IN SHADOWS OF TREES

Under tree shadows, on forest paths, on city streets with Canadian jugglers, swimming and reading.

Helmenkantaja by Marja-Leena Mikkola is a sweet but adventurous story about a girl and her journey under summery shiny waters. Cover illustration by me, design by Päivi Puustinen, published by Otava in Finnish. So grateful to illustrate this cover for my own childhood favourite author.

Tickling sun beams!

----

Heippa!

"Klassikko tekijän suloinen mutta jännittävä saturomaani ammentaa taitavasti vanhasta suomalaisesta tarinaperinteestä.

Eräänä aamuna Reetta näkee kesäpaikan rannassa suuren pyrstön välähdyksen vedessä. Hän saa viimein varmistuksen sille minkä on aavistanut aina: veden pinnan alla on kokonainen toinen todellisuus salaisuuksineen, aarteineen ja vaaroineen.

Veden väki on ahdingossa. Joku on vienyt Veden emännän kauniin pienokaisen. Reetan on aika täyttää oma osuutensa ikivanhasta ennustuksesta."  Otava

Oman lapsuudensuosikkini Marja-Leena Mikkolan Helmenkantaja-kirja kuvittamallani kannella on ilmestynyt! Design: Päivi Puustinen, julkaisija: Otava.

Leppoisia hellepäiviä!

BLOOMING FEBRUARY, AN UPDATE

Hello February, the favourite of months. The pearl month, the winter month, the spring wind month. The skiing, the trip month. The month with celebration and sunshine. The month of big blankets of snow. The month of fire on the ice, outdoor coffee middle of the frozen lake. Helmikuu, February.

Welcome to the updated website with lots of new and older paintings and drawings, such many lovely projects from the last years! Warm thank you for walking with me on this journey! Wishing for many more to come, promising my best and doing all the possible. And: "Everything that can be thought about, is possible".

Scents of afternoon tea, Runeberg -raspberry cake, melting snow. Have a beautiful new week and month!

WHITENESS, LAST SHOP SHIPPING DAY THIS FRIDAY

On Saturday morning a wedge of 22 swans flew over the tree tops on a grey sky. Singing sadly on their way, telling a long and old story from the ancient times most probably. Open waters have disappeared, I waved good-bye to them on their way to South. I am soon on my way to North instead.

That is why this Friday, the 13th of December is the last day to order items from my small online shop before Christmas. The shop stays open, but all orders done after Friday will be shipped after 27th of December. Some of the posters are back, also some greeting cards.

Candle lights, lanterns everywhere as the days are so short. The darkness is hugging with so many warm moments.

A few floating snowflakes, a cup of cinnamon tea and a smile to your day!

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Heippa! Perjantaihin, 13.12.2013 mennessä tehdyt tilaukset pikkukaupastani ehtivät vielä joulupostiin! Perjantain jälkeen tehdyt tilaukset laitan postiin pyhien jälkeen.

Lämpöä ja kiliseviä kaneliteekuppeja!

SOUTH SPRING POSTCARDS II

Happy May!

Sunday with small raindrops after a Saturday with silent movies accompanied by real musicians. Black and white scenes of Sunrise, score played live by Giovanni Spinelli with one electronic guitar. The moments to get inspired. To see and hear how beautiful it can be.

More postcards from the Southern spring trip. Village passers-by, fruits of plum trees grew by looking at them. Smiling face, lighthouse hunting. The familiar patterned stripes of grandmother´s hands drying in the Southern sunset. In a fruit garden.

Mellow Sunday melodies!

SOUTH SPRING POSTCARDS I

White Storks nesting, apple trees blooming. Girls and boys bringing their songs and dances from house to house. Lighthouse trips. Sunshine and warmth. Curvy village roads. Curvy hill roads. Neighbours that give fresh spring onions and salads from their gardens. Bird songs, sheep, cows. Goats that leave early in the morning and come back late in the evening. Shepherds. Dogs barking. White Storks talking to each others, the neighbours told that the eggs have hatched already. The sparrows that live in the stork nest too and their little songs.

Suntanned, back home in the Northern spring from the Southern spring. 

Have sweet last days of April.

DREAMY SUMMER NIGHT VIEWS

The first spring rain, always forgetting how wonderful it smells and feels. How it is soft and silent, a happy one. How it feels to fall asleep with the melody of it. First spring rain, a mood of a kind. A mood for being comforted. 


The sound made me dreaming of the views that I saw from my homes some years ago, in Iceland. The bright summer night light. The open sky. Humming streets. Birch leaves in wind. Landings and taking offs of the domestic aircraft. An old woman with a scarf around her head, collecting all the bottles. Neighbor kid in a tiger mood.


What do you see from your window?


Weekend of biking in spring rain, balcony naps, reading, baking. Eating with friends. Listening to Faroese language. Summer plans with strawberry tastes and lime. Planting herbs.


Never setting sun, it feels almost like it already.


Have a good beginning for the new week!

RUSTLING EMERALD GREEN

Last summer I was visiting my brother for one week. While he was working, I was building his birthday gift, an evergreen tree, on his wall. Some days it was hot and I had my tea breaks on his balcony. Some days were very cold and I wore his huge woolen socks while painting.

Even it is hot today, I am wearing woolen socks, the best socks ever, knitted by my grandmother. She called me yesterday and told me that she had seen good looking strawberries by the square market. "Me too", I said. She had passed them, as she thought that the best ones come from my parent´s fields. "Me too", I said. Then she had seen some peas. "Me too!" She could not pass them. "Me neither," I said.

It is wonderful to read all your comments, thank you for saying hello and playing the game of give away! It is still open for one day, so is the shop.

Evening greetings,

see you tomorrow!

(The first two pictures taken by my brother.)