Author: Katarina Thorsen
Artist, writer, craftivist, creative engagement facilitator.
My grandfather’s school photo- it haunts and taunts me…
I am obsessed with this photo of my grandfather’s school class (Hudiksvall, Sweden). He is in the top row, far left. I have drawn and painted it over and over for years. But something never allows me to finish. I get to a certain point with some of the students and then the rest refuse…
Painting in progress: Of The Forest, Värmland (self-portrait)
My niece, Vivienne, age 8, works on the piece with me. Bliss! The piece continues to evolve… With no attachment to outcome. Only to the process, which I find enormously healing. This is the forest in Värmland in which my soul most often resides… where I spent my childhood summers:
I lie face up. Journal entry.
I walk east along the seawall. I look down at the ocean water. It laps gently against the rock wall. It is a hot day. I think about how long it has been since I went swimming. In the ocean, in a lake, in a pool. I imagine myself undressing, walking down the stone steps…
Cashel, Ireland “vision board”
The main characters in my graphic novel project (a true story) were born in Cashel, Ireland. I decided to make a “vision board” to help me focus on gathering the resources to one day (soon) sit in situ drawing the Rock of Cashel. (Then head down the hill for a pint and food.) I found…
Journal entry July 3, 2022
I believe (I already have to some extent) that I must make friends with death. And to to know to accept that I will dance once again in the that chasm before my conception and after my death. Forever. Timelessly. To the music of the Sparrow’s Song – Journal entry, July 3, 2022
Entangled roots as metaphor for two mission statements
Gradually, the observer realizes that these organisms are connected to each other, not linearly, but in a netlike, entangled fabric. – Alexander Von Humboldt Related: “Potential” I call it “Potential” to celebrate Diane and Doug’s work and legacy of fostering the potential in others. See:
Joseph, the Prologue Broadsheet Sampler
© Katarina Thorsen 2022 — This is a limited edition publication. 400 copies in total have been printed. The hardcopy of the 12-page broadsheet (newspaper) measures: 380 mm x 578 mm (approx. 15″ x 28″) FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: ABOUT THE PROJECT To purchase an individually signed and numbered copy of the 12-page…
Bunny studies, Jericho Beach. April 29, 2022
They are so sweet and so lovely to study. Lovely to observe and sketch but, sadly, there are SO MANY. Please don’t touch. Don’t feed. Don’t release. From City of Vancouver Website: Wildlife feeding is prohibited at all Vancouver parks and beaches. Doing so can land you a fine of up to $500. Incidents of wildlife…
Painting: Of the invisible breath that swayed at once
Of the invisible breath that swayed at once… – William Cullen Bryant — This canvas is part of a larger explorative project entitled “Nature Nurture” conceived by filmmaker and multi-media artist Patti Henderson, “born of Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn. The first pandemic lockdown in British Columbia.” The project includes introspective photography and writing by…
HOW MAPPING THE GENOME OF A FRUIT FLY CHANGED MY LIFE – aka how I learned to love mind mapping
HOW MAPPING THE GENOME OF A FRUIT FLY CHANGED MY LIFE aka how I learned to love mind mapping School always made me anxious. I was doubled over with stomach aches, headaches, mouth ulcers, anxiety. From kindergarten to university, I fretted about tests and grades. Even though I had been drawing and painting all my life,…
Journal entry April 3, 2022
Drawings for the prologue finished! Dropping them off at TR Trades tomorrow. Anxious trepidation. Anticipating: Who are you to tell their story? A familiar dark ink inches towards my feet. Not trusting that I will be seen as legit. Then reminding myself- who cares!? It is liberating to not be participating in any upcoming festivals. Liberating to not have…
Yard Gone Wild #fanart #doodles
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Being steered… this way? No, that way. Ok. Got it.
A powerful time of invites, yes’s and important no’s that steer me in the direction I know I need to go. Got a bit overwhelmed from the relief and excitement, I had to soak, think and do a therapeutic bathtub doodle to get perspective. “I heard this really great quote not too long ago that…
I ruined it.
I was so excited about my 5th birthday party… I couldn’t sleep. I was so nervous that when the day finally arrived, I had a complete meltdown during the party. I ruined it.
But lately, the snaps undo too easily…
I can come into a room and lead a group through facilitation and wear the mask of confidence – and indeed I do feel a great real joy doing the work – but inside, inside I am crumbling. I wish I didn’t feel guilty for taking up space. At the grocery store cashier lineup, the…
Something amiss.
I am tired. So tired. But strangely energized. I am sad. So sad. But I lie here with a tearful smile of contentment. I am achy. So achy. But walk with a spring in my step. I feel something amiss, but I am fulfilled. I could burst into tears. My cat pokes my belly that’s…
The Varied Thrush.
Found on the front steps of building at corner of Barclay and Gilford, West End, Vancouver. Pencil crayon, watercolour, dry pastel on newsprint. “Dead voices, lost sounds, forgotten noises, vibrations lockstepping into the abyss and now too distant ever to be recaptured! … What sort of arrows would be able to transfix such birds?” —…
… right to be angry…
“Every little creature has a right to be angry. – Little My, Moominpappa at Sea (1965), Tove Jansson
Frog moth studies
Scene from Twin Peaks: The Return, Episode 8
TECKNA MÅLA. My father’s art supplies.
My father, Roar Thorsen (1930-2012), was my first art teacher. I grew up with his paintings on our walls, his meticulous scrapbooks/photo albums, his continuous creative process. In 1976 (we were back living in Sweden), my father taught me oil painting and he gave me his paint box, and easel from the 50’s and 60’s, and…
There is an intoxicating self-indulgence in allowing myself to whine here.
Potato Nose Diaries (nothing has really changed since I started my Potato Nose Diaries when I was 14 going on 15) July 22, 2021 Dear me, This is my S.A.D. time. Seasonal Affective Disorder is not about winter and sun lamps for me. I struggle in the summer with sunshine and these inevitable depressions. The…
Slowing down the creative process
Drawing a dead bird from “life.” (It was actually caught by my indoor cat through a small opening in my apartment window on Sept 23, 2018, and unfortunately it was very dead, so I photographed it and buried it in Stanley Park) A resurgence of studying art history and techniques has made me realize I…