Ellisiv

Hello, I'm Ellisiv! This is my art blog where I share some of my work and also show snippets of my life as a recently graduated art-student in Oslo. I hope you enjoy~

[ellimisiv-art]

Beautiful and overgrown

Finally completed this piece. I've had the idea for so long and after i finally got started, I spent a long time second guessing my colours and fiddling with the amount of detail I wanted/did not want.

A beautiful, inviting tree full of colourful berries, surrounded by pointy shrubbery and all sorts of critters hidden in the grass

The idea itself is based on a tree I saw when I was out foraging with my family. We always look for blueberries and mushrooms, but this time we also kept an eye out for rowan berries thatwere reachable without a ladder. That's when me and my sister saw this tree and it immediately struck us. The way it contrasted with the surroundings and inviting us in and towards us.

We didn't go to it though, because we could tell we wouldn't be able to reach those berries. And the area was filled with ticks and mosquitoes, and the high shrubbery could easily have hidden snakes as well. It was almost haunting (my sister said it was like something out of the witcher). I wanted a colourful painting, highlighting the coulourful inbetween of summer and autumn, however I think a part of me wonders what this piece would look like if I chose to higlight the grey, rainy parts of the landscape...

[ellimisiv-art]

The draft is coming along slowly, but surely. Chapter 4 is complete!

I know a lot of writers will do rough timelies, and then that's enough to start the first book, but I am so scared of changing my mind about something, but then something I did way back in book 1 prevents me from doing it.

Aslo, if only I wrote things for school at the same speed as I do with documents of just lore. I mentioned that I'm studying part-time (history) and I currently have a deadline looming over me, and am honestly a bit panicked at how I can possibly reach the word count in less than a week. Meanwhile I wrote the word count for that assignment in a single day when it was my lore doc. Very different things, but still.

[ellimisiv-art]

Anyone make any new years resolutions this year?

I have the usual ones, but I also did something a little different this year! I made stamp cards! The gist is that you set a certain goal or a habit, and an amount of times you want to achieve or work towards it. You then make a stamp every time you reach that goal. At the end of a completed stampcard you can have a little reward, or just the knowledge of a goal accomplished. I dont want to bother sharing my personal ones, but I did want to share this art related one!

I want to challenge myself to use more of my art supplies this year, so I have one stamp for a different medium. Gouache, acrylics, watercolours, pens/markers, pastels and coloured pencils. A sketch doesn't count, it has to be a complete piece. Mixed media can count if i sufficiently use the medium in question.

Gouache is filled out already, no surpruse there haha

I also made a hard edition on the back. The likelyhood of reaching these is a lot smaller, so I'll be happy with just one or two stamps on this side.

Woven piece/tapestry, poster paint (i bought paint from Japan and now I'm scared to use it), something 3d/cutout/installation, oils, rosemaling and a mural, or at least something VERY big (but preferably a mural)

[ellimisiv-art]

Nasjonalmuseet has many treasures.

Theodor Kittelsen is a favourite artist of mine - and I felt like I got to see a celeb in real life. I remember a trip years ago, when the national museum was in the old building, they had displayed some of his sketches as well. Sadly, they're not out on display at the moment, but apparently you can request an appointment to see items that are in storage. Might just take them up on that offer haha

Gerhard Munthe is also quickly climbing the ranks of favourite artists. Could be because I'm in my tapestry era - but I just love them so much!

And Vinternatt i Rondane was mesmerizing in real life! All those shades of blue made it a real highlight of the display for me

[ellimisiv-art]

[ellimisiv-art]

Slight continuation of my previous post

I mentioned to my mum on the car ride back how the tapestries at the museum inspired me, and how I wish i had a loom for making tapestries when suddenly she goes "oh we have a loom somewhere in the cupboard from your great grandmother. I don't know how to use it, so it's just sitting there"

The loom itself was a bit difficult to bring back to Oslo, but I started plotting. Planning.

For my birthday I got a grindvev, a type of loom used for making traditional ribbons, and I made my first ribbon that christmas. And for christmas this year I made a woven scarf for my mum <3

We had seen a woven scarf made with a grindvev at the norwegian folk museum in Oslo, and she pointed out how she really liked it,so it was natural to make an attempt for her. (My first little test block turned out to be just the right size for my Miffy plush)

I want to start using the loom from my great grandmother soon, but first I need to be less intimidated by it. I've made some simple cardboard looms that I can test some simple patterns on as well as some techniques. Cause the next step is properly removing my great grandmothers unfinished pieces from the loom, and stringing it up again to start weaving - all very unfamiliar territory so stay tuned I guess.

[ellimisiv-art]

A trip to Astruptunet from two years ago. The restored home of artist, Nikolai Astrup, turned into a gorgeous museum. A wonderful look into an artist home and work, and also the work of his wife, Engel who had a great interest in textile art.

I've always loved Nikolais painting (see fmp posts hehe), but the everyday-art caught my attention on this trip. The tapestry is likely done by them and the wooden boxes, tine, also likely painted by them. Today, we have a certain idea of how the traditional norwegian crafts are supposed to look. They have to have these colours and these patterns to be correct, but people back then didn't have the same attitude. Sure, some patterns were common, but these objects were also decorated according to the persons own tastes. And a pair of artists might have different access to colours and dyes than your average person, so they would be able to experiment more. It made me also want to experiment with traditional crafts - especially weaving ( i always get an urge to pick up weaving after visiting museums like these)

[ellimisiv-art]

Spring clovers

[ellimisiv-art]

Some sketchbook pages

[ellimisiv-art]

This painting was inspired by a sighting of either mink or otters, as well as some hypnotizing seaweed from a hike.

This was my first big piece since I completed my BA in illustration. Turns out forcing yourself to work extra extra hard through burnout, only causes even more severe burnout afterward. Who'd have thought? I didn't touch a paintbrush for about a year after I completed my degree, though I did still sketch and eventually did some smaller pieces. After I completed my two-year animation course, the burnout had gradually started to fade and I decided to plan a big painting again. It still took a while to complete, but in the end I finished it and felt ready to take on new pieces after it.

[ellimisiv-art]

Suffocate

I posted the sketch years back, but never posted the final piece!

I used acrylic instead of gouache for a change haha. In certain instances, acrylic might be the most practical medium, but honestly painting with it just fills me with rage - why is it so dry??

[ellimisiv-art]

The Grad-Show!

The promo image was made from these screen prints we all did as a small project

Since my project was a comic project (and also bc I didn't want to spend money on frames i couldn't bring with me on the plane home + didn't want glare from glass) I decided to make my own frames! They are made from paper that I painted with gouache and cut out with a scalpel. I felt like it gave a pretty cool 2D effect, and I was also able to get creative with the frames - they all match the art historical era the painting is from!

I don't have any good quality photos of my final exhibit, only this one from my story. I also displayed a sketchbook that people could flip through - it had sketches from the project, but also of characters and locations and some written lore.

Since they were made from paper, they were easy to disassemble and bring home with me, so I still have them lying around somewhere. I regret not taking more pictures of the exhibit, but one day I can reassemble the frames and do a proper shoot/scan.

A little more tricky was the dragon... I made a giant cutout dragon to loom over my exhibit (i would've made the island landscape on the bottom too if I'd had the time hahah). The technicue was similar to the frames - i painted the dragon with gouache on foamboard that I glued together on the back to the correct length, and cut away the negative space. I had no way of bringing the dragon with me in my beat-up suitcase. At least... not all of her.

Once it was time for us to pack up our exhibit, I decapitated my dragon (and cut off the fin). It felt brutal. It was painful. I now have a dragons head in my room.

I made these memes to cope (yes, that's my actual suitcase. It has duct tape, one funtional wheel, and a dream)

[ellimisiv-art]

Image 1 Original Piece: Madame de Pompadour - François Boucher

Image 2 Original Piece: Virgin and Child Enthroned - Cimabue

The last two pieces from my FMP! Two very golden pieces, and highly detailed. I noticed details in Madame de Pompadour that I had never noticed before!

The last piece is of a character from before the story takes place - a historical almost saint-like character, so it was fitting with a religious painting for her.

[ellimisiv-art]

Original piece: Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon / Whitebear King Valemon - Theodor Kittelsen

Original piece: Freya - Arthur Rackham

Had to put my favourites together <3

Theodor Kittelsen is an artist I really admire, so starting this painting which is based on one of his most iconic pieces was pretty intimidating. Just a little short of A1 it is also the largest piece, so the one that'd stand out the most in the final exhibit (yes, I'll share that eventually as well).

After such an intimidating piece, I was thoroughly warmed up for this Art Noveau esque painting and had a lot fun with it - especially the gold paint which sadly doesn't photograph very well.

[ellimisiv-art]

Original piece: Visergutt drikker kaffe / errand boy drinking coffe - Christian Krogh

Original piece: St. Hans Bål / Midsummer eve bonfire - Nikolai Astrup

Finally time to post the pieces from my Final Major Project at Solent University!

My pieces for this project were also based on my webcomic idea, however I gave it a bit of an art historical spin by recreating pieces from art history and placing them within the context of my story. This meant that characters, locations and stories had to correlate in some way with the pieces I chose.

I made six pieces in total, all with gouache. The scale for some of these paintings are also larger than I normally work with. The smallest pieces are in A3 size, which isn't too uncommon for me, however the largest are almost A1, which I don't think I have ever done with gouache at least (i used so much paint!!)

Norwegian folklore, traditions and especially the norwegian coastal culture are important inspirations in this comic, so there will be quite a few nods to it in this project.

[ellimisiv-art]

Some sketches

[ellimisiv-art]

Stinging Nettles