WILD PEONIES, A PRINT, ONLINE SHOP UPDATE

Some snowflakes are floating in sunshine and the lake was a little bit frozen from the shore this morning. Waking up with candle light, pouring an extra cup of tea, watching as jackdaws visit the rowan tree, berry by berry. Welcome winter!

Wild Peonies, for the arriving dim times, to brighten up a little. An A3-sized poster available now in my small online shop.

Pink, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, small details collected from my late summer walks on my soft watercolour paper.

I Dream, a few detail photos added.

The shop is updated with more posters and books, for the winter's sake. The first ten orderers receive an extra winter greeting card as a thank you for the coming celebrations.

  ♥  ♥  ♥

I´m over the Moon because of this week's newspaper article about the book that has a cover with my illustration. So rarely the book cover illustrator is mentioned, but this time the work was seen. And liked. Thank you!

Red-cheeked winter greetings!

…………………

Kauniita sanoja Helsingin Sanomissa Marja-Leena Mikkolan Helmenkantaja-kirjasta ja sen kannesta. Hurjasti kiitos!

AND THEN THE WINTER CAME

Winter finally arrived. Frost sharply biting nose and cheeks, colouring them red. After snow the sun came. So orange, shining still so low. The sky so blue. 

The snow making a new melody and rhythm. Balcony windows frozen, today I drew a small window to the frozen garden.

A small book published last year with poems by Anna-Mari Kaskinen and my illustrations.

Moonshines, starry nights!

——

Heippa! Vuoden lopulla julkaistiin Anna-Mari Kaskisen runokirja kuvituksillani, Lohdutuksen polulla.

Kuutamoita ja tähtösiä!

LITTLE WINTERY SUNSHINES

So golden the light when it appears.

So sweet the little people on the covers of Babee Magazine of Korea. With my paintings on the backgrounds. (14th anniversary issue of October with Forest Cuckoo, November issue with Under Ice detail and September issue with In Meadows.)

It has been some stormy nights, and a few rainy days, but mainly the weather is a non-weather. All stays silent and grey. The peeks of sun today here are very shy, but still they colour everything they reach to colour gold. For a little moment.

The weather has been somewhere else. Thinking how much is lost in the Philippines.

Little smiles!

MY MOTHER, MINUN ÄITINI, MAMMA MÍN

Many flowers to my mother and grandmothers. A little bit late.

Happy Mother's Day! 

♥

P.s. Earlier: 2012, 2011, 2010

F-MINOR

Melodies of the rain and wind. Seagull songs on the small home lake. First peeks of the colour green. Sand storm on the spring streets, workers cleaning hard the sand and gravel away. Two painting tables. Umbrella walks and rubber boots.

Packing a little suitcase and going for a little spring trip.

Beautiful, unusual views from my old hometown.

Studio Krishka made a small interview with me.

Calming music for your weekend.

Be well! 

♥

TIPTOEING

The spring is on its tiptoes. Full moon. Ice crackling under steps. The city filled with daffodils.

Castles, knights, towers, a forest dressing room and more tiptoeing for a brochure for the magical ballet Raymonda in a huge opera house Teatro alla Scala in Milano. 

Did you ever dance ballet? For a while I was a little ballerina in a sea turquoise dress. Still when I can smell one specific soap, my ballet teacher comes to my mind and my posture gets a little bit straighter. Her red long hair while dancing, were wild.

Blue-skied greetings!

IN GARDENS, ON WAVES, AND IN FOREST PATHS

Darling friends, I have the pleasure to invite you to my small exhibition about posters made of my paintings to a lovely boutique Design Boulevard here in Tampere. From the 18th of February until the 16th of March, 2013. Welcome! 

Thank you so much sweet Karita for this possibility!

Have a beautiful Valentine's Day! Thank you all friends near and far for the moments together (in Finland Valentine's Day is celebrated more as a day for friendship)!

.....

Rakkaat ystävät, tervetuloa pieneen näyttelyyni Tampereen Design Boulevardille, jossa on esillä ja myynnissä maalauksistani tehtyjä julisteita. 18.2.-16.3.2013. Tervetuloa!

Kiitos suloinen Karita!

Lempeää ystävänpäivää ja kiitos kaikille ystäville lähellä ja kaukana yhteisistä hetkistä!

(Exhibition flyer design by Karita.)

SUNDAY SWIMMINGS

In the pool, while swimming, the sun rays were glimmering. Outside snow was sparkling. The sun warmed through windows and the water was turquoise.

Surprise visitors from behind a sea, beautiful music and long breakfasts. Many smiles.

Happy February! Helmikuu, Pearl Month. Helmikuu helistää, February rattles. February is the coldest month in Finland. Pearls appear on tree branches as the sun starts to shine more, it warms and melts the snow to raindrops and the evening cold freezes them again. Ice pearls are hanging on all tree branches.

Have a sweet beginning for the new week!

STORY OF A PORTRAIT

It has been such a long mild autumn taking space from the winter, even the first snow already was here and left as silently as it came in one night. The lake is reflecting the morning colour of the sky, today some pale grey with little bumps of waves. A little wind waving the last rowen berries. Everyday routine, four to six Common Pheasants walking sneakingly around behind windows, usually queuing behind each others. From bush to bush, a nap in between under pine trees.

Last night sweet Freya sent me a story about her boyfriend´s birthday gift. It was the portrait of the two of them that I painted last month. The story made me so happy, including some coincidences in the middle of Amsterdam, but also a lot of warm feelings. Thank you Freya for telling the story and for the photo!

A hint of light blue on the sky, bicycle ride greetings!

(The second image is by Freya.)

PINE NEEDLES UNDER YOUR SHOE

Wind singing in a chimney in the East Finland. Small early winter storm. Heaps of melting snow here and there, the ground has the same colours as the wool on my knitting needles, small earthy dots on natural white. Fire crackling.

Beavers are trying to build their home to one of the creeks close to the surrounding forests and fields. Such delicate work of branches, moss and clay.

Thank you to Design*Sponge for featuring my new items in my small online shop!

Thank you also to everyone of you for writing to me, for your orders and kind words! So happy.

The two pictures above are small details of a painting that I painted not that long ago of a sweet couple. Smiling greetings to London!

Happy new week, calm moments and first scents of hot apple juice with cinnamon!

AFTERNOON BREAK GREETINGS

Milky sky and yellow leaves. The air is standing, is it the calmness before rain´s hum. Paper piles and someone walking on the roof. Whistling a happy melody in the staircase while hammering. Thank you for the new roof you happy workers!

There might be something almost finished on my floor. Is it really two years already. In those two fitted a lot of things, forgotten piles and many other paintings.

New brush strokes and black narrow lines, cinnamon buns and dreams of the small train trip tomorrow. 

Have a calm weekend, stay warm!

Happy birthday Mom ♥ 

FIRST SILVER FROST

First glittering frost over roofs and grass early this morning. Many beautiful starry nights to wonder what are there behind our stars. Trying to learn new constellations. Hundreds of years ago, how did it feel to sail in the sea and navigate towards the North Star, to home.

Greetings from my painting table. A sketch from the summer and a detail of a painting to it. Many orders packed too, thank you so much! They will be sent today.

Have a warm and calm weekend!

GREETINGS FROM A PAINTING TABLE

Hello from my painting table. 

Turquoise, clover red, puffy dandelion white and forests of greens are filling this table. A small clinging sound as the brush is cleaned in an empty jam jar and comforting melodies of boiling water, as a teapot is filled. Today, Sakura green tea and adventures of drawing small wooden houses. The colder air of autumn makes this spot at home even more precious.

Blossom Sailing. A small boat ready for an afternoon trip on a lake. Sun glimmering, nearby meadow sending greetings as flying leaves and flowers. Water in the lake is perfect for a small swim. 

Sweet Kate from BSDA asked me to join her art show of original artworks. There are six pieces for sale for six weeks. You can find all the works here with some more pictures. The two paintings in this post are included. There is also a small interview. You can find BSDA also here. Hopefully you enjoy them!

Wild Strawberries. Clovers, Forget-Me-Nots and Cow Vetches are covering small white flowers of wild strawberries on a clearing. Still need to wait a bit for the sun-kissed, red-cheeked berries to come.

All the works are from this year and signed and sent by me from Finland. On soft cotton paper, by watercolors and some small drops of white acrylic paint. With a lot of love, many long walks and thoughts and many pots of tea.

Thank you so much Kate for this opportunity!

Today is one of those mornings when the small lake behind my window is completely silent and reflects the same colors and forms than above the horizon. Pine trees, trees of a city garden, a corner of a field. Towers of this city. A perfect beginning for new stories to happen. A perfect morning for anything.

Warm smiles and happy last days of August! Thank yo so much for your visits and kind words!

GARDEN OF A MOON GAZER

It makes to feel so small sometimes when thinking as big thoughts as the distances between the Sun and our beautiful planet Earth. And that, here very early tomorrow morning, we see Venus passing in between these two. 


How things could happen as they are now, that we have here a summer, in Sydney it is autumn. That we all can jump and we all drop down to the ground, no one getting lost in to the space. That there are such things as dark winter nights and nightless Northern summer nights. And how the Moon is such a good companion, always following us, showing his face to us so secretly. Full or half, a crescent. Sometimes hiding. That we see the Venus as a small black dot in front of the sun. Distances that are too long to think.


A garden for a night sky watcher, and shooting star finder. Garden for night time scents and blue flowers. A small tent hut also for a gazer of the transit of Venus. Garden of A Moon Gazer available as an original painting from me and as different sized prints from L’Affiche Moderne. Thank you so much Mélanie for this opportunity! 


Is it possible to see the journey of Venus from your place? Will you see it? (Please, remember to protect your eyes!) Let´s see if the weather is fine here tomorrow morning. Today it shines through puffy sheep-formed clouds.


Greetings to Venus, to Moon and to you.

TO MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHERS

Leaves in every tree are growing so fast. The morning and the evening sizes grow from a little finger to thumb size. The spring rain caresses. Last night they grew also in my dream, to sizes of mountains. The rain made some leaves to grow also here in the blog (do you see them?) and also to the small online shop.


Mother's Day cards on my table. Tomorrow a small train trip with a flower bouquet. Maybe the first swim after the winter ice has gone from the summer house lake.


Happy Mother's Day on Sunday to all beloved mothers! 


(Mother's Day cards previously, 1 & 2.)

ON BRANCHES

There are birds, squirrels, wind and fog. On branches, small green beginnings of a new summer as buds. Raindrops hanging, with the dinner scent of neighbors baking from an open window. Curling. Cones, a lost mitten, best of all is lichen. Branches holding many things. 


A family tree and its branches growing. Editorial illustrations about traditions, and if they should be passed or not to the next generation. For Kaksplus magazine (issue 5/2012). (The handwritten text is a Finnish saying. Not that bad that there is not something good in it too.)


A few days still to play along with the giveaway. It has become such a beautiful chapter to read and appreciate everything that you have written.


The ice has melt from the small lake, the seagulls sing their evening songs. Small waves of a grey cloudy day. Time for a late dinner, a big plate of spring salad.


Bon appétit! 

LINNEA PATH, A GIVEAWAY

There have been days to use an umbrella, a day when things get lost, a day when those favorite things are found again, appreciated even more. A day to use two layers of long sleeves. Days of crane, swan, goose wedges on blue sky. On cloud-grey sky. Small birds that hide under pine branches from the rain. During the weekend the first outdoor coffees will be drank in the harbor.

Today, while painting, a mellow and comforting sound of a lady is speaking me some foreign language. Will I learn some too? Languages are like music and some of them would be nice to keep unknown that the melodies of them never fade away. One of the things that I enjoy the most.

What kind of things you have appreciated lately? What do you enjoy in these moments of April? With your answer and your email address you can play along. For one of you this small painting Linnea Path is sent. Open till Sunday evening, Finnish time, 29th of April. This is my small way to thank you for being here. You are all so kind.

Happy and calm outdoor weekend!

ISLAND

A long weekend at my parents with baking (peach and lemon pie), reading and watching squirrels on the yard. Sauna in the summerhouse smelled like summer already. Crocuses and anemones slowly rising, turning their heads towards the sun. Daylight lasts so long, the full moon was like an orange of an exotic sky.

The first Scandinavian illustration festival, Helsinki Illustration Festival 2012, from 13th to 15th of April in Designmuseo. A few of my paintings can be seen there. Full program here.

Island painting for the new album by Holmes. 13th of April Burning Bridges will be released, you can find it here.

Tomorrow a small train trip back to home.

Afternoon coffee time greetings (with piece of that peach and lemon pie) from Eastern Finland!

...

Heippa!

Pohjoismaiden ensimmäinen kuvitusfestivaali, Kuvita! Helsinki Illustration Festival 2012, 13-15.4. Designmuseossa. Siellä on esillä muutama maalaukseni. Koko ohjelma löytyy täältä.

APRIL STORM

Somewhere the spring went. And sent us a greeting of a very big cloud of snow. Momentarily feeling lost on the way to the post office. Sharp flakes from every direction. The path on the way back was already blown away.

The evening watching more snow flakes arriving. Painting with the strongest girl in the world. Sharp papers.

Today the snow is dropping from the roof in size of giants, the sun shines. Will more snow arrive?

April snowy greetings.

UNPLANNED WINTER BOUQUET

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)