Introduction:

"This blog is not necessarily for lovers of art, it includes a variety of topics and whatever. I'm a painter who likes to know what's really going on in the world today. So you might find anything from Shamrocks to Salmiakki mentioned here on my blog. There will of course be some boring, factual and informational posts, but I'll keep them to a minimum, I promise!

And I might get a bit nostalgic now and then.

So you have been warned!"


- Alan Hogan



Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Monday, December 11, 2017

My Finland 100 : 41- 50







Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 


As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .




Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!




The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll continue with 41-50...






41/100

The sandwich cake! .. the smΓΆrgΓ₯stΓ₯rta can be found at many celebration parties throughout Finland. This savoury dish has been perfected in Finland, as shown here by a great chef from Bromarf! These two sandwich cakes were made specially for my birthday and were delicious! ..Thanks Tanja!! 😊🍰

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on






42/100
'Autumn Birches' (acrylic-on-canvas) #finland100_igchallenge 42/100
..posting a series of random images (including some of my own art) from or associated with Finland to celebrate the country's 100th birthday! ...'probably should've posted this earlier, all the leaves have fallen at the stage! ☺🍁

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on





43/100
..late night snack! A national dish of Finland 'The Karelian Pie'! ..yum!!
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on






44/100
...in Finland you're never too far from nature. I took this photo only 2 minutes from my house today. 🌲🌲🍁🌲
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on







45/100
..I was never too fond of mustard back in Ireland except for a tiny bit of Colmans on a toasted ham & cheese sandwich. But the mustard in Finland is more to my liking, especially 'Turun Sinappia' on makkara (finnish sausage).

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on









46/100
...these ABC service stations are everywhere in Finland, at least everywhere I've travelled. They're a one-stop shop for petrol, grocery shopping and dining! 🚘⛽πŸš˜πŸššπŸš• ... 'took this photo at my local ABC today!
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on







47/100
...a painting of a house in my neighbouring town of EkenΓ€s in Finland. 'The Green House' (acrylic-on-canvas), ...well it was green when I painted it! πŸ˜€πŸŽ¨
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on








48/100
.. a crafty old Finn I once knew handcarved these butterknives from old juniper wood. Some say Santa Claus started this tradition but these ones are definately the upgrade! .πŸŽ…..
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on






49/100
...as world leaders in coffee consumption Finland needs to have the best coffeemachines! That's why you will find one of these in most Finnish households, the 'Moccamaster'. I have this Ferrari red model and it makes an amazing brew! Although the machine is made in Holland I regard it as a part of my Finnish experience! 🍡
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on











50/100
... throwback Thursday ..the beautiful Havis Amanda photographed last summer in Helsinki.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on


Click below for more:

1- 10

11- 20

21- 30

31- 40

41- 50

51- 60

61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100


















Share this blog!







Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.








- Alan









 

Sunday, December 10, 2017

My Finland 100 : 31- 40







Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 


As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll continue with 31-40...




31/100

...old Finnish currency!
This is 20 Finnish Markkaa featuring Finnish author VΓ€inΓΆ Linna, best known for his novel 'The Unknown Soldier'.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




32/100
...Typing Thursday!! ...some Finnish retro...the complete typing course on vinyl!! πŸ‘
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




33/100
... I got to see some of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's work at the Kalevala art exhibition in Helsinki a few years ago. Definately my favourite Finnish artist and this book has a nice selection of his paintings. Click the right side of this photo to see more images.
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




34/100
.. Finland has the highest amount of metal bands in the world per capita, and Children of Bodom from Espoo are one of their best. I'm no connisseur of the genre but I do like this album! (plus it came with a free tattoo!! πŸ˜€πŸ‘Œ

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on





35/100
...Sibelius Sunday! ...listening to Finland's greatest composer.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on





36/100
Finnish rye bread!! πŸ‘ ...I wasn't too fond of this when I first arrived in Finland, but now I love it! ...plus it's healthy!! ✅
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




37/100
..a common find in Finnish homes is the Savoy Vase, designed in 1936 by Alvar Aalto and made by Iittala. ...all i need now are some sweets to fill it! πŸ¬πŸ¬πŸ˜€
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on





38/100
..definately my favourite Finnish sweets, Marianne are made by Fazer of Finland!!! If you like chocolate in a peppermint shell then these are for you!!! 🍬🍬🍬
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




39/100
..Hard Rock Halloween!! πŸŽƒ .. Eurovision got it's big porcelain teeth knocked out by Mr.Lordi from Finland! πŸ˜„πŸ‘Œ

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on








40/100
..someone once told me the name of these neat little retro door-fittings but i forget now. Press the button and open sesame!
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on



Click below for more:

1- 10

11- 20

21- 30

31- 40

41- 50

51- 60

61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100







Share this blog!



Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.



- Alan


 

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Art Scam


Greetings from Finland again!


So it's been about four months now since my last post here on this blog. Apologies for my laziness!

I haven't been painting any canvasses at all lately either.  I spent four months here and there visiting family in Ireland at the beginning of the year and since then I've had nothing but health issues myself which I'd rather see the back of soon. Any artistic efforts I've done this year have been created on my computer only. Tapping a few keys and moving a mouse about feels a little easier these days. All I can say is that it's a damn nuisance and very annoying! I suppose these things happen as one gets older. I will hopefully get around to doing requested work as soon as possible.

For the moment I have had an issue with an art scam and I wanted to write this blogpost to share my info and alert any fellow artists or those in the business of selling art online.







I recently received an email enquiring about one of my artworks 'The Orange Cow' or 'La Vache Orange' as it was called on this occasion..

I receive a number of bogus emails to my inbox which over time 
have become easier to detect.

The email I received on this occasion was written in French so I was a little curious. This is mainly because normally anyone looking to buy art online would have some knowledge of myself and my artwork, they would also have noticed most of my online presence is in English. And if someone sends me an email in another language other than english they will usually ask me politely if it is okay to continue in their language. I had noticed this person found my artwork on a website which automatically offers selected language options, so I carried on reading the email. 


First email

Le 4 septembre
To Alan Hogan
fr.garaudy@gmail.com

La Vache orange

Bonsoir,puis-je avoir le prix de l'oeuvre dont le titre est "La Vache orange" par mail:fr.garaudy@gmail.com


Cordialement


I decided to corresspond in French with a little help from Google translate and a friend. I studied some french in school also. The email I received seemed friendly and straight forward.

Next email:

Francis Garaudy 6 Sep
To
Alan Hogan


Bonjour

je vous remercie pour votre reponse, je confirme mon dΓ©sir d'acheter votre crΓ©ation
Vu le prix raisonnable je vous rajoute 20€ pour le colissimo (frais de port) comprit ce qui fera donc 320€ TTC .

J'accepte le paiement par Paypal : c'est ce que je trouve le plus rapide aussi et sΓ©curisΓ© pour l'un comme pour l'autre, et de plus c'est un mode de paiement le plus utilisΓ© en ligne dans le monde .
Veuillez me faire parvenir votre adresse mail paypal afin de
clore cette vente.

A vous relire tres vite


Cordialement
Anyway a price was requested and agreed on. Paypal as a method of payment was agreed on also. So far so good. Next I began to prepare my painting, packing and calculating shipping costs. I also looked into the persons name and email address, I search various websites and Googled for any fraud alerts or info on the person. No alerts appeared and I couldn't find anything relevant about the person in question. I was given an address which I looked up on Google maps and it looked legitimate, there was even a small design gallery next door. In cases of selling art online I often try to gain a friendly 'tΓͺte-Γ -tΓͺte' with the customer. As my French is limited there was only the basic comments this time. I shared a convenient link to my Paypal account for payment after which I received an email from Paypal saying funds into my account were pending and a tracking number for the package was requested. The Paypal email I receive looked legit with good attention to small details and logos. 


Next email:

Francis Garaudy 8 Sep at 9:47 PM

To 
Alan Hogan

Comme convenu nous venions d'effectuer le paiement Γ  votre adresse 'theartgarage(at)rocketmail.com'.

Avez vous reçu l'avis de Paypal ? Puisque j'ai un soucis de connexion veuillez vérifier vos mails ( boite de réception ou courrier indésirable ou spam ) vous trouverez les notifications du service Paypal.

Pour l'envoi du colis je vous laisse mon adresse de livraison:
19 Avenue Louis Barthou,
Code postale: 33200
Ville:Bordeaux
Pays:France

Merci de bien suivre les instructions du service Paypal


Cordialement



So next morning I went off and posted the painting and later emailed the tracking number with the shipping company's name as asked. Having done this I realised shortly afterwards that I neglected to check the secondary email I received from Paypal. I scanned the email address through Google and immediately discovered fraud alerts with other names involved. I was a little annoyed at myself as I usually spot these scammers early. Lucky for me though it was a Saturday afternoon and no post leaves my town until Monday morning. I managed to get to my local supermarket/post office and retrieve the painting and all postage costs. So nothing lost but my time!


One thing I was happy about was the fact that I found a perfectly sized box to package this painting. So as I have no plans to exhibit this painting anytime soon I shall be keeping 'The Orange Cow' wrapped up for now. If anyone reading this blog is interested in buying this artwork please drop an email to me at ... theartgarage(at)rocketmail.com . And if you mention that you read my blog I'll add a full set of my art postcards!


'The Orange Cow' painting is also available to buy as a print and other products from various online shops such as Redbubble and Society6. All my links can be found here https://linktr.ee/alanhogano


Share this blog!






Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.


- Alan

   

Monday, May 11, 2015

Two Landscapes and a Council of Trees!






Here's two paintings I made a few years ago.



'Sophia's Landscape'

The first here is called 'Sophia's Landscape' and it shows a typical summer scene from western Finland. This particular painting was from a photograph taken near the town of Nivala in the province of Oulu. The original painting is now owned by a private art collector in Helsinki.


This original photo from Nivala/Finland
was inspiration for 'Sophia's Landscape'







'Fourteen Angry Trees'

The second painting is made up of four individual frames each sized 70cm x 50cm. I decided to call it 'Fourteen Angry Trees', but I might be willing to change the title if anyone has a better suggestion. It depicts an imaginary landscape behind fourteen distressed and bitter-looking trees with a lot on their 'mind'. To achieve the image above I photographed the four original paintings and joined them together using image-editing software on my computer. The original painting or tetraptych (size 70cm x 200cm) can be seen in the video below.

    





Prints of 'Sophia's Landscape' are available here!




Share this blog!





Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.


- Alan 

    

The Art Garage, Finland

The Art Garage, Finland
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