Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood (2022)
24×18 Pastel on Pastel Paper
Original is Sold
A sauna isn’t just a place to sit and enjoy a good, purifying sweat. It’s a social experience. While you’re clean, hot, and completely naked, it's the perfect setup to have a chat and make a new friend. A Finnish proverb says, “One should behave in the sauna the way one behaves in church.” Luckily, not all saunas are in Finland.
For this piece, the fun challenge was balancing a three-figure composition inside a tight, enclosed space. I focused heavily on capturing the textures of the wood panels and the cold landscape outside the window to contrast with the intense heat inside. To bring that steamy, sweaty atmosphere to life, I layered warm, flushed skin tones and used sharp, bright highlights across their shoulders, chests, and abs, making the subjects look genuinely slick from the heat as water hits the hot stones.
