Oslo Medieval Fair - a journey back in time!

We all love going to fairs and festivals am I right? Well I love it at least and last weekend I attended the wonderful Oslo Medieval Festival in Oslo Medieval Park. I found it to be a lot of fun and a great source of inspiration. I also got to taste candy apples for the first time in my life. It was delicious and I'm a bit upset that I only had one of those bad boys (or should I say bad apples, wink wink)
The festival also turned out to be an excellent opportunity to get some great reference photos of garments, items and fighting poses. Below you can see some fun photos from my great day out with my beloved husband. And should you see any photos in this post that would be of good use to you as a reference photo feel free to use it!

Swords *hearts*

Books *hearts*

I guess I'm not the most stylish of archers but I hit the target at least!

My husband on the other hand looks like he was born with a bow in his hand...

Historically correct armor lecture!

Medieval musicians

Battle demonstration by the group Vikverir! So much great stuff!

Hmmm...I don't think I'm the most terrifying of soldiers...

Knights in shining armor *hearts*

I finally found a cloak that fits my height! I'm fairly hobbit sized and normal length cloaks end up kissing the ground when I wear them. As my husband so aptly pointed out, I definitely looked the part of a hobbit in this *sniggers*

Oh yes, and due to an acute case of the stupids I got a sun burn on my feet that Saturday as I had chosen to wear open sandals all day long at the festival and it had not occurred to me to put sun block on them.

Well that was everything for now! Hope you enjoyed my little blast from the past!

Until next time,

Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:

anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:

http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Anxiety and medieval head gear

Apologies for the stop and go posting as of late. I've been struggling a bit with my mental health lately and have therefore not felt like doing anything creative at all. I'm still struggling but I think that the worst part of it is over and done with for now. I'm Starting with cognitive behavioral therapy in April, hopefully it will help me get over my anxieties.

Now instead of moaning about how depressed I am I'm going to share a sketch I made yesterday! Sharing creativity is much better than dragging everybody down in my opinion. Below you can see a pencil drawing that is slightly based of a photo I took of myself and also on a medieval head garb and dress that I was able to photograph when I visited Warwick castle in 2010.

I'm a big fan of history. I love to look at and visit old castles and historical sites. I'm terrible with numbers so I never remember years and dates, but clothes and architecture I remember. I'm particularly interested in nordic mythology and the medieval ages in western europe 

Below you can see the photos I used as inspiration and reference!

This was one of the wax figures on display in the Warwick castle

This is a picture of me from 2010

Until next time,

Anita Olsen Støbakk