THE ART OF KARSTEN PETERSEN

This page is NOT transferred from my old website, because what I had there of art related stuff was removed for long time ago.

Not because I did NOT like it, but because my ancient "global-mariner.com" did not have enough memory space left to work with.

But the pictures are the same - of course - although some may have disappeared in the "mist" after several computer crashes during the last 30 years - or more - - -

My old art pages also have some sentimental value for me, because it was here - among other things -, that my dear Kit Yu found interest in me, - and invited me to visit her in China next time I took a trip into that amazing country - - - 

And she was absolutely right, that it would be just as interesting for me as it would be for her, if we could meet one day and discuss art - and "how things are" - - - -

I mentioned in the opening page, that I was inspired by John Steele's box top paintings on plastic model kits from Revell, - and I mentioned that I tried to copy one of John Steele's paintings in order to practice marine painting  - - -

And here it is - an oil painting from 1964 - when I was 18 years old. 

I still have this old painting in my private collection and I did NOT try to paint it in order to fake and pretend, that it was a real John Steel, - so I signed it with MY name - and added an aircraft carrier in the background - which is NOT there in John Steele's original - - -

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

Here is another one of my real old paintings - - -

It's simply painted after a small black-&-white photo in a history book, but such a line of battleships is very impressive to look at, so I decided to paint it, but wanted colours and had to come up with a sky and an ocean with waves that suited the picture - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scene from the movie about the "Mutiny on the Bounty" - the scene is Matavai bay on Tahiti - and "Bounty" is safe at anchor in the bay, while Maimiti takes a canoe and sails out to the ship in order to meet Fletcher Christian, - played by Marlon Brando - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have no date for this painting, but it is one of my very early works.

My mother had inherited such an old copper kettel, - and one day she polished it, - and I loked in awe - - - -  So many colours and reflections of the surroundings - - - -

A copper kettel is NOT only redbrown copper colour! It has all other colours as well - - -

That was very exiting, - and I decided to paint it!  And I liked the result - - -It's most likely also from the early sixties - - -

------------------------------------------------- - - --------------------------

Again a very early example of my marine paintings from the sixties.  Again a B&W photo from a history book, - so I had to "invent" some waves and sky and colours - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a real "oldie" - - -

It must be from 1961 or maybe 1962 which I think is correct because when I got my "confirmation" it was in 1961 - and one of the congratulation cards had a photo of a deer, which I liked - - -

And since I had already got my artists gear from my uncle, I decided to paint the deer - - - -

I started to paint it very normally with my brushes, - but then something happened!

Suddenly I decided, that I would NOT paint all the leaves and all the ground vegetation with a brush - - - -  NO - I would use a spatula and just smear the vegetation on in thick layers with a spatula - - -

So, - it's NOT only painted - it's also smeared all over the canvas, - and it was fun - - -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a wonderful little painting I got inspired to paint after a photo in "National Geographic" - - -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another painting inspired by "National Geographic" - 1965.

I did not paint exactly after the photo in "National Geographic", but changed position of the monks so that the painting would have better balance and harmony than the photo - - - Artistic freedom!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again a painting from the sixties - - -

As far as I remember, - these rocks in the ocean are at the Canadian west coast - 

I found the photo in a book, - and found it beautiful - and decided to paint it!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a copy of another artists painting, but at the moment I cannot anymore remember who - - -  As you know I copied other marine artists in order to learm from them, - and I found that the best way of doing so was to try to copy one of their works - - - And I am almost sure that this is such a painting - - -

But who? - and when???  Most likely the sixties that was a VERY productive period in my life as an artist - - -

This painting was originally given away to my sister, but when she passed away I got the painting back - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This painting of an iceberg is painted after a photo, - and painted AFTER I returned home from Greenland after having done my military service in the Royal Danish Navy there - - -

In that case it is most likely from 1968 or 1969?

I wrote the details of the painting on the backside, but when I sold the painting I both signed it and added the year on the front side, but apparently this photo of the painting is from before that, and have no year and artist signature on it - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a painting painted from the picture on a french stamp to celebrate - I think - the 400th. anivesary for Jacques Cartiers discovery of Canada - - -

A picture of Jacques Cartiers ship is a tricky one, because no one seems to know what his ship looked like, but if you just paint a ship from the 15.hundreds I think you are close enough to the real thing.

Also, - how many ships had he with him?  The explorers always had more than one ship in case of one of them got wrecked, - and on my painting you see the rigging of one more ship in the background.

If Jacques Cartier actually had 3 ships in his fleet, - you can see what could be the wake from one more ship - just passing - in the forground of the painting - - -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The father of one of my school mates was Chief Engineer on the polar ship "Magga Dan" from the J. Lauritzen company in Denmark - - 

We also lived close together, - and when his father was home on vacation, it was like an open adventure book to hear stories about Antarctica, - icebergs, penguins and whales - - -

So - of course I HAD to paint "Magga Dan" in the polar ice, - and here she is  - - -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a copy of a Picasso painting I painted, because I wanted to better understand Picasso.

It is NOT an oil painting on canvas but painted on paper with some sort of colour sticks I had to rub onto the paper - - - - 

I do not remember when I did that - - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is another experiment, - but painted on canvas and with oil paint - - - -

It is from the "hippie-period" -1967 - and was inspired by a detail on an album cover!   I simply HAD to paint that!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The son of my neighbour was a navy officer and served on one of the patrol boats in the Baltic Sea in order to keep an eye on the Russian navy - - - -

One day his parents dropped-in and told me, that their son had birthsday, and they would give hin a nice birthsday present!

Maybe I could paint an oil painting of his ship????  That would be a great gift for him and he would be very happy to get such an oil painting of his ship and he would never forget his navy time - - -

Yes, - I will give it a try, and just need the name of the ship, - then it would be easy to find a photo I could use to copy from - - -

Ocean and sky I would just improvise during the proces. - Furthermore I would try to re-create the Baltic sea - - -

And he was happy!  But how could I paint HIM standing on the bridge wing?????  And it even looked like him??? That was actually his favorite place when he had duty!  But how could I know????  And the ocean!!!! Exactly as he remembered it - - - Fantastic - - -

Well - I did NOT know, but to make the picture more alive and natural, I just painted an officer standing there, but I certainly had no special person in mind when I did it - - -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here the schooner "Vesta" is shown in the Baltic in strong wind - -

"Vesta" became the first ship in the shipping company of the same name - - -

I painted it for a shareholder in shipping company "Vesta", and I think I hit the "feeling" quite well documenting the ship that later became the start of a shipping company, that still exists - - -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is another early painting which was inspired from my love and respect for the original americans - the indians - who suffered a lot when their homeland was suddenly taken away from them - - 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This must be one of my very first attempts to become an artist - - 

Made very fast and it looks as if I did not care if I did nit cover the canvas completely - - -

But who cares?  The "feeling" I tried to catch is there in spite of the poor artwork - - -

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a painting of South American trader - chemical tanker "Stolt Viking" - - -

I liked that ship a lot!  Great ship, - but being a Far East sailor I missed my "home" waters in the South China Sea - - -

When the Captain onboard heard, that I also worked as an artist, he once asked me if I could paint a real oil painting of his ship?

Sure, - no problem!  I will give it a try!

And here it is!

I am quite sure, that it also became my last oil painting! It is from 1998, - the same year I also painted the schooner "Vesta" - - - -

How could I survive without painting?  Yes, - it is strange to imagine because art has been an important part of my life, - and I love this form of creativity - ,but first of all I cannot paint and paint and paint - and fill my house with canvasses everywhere - piled up on top of each other.  Another thing was that I also worked as a photographer, - and also here my house is stuffed with boxes and albums with photos, photos and photos - everywhere - ,but this situation was saved by the event of digital cameras - - -

Suddenly I could store thousands of pictures in a computer, - and thereby leave a lot of free space in the house for ME! 

So - Ole Johnny - did you know, that your painting of our good ship - the M/T Stolt Viking" - became the last oil painting from my hands??????  I hope you still have it, - and that you still enjoy it. 

Well - the last oil painting????

Who knows????  Maybe I suddenly go crazy again and start to smear wonderful oil paint on wonderful canvasses again?

Let's see what happens - - - - There are lots of beautiful ships out there that cries to be painted, - in beautiful ocean and just as beautiful skies - - -

But I am not really finished with painting - - -

My dear wife - Kit Yu - meaning "Pure Jade" - is an artist from China, - and she paints every day - well - almost - and I smile up to both my ears!

It was - among other things - art that brought us together back in the last century, - and instead of offerering more space on my paintings - (maybe) - I plan to also make a page with Kit Yu Tao paintings - - - -

And she is a much better artist than me!  :-)