Anna Emilia

SUNDAY DETAILS WITH BLUES

2012-01-29T16:52:00.000+02:00

Sunset time with pink and blue. February is making its way here, with colder days. The light is softer, more yellow. Aquarius birthdays to celebrate for the whole month, first ones last night inside frosted windows. A long breakfast with a friend to think about the next ones, and some spring adventures.

Kristen made an interview with me. Her world of names is very interesting.

There is an exhibition with a few of my paintings in Vuojoki mansion in Eurajoki. Till the 28th of February.

Sunday evenings are for music, for reading and for a long walk (and pinched red cheeks).

Have a warm entrance to the new week!

.........

Heippa! Kevättalven retkikohde: Vuojoen kartanolla, Eurajoella, on Kuvittajat ry:n Metsän tuhat tarinaa -näyttely. Siellä on myös muutama minun maalaukseni, 28.2.2012 asti.

Lämpöisiä ajatuksia!

SPRING WINTER

2012-01-24T09:55:00.001+02:00

Slowly it appears, the winter light. If counting small moments, the days are already a bit longer. Skating and observing new snow covers over the old ones. Every season is my favorite. This early spring-winter is the favorite of this moment. Cold air is so good to breath.

Thank you dear Barbara for the beautiful gift (and the cardigan).

Early spring flower scents of Grape Hyacinth, or pearl lily as it is called in Finnish. On my painting table other flowers are blooming.

Have a calm Tuesday.

Hearts.

(The book and the paper boat in the first and third photo by Barbara.)

UNPLANNED WINTER BOUQUET

2012-01-18T10:17:00.001+02:00

Good morning dear you,

Something happened again on my painting table while I was not watching carefully. A little bit of colors while everything is so beautifully pure and white outdoors. A little bit of exotic scents and warm winds. Just for a little moment to remember them while the winter is just in its most pretty bloom.

Have a calm day!

(Unplanned previously 1, 2 & 3)

LAST WINTER

2012-01-14T13:44:00.000+02:00

Some winter sun. Slowly it comes and quickly it goes. In blue hues. Warm tunes from radio. Watching the snow fly in wind. Steam of coffee. A few paint brush strokes. A long walk in a finally-finished new and warm winter jacket. A sentence from a book once in awhile.

What will you do today?

Happy weekend!

Photos on film from last winter.

CHOCOLATE DELIVERY SYSTEM

2012-01-10T16:18:00.001+02:00

A little while ago I was dreaming of a company that would deliver daily amounts of chocolate right to a doorstep. Just a daily amount as it seems that chocolate is something that is just vanishing. Yesterday it became true for a moment. Thank you dear L! Opening a parcel like that is almost like traveling to another country. Feeling of different kind of paper, text and taste. And something handmade, so precious.

On a holiday is also the mother in these illustrations that I painted for Kaksplus magazine (1/2012). An article about having free with and without children.

Under Ice available now as a limited edition print.

Thank you to all of you for your kind words in comments and emails. Sending you some gentle snowflakes from behind my windows.

Winter hearts.

UNDER ICE

2012-01-04T15:28:00.001+02:00

Meeting with a friend by a pond. How there can be life under ice. Plants, the fish with their families, bubbles, streams. Under ice beings.

So glad to be here with you all with a new year. Let´s make it a peaceful one with embracing happiness of little things.

The winter has arrived, snow storms keep company outdoors. Going for a long walk and to sauna and for a winter swim. Maybe I meet a few under-ice-friends.

Be well!

P.s. Under Ice available now as a limited edition print.

FEATHER HOME

2011-12-29T17:07:00.001+02:00

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

2011-12-21T08:42:00.000+02:00

Wishing you calm and enjoyable days.

Stay warm and remember the small animals of the forests!

Hearts.

WINTER LIGHT

2011-12-15T17:06:00.002+02:00

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

2011-12-12T10:52:00.000+02:00

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

2011-12-08T00:01:00.007+02:00

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

2011-11-30T10:16:00.001+02:00

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

2011-11-24T10:25:00.000+02:00

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

2011-11-21T09:02:00.000+02:00

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

2011-11-17T09:42:00.001+02:00

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

2011-11-14T16:28:00.001+02:00

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

2011-11-09T13:08:00.000+02:00

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

2011-11-07T18:04:00.000+02:00

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

2011-11-02T14:02:00.001+02:00

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

2011-10-28T11:27:00.000+03:00

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)

2011-10-26T16:37:00.001+03:00

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

2011-10-21T14:54:00.000+03:00

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

2011-10-16T11:44:00.001+03:00

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

2011-10-07T11:25:00.003+03:00

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

2011-10-04T10:28:00.000+03:00

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

2011-09-29T14:57:00.000+03:00

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

2011-09-25T13:11:00.003+03:00

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

2011-09-23T12:52:00.001+03:00

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

2011-09-19T17:34:00.001+03:00

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

2011-09-15T16:18:00.001+03:00

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.

WINDY WIND

2011-09-12T16:14:00.004+03:00

Dear all,

The sky and the lake wear the same gray dress today. Wind is collecting the summer greens and hurries them to go hiding. Slowly, but visibly more and more every day. 300 km away from here there were many more yellow leaves during the weekend. Still bicycled with Mum to our summerhouse and swam. A theater play about sea and an island welcomed the earlier dark evenings.

While searching more wool for the colder days, I remembered that I have used wool for other things than clothes too. A small exhibition done in Reykjavík with a small group in 2005. Lovely ladies of handicraft shops gave us bags of small balls of wool. With them we built our own wind with a girl called Nadia. With some red wool I drew a girl so big that she did not completely fit inside. Her hems in the wind. There was a parade outside while we worked. We were locked inside and could only see a bit of the trumpets and drums marching on the street through a window. Later a friend that I had not yet met took a picture of another friend visiting the exhibition. The last picture I found from an old email and it was taken by Þórarinn.

Cold fingers of the autumn are searching their way inside this house. Time to close the balcony door and say bon voyage to the sun traveling further, to the other side. Eager about the new season, the new colors, the new scents and sounds.

Have a calm new week with colors of rowan berries and rose hips (their tastes too).

Hearts, from me to you.

(Third picture by Þórarinn.)

CARDAMOM COFFEE, MELODIES OF THE WIND

2011-09-07T14:02:00.005+03:00

On a cloudy day. Feeling like it would already be an evening. A smile comes back from these greetings from Paris. Also the sunshine, if imagined enough. Outside the strong rushes of an autumn wind. Time to find some wool around.

Hot water boiling. Grinding cardamom seeds. A dash of cinnamon. Another one of vanilla. Coffee time. A very early one. Wondering how long I am able to keep those jars untouched. Till the next coffee time?

Oh, the weekend. A light(house) ship, beautiful melodies (a small moment to be back in the treasure island), guiding hands (while writing sms´s in street lights), the longest breakfast (feeling like abroad), walking, admiring houses and boats (especially the lighthouse one and another called Elvira Inga), a small food market, the deepest nap on the way back, in train. Sunshine at home.

Afternoon greetings.

RAINY WHILE SUNNY

2011-09-02T18:42:00.007+03:00

Rainy while the sun shines. Sunny while it rains. Showers passing, like melodies. They make everything beautiful and to smell wonderful. Autumn. September.

Bicycled to the town in between those showers to develop a film (and to fetch the Tree House prints from the print shop) that has been longer than a year in my camera. What it becomes when there are no memories of frames taken. Empty pictures grow to patterns, colors, shadows. The raindrops on the window are from a few days ago, the first autumn rain. The sunshine on my hair is from early spring that we call as spring-winter in Finnish. The time when it is still very cold, there is a lot of snow left, but when the sun starts to reach us with its long but still tired yellow beams. That day I walked over the frozen lake from town to home. Afternoon sun of winter.

But now the autumn is here. A book, a dark chocolate bar, (a few candies called Iceland with polar bears in them,) tomorrow a train trip, music and friends. Happy. Maybe some yarn to knit.

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Heippa! Ihana naapurini Julia, joka asuu unikkokedon takana, vei minut kävelylle järven ympäri ja kirjoitti haastattelun kuvittamiseen ja yritteliäisyyteen liittyen. Kiitos Julia!

Two days ago my lovely neighbor Julia, who lives behind the meadow of poppies, took me for a walk around the small lake and wrote an interview with me.

Edit: Now also in English!
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Soft melodies to your weekend. Stay well!

THANK YOU TO POSTMAN

2011-08-31T10:03:00.002+03:00

Stretching while a green layer of turquoise watercolor is drying.

"Thank you to postman!", wrote dear L. to that letter. With a photo by Pyhäjärvi lake while she was here, sent from St. Petersburg. (It is a good addition to my rowing boat collection.) We had glasses of good cold apple lemonade when the weather was still very warm, a promenade and talks about bicycling in a city, of radio programs and libraries.

Evening sun, coloring the sky to a drama. Towers of this city grow twice in height on a specific calmness of the lake. While I keep on solving mysteries on pages of a book.

Thank you to all, so much, who have ordered the Tree House print, or any other, or asked about original paintings or bought them. Everything will be packed and shipped during the next week!

Good-bye summer, was a pleasure to have you here so warm and so sunny. Welcome autumn of yellow, orange, red and violet. I have missed you with the wind, fresh air and sounds of raindrops. Please keep us gently in your arms.

P.s. The postman usually comes very late, irregularly, on Fridays very early. Has long hair and writes nice notes if the letter or parcel does not fit into the mailbox. With a bright blue pen. Obviously against his hand as the note is always wrinkled. Has the same name of one of my dearest friends.

MEADOW PLAYING IN PARIS

2011-08-25T11:26:00.004+03:00

In the morning behind windows was a (soya) milk colored curtain hanging from the sky. Thick, but sun rays still tickling through it. Slowly the curtain of mist moved, disappeared. A curtain making everything invisible, secret and soundless. No wind in its hems. A sunny day appeared. Clouds appeared to the sunny day. Half sunny, half cloudy. Now mostly clouds that still leave very fragile shadows.

Meadow Playing, another painting from spring time done for Sessun. It can be found on Sessun Songs Collection II. Meadow Picnic can be seen here. They are announcing that the summer is gone soon. Better to find knitting needles ready, though on my watercolor paper still summer colors do happen!

Soft brush strokes of green to your Thursday!

GOOD EVENING, MR. / PRE-ORDER

2011-08-21T22:07:00.000+03:00

Hello dear all,

Hedgehogs and rabbits meet during dusk. Just when the air starts to turn colder, when the air is filled with apple tree scents and grass. They accompany bicycle journeys and walks. Silent snuffling friends.

On Friday I saw a friend painting a portrait of a rabbit, today I painted one too. How wonderful to see other person´s hands working over a big paper, with so secure and smooth quick moves, simple color mixtures. Especially, when I could only sit and watch. Enjoy.

As so many have asked about the Tree House painting, (thank you for liking it!) I decided to make it to a print. You can pre-order it here, it will be shipped starting from the 5th of September. A few other sold out prints will also be back in the shop. They will be shipped from the 5th of September as well. (Prints available at the moment will be shipped in 5 business days as usually if ordered alone, otherwise from the 5th of September.)

Sundays are for jazz. Watching hot air balloons over the lake floating in the sky towards sunset. Reading a bit from here and there. Stretching. And a few brush strokes.

You are all so precious. Thank you for all your kind words.

Have a calm Sunday and a good beginning for a new week.

WALKING DIARY

2011-08-17T14:35:00.001+03:00

A slow afternoon walk in the heat of yesterday was filled with surprises. Almost as high as apple trees, sunflowers were bowing their heads in the wind for two crows. "Good day!" I almost heard them saying to each others before continuing their things. Flying and occupying the lampposts or just swaying in the wind. A meadow filled with dancing poppies had appeared on the way to the allotment garden. Sounds of a bicycler, watching the rainclouds coming.

A lot of good music during the weekend. First in the harbor, in sunset surrounded by old boats. Then in Helsinki where a nostalgic autumn wind and sea scent took care of me. Thanks all dears who were there and the ones who said hi. Hi!

Where will the afternoon walk of today take me? What have you seen on your way lately?

Hearts.

P.s. This is becoming all the time a little bit more finished. Good boys!

TREE HOUSE

2011-08-12T09:46:00.002+03:00

Late evenings are dark already. Stars appear to shine in the ceiling of that black. Like friends, appearing after a long time. There have been good evenings sitting under their twinkle.

More layers to wear on those late evenings. Maybe this small Tree House could be a place to stay and gaze above. Through leaves and jasmine flowers the stars would wave. A custom painting which flew over The North Atlantic Ocean.

Oceans, what lies in their bottoms? Under-water mountains, like the longest mountain range. Maybe some messages in bottles. Dropped shoes and cameras. Homes of animals and plants that we won´t see. A lot to dream about with mystical colors. A lot to protect on our beautiful Earth.

Mellow weekend greetings to you, stay well.

P.s. Tree House is now available as a print for pre-order, here.

TEA FOR FIVE

2011-08-04T06:47:00.001+03:00

Morning tea with stretching. The sun rising slowly. Colder air through windows, it really is August when the warmer moments have left for the night, but come later in the morning. The color green is accompanied with still shyly hiding yellow. Fruits in rowan trees are turning from yellow to brighter orange, to red. Rose hips too. Evening walks are slowly turned off to darker landscapes. Birds go to bed early.

Tea for Five, an illustration for Kinfolk magazine. Words by Catherine Searle Williams. Thank you everyone for having me. Thank you everyone who have come here through Kinfolk, and written to me.

Morning train is passing by somewhere far. The town is waking up slowly. Time for another cup.

Have a good Thursday.

FROM LAKE TO LAKE

2011-08-02T18:33:00.001+03:00

From strawberry bushes to blueberry bushes. To raspberry bushes. Drying leaves for tea. Own onions, herbs. Freezer filled also with mushrooms. Always in between a morning or an evening swim. Small trips by boat or a kayak. A water bird diving under while paddling. This morning a rooster sang the morning melodies from the other side of the lake. Hello August!

P.s. Dear L, was so lovely to meet you & have that warm promenade. Hopefully soon again!

UNPLANNED WEDDING BOUQUET

2011-07-22T16:39:00.001+03:00

Back in the town from the strawberry fields. Hot days with long bicycle rides. Drawing and painting in the sounds of thunder. In scent of mint and lavender. Last night, (after sitting in front of a fireplace with friends,) lightnings behind clouds turned them very bright pink. No sound. Reading in the balcony, waiting the rain. No rain, just lightnings in silence of the night. Sparrows.

Someone kind is getting married tomorrow in France. She gets an unplanned wedding bouquet, found next to another painting.

Blue skied weekend greetings!

P.s. Another wedding gift.

CLOUDS FROM ANOTHER MONTH

2011-07-18T10:22:00.001+03:00

Soapwort fills the warm summer wind. It is a bit like jasmine, a small slice of soap and melted sugar together, its scent. Even though the fields are full of big strawberries here, nothing wins tiny wild strawberries in forests, growing on the sunniest spots. Riding a ferry over a lake to the other side, nothing could have been calmer than that lake yesterday.

Illustrations about siblings and their feelings towards each other to Kaksplus magazine (7/2011). It must not be always easy to be in the middle and look to both sides the same time.

It is July, but the clouds look more and more like August. Also the wind in birch, alder and maple tree leaves sounds more like full summer, not like in the beginning anymore. Closing eyes and imagining how the creature with that sound could look like. Huge but kind. Very kind.

Thank you for coming here.

Greetings from forest paths.

WIND BRINGS SWEET SCENTS

2011-07-14T15:37:00.001+03:00

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, straight from fields and forests to mouth. Mushrooms, berries, fresh herbs.

Raindrops on the roof with dreams at nighttimes. Wind in leaves and hay. The sun glimmering on everything.

A dreamcatcher, inspired by beautiful Jenny, while waiting and playing with an eight-weeks-old puppy. He carried cones and liked my woolen socks. Thread that was used to tie mail together fifty years ago when it was delivered only to one house in this village.

Pink sunsets. Turning head for new fragile flower scents.

A MIRROR MIDDLE OF A FOREST

2011-07-10T21:43:00.001+03:00

22 pm, after a hot day. A crane singing in the woods. A small duck swimming middle of the high grass. The forest pond is like a mirror.

Summer greetings from a night swimmer.

DREAM ON A DESERT

2011-07-05T14:44:00.000+03:00

A dream last night about walking in a desert. All around was sand, it was night time. It was calm and perfectly cool air. A perfect walk. High on a narrow path of a sand hill. Down in a valley was a white lighthouse. It was very simple, but massive, no windows, just white painted stone. A moon was over it, an exotic crescent laying on its back. The sky was cyan. White lighthouse, pastel sand, lemon juice colored moon. It was so peaceful and so beautiful to look at the lighthouse from above. I wonder how small I had felt if being down in the valley. Next to the lighthouse.

Where could this exotic peaceful scenery be? In a place where the moon looks different than here, that is the only clue. And why a lighthouse in a desert? Neither sea nor water in sight.

Funnily after that dream I still felt like many questions were solved. Many new thoughts.

A drawing of mine in a hand painted-sewn-and-printed tote bag for KVTL. "Mommy does not manage it all."

A bit of colder days, time to breath a bit more freely with new paintings.

Happy afternoon break greetings with a cup of orange green tea.

PACKING AN OLD MONTH AWAY

2011-07-01T17:53:00.000+03:00

A bit of Friday greetings with distant drums of thunder to you.

Half melt dark chocolate by a shore in sunset, while trees behind got dark, but the lake still had lights on. Dreaming of boats, watching boats, listening a story about a boat. A house drifting from a shore to another.

Many paintings in June. Happy July!

Happy weekend.

MOST OF IT IS GREEN AND BLUE

2011-06-27T23:39:00.000+03:00

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that all the colors have been painted into this season. All different colors, all together in harmony. All mixed. When the morning rises or the evening sets, a bit lighter, a bit like behind a mist. Or behind a real mist. All the wonderful colors with moving shadows in shapes of clouds or trees or house corners. Or then all the wonderful colors with bright light, almost blind.

Colors, but the tones change all the time.

Slowly digesting the quick season. What a strength there is in blooming from a seed to a plant and fruits or berries.

A hot sunny week has started. Greetings from a shore with a book, from where I just bicycled home after the sun disappeared behind a forest hill. Night sky. Pink, orange, yellow, white and blue to the other side, if you turn your head. And that light blue continues and then again white, yellow, orange and pink before the Earth begins.

Have a calm new week. Good night.

P.s. Thank you ever so much for your orders, once again. Some items are now sold out, but if you would like to have still some of them, please let me know. Sweet all of you with emails, comments and just visiting here. Thank you!

SEVEN FLOWERS

2011-06-24T12:23:00.001+03:00

Seven flowers, from seven different meadows for you to put under your pillow. A bit of Midsummer Eve´s charms middle of puffy clouds, some sunshine, probably more rain, hopefully a bonfire and a ball middle of birch trees.

Happy Midsummer to you, thank you so much for being here!

Many hearts.

P.s. Last year

(Details from different paintings.)

NIGHTS, EARLY MORNINGS

2011-06-19T22:06:00.000+03:00

1.30 am passing a lake between Rovaniemi and Sodankylä, all silent. A northern town after many reindeers, one white reindeer, curvy Downy Birches, rivers and a sun like a huge pink balloon hanging too low middle of the night. Circus tents filled with movies. The coldest wind middle of a hot day from the Arctic Sea.

Before, at grandmother´s. Flowers in the early summer mornings. A cuckoo that sang 60 times. Swimming in the forest pond at midnight.

Mid summer, what a magical moment.

Happy beginning week to everyone there, good night too.

ALLOTMENT TENT

2011-06-09T00:11:00.000+03:00

A small house, just the size for a humble ladybird from paper scraps. Was thinking of north, of Lapland where I will travel next week. But it is more a house for a humble ladybird than a Sami tent.

An evening walk in sunset. A pink evening walk. It has been very warm. Hot. Working behind closed curtains during days and reading a book by the arboretum shore about building a shed in the evenings. Then on the way home a longer path till the sun sets. Today in the allotment garden, where two grannies were marveling at all the blooming in their white pajamas. Lilacs scenting everything.

See you in the week of Midsummer bonfires. Summer whispers from me to you.

P.s. Hopefully showing you soon a new picture for a nice project.

BLOOMING

2011-06-05T15:58:00.000+03:00

Everything is blooming. Fields and forests, evening sky, night sky, balcony. On Friday also my mailbox with far-away mail. Thank you so much dear Daniela and Nathan! Thank you everyone for coming here.

Seagulls for daddy middle of birch trees.

On a windy weather the lake turns from dark blue to brown. Today it is all silent and calm. A rowing boat is passing my home, I wave behind a lavender bush.

Tea and darkest chocolate, have a good Sunday!

SWEET DREAMS

2011-05-31T23:54:00.005+03:00

Just blowing a little bit of magic to your dreams from my evening walk.

Good night, sleep tight!

P.s. Happy June!

WAITING FOR RAIN

2011-05-27T17:01:00.000+03:00

Friday afternoon is for jazz, rhubarb pie and planting an avocado with small leaves into a pot. It is also going through photos of old times, winter and letters received. It is funny how "other" things feel comfortable in this kind of moment. Sun in the rain, rain in the sun. Now as waiting for the rain, it is like in-between everything. Wise man in the radio said this morning that it is not good to long for the past, but it is good to long for the future because of the beautiful memories in the past. It is good to have eaten a piece of rhubarb pie in the past to know that it was good and maybe I can have a small piece more now...? Wishing to share it with you.

There are two new prints in my shop:

In Meadow, Wood sorrel, Forget-Me-Not, Twinflower, Harebell and Meadow Pea are the scent of this small meadow. A few birch tree leaves, a handful of clovers and a gentle summer wind are here.

Bike Caravan, This small house is cleaned from winter´s dust, windows of it have been washed and polished and new carpets put on the floor. Some oil on the gears and chains and the trip with spring can start. Which curvy forest roads will we head to? Smoke from the chimney and laundry drying on the roof, those will be the only signs we leave behind. Every evening a new landscape to fall asleep with.

Both prints are on recycled 300 grams silk matte paper and will be signed by hand. In Meadow is a painting I did just a few weeks ago as an assignment, more about that soon. Bike Caravan is a painting from 2009 for an American clothing store. Hopefully you like them.

Will the rain come? I think to have seen a few drops, and the birds have stopped to fly above the lake.

Have a calm weekend.

SUMMER ORANGE, BLUE AND LAVENDER

2011-05-24T22:39:00.001+03:00

There was a small spring storm here. White peaks of waves in the lake, why the water changes the color so rapidly. Bicycling was possible inside a small forest where the trees were covering as walls. Glad about their long and strong roots. For a moment there was no asphalt as fallen branches had taken it all over. A lavender was bicycled from the town from smiling eyes.

Jalouse, a French magazine has a small post about the picnic of Sessun with my illustration in it. Thank you dearly Maikki, who saw it and kindly sent the magazine to me! The Meadow Picnic -painting is available also as a bag and a shirt.

Everything is calm again as quickly as the wind also rose. Night sky of light blue and orange. Summer sky is coloring my dreams.

Sleep tight!

P.s. One and two new prints in my shop. More about them soon!

APPLE BLOSSOMS

2011-05-21T11:23:00.003+03:00

Do you know how it feels to fly? In sunset the seagulls are covering the streets by the lake and you bicycle. When you reach the seagulls, they arise on their wings and float in the air next to you, accompanying your journey. They sing and it feels like the ground is gone, you only have sky around you and the seagulls as stars or far-away planets hanging in the air. You float too and the air is sweet, warm, and a bit moist of the coming night. That is how I felt last night about flying.

There are apple blossoms everywhere, on the way to anywhere. Bird Cherry is in full bloom too and the wind brings its scent from behind every corner.

Thank you again for your orders. Apple Blossom Meadow -print has been very popular and it feels good to have sent it to all around the world. I never thought it would reach so many homes of yours as I painted it last summer on a rainy day. Thank you so much!

Have a blue skied weekend.

Hearts.

A CUCKOO BEHIND STACKS OF FIREWOOD

2011-05-16T11:23:00.000+03:00

Waking up with a cuckoo singing, walking barefoot. Falling asleep inside a forest. Mother´s Day and a week at grandparents´. Old treasures, memories and many centimeters of growing color green.

Today raindrops are washing everything. Slowly. Clouds traveling behind the green horizon. Some looking like mountains, some like colorless reflections of forests and lakes. Upside-down. A blue line between them of darker clouds.

Have a mellow new week, with lots of golden circles around clouds.

MEADOW PICNIC IN PARIS

2011-05-06T11:33:00.000+03:00

The lake is so blue these days. It is difficult to describe which kind of blue it is. A warm or cold, dark or covered with shadows of the waves in it. Or filled with sun rays. Shining and reflecting once in a while to the walls of this house. A spring blue, changing all the time.

It is warm again here. Time for having breaks outdoors. Some tea and fruits will always follow. This Meadow Picnic -illustration is for Sessun and their spring exhibition Chic Chic Chic, C'est Picnic. If you are in Paris between May 20th to June 11th, please go and have a picnic with them.

Based in South Africa, Nice Magazine has featured my work. It is wonderful to travel the world through all of you, your comments and emails. Thank you!

Blue skies and songs of seagulls to your weekend!

FLOWER OF THE SEAS

2011-05-02T14:29:00.000+03:00

Happy May, happy new week!

Days are growing very long, the light lasts till night. Colors grow from shadows and bird songs from still almost naked trees. A daily walk around the small lake is still getting greener every day. A green hue around tree tops is visible, but not yet that concrete.

On Saturday I had one coffee. It was not maybe done that well and drinking from a paper cup is more a feeling than an enjoyment, but the moment was special. The lady serving me was busy (but very happy) playing some local lottery game and the small tickets were just drawn the same time as I ordered my coffee. “White-green-striped 92.” Or, “Pink 58″. I did not know who won the hammock or the theater tickets, but the enthusiasm of flower-shirted ladies behind the coffee table with their tickets in front of them reminded me that those moments would not be forgotten even I had left my camera home.

Our Little Sea is a project by Emmi. It is about The Baltic Sea, which is in danger with eutrophication. This small sea is very pretty with its many tiny islands and the ice during the winter times. There are two paintings in this small zine by me and 19 other artists. One Euro for the protection work of The Baltic Sea is donated for each sold copy.

Half cloudy afternoon tea break greetings.

Be well.

(Cover of the zine in the second photo by Emmi.)

WELCOME NIGHTBIRDS, AN UPDATE

2011-04-27T21:39:00.001+03:00

Good evening dear all you,

Can you hear them? The nightbirds are singing while the orange sun is sinking behind the lake and the town behind it. Sauna is warming up, I will stretch a bit and then go to throw some water to the hot stones of the sauna. Relaxing tonight. Hopefully you too.

My website is updated with a lot of new work. Hopefully you will enjoy it!

Thank you so much for your kind messages.

Good night, sleep tight, under a sky full of sweet lights!

GRASS UNDER A TEACUP

2011-04-26T10:26:00.003+03:00

Dear all,

How are you? How is the season treating you?

Here, it came summer. At least for a few days. Summer birds are here, the lake melted in moments. Gentle waves are floating and water birds diving through them. Eating on the balcony, drinking tea on the grass. Visitors and many sunny moments. A cat visitor too. Sprouts of green mint, basilica and lavender are bending their heads towards the blue sky.

Back to brush strokes and sketching, with happy hands.

Have a good week.

SPRING TENTS & BONFIRE

2011-04-18T09:28:00.002+03:00

You made me speechless. Thank you for your kind comments. Thank you so much.

The spring really is finally here. Flowers. First coffees and teas outdoors, a little bit of reading too. All the time bicycling and seeing new corners. A small trip to see forests, fields, more lakes. The last heaps of snow. Ended up to a summerhouse with friends, where a small bonfire was made. In the bonfire the best coffee and the best bread, dark chocolate filled bananas. Scent of smoke, like home. "Where is home, there is fire. Where is fire, can surely be also a home," from Ronja the Robber´s Daughter. Ronja is screaming for the spring. I scream for the nature.

The ice in lakes is melting so quickly. Every day a few new hues in its color. Right now a grey turning to green. Yesterday a handful of ice in my hands was like the sharpest gems, formed by rain and sun.

Windy greetings, with many curtseys.

P.s. A small interview.

(Another old painting from 2009 for Lifetime Collective.)

NUMBERS: ONE

2011-04-13T09:32:00.001+03:00

Yesterday, 12th of April, my small company turned one year old. Company, where only I work and where I only work with illustration. (Thank you mum for making my bookkeeping and tax reports!) Little I knew a year ago, but it became all possible. There has been so many heart-touching persons, always interesting commissions, long conversations, very few phone calls but thousands of emails over the seas, mountains, oceans, wilderness. Through all the seasons and weather. And it all has made me so happy. Deeply I thank every one of you who has been there supporting me with commissions, orders, emails, letters, parcels, comments or lately even saying hello in the towns that I walk or bicycle. Thank you, thank you so much.

It has been wonderful and I make my best to do it again this year. With you.

Dear Jill made a small interview with me and I painted a little something about what I saw that day.

These photos are from August 2007, after my last summer in Iceland. The first one is from my grandparents´ garage which never saw a car, but a lot of strawberries. The other ones are from my home town, the three last ones from the summerhouse of my parents. In the last one I am washing the dishes. I wish all the places were as clean as that lake.

More days to color landscapes, to walk and see.

Thank you.

Hearts.

All the pictures are taken by S.

MONDAY, MÁNUDAGUR, MOONDAY, MAANANTAI

2011-04-11T11:34:00.000+03:00

Night time, when everything is calm, an old unfinished painting starts to get a new layer over its washed colors. What it will become, a new night might tell. Waiting to paint more while the spring birds do their work by singing through an open balcony door. Or the raindrops washing the air with their melody of touched things. Roofs, window sills, branches, chimneys, walls, stone steps, stairs, grass of last year. Making tunnels through the snow, melting it away. Through everything under earth to lakes, rivers, ponds.

Hello everyone, how are you? So glad to have you here. Welcome all the new, pleasure to meet you.

Warm thoughts with a hint of turquoise to your Monday.

SOUNDSCAPE OF A CLOUDY DAY

2011-04-06T19:17:00.000+03:00

Radio plays an unknown language. The language has a name but it does not matter. How the language that I do not understand sounds like? Trying to imagine how the mouth looks like of the person who is speaking. How the eyes open and close and how the tongue makes the sounds. How the eyes move with different words. Or actually I do not know what is a word or a sentence in this language. It is just lows and highs and very rarely some flat tunes. Breaks of sudden. It sounds a bit like some other language or maybe more like the other. But surely the person who is talking now has the most enchanting voice. Music. Echoed with the sounds of melting snow.

3x3, Three By Three Illustration Directory with the painting Heterochromia. (Left page image by Katrina Kopeloff.)

Warm cloudy day greetings to all dear you.

BIKECARAVAN READY FOR SPRING SAND ROADS

2011-04-01T16:09:00.000+03:00

This small house is cleaned from winter´s dust, windows of it have been washed and polished and new carpets put on the floor. Some oil on the gears and chains and the trip with spring can start. Which curvy forest roads will we head to? Smoke from the chimney and laundry drying on the roof, those will be the only signs we leave behind. Every evening a new landscape to fall asleep with.

Yesterday, a blackbird was singing his stories in a birch forest. Hello cloudy first of April!

A blueberry pie is in the oven. Would you like to come for a piece and a cup of tea? Thank you, thank you so much for visiting this small weather diary and giving me so many kind words.

Warm thoughts to your weekend, stay well.

Hearts.

(An old painting for Lifetime Collective from December 2009.)

O-HOY THE SEA

2011-03-28T11:26:00.001+03:00

O-hoy the sea, the soon leaving ice, snow, the small island with wooden houses. The boats on the yards (and on window sills) waiting for the open waters. The songs of seagulls, a far away cargo boat middle of the ice. The small lighthouse and a small castle. O-hoy, a good small weekend trip to a neighbor town. A report of our snow and spring development by the sea.

Hello a new week, hello you!

BEST WISHES

2011-03-24T19:27:00.000+02:00

It has been very windy today. Snowy, sunny, cloudy, sunny, but mostly windy. The wind has been blowing misty clouds of snow from another end of the lake to this side. It is like a dance to watch. Birch branches with moss green leaves. Tulips turning their heads towards the sun.

Arctic Raspberry flowers and wood sorrels as a heart. And another heart.

Best wishes.

And cloudy evening greetings.

WATER TREATMENT

2011-03-22T14:06:00.001+02:00

Can you hear it? The water. The snow is melting today as small rivers from the roofs, as small springs from the streets. Reading on the balcony between sketching, the sun as a lamp and the sun as a stove to keep my tea warm. The sun as a brush coloring my face. Water and light therapy.

Small people playing together. Various illustrations for The Finnish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities from last year. Now a bit bigger people on my sketchbook to come.

Now the spring wind came. It is singing by gentle howls, bringing the clouds around. Have a cup of afternoon tea with me and the weather.

PARTLY CLOUDY

2011-03-17T12:07:00.001+02:00

A lighthouse that appeared while the darkness came. A spring storm was arriving and we were stuck in black sand. Just watching the blinks of the lighthouse over the bay of sea.

Hiking in highlands middle of two glaciers. Wondering if those landscapes still exist after the eruption last year. The warmest day of that summer, bare feet on the softest moss. The coldest water of a glacier spring, tasted so good.

Up in the North in sunset going to see birds nesting by the sea. Partly cloudy six years ago in three different places in Iceland, partly cloudy also today.

More calm winds to the other side of the world, please.

P.s. Thank you so much everyone for your precious words in the last post. I will keep the idea about making the patterns into textiles in my mind. Hearts to everyone!

AN EVENING HUM

2011-03-13T22:05:00.001+02:00

Small streams of melted snow. Thoughts to the other side of the world with humongous nature.

An evening hum for calmer waters.

(Details of different paintings.)

SERVING TEA

2011-03-07T23:48:00.002+02:00

If I could, I grew my own tea. It would be a small hill and on the other side raspberries would grow. Every day I would go there and collect fresh leaves just the amount for one day. Every day I would put the leaves to dry, just the amount for one day. Every day I would brew the tea, just the amount for one day. And that amount would be a bit less than one wheelbarrow, as it is very bumpy by my hill and the tea might spill as I would serve it to you. First morning tea, then noon tea, afternoon tea and then evening tea. And all the cups in between.

Good morning, good night!

(A painting from two years back.)

ABOUT WEATHER & FRIENDS FROM AFAR

2011-03-02T12:07:00.001+02:00

Dear You,

Never I guessed how many stories I would hear. Never I imagined all the weather reports that I have heard from you. The detailed descriptions of your surroundings, season or the day that you have had or the day that you are heading to. I love to keep on reading this book. It feels like traveling. A moment in rain, a moment in a beach, a moment in your baking kitchen. Thank you for being able to do so. Thank you with a curtsey!

Here the weather report is blue skied, brittle shadowed and long beamed. With walking and humming with birds. Breathing the new spring air and collecting freckles on nose.

This is a portrait that I painted for Claude Monique. The story of the painting is a Haitian proverb. Tipa Tipa ti swazo fe nish li. Bit by bit the tiny bird makes her nest.

Bit by bit I pour a cup of tea to all of you! Happy spring, happy March!

Hearts.

IN LIGHT

2011-02-27T10:30:00.000+02:00

During daytime. Warmth, present palette, a moment after afternoon nap (with piece of birthday licorice), the last sun rays and how they reach further corners of this home each day. Softness, movement, dreams and how the days are already so long.

Thank you dearly for your emails, comments and orders! Days hum so gently with you all.

A cup of tea and a few brush strokes to your Sunday and the starting week.

COLOR YELLOW, TUESDAY ADVENTURES

2011-02-22T10:37:00.000+02:00

It is the sound of water and the color changes of it that I miss during winters when everything is frozen. A rainbow, or a small sector of it, was seen before sunset on Friday above all the snow.

These photos are from Iceland from the years 2004 and 2005. The weekend and its smiling faces made me to travel back to the treasure island Iceland in my thoughts while listening stories from other places, from other views, from other adventurers. I think that the girl in these pictures is a bit smaller than the girl behind the keyboard, but the adventurer has been always the same. And the anticipator of the spring.

The yellow scarf was crocheted while waiting for the spring. The jacket was sewn during one weekend while being sure that the spring was already knocking on the door. Knocking on the door were also two of my traveler brothers from India and Germany when they always surprised me by calling that they will be behind my door in an hour or so. So they were and we had long walks to a mountain with a small waterfall or by the sea on black sand beach. The next mornings they always visited at my work in the kindergarten and the children were happy to have new horses to play with.

Morning break greetings with color green and yellow to your Tuesday.

PALETTE FOR THE WEEKEND

2011-02-18T14:11:00.001+02:00

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes!

Sunny weekend greetings from my painting table.

Hearts.

NUMBERS II

2011-02-16T22:58:00.002+02:00

Numbers I

The weather was exactly like today 28 years ago, told my mother on the phone.

In the morning I cut pecan nuts very fine, mixed them with soft dates and coconut flakes and pinch of salt. Covered a pan with it. Mixed frozen strawberries, half an avocado and coconut flakes and poured over the nut-crust. A circle of raspberries and a dotted circle of blueberries. To the freezer. Forgotten there.

To town. Today I took the bus. Walked around, had a coffee reading the newspaper. Bought olives and salad. Wished that olive trees grew here.

In the bus, grandmother called. Viiru was sleeping by her side while we talked. Grandfather read newspaper. The bus got packed of home-goers. First time that I took the bus home, the first stop after the first traffic lights by the lake.

Sliced, peeled, cut, chopped, sprouted a salad of cucumber, celery, green lentil sprouts, cantaloup melon, pea sprouts. Roasted seeds, olives. A pie of trumpet chanterelles, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, soya cream. Bread with olive paste.

Ate well with friends. Not before that I remembered the cake. It was frozen, but good with whipped oat cream. More than half left.

A piece for you with a cup of chamomile tea.

SECRET MESSAGES

2011-02-14T17:53:00.000+02:00

Today, how good it was to feel you being very cold (-25°C as bicycling to the town). Today, how good it was to feel you being very warm (tee shirt warm, in the afternoon by painting table as the sun shone through the windows). Today, how beautiful you painted the horizon just now during sunset.

Warm secret wishes!

WEEKEND GREETINGS

2011-02-12T11:54:00.000+02:00

Old sheets ripped to strips. Trousers, shirts, all white. Already with holes, grandmother sewed them. Jute thread and cotton jersey. Grandmother´s loom is built at home, mother starts to weave carpets for my home. Home here and there, everywhere I visited. But mostly there by the fire and forests.

Afternoon walk to the still sleeping summerhouse. Snow up to knees, sun peeking while setting down. Train brought back to the town for a painting weekend. Still a few stretches before mixing the first colors of the spring.

Thoughts of golden beams to your weekend.

GROWING TOWARDS SPRING

2011-02-09T18:21:00.001+02:00

Warm Wednesday evening greetings from a house with fire in the oven, sauna warming up and snowflakes floating behind windows. A small February trip to fields and forests.

At home, during the previous days, flowers grew towards the light, I kept painting. In between my bicycle took me through all the snow to see a few wonderful movies (1 & 2). During nights the spring came closer. Birds sang wild in the darkness of the mornings while fetching newspaper from the mail box.

Dear Jane included me to her Where we blog from series. Thank you so much Jane!

Thank you once again also for your emails, comments, orders and even letters of the last weeks! They do make my heart to dance.

February hearts.

SUMMER INSIDE AN ENVELOPE

2011-02-02T14:45:00.000+02:00

Hello dear February,

A little bit of sun, a little bit of clouds. Like a mixture of fresh grape fruit and some whipped (oat) cream, the sun beams loose some of their color when traveling through the clouds. But gives everything a new feeling. Color of a reflection on the snow or a color of a pine tree bark behind a frost layer. And then as a surprise a bit of bright blue spring sky, almost bitter in tone.

Tea moments of this house are now scented like an exotic summer day in a far-away garden. Dear Maria sent a surprise of a lavender scent. Every time my teapot gets hot from now on, smiles are flying to Australia. Thank you, danke schön liebe Maria! Tea and lavender, two favorite things.

An article about a mother who gets depressed after giving birth, with my pictures in the new issue of Kaksplus magazine. A cure: chocolate.

For me, green tea, lavender and dark chocolate in between pencil lines and brush strokes.

For you, hearts.

BEAMS OF A SKY LION

2011-01-30T11:23:00.001+02:00

Mr. Sun was shining on Friday in his well rested clothes of gold and glimmer. In the old neighborhood all were still asleep. Tiny steps on snow. Crows nodding their heads for a passerby. Secret meetings of theirs, secret language of theirs from another corner to another one. A pheasant and his tail. Only narrow paths to walk. Carefully not to wake up the neighborhood yet.

Today he is shining again. A sun day for another walk.

Warm thoughts, welcome February!

AFTERNOON WITH YOU

2011-01-27T15:43:00.002+02:00

A little bit of spring with you on a Thursday afternoon break. Tea and apple pie, remembering the sun rays of this morning. They do tickle.

Have a warm Thursday.

P.s. To you I send the scent of this flower.

SNOW FENCING EVERYTHING

2011-01-24T15:41:00.002+02:00

Weekend of walking and painting. Walking while colorful beetles are humming on the driveways. Fast beetles in herds, slow lonely ones. One, two, hundreds of all colors (but not so many blue ones). Different minds inside them, listening their rhythm of driving. Through headphones. While snow is crunching under steps. Ice under tires. Snow fences up to tights all over anchoring stone fences, wooden fences, iron fences. Borders of roads and yards, forests and stairs. Sky and earth.

Once again, thank you thousand times for your comments, emails and orders, they mean so much and always surprises me and my busy hands painting.

Happy new week, happy end of January!

Wooden Fence, a painting done in August 2009 in Frankfurt for Lifetime Collective.

ON A MOUNTAIN TOP AND DOWN IN SEA BOTTOM

2011-01-20T12:27:00.001+02:00

What about walking in mountains middle of mist and clouds with provisions (bread with onion, olives, pecan nuts, bell peppers and cucumber, juicy mangos) and then fording in sea in sunrise? I think that is a good plan for today. It is happily almost possible on my painting table.

More snowy but warm greetings,

Anna Emilia

(Both photos taken by S.)

WINTER POND HOUSE

2011-01-17T17:17:00.001+02:00

Hello dear Monday,

With fresh snow, silent winds. Clouds hanging above like laundry, not moving, not transparent. With new paths in the snow starts the week. Firewood smelling, smell of home.

The only eraser got lost. A winter pond house was sawed and nailed instead. Eraser was found. Three things started meanwhile. "Oh there you were." Under a pile of paper, a lost friend.

A letter arrived, with a beautiful necklace. Thank you Anna! It reminds of a necklace of childhood, with small glass beads. Jumping on the ground and shining, getting lost and unreachable like real stars. A small cosmos on the floor. But this one will be around my wrist, reminding of the real cosmos and the ones we still don´t know.

Thank you, thank you once again for your orders, they will be sent to you tomorrow!

Monday mint green tea magic. Frost meadows and mimics of yellow and red chested winter birds.

(Other things with paper scraps.)

RAIN OF GREEN

2011-01-13T12:14:00.002+02:00

Just a small reminder (to myself) that under all those puffy blankets of starry snow, green things do happen. Just a bit later.

Greetings from happy drawing hands,

♡

1. Reykjavík, 2007 (Happily walking home with a bagful of nice comics from the best library.)

2. Þórsmörk, 2004 (The hottest day of that summer, glaciers were melting so quickly and we were a bit worried if we get over a river.)

3. Hveragerði, 2004 (Walked as long as the hot and cold rivers were combining the water perfect to swim. Ate pie laying on the grass.)