parent´s expectations..trying desperately to please..

..if not successful in meeting your parent´s expectations, you could always dream about winning the Nobel Prize. Then you wold win them.. Perhaps.

Maria´s cold world of school mobbing..

Am I an alien?

"You are a disgusting whore"

A school corridor. You just have to walk past all..

The brutality of youth.
The cold and scornful faces of the silent bystanders.

View from the floor..
Her mobbing painting makes my blood turn to ice.

Maria among her satiric paintings..The politician on the left is the man who is trying to introduce the parking meter here on Gotland!

The coverage she got in the Gotland papers.
"Satires with a "tongue-in-cheek" it says in Swedish.

Meanwhile in Washington DC..

The unmerciful humid heat of a Turkey Hammam has hit the capital..

..and Thalia is spending her time in the little pool at her terrace!
She now looks quite a bit like her father at the same age! Miss her!
She really should be here in Gotland instead in this pleasant summer weather of 20 C!
(Photos: Lorena Gonzalez)