SHARING WITH ME

Although Albert Marquet (1875-1947) is not one of my favorite painters, he has always been a question mark in my mind. Considered to be one of the greatest painters of 20th century. From the dates you can see that his contemporaries are Picasso, Matisse, the Fauves - need I go on? Matisse was one of his closest friends and yet I have never seen any mention of an encounter with Picasso! Especially as Khanweiler who discovered and launched cubism also collected a few of Marque’s paintings. I had forgotten that.  I should really like his paintings too as they are considered to be without too much detail and that he has a keen sense of framing. I went along with Pierre and thanks to him, l suddenly saw Marquet in quite a different light. There is a real elegance of composition, something very delicate about his colors  and a lot of atmosphere in his paintings. His early drawings too in pencil, pastel or ink where the streets of Paris, his hunting ground. Simple and sensitive, th...

Four years ago? Six years ago? When was my last visit to Finland? THAT is the question. The trip had been canceled twice in 2015 so my fingers and toes were crossed that there would be no hitches this time around. I was to arrive very late - 11.30pm is late for me and then we would have a 45 minute trip to Jorvas where Helena and Jorma live. A friendship going back some 30 or more years. There house is one of the first eco homes built, perhaps 500 meters from the sea and virtually nothing around them - or two houses in the distance. Silence like that, is unknown in the city. I love being there but certainly couldn’t live in such an isolated area with pheasants, deer, birds and other animals to attract my attention. This time around Gekko their dog seem to approve of me - to this extent….. Helena had planned my stay well. The sun shone all the time I was there. In fact out of the wind it was nearly warm although l was not casting off clothing like the Fins can do. 

The night was sho...