Etude

Self Portrait

I Just Don't Know

And then I was asked to exhibit some pictures, but I just don't know ...

It is not a profession to be a pianist and musician. It is a philosophy, a conception of life that cannot be based on good intentions or natural talent. First and foremost there must be a spirit of sacrifice

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Etude

Study

Jeg hører ikke hjemme her. 

Mitt sinn har flukt mot andre vær

hvor stormer står mot steile fjell

og nakne skjær. 

Jeg kjenner ikke noen her - De lave bakke, blide trær, og mennesker som alltid vet

hva dagen er.

Bjørn Ingerman Endreson (1946)

My Soul Is Dark

I'm trying to figure out something about darkness, it is fitting, my soul is dark these days

My soul is dark - Oh! quickly string
The harp I yet can brook to hear;
And let thy gentle fingers fling
Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear.
If in this heart a hope be dear,
That sound shall charm it forth again:
If in these eyes there lurk a tear,
'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.

But bid the strain be wild and deep,
Nor let thy notes of joy be first:
I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,
And ached in sleepless silence, long;
And now 'tis doomed to know the worst,
And break at once - or yield to song.

Lord Byron

If he really said that, it may explain a certain quality in his music. But I don't know. I don't know anything.

Oslo Graffiti Again

Etude - I just can't help myself, it is an obsession

Etude Phalenopsis

G's Story - the invisible people

Guest workers from abroad came to Stavanger to work in oil. They brought gifts, according to a friend, dope and DVDs. Stavanger was a mission town back then. G met a girl, she liked experimenting with drugs. He started using, escalating to heroin. G died. In a public toilet in Oslo. He did not die of an overdose. He died because he did not have the courage to go to the doctor. He had gangrene in his arm from injecting drugs. Part of his story is that he a few months earlier got the top grade in the most difficult math/calculus one can study in a Norwegian hight school. Two percent of the students get that kind of grade.

What are we doing, forgetting everything that's important?

This plant was given to me by another forgotten person, an elderly lady who was very ill. I took her to the shops, nobody had the time they claimed, and she gave me this, I wanted nothing in return really, but I try to take good care of the plant to remember her every day.

C'Lines Whakan aka Nobu or Spinnvill

Noor

Etude Phalenopsis II

Etude Phalenopsis

The Old One

Every spring I wait for the flowers of the old apple tree

Etude Phalenopsis

Etude Pear Blossom

Etude Sakura

Etude Taraxacum Officinale & Fly

Leaf II

Leaf

Etude Sakura

Anemone Nemorosa

Etude

I do this and sing Sakura, sakura in the hope of the cherry blossoms getting their petals into gear

Etude Narcissus Poeticus II

Etude Narcissus Poeticus

Norwegian National Day - May 17th

I remember hearing a sarcastic non Norwegian politician saying "It is nice to see the children saluting their leaders" on the 17th of May. Originally May 17th was the day the Norwegian constitution was signed. Later a tradition of celebration started via Henrik Wergeland's work. Wergeland being a national poet believing in the nation building project, trying to take Norway from a small country on the outskirts of Europe to an independent state.


Wergeland started a celebration for children and you find a parade of schoolchildren in every town - in Oslo it culminates in front of the castle, the children waving to the king and queen. In my time, we used to shout the king's first name when passing the castle, no your majesty or anything, just his first name.

People dress up in their finery, enjoying time with their family on the 17th of May, the bunad (Norwegian folk costume) being dress or suit of choice. I love Wergeland's vision, his poetry and the sweet memories of the day from my childhood. 

Norwegian parliament building, its chief official waving to the children. The marching band passing were playing samba :) - the marching bands are getting quite good these days!

The castle, when the flag is up, the king is home. Oslo's castle is one of Europe's smallest apparently.  I try to be a bit careful about exposing stranger's faces, by the way

Pretty, pretty girls with bunads

Two elegant, manly bunad men :)

Cute hats as well, I wish I had asked where she got that one!

Gorgeous girls in bunad

More lovely girls in bunad

The hem of the Oslo bunad

Street fashion

The university's older buildings, now the legal faculty

Bunad girls

I love men showing off their bunad finery! 

Etude Rosa

Bunad (Norwegian Folk Costume) Apron

Ola

A Dream

- so adept in the art that he made artistry vanish. 

                                             Siddharta Mukherje  - The Emperor of All Maladies

Going Home

Pink

Gravity II

Angelina Ballerina II