Painting bigger was a goal I had for 2026; bigger brushes, bigger canvases, bigger strokes. The reason was simple, I wanted to get closer to what it felt like to be an original Rosemaling painter standing at a farmer’s wall deciding how to fill it with colorful strokes of paint. In the 1750’s itinerant painters got their food and board for a few months while they painted the gathering room of a proud agrarian family in Norway. The variation in the repeating stroke patterns gave a humanness to the whole room. I love that it wasn’t a perfect symmetry but ever so close that the eye forgave, allowing “kosekvelden” to command the room. Rosemaling was the backdrop of a warm, relaxed environment filled with friends and family.
[Kosekvelden: warm, relaxed, and happy times spent at home, often with good food, blankets, and close friends or family]
I will have large 6 foot wood board painted in Rosemaling at Scanfest in NJ, Sept 6th, as well as a dozen other board sizes. It was really enjoyable to be back in acrylic and I couldn’t stop painting boards. I hope you’ll come and see all the barn chunks. Yes, watercolor and ink originals will also be present with a few modern rosemaling birds as a total experiment connecting Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur to my beloved Norwegian Rosemaling.
If you are looking for more info on how to get to the Scanfest, look up Scanfest, Budd Lake NJ on any of the social media platforms as well as any internet search. I believe there are discounted tickets through Sunday, Aug 23rd.
-Kristin
Leave a Reply