Just before Christmas I got an invitation from editor-in-chief of Somerset Studio, Jenny Doh, to become her “With One Palette” artist for the July/August 2007 issue. I accepted the challenge on the spot; I knew immediately what colour my palette was going to be about!

So yesterday I mailed this bunch of stuff to Laguna Hills, CA, where it’s going to be photographed from one end to another for the articl, but the adventure doesn’t stop here.

Around New Year I got more invitations to submit artwork to Somerset Studio and some of the other art and craft magazines published by Stampington & Company. It’s wonderful to be asked!

It might sound strange but sometimes all the bits and odd ends of life’s jigsaw puzzle suddenly seem to fit and you can see the whole picture before you. That’s the feeling I got around New Year. In these days I was really considering my situation and the next steps to go in order to bring my art forward – planning how to take more initiatives to get my work noticed. And at the very same moment I received these invitations. Who says coincidence? Who says destiny?

This is my grandfather and his horse. My grand father was a dragoon and a horseman in his young years. He always told stories from his time in the army. Interesting but not necessarily pleasant stuff! Still it seemed to have been some of the most intense experiences in his lifetime. Even as an old man he remembered very well: names and places and events – and he was a gifted storyteller! He passed away 18 years ago now, but in my mind I can still hear his voice and see his gestures while telling.

Anyway, this collage is a tribute to him and it has just been published in the January/February issue of Somerset Studio. I haven’t seen the magazine yet, although I’m dying to. I know it’s on its way; it has been send from USA but the Danish customs service holds back the parcel containing the magazine as well as the collage with my granddad.

I’ve been asked to prove it’s really my own artwork being returned to me– but my explanation hasn’t been sufficient so far it seems and now I´ve been asked to ask the editor of Somerset to mail and explain the situation! I´ve experienced this situation before when my artwork has been returned after exhibitions or other sessions abroad. It’s most annoying: I just want to have my collages back! And of course I hardly can wait to see the magazine where it´s published…  but somehow I have to see this as an exercise in patience…

And it’s quite funny; I’ve just had another waiting-impatiently-for-the-postman-experience. This autumn a costumer from Norway asked me to make 3 paintings/collages with her kids. I started when I got back from Vilnius but at the beginning I had some problems getting hold of the proper materials. And then the task tricked me technically in different ways, so honestly, it took longer than expected till I was satisfied and could send everything off – right before Christmas. It was a god feeling to “clean the table” for Christmas and New Year.

And then both parts waited….. of course my Norwegian costumer was exited to see the result – and I was equally exited to hear her reaction. So we waited – and waited – we even started to get a little anxious too, you know, the address label might have fallen off, the parcel might have disappeared somewhere – at some squeaking, foreign post office. One never knows….

But finally, yesterday it arrived – and it was appreciated! It always makes me so happy to know: something I created means something to other people – not only to friends and family – but also to people I’ve never met. It truly lifts me up and makes me feel “of use”.