Norwegian multi artist

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My name is Lisbeth Marie Sandvik, and I was born in the small town Fredrikstad in southern Norway in 1971, the year that gave us Stairway to Heaven, Imagine and Médecins Sans Frontières.  In addition to dancing and music, drawing and handicrafts was a big part of my life when growing up.

 

I started to paint like most kids do; with water colours and bad quality brushes. I felt I had no control over the tools, and adjusting errors only made the artwork even worse, and I think it's fair to say that I really hated it. So I kept to my pens & pencils. I spent hours after hours at my mum's kitchen table drawing as a child, and as a teenager I was elected to illustrate a comic book released by a local publisher.

 

I have no idea how many drawings I made my first two decades. I guess illustrations of proverbs, drawings of horses, princesses and the house of my dreams was filling my pads for the most. I've forgotten most of them, and the drawing pads are long gone.

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When living in Sweden for a couple of years in the middle of the 90's I was introduced to oilpaint, brushes and canvases by an auto-didactic artist. The few techniques I learned and the step-by-step booklets I borrowed gave me a strong foundation for developing some skills on my own. 

 

In 2003, as a part of my teacher education, I took a course in Arts & Crafts (a half year unit - equivalent to 60 credit points in the English system). Here I was introduced to acrylic paint for the first time which, after a while, also became my favorite medium. After more than 20 years with the brushes as my tools, and no real formal education within the subject of art, I honestly still feel that I'm at the very beginning of my training process.

 

I'm still learning; trying out new techniques, analyzing, reviewing, experimenting, failing and trying again. But the paintings I make are truly mine. The subject matter, the emotion, the feeling, the impact come out of my head and my heart. 

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I hope you enjoy the results as much as I have enjoyed the processes :) 

 

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