Inspirations and painted spoons

Paint seems to be all the rage at the moment. And I’ve been so very inspired by a couple of people’s work and really quite fancying having a go myself for quite some time. So at last I have taken the plunge…

First let me talk about my inspirations for a bit. To start with, a swedish chap with exceptional facial hair, Magnus Sundelin. His combination of chip carving and paintwork on his fantastically carved spoons and shrink pots is amazing. The bold contrast, and the rich colours…

Who am I kidding. I just love the shiny gold paint..

The other stuff is amazing. I would love to own it. But as far as personal inspiration goes, ever since seeing his stuff, I’ve been dying to make all my things shiny and gold.

That spoon on the right there? I dithered terribly about contacting Magnus and seeing if it were available for weeks. I still regret that I didn’t. But perhaps it’s a good thing I never held it in my hands. As I talked about in a previous blog post, sometimes the idea is better than reality. This way it’s been stuck in my head for months now, and it’s coming out in my own work.
My next inspiration is the wonderful, amazing Anja Sundberg. Another Swede. She claims to not be a spooncarver. And yet her spoons are among the best in the world. I love her bold, elegant but fun shapes. This first picture has been stuck in the front of my sketchbook for aaaages now.
I own one of Anja’s spoons now – lucky me! – and one of the most inspiring things has got to be how well they work, as well as how beautiful they look. The combination of the two to such amazing levels is brilliant.

This second picture is a bit more of an unusual one. Anja’s tools. This painting is something she does a fair bit. That graduating colours. Fading from dark to light. And again with the mixture of chipcarving and paint.

When there are people who are this good in the world, it makes it somewhat difficult to start. Why bother, when these people have already mastered what I wish I could do, and to such high levels too!

Well I finally gave it a go. After the success of this spoon I felt I had to try some more. A little experiment on one of my oiled spoons first, to get my head in the game and warm my fingers up..

And then onto paint!!

Harder than I had anticipated. And I can’t wait to try out some more different kinds of paint. I have no idea how Magnus makes his gold so shiny, or how Anja blends her colours so evenly. But practise makes perfect. And I am very happy with how I’m starting out. What do you reckon? Have you a favourite yet? Let me know what you think!!

Comments · 6

  1. Ralph Hentall. Spoonmaker for 60 years. I have never painted spoon’s, preferring the natural colour bestowed.by
    Mother nature . However; all art and crafts are a free spirit and nothing is wrong in expressing it . I believe an artist once presented a blank picture canvas as art.Was it art? YES! The whole world is a picture gallery. All the artist did was to leave it to the viewer to complete.

Leave a Reply

*

×
Product added to cart

No products in the basket.