Written by Today’s guest doodlewashes come to us from Evy Kleveland in Ekkerøy, Norway (follow her on Instagram!). Evy says, “I live in the very northeastern part of Norway where we have a fantastic open landscape. Last night the mountains on the other side of the fjord have been sprinkled with snow on the tops.”
The open landscape inspires her, but she didn’t want to just paint landscapes, so she made a painting project: small barns and old houses. “I have a 15 km drive along the fjord to get to work and it’s in this area where you can find many of the buildings I have painted.”
Evy now has painted approximately 40 buildings, but thinks there are about 10 to go before the end of the project. These barns or sheds were used for storage of hay or fishing nets in earlier days when everybody was a farmer or a fishermen. Today there is seldom a use for these buildings and they are not maintained anymore.
“By painting and showing the paintings,” she says, “I would like to make people see these buildings with new and other eyes. Maybe they are worth restoring as a cultural heritage? After I started the project this spring, two houses have been torn down and doors have fallen off some of the barns.”
Evy has been juried to be a member of NFUK, a Norwegian artist organization, and she has two years of art education at Bergen Art School (Kunstskolen i Bergen) with professional artists as teachers. Two years ago, she attended a watercolor class in Iceland for one week with the Swedish artist Lars A Persson as a teacher and since then, she’s taken up the medium of watercolor again.
“When I go out painting, I bring a rucksack with all my painting stuff. I also bring a foldable canvas chair to sit on. I sketch the house in a little book for a couple of minutes, trying to find the right angles and sizes for the painting. Then I make a light drawing on the sheet before painting.”
She uses Arches 300g cotton sheets in blocks and prefers cold pressed to hot pressed. “But, I’ve also used Fabriano 200g cold pressed and that’s my favourite according to the flow of the paint. I would like to try some thicker Fabriano and see how that works out; 200g can be a bit thin.”
“When it comes to brushes I must refer to one of my teachers who said that a brush is just a tool that helps us transporting the paint from the palette to the sheet! I use some flat brushes, up to maybe 5 cm, and some smaller round ones. Earlier I have used solid paint in squares from Winsor & Newton and also Russian honey-based paint in tubes. Nowadays I use Winsor & Newton in tubes. It`s easy to administrate the tubes.”
“I’ve found that the colours Permanent Sap Green and Transparent Yellow are great for painting the bright green summer grass,” Evy says. “Moreover I would try to get the dark colours more translucent and must find out how to mix them better.”
“I’m a plein air painter and something strange happened the other day. I had painted the sky and suddenly the wet paint on the sheet went into ice roses due to the low temperature. But when I took the sheet inside the car, the roses melted. Next time, I would let the painting dry outside and see if I can keep the roses. I’ve previously been a periodic painter, but now I’ll continue without pausing. Don’t let the winter stop us from doodlewashing! Let`s see if it’s possible to make a doodlefreeze!” (now there’s an idea!)
Thank you so much for sharing your story and your beautiful doodlewashes with us, Evy! And be sure to follow her Instagram feed for more of her beautiful work! Excited to see what you’ll paint next!
Beautiful work. I’m a fan of old barns and houses so I was excited to see the work!
Awesome!! So happy you enjoyed this one!! 😃
What an awesome project to help people appreciate old buildings! And Norway…that’s a place I will likely never get to so I’m going to have to visit through her art!
Aren’t this wonderful?! And yeah…I may not make it there soon either, but I’m always wanted to go!! 😃
Awesome Evy, I can feel the desolate and solitude of the old structures through your painting. Each has a story to tell. And, thank you for sharing your art life with us. Thank you Charlie.
Thanks so much Sharon!! ❤️😃Happy you liked these!
The are great–so moody and evocative.
Aren’t they cool? Sooooo many stories there! 😉
Love the doodlewashes!
Yay! So glad you do, Nicole!! 💕😃
I was trying to find words that described what see and felt and I saw kirkistan’s comment.. Perfect. I look at them and I shiver because I can almost feel the cool wind. So strange. Beautiful!
Yeah…there definitely take you there and set a mood! So glad you liked them Kari! 💕😃
For a moment I thought it was Norwegian Shed Day! These are wonderful and I love the bit about the ice roses.
Hehe…yeah… you really have the watch for the “Guest Doodlewash” to know it’s not a piece of my craziness! Lol So happy you liked this, Michael! Yeah…the ice roses are so cool. I think I might actually try to make a doodlefreeze this winter! 👍🏻😃
Gosh, these are stunning – thanks for the introduction! 🙂
So glad you liked Evy’s work Rebecca! 💕😃
Oh I love these so much, they are beautiful. Norway is on my travelling wish list, these paintings make me want to go even more now!
It’s on my list as well and I felt the same after seeing these!! So glad you liked them as well, Tori! 💕😃
Beautiful paintings, wonderful project of old barns and houses…full of emotional impact. Love the ‘ice roses’… great feature, thank you for sharing such a talent.
Thanks Haunani! ❤️😃 Yeah…I think the ice roses are definitely something I’d love to see as well!
So beautiful!! New fan. 👍
Awesome! Glad to hear it Jodi! 💕😃
Lovely work and an entree into a part of Norway. Coming from Australia with semi arid open landscapes, fjords are most exotic.
Gorgeous stuff isn’t it?! So glad you liked this pieces!! 😃
Beautiful work Evy! I believe I will try a frozen doodlewash too!
Yay, Cathe!! Its the season!! Let me know when you do! 😉👍🏻
These are so beautiful, loving the skies….
Awesome! So happy you liked these!
I love all the blues in these paintings.