Carve December #31 / Matisse

Art museum in Stockholm...  

And now the month is done.  31 carved stamps in 31 days!  When I get home, I will need a stamp play day.  I will make a pot of lingonberry coffee, put on some ABBA,  and do art!

Carve December #30 / Uppsala Domkyrka (cathedral) treasury

Carve December #29 / Uppsala runestone

Added some water colours and a little doodling...

Carve December #28 / Greenhouse plants

Goteburg greenhouse plants inspired:

Carve December #27 / Pippi

Who doesn't love Sweden's favorite girl, Pippi!

Carve December #26 / Millesgarden

Carve December #25 / Uppsala Domkyrka front door

Carve December #24 / Window

Carve December #23 / Street art

This is not what one usually thinks of when you hear, "street art"...  When we travel, I try to take at least one shot of our feet that really sums up where we are!  Can you tell we are in Stockholm?

Carve December #22 / Gamla Uppsala Kyrka Exterior

Carve December # 21 / Queen Margaret's golden gown

Queen Margaret ' s golden gown is in the North Tower Treasury Museum in Uppsala Kyrka.

As I am leaving for Germany today to spend Christmas with my son, this stamp had to be super quick and easy to do! I tried to use some gold paint with the red, but it doesn't show up very well.

Carve December #20 / Dala Horse

I snapped this pic on Gamla Stan in Stockholm.  Sadly, the shop wasn't open or Mr. Dala would have gone home with me...

I liked the circular design on the horse and used it as my inspiration:

Carve December # 19 / Nobel Square, Stockholm

These buildings are on the square to the right as you leave the Nobel Museum.

Carve December #18 / Millesgarden iron work

Today is my dad's birthday.  It seemed fitting to carve a stamp inspired by something I know he would have enjoyed. He liked to dabble in a little welding, but I am not sure if he ever tried to bend pieces like this doorway.  I miss him horribly and not a day goes by that I don't think of him.

Carve December # 17 / Mosaic dragonfly at Millesgarden

love the floors...

Carve December #16 / Sedum?

Took this pic in a greenhouse in Goteborg.  I don't know what it is, but it has a sedum/hens and chicks look to it...

Carve December #15 / Tack!

It is good to learn a little bit of Swedish.

Carve December #14 / Goteborg Greenhouse

GÖTEBORG....  (or Gothenburg)

What a lovely blue sky beyond an amazing greenhouse in Gothenburg, Sweden.  I carved the stamp thinking that I would use blue paint on dark paper.  I was not happy with the print, so I printed black on top of aqua.  I like the results, but it is not my beautiful sky...  I see that I need to re-carve the lines to leave less of the stamp.  For now I will use the stamp a few times as is, then alter it by cutting away.

Carve December #13 / How to be Swedish - Drink Coffee!

The Swedes do love their coffee!

Carve December #12 / Hexi's in the palace (Gamla Stan)

Hexagons!  Still popular after all these years...

Carve December #11 / It caught my eye in Gamla Stan

Little pieces of the past catch my eye...  I love the layers of paint.

When designing the stamp, I decided to go with pointy ends rather than curved.  I guess deep down inside that the stamp really wanted to represent VanGogh's Sunflowers!!!

Carve December #10 / Tropical Growth

This painting by Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm caught my eye.  I like the gentle colours dramaticized by bold geographic shapes. This painting has many opportunities for carved stamps inspiration!  I also see stencils and quilting ideas.  

Certainly not foliage one would find in Sweden!  I must learn more about this Cuban artist.

Carve December #9 - Scandinavian Woven Hearts

I've made many woven hearts over the years out of paper to hang on our Christmas tree.  It seemed fitting to carve one during Carve December!


The stamp needs a bit of clean up and it just isn't the same using blue!

Yes - red seems much better.  Now to figure out why I can't rotate the picture...

Carve December #8 / Josef Frank

While visiting Millesgarden in Stockholm, I was delighted to find an exhibit of Josef Frank fabrics.  Sometimes we just get lucky!  The next time I was there (1 year later), there was an exhibit of horse and cowboy sculptures from a museum in Colorado!  I much preferred the fabric!

Josef Frank was born in Austria in 1885.   Born of Jewish heritage, Frank moved to Stockholm with his Swedish wife in 1933, aged 48, to escape growing Nazi discrimination.  He died in 1967.

I enjoyed the bright bold patterns:

I carved this simple butterfly stamp inspired by Josef Frank: