Birds and their habitats

Some beautiful paintings were created last weekend at the gallery!

Workshop weekend

Yesterday three preschool groups from a nearby nursery school visited the exhibition. They were pretty excited to be in an art gallery. We had a workshop where everybody could do their own fantastic fairytale bird.
I had designed bird stencils and had them made in a laser cutting studio Laser-Riimikko. The children seemed to really enjoy painting and came up with some amazing artwork in less than half an hour. This weekend I'll have two more workshops with children aged 4-13 years.

Birds made by children of Impivaara nursery school

Have you seen these birds near you?

They all seem to have flown to Helsinki despite the approaching winter! You can meet them at Gallery Viileä punainen for this very special occasion. Only two weeks and then they will fly to a faraway island. I wish I could do the same!

Tiny birds

I made 24 very small paintings (7,5 x 8 cm) of birds, all with different characters and scenes. I tried to look for as much variety in colour and composition as I could in such a tiny space.

Story of the Golden Bird

A couple of more photos from Tuesday's opening party. 

Today is the fifth national Fairytale Day (Satupäivä) in Finland. I visited my son's nursery school and read them a story about a Golden Bird by Finnish storyteller and writer Raul Roine. Who would have guessed that I chose a fairytale about a bird! 

I illustrated the story on big sheets of paper and we talked about it. One boy was very confused as the prince was wearing breeches with knee socks instead of jeans or other 'normal' trousers. First time for everything!

Opening night

Yesterday evening was the opening party of my Lintuja! Birds! -exhibition. So many wonderful people came to the gallery. It was quite a task to have a chat with everybody. And now I'm stocked with chocolate for weeks, not to mention all the gorgeous flowers! Thank you!

 Here's my son doing a few spins and turns!

We arranged a corner for children to draw their own pictures.

Opening soon...

Yesterday I was putting up my exhibition at the gallery. Everything went smoothly, no broken glass or limbs. These birds got a lot of attention from school children walking past the gallery.
Today I'm just taking it easy before the evening and opening party. I will start packing my books and paints and sorting out artwork and papers. Next week I'll be moving to a studio near home. First ever studio outside my home, so I finally got my own 'walk to the office' in any weather. I'm planning to get a pair of snowshoes just in case.

Out of the oven

The birds are waiting for some paint before they get to be part of the exhibition next week. I made a little nest for the eggs from bits and pieces I found just outside our home. I got the stones from nice people of Kallahden Kivikerho, a club for people making things out of stones and silver. They happened to have exactly the sort of stones I needed, all washed and ready to be used!

Well, I'll show you the outcome next week, keep an eye on this blog!

Waiting for frames

Last week before the exhibition. I'm molding birds from Fimo Soft clay and painting them with acrylic paints. It's much harder to do than I thought, so all the birds will have slightly awkward body shape and proportions, crooked beaks, not to mention their legs...But it's fun.
These birds on the studio wall are waiting for their frames. I'm doing the framing part myself. I ordered the passe-partouts to be cut to right size. They'll be arriving tomorrow. So wish me luck with the framing and molding, I will need it!

Play That Funky Music...

...is a fantastic song to listen to with a cup of coffee on a Wednesday morning. So here's some groove for you too, just follow this funky bird and enjoy your day!

Monday morning

This little fellow is part of a still life painting. It's sitting on top of an old mustard jar that I found in a cupboard for all things old, forgotten and unused.