FEATHER HOME

A small resting place middle of bushy pine trees, a feather home. Soft walls, weather-proof. A warm carpet, summery wallpapers. For a secret rendezvous or for time alone. For one or two nights. For silence and calmness. For whispering moments. For alive fire and bright starry nights. For one night everything is possible.

Happiness to you all sweet ones to enter the 2012!

WINTER BIRDS

Wishing you calm and enjoyable days.

Stay warm and remember the small animals of the forests!

Hearts.

WINTER LIGHT

Afternoon break in winter light. Tea from summer forests with raspberry and blueberry leaves. While it rains and it is very slippery, stars twinkle and the moon looks pink on the morning sky. Radio host tells sweet stories and plays melodies of comfort. Lullabying weather. Hours, feeling like a few minutes, of daylight come and go. Behind the balcony seagulls search for open waters.

A small interview that I forgot to mention. Thanking so much for you to come here, for your words and orders.

Cups of hot and sweet to your day.

SNOWY WHISPERS

Snowstorm during the weekend, long walks and red cheeks. Pancakes with tomato salad and chicpea-cashew-coriander-parsley-olive oil-garlic-spread. Or pancakes with buckthorn jelly and oat cream. Slow and long music for snow, silence for the wind. Writing letters and cards in between sketching. In between gazing the snow flakes floating. A few at a time.

Packing orders (and originals). Watching the pine tree on the balcony. Walking more and listening the sound of snow. Small birds all over, eating the last berries from trees and seeds from people. Trying to learn more their names and behavior.

Have a calm Monday, with warmth from me to you.

SWIMMING MIDDLE OF THE FIRST SNOW

On Sunday evening the snow came. On Monday night a small storm appeared. It is snowing outside again. Too beautiful to go to sleep. A bit purple, or perhaps pink light that the snow brings. The snow clouds. Sounds are more silent again.

Yesterday, in sauna with a friend. Swimming in a lake, like filled with icicles. So cold. Feeling so good. Twinkling stars above these swimmers, a few airplanes too.

Small simple things, make all so good. And to remember how interesting, different kind of lives there can be. Still so the same. These photos, that Jeroen Toirkens took, reminded me of that.

Pure sweet white dreams!

(These photos are not by me. They are from a book called Nomad. Via Júlia.)

AUTUMN DREAMS

Time to say good-bye for November, thank you for treating us well. The day to welcome the little sister of winter, called December. Usually it gives the first red pinched cheeks, fresh scent of frost. Quicker steps, steaming cups of hot.

Autumn Dreams, for the ones that want to sleep over the cold months. For My Pretty Room by Sessun. Heaps of blankets, candle light, scent of pine and cones. Wind outside, warm inside. Sweet dreaming.

Thank you over and over again for your comments, emails and orders. If you are ordering a Christmas present, please be in time! Like last year, I did my best to get all the orders on their way as soon as possible. However, if ordering late, I offer also this year a small option to surprise the one who gets the present, even though the real gift might not arrive in time.

Have a good day with the last of November.

MORNING FROST MEADOW

It rains in a melody of greetings from the South. The waves of the lake are alive again, they rush to shore with a strong wind. Color gray is echoing from the lake to the walls of houses, to the tree trunks, to the sky. The grass is still green. Waiting for snow, which does not come to visit. Tiny raindrops trickle down like a black and white movie on the balcony windows. Warm cups of tea, black pen and white pages of sketchbook are a good companion to listen to that orchestra of weather.

Morning Frost Meadow happened one morning in sunrise. The dew was suddenly frozen, the last flowers like statues with their shiny icy covers. It is available as a print at The Working Proof. 15% of all the sales goes for charity.

Lately there have been many questions about original paintings. If you are interested on something, please send me an email. Many originals are still available, for example the painting above. Hello to you all, and especially to all the new ones (who might have found their way through Design*Sponge), so glad to have you here.

Have a warm, cozy weekend.

THEN EVERYTHING FROZE

Good morning, good evening,

On Sunday morning, when waking up, there was something different in the air. The waves of the lake were frozen. Under foot steps the sound was new. The frost had painted the landscape in shiny sparkles, in brittle sounds.

I started to battle against winter because I wanted to be friends with it. Winter was a friend of no-one, it did not ask whether people liked it to blow on their face or from behind their back. I knew winter was around me, and it was just a matter of being a part of it. From my book Proof of Winter.

Have a good warm week, with candle lights.

OTHER HOME

A little bit of adventurous landscapes for this grey Thursday. Paths in wind, in sounds of silence. Homes from the past.

Dreamy greetings!

(Photos from Iceland from 2004 and 2005. It is seven years today that I first time landed in Iceland. What a wonderful journey it became.)

FROST GARDEN

This week it might come, the first snow. Still a hint of orange light, sunset on a clear sky. Some clouds in shape of dancers, in a strong wind.

Last night the Moon was making a hole to the black sky. Which colored thread could have been the nicest to mend it with a needle? Violet probably, light blue too. The lunar maria of the Moon were so visible, if they really were seas I wondered who all were bathing in them.

One morning the winter came. It was drawing frost gardens to all the windows. I blew warm air from my mouth to one of the windows and rubbed a small circle to the ice with my warm hand. All the landscape was covered with a white blanket outside, but gardens on my windows bloomed all the winter through.

Frost Garden on My Window -print is now in the shop, with a few more pictures of it. I wait it to appear on my windows later this week too.

Orange colored Monday greetings, have calm days.

FOG HANGING LIKE IN A COAT HANGER

Beautiful milky foggy mornings, outside eyelashes become coat hangers for raindrops from the fog.

Keeping fingers crossed! Kaukana omalta maalta by Sisko Latvus is a nominee for the Finnish book prize, Junior Finlandia. Happy to see the book all over now with my painting in the cover.

Have a good Wednesday, filled with a nice touch of perfect paper from your favorite book, between your fingers!

....

Sumu roikkuu ulkona ripsistä pisaroina kuin hengarissa.

Peukut pystyssä Sisko Latvuksen kirjalle, Kaukana omalta maalta. Junior Finlandia ehdokkuuden ansiosta kirja on vilahtanut iltauutisissa ja aamun sanomalehdissä kukkakimppujen vierellä ja lämpöisissä käsissä.

Pehmeimpiä kirjansivuja sormiesi väliin, hyvää keskiviikon jatkoa!

TRAVELING THROUGH YOU

So much fun. To travel the world. To the homes of yours, to your arms and smiles. Thank you for your all words, in comments, emails and letters. Pictures, visits, orders.

The original painting of Leaf Sprout in a home of a doll maker in Russia, prints of Leaf Sprout and Sprouts in Basque Country, with signatures of the little ones, the original painting Rain Fresh Tea in Singapore, in hands of a lovely girl. Thank you for showing me your world.

Have an adventurous new week!

(These photos are by other people, they are not taken by me.)

P.s. Frost Garden on My Window is now on pre-order. More pictures to come!

WINTER BLUES

Happy second of November, filled with the blues from my painting table.

Do you ever get entertained by your dreams? This week I have been seeing some very strong dreams. One was about a volcano, which was a door. To leave a house of a friend I had to swim inside a volcano, dive under to a cave in it that took me to an ocean. It was the only way to get in and out. But the volcano was a friendly one, filled with water only. Very cold water though, I was swimming in my winter clothes!

Dream from last night was about a huge boat, which was more like a moving landscape in a sea. Or a floating city in water that a sailor was navigating. There were streets and parks in that boat, and the boat was floating among a usual sea landscape. Islands and open water. Just before the dream finished, I remember being aft of that ship, where the floor was made of empty canisters (it was kind of difficult to stand on them), caressing whales swimming by. The greatest of adventures, movies or theater plays of night time.

The last weeks I have been awake very early. That makes me very hungry very early. That makes my afternoon break very early. Happy cardamom coffee time with a fresh newspaper! Happy winter time!

Edit: This painting, Frost Garden on My Window is now in the shop as a print.

LIGHT DISAPPEARING, COMFORT INCREASING

Mornings are long, turning my head to see behind the lake once in a while if the day arises soon. The summer room (also known as a balcony) has been changed to a winter room. Spruce branches, moss accompanied with loud singers on the lake, winged ones. They have some new friends and I guess it is just about drawing their lines in the water to show the borders of homes of each of them.

Autumnal book Fridays continue. Yesterday after a slightly rainy bicycle trip with a warmer jacket and a woolen scarf wrapped around, a postman gave me a book, Illustrators Unlimited by Gestalten (, have you seen their space?). Back at home after hanging all those warmer clothes to dry and with a cup of tea in hand, the book took me to many new worlds. Always so much to learn and observe. Pages filled with adventures. First autumnal book Friday here. This Friday continues with binding a new sketchbook, making a new calendar behind it.

Have a good and warm weekend with apple and cinnamon scents.

(Book cover illustration in the first photo by Irana Douer. Paintings in the pictures: Apple Blossom Meadow, Meadow Picnic, Claude Monique, Sipping The Sea Of Green Tea, Garden House, At Pyhäjärvi Lake, Tea For Five, In Feather Islands, Balance, Hairstorm, Dreaming. Some of them are still available as original paintings, Apple Blossom Meadow also as a print in my shop, three prints left.)

SOMEONE SWEET (AND FURRY)

During the weekend a small visitor took care of me. He took me around the lake, every step in yellow leaves. We barked to the small and waved tails to the big ones crossing our paths.

This autumn is the same time very busy and very slow. A lot is happening, the same time there are moments to breath deeply while napping. The town seems to be like that too when its inhabitants collect things and prepare everything for winter. Still no snow clouds in sight. Many candle lights.

Do you owe something to someone? I do. A hug to a friend. Who sent me tea from Iceland.

To you all, hearts.

CLOUDS DANCING

A cake with dates, blueberries, dark chocolate in the oven. Welcome for an afternoon tea. Cold weather, warm woolen socks. Lime green tea. Outside a movie of changing light as the clouds dance by. Light blue with cyan, paper white, cotton yellow, gray of ash. Colors of the sky.

Stay warm, have a calm weekend!

P.s. Some of the prints in my shop are sold out soon. Thank you kindly for the orders so far!

P.p.s. These are the results of printing with cardboard. The plate which was carved and the prints.

WARMTH OF LAST WEEK

Sunsets, Le Havre, early mornings, print making with cardboard, winter birds on window sills, streets to walk endlessly, Bert Jansch.

On cold sunny evenings that lake monster wakes up. It is changing its form now, like the leaves in trees fly away. To winter fur. It is long like a dragon, such a foreign thought up here in the North. Surrounding the lake, as long as the reflection lasts, drawing its lines. Enjoying the sight, before it will all be covered up in a snow and ice blanket. Still a few rowing boats in the middle or on its edges. Is the lake monster sleeping after all, not caring of the rowers.

Last year, two days ago, the first snow landed.

How was your week?

Kind whispers, warm thoughts to your new week!

MADE WITH LOVE, MADE WITH HANDS

Last week a beautiful book was waiting in the post office, on a sunny day, bicycling. The book is The New Artisans by Olivier Dupon, published by Thames & Hudson. It is a collection of artists that do with their hands what they love. So honored to be part of it. Susie Cowie, Siba Sahabi, just to make a curtsey to a few of my favorites on the same pages.

A train ticket in my pocket, going to heat sauna and bake pizza for the weekend. Strong winds, they warn. Have a safe and calm weekend! Hearts to your sweet words!

(The book cover image in the first photo by Puddin'head. Picture in the third photo on the left upper corner by Atsuko Ishii.)

60, GREETINGS TO UNDER PALM TREES

Happy birthday dear Mother! Warm winds there where palm trees sway, the sea is like bird´s milk and olive and citrus trees bloom with their fruits. Pleasant walks, garden dreams!

See you in the weekend!

xxx

RAINDROP NOTES

The wind and rain outdoors play the most magical instruments. Anything they touch becomes a small echo. Anything they pass, becomes a small note. A cup of tea in left hand, a sketching pen in right one. Light is disappearing, candle flame dances inside shadows. These gray days the colors sleep.

Tiger In A Jar made this beautiful video of a cozy place to spent time, a dinner table. With the first issue of Kinfolk magazine with my painting. Music by Oliver Blank. I think he collects raindrops for his music too.

Silent songs and a little more of apples and that darkest chocolate.

P.s. A small edition of greeting cards is in my shop. A pack of 7 different cards with white envelopes.

(Screenshots from a movie by Tiger In A Jar.)

WHERE THE WIND DOES NOT REACH

Homes of forests. Caves, hollows, tree trunks. A leaf, a flower. Places where the wind does not reach with its cold fingers. Some crochet their home and working place between branches, grass, rocks. Inside and apple, a mushroom. Under a stone, under moss. A heap of fir needles. In a puddle.

How did we learn to build homes with corners, angles.

A beautiful weekend of music and kind people. Sunday to read and walk. To search corners of this home for flour and salt and olive oil and this and that (meaning that only in the end I know what it became) and bake for the neighbors who come for a visit.

Warm thoughts to your Sunday.

(Small custom paintings from last summer.)

FLYING AWAY

Skies of different days are filled with flocks of birds. South reads on their map, but how they find there. Navigating by shores or mountains, hills or forests? Does the wind tell them and take them there. Seagulls, they will stay and only go when there is no open water. Goose flock was having their break in a park, middle of yellow leaves. Maybe they came from Greenland.

Birds at home. One bird who will stay with me through the winters, got a woolen jacket to stay warm. The other ones have always summer next to flower fields. They sway in their flock. The third one is living in Iceland, but I had the pleasure to meet some of them with my camera. Bon voyage migrating birds, have a safe journey!

The small lake behind my window is having white peaks on its waves, it is such a windy day. I wish for sunshine for tomorrow, when friends take mbe to a mushroom forest. Tea in a thermo bottle, cinnamon buns and a woven basket with a wish of a nice treasure from the moss fields.

Warm weekend wishes to you with some golden whiskers of the sun!

SPRING MAIL, AUTUMN BALCONY

Happy mail days continue. Letters, paintings, prints, emails. So sweet from all of you. Thank you so much. Also some greetings from the last spring while I was painting a boy, a boat and seagulls on an adventure.

Kaukana omalta maalta, (Far Away from Own Land), a book by Sisko Latvus with my painting on the cover. So well written, I read the script four times. A sad story with a little bit of magic about old times. About Paavo who was exiled with his family from Ingria at the age of 13. But on the way he meets someone called Mare... Published by WSOY.

Afternoon break, knitting while thinking. On my painting table, on the balcony table. Scratching cardboard for a printmaking class. A breakfast wrapped in wool on the balcony table, inside mist. Autumn light is taking over. Music has more piano melodies, like raindrops. Or crispy yellow and red leaves flying in wind. Branches from a forest of lingonberries. Sea-buckthorns from a square market, blueberry (soya) yoghurt and seeds. Rye bread with pesto of cashews, basilica, garlic, olive oil. Two pots of green tea. Candle light. Always dreaming of breakfasts.

Have a calm new week, wrapped in wool!

Hearts.

SECRETS OF WIND AND RAIN

The first autumn storm is singing as a melody of rain and wind. Bringing many warm colors from their journeys. Long walks to welcome all those yellows, oranges, reds and purples. If a few coins in a pocket, a rendezvous in a café is guaranteed. Some of the baristas come and wrap blankets around if sitting outdoors. In some other places people look inside, me outside. Some hide behind their newspapers. Some behind windows. Some behind their cups.

What kind of secrets there might be to hide. To put into a tea cup, or get forgotten inside a newspaper. Or just mention to a stranger.

A small yellow birch leaf, it did not hide anything. It was in the middle of a street next to an apple tree which had dropped all its fruits down.

So I feel the autumn being, everything is revealed and secrets are told. Then it is time to rest, hide the colors and blush away.

Just the beginning of an autumn, where it will still take me.

Melodies of raindrops to you.