Nobelsgate 13, Childhood Memories and the beginning of Itchycoo.

This is Nobelsgate 13, the house where my mum and uncle grew up. As children me and my sister have fond memories visiting Norway in both the summer and winter holidays. From the age of five I would travel alone, as an unaccompanied minor to visit Norway in the winter. I would go to the Tom Mustard Ski School and learn to ski. Following family traditions, Daisy has had her first lesson's here at the age of three, I am looking forward to February when Iris will try to ski for the first time. Nobelsgate 13 was our family base where we would visit and then go off to summer hyttas by the sea or log cabins in the mountains. Although we loved being close to nature, it was always fun to return, exploring inside this Gingerbread House.  

There were many reasons for this, the most exciting being the fact that there was a troll that lived in a secret room within the basement. We often heard him but never saw him, we would run out as far as we could due to pure fear! It was only years later that we found out that it was our uncle Einar. In the basement there was a 'party' room, I remember a large curved bar with racks of miniatures of all shapes and sizes. Beyond this was a bathroom and sauna, followed by a couple of dark rooms, one that had storage in it and the other was like a workshop, there were old tools of all shapes and sizes hanging off the walls beside numerous -aged- cross country wooden skis. On the far side of this room there was a bookshelf that if pushed, would reveal a secret room that was of bare concrete. It looked like what you could imagine a bomb shelter would look like. I think it was build as a secret room for the an author, the person who originally had the house built. Then there were the staircases, often not to be used- but obviously we explored, there were five of them inside, two perhaps three on the outside. 

It is only now when I look back, thinking of my childhood, that I can also see that my first introductions to 'art' lie within this house. From the diversity of the paintings on the wall, my Momo's picture, sculptures and objects that have been collected or handed down through generations. As well as this is my favourite park is at the end of the road - Vigelands Park, (Frogner / The Sculpture park) Somewhere I have visited time and time again, throughout my childhood and as an adult, each time I have been taken in by the power and wander of this place.

It will be no surprise then when looking at my pictures of Itchycoo, of where it all began. Although it is from my imagination, it is all based within my reality, as I revisit my childhood memories in Norway. Mimi will get to Itchycoo by playing a game with her sister. Instead of Snakes and Ladders she plays Slides and Zebras, where they slide down the staircases and (zebra) cross the corridors into different rooms. There is no board with counters. The house stands for the board while the girls themselves are the counters. They start in the high vaulted attic, looking in boxes. Mimi finds and puts on her grandmothers red dress, there is a gold carousel charm in her pocket. Mimi is the first to make it to the secret room. (The room where I used to think the troll lived) She walks further and as her eyes adjust to the light she is walking down a corridor. She wanders where she is going and then realises that she must be walking in a tunnel that lies directly below Nobelsgate. She goes towards the light and realises that she has come into a wonderland that lies beneath the sculpture park- 

This is the Land of Itchycoo - This is where my first painting of the series starts: 

Somewhere Beyond The Sweet Milk Mountain.

This is a caricature of the house, it was given to my mum on her 40th birthday

Recently my mum has been finding a lot of information about her family, I was most impressed that there are books and information about both sides of my Mum's family, from my Momo and Mofa that date back to the 1100 - 1200's. That makes my children 33rd generation! This family tree is not very old maybe from the 1950's and only dates back to 1825. I've added it here because I love the shape. It looks like it could be a root of a heart- if there ever was such a thing. I think I will use this as one of my trees in Itchycoo. Maybe as a Yggdrasil tree.

My Grandparents, Mofa and Momo

This is my Momo's  painting. It is the only painting that I have seen or known of that she has painted. It has had a huge impact on me throughout my childhood that's because I believe my passion for art and my dedication, love and hunger for drawing and painting must have been inherited from her. It is all represented within this simple, raw and emotional picture. When I look at it I have fond memories of painting with her at the summer house at Hvasser. Now I can see the same expression in both my girl's faces. 

Erik Harry Johanneson  1952.

Erik Harry Johanneson  1952.

Erik Harry Johanneson  1952.

Details are very similar to Munch in style.

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Erik Harry Johanneson  1951.

A Picasso,   8/200

I used to believe that this was a painting of my Mofa as a boy with his brother. It isn't but the stance and shape of the boy is so similar, it could have been.

This painting is huge and is so atmospheric with such fine detail within the leaves. 

(It's a shame as the impact of beauty and calmness is totally lost in this image) 

Christian Krohg

After visiting the Munch Museum I have started to read : Edvard Munch , Behind the Scream. I was then interested in the impact and influence that Krohg had on Munch's life. Krohg was Munch's first teacher, of him Munch says: 'It would certainly be wrong to ignore Krohg's influence on me completely - what I mean to say is I could not possibly be thought of one of his pupils.... but we were all very fond of Krohg and thought of him as an outstanding painter. As a teacher he was excellent and we all gained a great deal of encouragement from the interest he showed in our work.... I painted some of my best heads before he corrected me.' Without knowing the above I thought the painting reminded me of Van Gogh's early work, The Potato Peelers- or something like that. When he painted peasants and workers, before the paintings he is most famous for.

An old Norwegian Landscape?

This picture is also rather large, about the same size as a door. It is made out of fabric. 

Detail and depth of the fabric that was used.

A silk Batik, I'm not sure what it is, but I used to think it was some type of spirit hiding as a horse.

This detail is quite strange, I think I may use it as a character in Itchycoo.

A Jaguar, he was placed on top of the drinks cabinet, guarding no doubt! 

In the library in the centre of the house, beside the main staircase.

This is 'Pan' He was on the stairs that went down into the basement.

I added the back detail to show the texture of his hair. I don't know how or why but as a child I used to think he was some type of an elf or fairy and that he was special because his hair was made of pure chocolate.

This is originally an old beer tanker. It is my favorite 'thing/ object' that is in the family, now my mum uses it as a vase usually with red roses and daisies. Sometimes if we are lucky it is full of sweets. Every time I visit, I still, even now, always go to check what's inside. These are three each with slightly different in design, each with original coins embedded into the silver dating from 1700. The one above also has a coin on each side as you can see above.

The detail underneath the lid. You can see the underside of the coin.

Without knowing or consciously remembering these beautiful silver details, its obviously grained within me. It's uncanny how my picture (in turquoise below) works with it. 

The lid

Inside there are measures, each person would drink up to their measure and pass it on to the next person.

A vase

A detail within a side dresser.

Fine detail within leather from our dinning room chairs, over 100 years old. 

Details of fabric from a couple of lamps from the 1950's

This was down the road. It's in the fence of a sculptors garden. I don't think it is part a display, although it reminded me of a girl who won the Saatchi reality show with a part of a tree that had become impaled on a fence. She took photo's that were good but then went a step further by cutting out the piece of fence with the tree in it and put it into the exhibition.