Today I had my exhibition at the Finnish-British Society. First we all got to know each other a little over a cup of tea or coffee, with cake and Maltesers (English sweets) and then I showed a DVD of myself painting using the wet-on-wet method of painting with water-colours. The video was made this summer by Kami, my host in Oresaare, Estonia, at the end of a painting course there. Then it was edited by a friend called Lamppu, who shortened it from 20 to 5 minutes and managed to fit Vivaldi’s music to my brush-strokes in a wonderful way. He really did a good job. I showed it again at the end of the evening, and people really liked seeing it twice. Earlier I showed the painting that was in the video.
The audience was quite lively and was not too shy to give opinions, which was refreshing. There were only two people in the audience that had any experience of painting – one was a student friend from a 3-year course we’ve both just started, and the other was the lady who organised the event. I suggested that we should all meet again sometimes so they everyone could practise wet-on-wet painting some time. Milla, the organiser, and some others seemed interested!
There was general agreement on the best painting at the exhibition. It’s also my favourite, so I’ve uploaded it here. Do click on the picture to get a better view. It’s very large – 100 X 70 cms I think. One lady present said that it reminded her of Nandor’ Mikola (27.11. 1911, Budapest, Hungary – 3. 5. 2006)’ s work; he was a Finn, born in Hungary. Perhaps she had this painting in mind? There’s a beautiful water-colour of his called ‘Huipuvuoret’ (Mountain peaks) here.
One day soon I’ll upload a couple more of my paintings that people liked.
