This Os church plate was painted in 2001 on a 12” plate while I was in Norway studying on the Vesterheim Rosemaling tour.
The town of Os is located in the Hordaland fylke (district) south of Bergen. Johannes Johannessen Tveiteras (1762-1842), originally from Sweden, was one of the first rosemalers from this area. Nils Tveiteras Midhus (1795-1875), one of his two sons, moved to Os in 1820 where he developed his own distinctive style. He combined Telemark elements with geometric designs and old Hordaland motifs. His son, Annanias Midthus Tveit (1847-1924) further developed the tradition with great creativity and love of color. Rosemaling was late blooming in this area and didn’t reach its peak until the turn of the 20th Century. It is his style that I’m intrigued with and used on the flowers.
There are a lot of old paintings depicting this church, although most are painted with a side view, some are quite primitive. Torunn Farsund brought me this view when I took her class so I could design and paint this plate.
The packet includes five pages of instruction using JoSonja acrylics, two photographs and the line drawing.
