I have always been fascinated by the traditional Norwegian folk painting - 'Rosemaling'. Rosemaling originated in rural Norway from the influences of Baroque, Rococo and Regency art. My parents lived in Norway for two years before I was born, so my childhood was filled with stories of their adventures in the 'Frozen North' and the beautiful Rosemaling objects that they brought back to Scotland. This is quite ironic as I now live in Northern Norway (it's not as 'frozen' as it sounds).
Rosemaling directly translated means 'rose painting', which makes complete sense when you see the ornate flowers that seem to hang off the flowing painted stems. The designs are created through specific brush strokes, developed from the curl of the 'C' and the swoop of the 'S'. I often sketched Rosemaling designs, copied from my mums Rosemaling book. I love the flowery, flowing movement of the stems and flowers.
Malcom taught me the intricate skill of scroll engraving on silver (which I will explain in another post) and I saw many similarities between the scrolls in engraving and the curls in Rosemaling. Both scroll engraving and Rosemaling have really influenced my own designs, and I eventually want to incorporate scrolls and Rosemaling into my silver engraving designs.
When I came to designing my logo, I wanted something simple which showed my love for the ornate flowing designs I have been surrounded by my whole life. I decided to use my initials 'MH', rather than my whole name so the overall look is sharp and uncluttered. When I started drawing, as might be expected, I sketched out designs using rosemaling. I drew different rosemaling motifs, positioning them to create the 'M' and the 'H'. I thoroughly enjoyed designing my logo with rosemaling, and I am really looking forward to incorporating rosemaling into the scroll engraving I already know.
