Uralic artist who blogs about art, culture, nature, dharma and love for photography. Welcome!
December went by fast, only a week left of 2021. Today is Christmas eve, and we get to celebrate it with fresh snow, but most importantly; with our son, whose first Christmas it is. Wishing you all a peaceful and magical time, with lots of rest and good meals. Xx
The path to the light is dark. Silencing the mind through meditation allows us to feel and see the radiant light of our own basic goodness, basic buddha nature, where compassion and creativity flows without obstruction, like the rays of the Sun. – Monica Xx
A heart opening guided meditation session led by Kim Rinpoche.
If we know our hearts and our own natural state, we will also simultaneously know how to love and care. Not only for others but for ourselves and our difficult emotions. Life is so full of difficult emotions, as we know. Compassion and forgiveness is always with you, like a silent friend.
Thank you for reading and still following my blog. It is most appreciated. My posts are very sporadic, as time flies by with the new baby. Long days but short weeks. Not enough hours to get it all done, and not enough hours to just enjoy him – this new little person that runs our lives now. Motherhood is equally hard as it is wonderful. I hope to get more painting and other artsy projects into my days again.
Acrylic on mixed media paper, A4
❤💙
“I love the Arctic summer, it’s the best day of the year!” Short but sweet. How was your summer?
When the Sun goes down in the Arctic, we need to get our vitamins from the fish oil. It is essential during the Polar night 🐟🌬
Acrylic on mixed media paper, A4. Illustration made for a Nenets writer friend of mine. Copyright Monica Olivia Art 🎨🙏🏻
This is the “place” I went to in my imagination before and during giving birth. It was cold and silent, and this is where I could go in my mind to gather strength and breathe fresh crisp air. I could also clearly see our son there the whole time, sitting close by, waiting to be born 💙🧡
This is # 1 of 6 in a small series I plan to make, all same size.
Allow yourself to be yourself. Close your eyes and feel the stable mountain-like presence of your own being. Indestructable, isn’t it? Your own light, your own intuition. Keep returning to yourself. To home, to where you are safe and where you belong. The same stillness that exists in nature, exists in you. There is no seperation, and it cannot be taken away or destroyed. Allow yourself to come home, over and over, until there is no doubt. xx Monica
A few snowy peaks shots from beginning of May. Spring is here! Camera used: Panasonic Lumix.
Atiyoga Instructions and Kim Rinpoche Sings Mantra. Guided meditation. Just listen ❤🌊
For the past 11 years or so, I have been teaching myself how to relax and be calm.
I have always been quite a worried person, so I feel I had to learn this in order to simply have a better life with more control. I still sometimes forget how to, but each time I remember, I do the following:
An easy quick way to instantly relax the mind and muscles, causing bloodflow to spread more evenly in the body, is to do three things simultanously: relax the jaw and eyes completely, breathe deeply into belly for at least 8 breaths and move the inner gaze/attention to the feet or ground below. Get a sense of the Earth. Notice the effect.
Another way, if you have the oppotunity, is to lay down flat, do the same with jaw and eyes, and to focus on the in and out breaths in the belly. Take deep slow breaths. Imagine them as waves ebbing on the shore.
And lastly, going into nature of course has a calming effect too, even just for 10 minutes. If you cannot go outside, perhaps painting or drawing nature is an idea.
Hope this helps! I truly believe knowing how to relax and calm our selves is an important skill. Getting carried away by the storm can be both painful and result in regrets.
How is/was your March? 💛
It’s the last day of a very eventful January, and I am spending it curled up on our big sleeping couch with our newborn baby boy who is about 2 weeks old now, in his little baby nest and my partner who is sitting on the other end writing away on the computer. Outside, it’s already dark again. Polar night is officially over here but I have not seen the Sun yet. I am not outside so much, hardly at all as all time and energy is spent adjusting and taking care of this new amazing creation. I did however manage our first little walk with the pram!
Life is new and different and surreal as parents. Giving birth was intense and hard work, and unfortunately not how I envisioned, but nontheless a very powerful experience. A rite of passage of sorts.. At one point during delivery I felt like I connected with all other Mothers giving birth naturally, experiencing the same pain at the exact same time. When he was born, there was an incredible silence and love that I have not experienced before 🤱🏻
January is also my birthday month, and this year I celebrated at home with my little family and my friend Katharina. 29; last year in my twenties, first year as a mama! 🎉✨
How was your January?
“An amateur (literally means ‘lover [of something]’) is generally considered a person who persues a particular activity or field of study independently from their source of income/does not persue it professionally or with an eye to gain.” 🎨
#amare #amateur #amour ❤
Be more of an amateur this year ✨
First painting of the year finished!🌟🌟🌟
Visited the beach in Sandvika twice in oct and nov before polar night; once to take the photograph and once to try and paint outdoors, but it started raining so finished it finally now in the first day of January 😁
Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 cm 🌅
Colours used: blue, yellow, orange, purple, gold and white. Varnished with waterproof UV protection spray.
“No sløkkes en dag som så vidt rakk å gråne
og vise fram landet ei skjømmingsblå stund
og gjømt attom fjellan i aust står en måne
som snart skal strø sølv over fjorda og sund.
I sør ligg ei strime av lys over tindan
der dagen blør ut før han slokne førr godt
og vi står igjen med oss sjøl og med minnan
i mørketidslyset der allting blir blått.
Så kom og vær nær meg – vær sol i desember
når midtvinterstanka tar rom i mitt sinn
førr året må føle sin kurs og kalender
og stian blir tungtrødd når lyset førsvinn.
Men hold meg i handa og lær meg å vente
på solkvervingstimen då allting skal snu.
I mørketidslyset e varme å hente
førr den som har mot tel å trosse og tru.
Ja, streif mine strenga og løys i meg tonen
tel landet som kvile ved midtvinterstid
la mørketids-tankan og haust-depresjonen
få vike førr strofe av blå poesi.
Vi leve med rest av en sommar i minne
i lengting mot daga vi ikkje har fått
men kjem du meg nær skal vi solvarmen finne
i mørketidslyset der allting blir blått.” – Helge Stangnes 💙💛🧡
Litt mørketidspoesi nu når sola ‘har snudd’ 🤓
“Art is for everyone” 💜🧡💛💚🎨
You know how you need to pretend to sleep in order to fall asleep? And at some point it just happens. Maybe it’s the same with other areas of life. Fake it till you make it, kind of, not in a bad way – just a dedicated one. I have noticed at least that the same applies to yoga and meditation sometimes. If I feel stressed, anxious and restless, I force myself to do the practice anyway. And at some level it still does its magic, of that I am 100% sure. In between the sleepless thoughts and rough emotions – they become like clouds in the pastel coloured sky.
Wishing all a lovely calm Polar night, and remember that it’s in darkness you shine the brightest 🌌✨🎆
One of my paintings inspired by the icy landscape:
“Away, away,—to the mountains away,
Where the pine trees murmur and sway,
And the foamy waterfalls sing and spring
Over the boulders gray.
Hills—
Blue and green hills, near and far,
The farther they lie, the better they are.
The near ones I can climb and see
But the beautiful far ones call to me”
– Unknown
Some beautiful autumn colours from october 🍂📸 Had my coffee outside that day ☕
Photos taken with Panasonic lumix camera
Kjøpte noen kjempesøte små trehjerter på Flying Tiger for en ukes tid siden. De er vel egentlig for å bruke som gavelapper, men de funker også tydeligvis bra til å male på 😁🙌🏻🎨🎄❄
Come see my little exhibition of 13 paintings at Magic Ice Tromsø ❄ Most paintings are for sale 🙏🏻 They also have the cosiest tiny coffee place there, an impressive ice sculpture gallery by Lithuanian artists and a cocktail bar – all ice, even the glasses ☃️🥂🌌
Where the glorious mountains laid
Their heads on the breast of the sky
And slept while the wind sang by,—
There my hurrying feet were stayed.
– Ruby Archer
This leaf survived in my bag for weeks, on planes and buses (from some travels in february, I hope to find time to share some photos with you soon!) Only a bit broken in the edges 💜💙💚 Turned out great as canvas for a little landscape painting🎨🍁
Hvordan takler/liker du mørketida?
Liker å pynte stua med egne maleri 💙🧡💛💜 #myart
Akryl, 24 x 32 cm, mixed media papir 🌖
Farga brukt: blå, hvit, lilla, rosa, rød, gul 🎨
Did you know there is a reason why orange+blue and yellow+purple work together so well? 🧡💙💛💜 They are considered complementary colours! “Complementary colours are pairs of colours which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out by producing a grayscale colour like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two colors. Complementary colours may also be called ‘opposite colours’.”
60 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas with matte varnish 💙 No title yet 🙂
Had some gorgeous light today, perfect for some photography and filming 😉 #staytuned
Some phone snaps from these last two september days 🍁🍂🗻 Gotta start bringing my camera when I leave the house more 🙌🏼
☀️🍁🍂🌊
Hadde en helt plutselig solfylt høstdag for cirka en uke siden. Våkna opp uten migrene i tillegg! Så da ble det en gåtur i finværet. Tok noen bilder med mobilen. Tror det var nærmere 20°c den dagen, det er jo tropisk her nord 😁🙏🏼
Some misty mountains shots from this summer. Taken with Panasonic lumix camera.
What a song, what a voice 👌🏻🍁✨
Painting from my photograph 🍂🍁🌅
Spent so much time in this place by the ocean 🌊 Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 cm
20°c degrees start to september 🍂🍁 Glad I got to enjoy the weather 🙏🏼
Resharing this one for autumn purposes 😊🧡🍂
20 x 40 cm, acrylic 🍁
Not for sale 🙏🏼
How is autumn where you live?
Very small and cute painting framed in a 10 x 15 cm frame. This little painting took me ten minutes to make, I wanted to make it without thinking too much; just go with the brushstrokes 🌬🧡🍂
Sommeren er på hell, og jeg ser tilbake på en begivenhetsrik sommer, til tross for at jeg har vært mest hjemme. Vært heldig med været i juli, nå er det august og kveldene er mørke igjen, midnattssola er borte og det er på tide på finne frem stearinlysene.
“During the fall, if a polar bear is pregnant, she digs a den into a snow drift. She then climbs into the hole and stays there to give birth and care for her cubs for the first few months of their life. She and her cubs will not emerge from the den until the spring. Male bears and non-pregnant females continue to roam and feed throughout the winter.”
One of the absolute top animals on my list I wish to see in my lifetime.. Guess I need to head up to Svalbard for that!
Happy to be back to painting since rearranging the flat. It’s been a mess for months, but now it’s starting to look and feel much better and I got my work/painting/crafts station back!🙌🏻🎨🌼
Midnight sun padling and camping with my lovely childhood friend Heidrun at Sandviksletta, Sommarøy, Troms, previously this summer 🌅
Tenker at maleri er små vindu til andre verdener 🎨
Begge disse maleriene var gaver 🎁
Summer has finally arrived in the Arctic, kind of. Still some snow around, but also green and some flowers!🌿🌻 Didn’t realise how much I missed some warm weather, although I absolutely love winter.
Male våren og sommeren mens vi vente på den..🙂🌱🌻🦋
Some pictures from the painting process ☝🏻
Just updated my domain and header. All in all, still the same blog with same content; art, photography, occasional personal thoughts and ideas, adventures, health related stuff and maybe some tantra/dharma. The name Ask the mountains comes from my favourite song by greek artist Vangelis and swedish singer Stina Nordenstam.
Some cool penguin facts for world penguin day:
– There are currently 17-26 types of penguins, depending on definition (I read many conflicting definitions). Emperor, adélie and macaroni penguins being my favourites 😁
– Male penguins searches their habitat for the perfect stone to present their chosen female. They mate for life and they both take care of their offspring.
– Penguins are defined as birds although they cannot fly. Their wings are made for swimming. They are great in water, but a bit awkward on land.
– Penguin feathers are shorter and stiffer than most bird feathers, which makes penguins more streamlined in the water and traps more air to keep them warm.
Ever changing light on this beach 🌅📸
Whatever your struggles are, whether you share them with others, online or in private, or keep it all to yourself, know that healing, aliveness and beauty can always, always be found, as it is already in you and in nature around us 🧡🌅
Majestetiske Istiden i Midt-Troms, 1489 moh. Bilde tatt i april 2017 💙☺
50 cm Ø, acrylic on round canvas. Colours used: pink, blue, gold, white, purple.
As soon as I go up in canvas size my paintings turn out very different than my small ones. But this time it didn’t, so I think I have found my ‘limit’.
Ask The Mountains 