20x20 cm is a nice size...

I have never been one who cares much for electronical gadgets and everybody who knows me also know that I have never been very technical. I didn't learn to use the computer until I 'had to', and still today I only use two or three programs well. The rest is mostly a mysterium to me. When my husband bought me an IPad I first thought it a completely unnecessary toy. Fun to play games on for sure, but I did not appreciate it until I found out that I can subscribe to art-magazines on it and buy and read books electronically... Closest place to buy english books is in Shanghai ( about 600km from here), and not even there have I ever seen any art-magazines. But now I do not have to wait until we travel to be able to get new books or magazines, I just buy them online and can read them whenever I want. I am subscribing to two different art- magazines, one from the UK and one from the US. So once a month I can download my two magazines and enjoy! It is still not the same as actually having the real magazine in your hands, but the upside is that I can have all the magazines with me I want and countless books where ever I go, and its all contained on one small IPad... And if I really do not want to carry anything extra, I can even read my magazines on my IPhone... I am becoming an apple-junkie ;-)

I got my new issue of The Artist today. I will enjoy it with a cup of tea tonight!

I had a quick see through of it after downloading, and this months issue seems to be full of colors!

In the studio I started last week on a new series of small 20x20cm paintings. I had 8 thin canvas boards, and wanted to do something easy and fun with them. Without any real plans I just started mixing different hand written papers, song sheets and old linoleum prints. When I was satisfied with the pattern and composition I glued them all down, and I had 8 collages as backgrounds. I really liked the colours as they were, and decided not to paint over the papers at all, but to leave them exactly as they were.

The first 4 collages on canvas board...

...and the birds that I decided would suit well on top of them. Here is just the first layer of oil. Some tails and feet are still missing ;) Three European Crested Tits (Tofsmes) and a Common Chaffinch (Bofink).

Here are the next 4 panels...

...and the next 4 birds. Here I actually broke on of my rules. I usually try to only paint birds that I have seen in real life, but I couldn't resist painting a Siberian Jay (Lavskrika) on the last panel. Two White Wagtails (Sädesärla), a Red-backed Shrike (Törnskata) and the Siberian Jay. When I have finished these I am 1/3 closer to my goal of the numbers of painting I need to finish for my upcoming exhibition in August!