Back to the earth & the creativity

Summer is almost reaching the end and I feel such relief as the autumn is coming closer. Every year it's the same. Summer is lovely, but woah...the end of the summer/beginning of autumn is always making me feel in love.

The summer is coming to an end. It's already late August and I can really feel how autumn is getting closer for everyday that goes by. But I think that the end of the summer is a wonderful time. Sometimes even more wonderful than the summer itself.

It's still green and warm outside. But the air feels more clean and fresh. And the mosquitoes has finally left us alone. Almost. But of course, it's getting darker again. No more bright nights or midnight sun. But in some strange way, the darkness always feels so welcoming in autumn. So comfortable and calming. I think that the light in the summer focuses more on the energy outwards. Like people, social life, activities, movement and the physical world. And then, it's autumn and the darkness arrives. It's feels like the focus swifts more into our inner world. And it's opens up space for feelings, reflections and creativity. A time to nurture our soul.

I really love the constant changing seasons that we have here. It makes every month feel new and unknown. And it's a good reminder that nothing really lasts forever. And I guess that's the beauty of it.

Another good thing about August is that the forest is full of berries. The blueberries are my favorite. And the lindenberries just started getting ripe as well. And in our garden we have a lot of raspberries, both yellow and red. And we have black corinth, which is also a huge favorite of mine. And red corinth. And we also have gooseberries, which is very new to me. But it tastes very good.

I want to make sure to pick enough berries for the whole winter. I think that eating berries everyday during the winter, can help to stay strong and healthy. And this year, picking lots of blueberries is more important than ever, since I've found a new way of using them. More than just eat or drink them. I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

Picking berries is also strongly connected to memories from my childhood. Every summer, when we came here to Grundtjärn, we picked lots of berries. We were out all day. And it was such a special feeling to come home in the evening and make homemade berry jam.

And being out in the forest like this, makes me think so much of my grandparents and how much I miss them. They grew up and lived here and they have probably been walking in the exact same spots once in a time picking berries.

[Speaking in Swedish]

That always happens in autumn. That we just start making fire for the first time after the summer. When the pipe is cold, it takes some time for the smoke to flow the right way. But after a while, the fire was perfect. This is usually what I do with most of the berries that I pick. I use a steam called "saftmaja", to steam the berries into a juice. And I add no sugar, it's only the berries and water. And I tell you,it smells heavenly in the kitchen while doing this. When the juice is done, I usually put it in small bottles to keep in the freezer. In that way, I can just take out a bottle from our freezer whenever I need some berry juice.

As I told you earlier, I've found a new way of using the blueberries more than to just drink it. I make paint out of it. I first got the idea earlier this summer, while I was out with Johan looking for stones in the forest just behind our house. I found this yellow rusty sand and I was thinking: "What if I could make my own paint out of this beautiful sand?" And about three weeks ago, I was out with my mom picking blueberries. And as I saw the blue color from the blueberries on my fingers, I once again got the thought of making paint from the natural pigment. I just didn't really know how to make it into paint, with pigments that will last even as it dries.

But one night in my studio, I experimented with this natural pigments from the blueberries and the sand, and made my very own paint out of it. And I was completely mesmerized. I immediately started thinking about other ways of finding beautiful colors in the nature around me. I looked for stones in different colors in our garden. And then, I bought this stone-crashing machine to make the stones into sand. And I took carbon from the fire to make black pigment. And ashes to make gray and brown. It didn't matter that making my own paint from nature took me so much time. Picking the berries, finding the stones and preparing the paint. I fell in love with the whole process.

I'm still blown away by these beautiful colors of nature. And painting with them is pure joy. The only acrylic color that I add is white, to be able to mix them into different shades. It's incredible how many colors you can get from such few pigments. And I love to get to know these colors, and to mix them together to create new ones. The colors may not be as strong and vibrant as the acrylic colors that I use to paint with. But I love the natural look and the earthy tones. And knowing that it's made from natural pigments gives it a whole new dimension. And you can really feel the sand and the different structures from the pigments. It makes it feels real.

So, yeah. That's what I've been up to lately. Now it's soon September and I really look forward to share the beautiful autumn with you all. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch my video. And a special thanks to my subscribers on Patreon for supporting my creative work. Lots of love to you everybody. I see you soon.