NAME:
Olga Magnusson
WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
I live next to the forest in an apartment, 40 km south of the Swedish capital and in an old house in the country side.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I just paint and live.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST?
I never decided to become an artist, but after having had two big exhibitions of portraits in the nineties, people and institutions started to commission them from me.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
People.
After a good talk, I can get all filled with good painting energy!
WHAT IS YOUR INTENTION WITH YOUR ART?
To create food for my soul, as well as for other people’s hungry souls.
WHAT IS THE FAVORITE PAINTING OR SERIES THAT YOU EVER MADE?
As a portrait artist, who take commissions, I am not so used to working in series. I work in oils. But ones, as I was taking a course for Nicholas Wilton, it happened that I got trapped by acrylics (acrylics aren’t meant for me). Nevertheless, the paintings I did soon after that, had a wit to them that felt great. I was using a poor picture of a friend and painted her divine face over and over in different manners and colors. And I also painted Marc Chagall, using the same approach. I played with colors, not in order to please anyone, but myself. As they all hang together in the studio they gave me the sense of a field of flowers!
WHAT DO YOU LOVE THE MOST ABOUT BEING AN ARTIST OR THE LEAST?
What I like the most about being an artist, is that it is simply allowing me to be myself.
What I don’t like so much would be the lack of working buddies on a daily basis and that I don’t get to practice my social skills as I would need to.
CAN YOU SHARE A REGULAR DAY IN YOUR LIFE?
Oatmeal in the mornings and B-vitamins for my hair. A walk in the forest with my dog. I bike to my studio in a red, old school house. Since it’s in an old school where I create my art and since I never stop learning, I call this “my own art school”. (See: www.artschool.se/welcome) We eat together when I get home. In the evenings I like to write. If I’m in my country house, I spend hours in my garden or have tea with friends.
Well, to be honest, I envy people who can answer this question properly, because I don’t take walks every day in the woods and what I do in the evenings varies quite a bit. However I do paint most every day.
WHO ARE some of your favorite painters/artists?
There are so many inspiring artists out there! Here I share just a few favorites; Kenne Gregoire, Sarah Ball, Olga Suvurova, Inéz Longevial.
IF YOUR ART HAD A MESSAGE WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A message, no, but feelings of peace and joy.
For more on Olga Magnusson:
P.S.
Olga has a new book out about her dream of owning a house in the countryside and how it became a reality. She is my neighbor in the little village I live in in Sweden, which you can read about in the book.
If you read Swedish you can purchase it HERE.
