Långgrundet blues
One of the houses at Långgrundet. This is also one of the old worker´s homes, a timber/wood house built after the same blueprints as the brick house shown in the painting Stugu.
Each house contained four apartments, and living on the bottom floor near the street had the highest status, while living on the second floor with the windows pointing away from the street wasn´t so hot. Ridiculous, huh? This status even shows in the tile stoves in each apartment. The stove in the lower apartment towards the street has a lot more decor than the stove towards the garden on the second floor. What can you say… humans, huh?
19,5 x 20 cm, watercolours on Fabriano Artistico 300 gsm rough grain watercolour paper.
I like the way you used all blue in this one. And your narrative – it really does seem odd that the garden view would be the less desirable, doesn’t it! nancy
You’re making it very hard to decide which one is a favorite. They are all wonderful!
These are so charming! I love the sun/shadow contrasts and how you’ve captured what I assume is “local color.” (I wouldn’t mistake these for California or Maine or Spain!).
As far as the upstairs/downstairs, plain or decorated stoves… in the US we just think of it as having multiple “price points” so people can buy SOMETHING in their price range!
I’m looking forward to browsing a bit more.
Thanks, PainterWoman. It´s a nice thought with the multiple price points, and that´s how it always works these days in large parts of the world. But in this case, back in the day, you didn´t buy anything yourself for your house (except for furniture).
If you got a job at the saw mill on these islands, you also got housing (at least if you had a family). You didn´t get to choose what kind of stove or what kitchen standard to have in your house. The houses were all built and ready when the saw mill started it´s business – hence, the status of the apartments was planned and fixed ahead, which in my eyes seems a little bit small-minded.
Wonderful painting. And I really love all the information you included about it. Maybe it was less desirable to have the top floor because before air conditioners, it would be hotter up there?? That is, if it even gets hot there?
Good thought, Raena. But then they should have had the comfort of having the most awsome-looking stoves instead.
Yes, it gets hot here sometimes in summer. Not desert hot, not Mediterranean hot, but quite hot.
Another breathtaking painting! This has a very cool, wintry feel to it, and what an interesting tale of the history of “status” of the stoves! My, how times and values change, eh?
I’m delighted to visit your blog every day to see what surprise is waiting to delight the eyes. I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite, they’re all just lovely.