Recently I've developed a craving for things Nordic and Viking. Odd after so many years. I was born on the coast of a Scandinavian country, lived there for a few years and went back often in summers into my teens. Didn't much appeal to me at the time. So many hours driving through trees or seemingly passing the same scene over and over of yellow flowered fields and blue lakes with little else in between. I think I was tainted too by the isolation my transplanted mother felt in those early years. Apparently, though, my little kid self at least outwardly fit in pretty well back then. I was even tri-lingual for a while.
Lately I've been looking up a lot of old Scandinavian craftsmanship on the internet. Especially silver jewelry and wood carvings. And a friend got me listening to Icelandic minimalist composer Olafur Arnald and the group Sigor Ros. I'm hooked. Something has changed in my brain and associations and it's appealing now. Beautiful. A part of my history that I'm ok with and more now.
It's expanding my creativity. These weeks I'm working on a textured wall art project with a bit of a house theme and the details are all emerging with a Nordic twist. I hope to take some photos of that for another blog entry.
By the way, the sweater above was handmade for my dad 50 years ago. It lives in my closet now. Nothing like scratchy wool and pewter to bring back Scandinavia.
