Where Ancient Land Meets Living Art
In Denmark's Odsherred region — the same landscape that safeguarded the Bronze Age sun chariot for 3,400 years — I paint animals with wings.
This place holds memory. The land remembers.
And in that remembering, the Fylgja paintings are born.
Odsherred isn't just beautiful.
It's ancient.
This peninsula in Northwest Zealand has been shaped by ice age glaciers, inhabited for millennia, and holds some of Denmark's most significant archaeological treasures.
In 1902, a farmer plowing his field unearthed something extraordinary: the Trundholm Sun Chariot. Created around 1400 BCE, this masterwork of Bronze Age craftsmanship shows a horse pulling the sun across the sky—a sophisticated understanding of solar cycles, divine connection, and the relationship between earthly and celestial realms.
That it was found here, in Odsherred, isn't coincidence.
This land has always been a place where humans sought connection with something larger. Where the veil between worlds feels thinner. Where art and spirituality merge.
The Bronze Age artists who created the sun chariot knew this. They made sacred art that traveled across Europe, spreading their understanding of cosmic connection.
Where Quiet Meets Creation
My studio is situated in Egebjerg, a small village in Odsherred—white walls, east-facing windows, and the quiet that only comes from small-town Denmark.
It's not glamorous. It's a working space.
Paint-splattered floors. Shelves of acrylics organized by color (a rainbow that Rosa regularly inspects). Brushes in various states of use. Canvas after canvas in different stages of completion.
Rosa sprawls wherever she decides optimal supervision requires—usually directly in my path.
The walls hold reminders of what matters: My framed quote of Yoko Ono's words about hearts beating in unison. Photos of animals. Sketches and studies. Works in progress that stare back at me, waiting.
Morning light pours through those east windows—the first thing I see when I arrive, the first thing the paintings receive.
It's both sanctuary and workshop.
TOOLS &
MATERIALS
I work primarily with acrylics on stretched canvas—professional-grade materials that will last generations.
The paint collection has grown over years: tubes and jars in every color imaginable, from the deepest midnight blues to the brightest neon pinks.
Brushes of every size: tiny detail brushes for eyes (I always start with the eyes) medium for feathers, and large flats for backgrounds.
The process is both precise and intuitive:
- → Stretched canvas on easel (usually 100x140cm or larger)
- → Initial sketch with tush
- → Eyes drawn first (the soul before the body)
- → Animal built up in layers (form, shadow, detail)
- → Background flows last (drips, bleeds, movement)
Each painting takes weeks. Sometimes months. Not because I'm slow, but because I'm listening. The animal's presence tells me when it's complete.
How Place Shapes
Work
Living and working in Odsherred directly influences what I paint.
The morning walks with Rosa through the forests aren't just exercise – they're research. Meditation. Listening practice.
I observe how light transforms ordinary forest into liminal space. How seasonal colors shift: grey-green spring forests, golden autumn fields, white winter silence, explosive summer green.
The dripping, flowing backgrounds in many pieces echo the way morning mist moves through valleys here. The way rain runs down tree bark. The organic movement of natural forces.
The animals I paint aren't generic representations – they carry the weight of real observation. The way a wolf holds its gaze. The dignified stillness of a bear. The mischievous intelligence in an orangutan's eyes.
And always, always, the wings.
Because Odsherred taught me that earth and sky aren't separate. The Bronze Age artists knew this – their sun chariot shows the divine moving through earthly forms.
My paintings do the same: earthbound animals touching the celestial. The wild made sacred. The ordinary revealed as extraordinary.
Responsible
Creation
Creating art means consuming materials. I take this seriously.
Quality over quantity: I paint fewer pieces with materials that last generations, not fast fashion art.
Minimal waste: Leftover paint gets used. Canvases are chosen carefully. Materials are professional-grade.
Local when possible: Materials sourced from European suppliers when available.
Conscious packaging: Paintings ship with recyclable materials, protective but not excessive.
Print-on-demand: Prints are only produced when ordered, avoiding overstock and waste.
Forest stewardship: Regular donations to forest conservation – because these walks through Odsherred's forests aren't just inspiration, they're relationship.
The land gives me so much. The least I can do is tread lightly and give back.
Visiting
Odsherred
If you find yourself in Denmark, Odsherred is worth discovering.
The Trundholm Sun Chariot rests in Copenhagen's National Museum – the original, protected and revered. But the land that held it for 3,400 years is still here.
Ancient forests where morning light filters through leaves the same way it did millennia ago. UNESCO-recognized geopark shaped by ice age glaciers. Coastal shores where land meets water in quiet beauty. Small villages unchanged for generations, holding something Denmark's cities have forgotten.
This isn't tourist Denmark. This is ancient Denmark.
The Denmark that remembers what we were before we forgot. The Denmark where Bronze Age artists understood that divine and earthy aren't separate – they flow through each other, like wings on a horse pulling the sun.
Walk these paths with Rosa at dusk, when the boundary between worlds feels thin. Watch how the light transforms ordinary coastline into something liminal. Feel why this landscape doesn't just inspire paintings – it demands them.
You'll understand why animals here must have wings.
Why earth and sky can't be separate.
Why the work I do can only happen here.
The Studio Isn't
Open for Visits
My studio is my sanctuary—the place where quiet allows creation, where Rosa naps in peace, where the work can breathe.
I don't offer studio tours or open studio days.
However.
If you're a serious collector considering a commission or major purchase, contact me. We can arrange something appropriate.
If you're a fellow artist wanting to connect about practice, process, or place-based work, I'm open to conversation over email or possibly coffee in a nearby café.
If you're visiting Odsherred and want to say hello, reach out—I can't promise anything, but I appreciate the connection.
The work requires protection. Rosa requires her nap schedule. The forest walks can't be negotiated.
But genuine connection is always welcome.
Email: mail@myfylgja.com
From This Studio
to Your Home
Every Fylgja painting is created here—in this Odsherred studio, on this ancient land, with Rosa supervising and the morning light pouring through east windows.
When you bring one home, you're bringing a piece of this place. This practice. This quiet listening.
