About the motifs

My father has found his motifs in nature since he was in his mid-twenties.
It all began during the construction of a fountain in Helsingør. Together with his good friend, Peter Severin, he made large glass flowers for the fountain, and the two were proud of how beautiful the flowers had become.
While they paused, my father lay in the grass looking at a daisy he had picked. The lawn was teeming with them, each one perfectly formed. His enthusiasm for the glass flowers was surpassed by the little daisy, and he was surprised at how fantastic nature really is. The flower itself was a small work of art that evoked inner joy.
Since then, my father has wanted to immortalize the simultaneously simple and magnificent beauty that nature in all its forms surrounds us with.
I love the story that I have heard many times throughout my life. His philosophy has undoubtedly influenced my own perception of nature and my need to be close to it.

The forest
Today, I live in a forestry house, together with my husband and our two teenage daughters, about a ten-minute walk from my parents. It is very special to live in the middle of the forest and follow the changing of the seasons up close. Although I am a summer child and love when everything is in full bloom, I still have a hard time deciding when the forest is most beautiful.
In autumn, I can't get enough of all the brown and yellow shades. When snow falls in winter, the forest transforms into a fairyland.
Every year I am surprised by how suddenly and quickly spring takes over.
In April, flowers in bright colors emerge from the forest floor. They are busy blooming before the trees burst out and take all the light from them.
My father is also always busy during that period. Every year he keeps an eye on the anemones and is ready to move out with canvas and brushes as soon as they pop out.
The forest is now rich in motifs all year round. Not just the various deciduous trees and flowers, but also the slopes along the stream that winds through the forest, a moss-covered stump or a toadstool under the fir trees.

The garden
My father is always outside painting. Either in the forest, in the countryside or in his own garden, which is mostly my mother's merit. They started with a bare lawn back in 1976 and over the years she has ensured that my father never runs out of motifs.

For me, my parents' garden is an adventurous place that gives me peace of mind and brings me to the present with all its wonderful sensory impressions.

In 1995, my parents published a book together, and here my mother describes their relationship with the garden in this way:
"Our garden is a definite flower garden with alternating highlights. There are no rare plants or shrubs. Some will find it boring and bare in the first three months of the year, but it is precisely the annual transformation from 'death' to life that appeals to us. We experience our garden as a place with atmosphere and soul, and it is not something you can look at or feel. It is an experience that can sometimes be recorded deep within one's heart in a quiet moment.
Gardening is the art of the moment. You always want to grab the right streak of sun, the full bloom, the disease-free plant and the weed-free soil. But it is only in art and poetry that the moment can be frozen in images of experience that can recreate our memories. Although a garden gives the impression of being an idyllic place, the word idyll does not exist in nature. One eats and is eaten, and thus fulfills one's purpose, but we have the intellect, the capacity for love and the free will to try to get to know it.”
The countryside
We are lucky to live in an area where the fields are not sprayed and the local estate is aware of nature conservation.
This provides a rich biodiversity, which can be clearly felt in the plant and animal life. We have sea eagles, owls, badgers, egrets, tree frogs, squirrels and many other animals, not to mention the many different insects.
My father often captures an eagle or a deer on the canvas when he is out in the countryside painting. I love when there are animals and birds hiding in the picture that just take a little time to discover.
The adventure
In winter, the weather is rarely suitable for my father to sit outside. Over the years, he has used the dark months to experiment with other forms of expression, such as ceramics, glass and metal, but always based on nature.


At the same time, he has played with adventure in his oil paintings and created some imaginative images that bring to mind nature spirits and elves.
All the originals are private and made for the family, but we have now had no doubts that the motifs should be included on this page.
The Santa pictures that you will find in the fairy tale category are a fun, different kind of Christmas decoration.
Christmas has always been my favorite tradition. I love the magical atmosphere, and especially the decorations have a special place in my heart. As a child, the best thing I knew was when my father helped make Christmas decorations. He always threw himself into a bigger project that ended up being absolutely fantastic. I still have some of the figures on my Christmas tree.
One December he was inspired to paint a real Santa picture, and it became a tradition to make a new Christmas picture every year.