Exhibition opening action!

Yesterday evening was great fun with my exhibition opening at Annantalo Arts Centre. This exhibition includes gouache illustrations from all four "Elsa ja Lauri" picture books I've made with the author Kerttu Ruuska.

It was the Night of the Arts in Helsinki, so the whole city was packed with happenings, performances, exhibitions, events and late night shopping. I was lucky to have the opening event that same night at Children's Café situated inside Annantalo Arts Centre in the middle of the city centre.
We had prepared a "detective" assignment for the children. They had to find the missing items for Elsa's and Lauri's suitcase before they were due to leave for the airport (as they do in one of the books). The items were all in my paintings, and the search was intense! We gave away small prizes too. And of course, there was a possibility of making paper airplanes, my son's favourite hobby!

Summer greetings!

Rainy day sketching, searching for colour

Colour explosion, marker sketching for fun

My sketchbook bird enjoying life by the lake

Me and my sketchbook birds at Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art

Collage illustration for a new Finnish band Liljankukka

Artwork for the wonderful designer Gudrun Sjödén on her birthday

Me and my birds visited Stockholm and Yayoi Kusama's Exhibition. DOTS!!

I had a lovely holiday break, though the weather could have been a bit better... Back in the studio now. I had to spend a whole day yesterday tidying it up so that I'm ready to start making a new mess. And I had my birthday present, Wacom drawing tablet waiting for me (yay!). No I just need to figure out how to use it. That's going to be interesting...

When everything starts to grow

Here is a small illustration I did experimenting with all kinds of pens from felt tips to fine liners, gel pens and my son's magic pens. Shame that all the lovely neon bright colours don't show here! This is my prelude to spring :)

Masterclass by Svjetlan Junaković

It's been a while since my last update. Yesterday I finished a picture book that I have been working on this summer. I have also been enjoying summer holidays, although this summer has been one of the coldest in 50 years!

In June I had a chance to participate in a two-day illustration masterclass taught by Croatian artist, illustrator and sculptor Svjetlan Junaković. He is one of my favourite artists, so being taught by him was a privilege. He is such an inspiring, enthusiastic teacher and a charismatic person and storyteller.

From one portrait to another, magic!

We painted with mixed media, using acrylics, gouache and whatever pencils and crayons we had in hand. I really enjoyed this technique and had lots of fun with it. Th theme for the workshop was "Portraited in Illustration". We interpreted well-known fairytale characters with our own stories behind them.

The fish on the left was painted by Svjetlan on top of many different faces.

My Princess with the Pea. She's had enough of the fuss and decides to get rid of it.

Princess is feeding the Pea to Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf.

Friends!

The Night of the Arts in Helsinki

Here are some photos from the event we arranged at Gudrun Sjödén Store on the Night of the Arts in August. Every year, for one special evening, the city fills up with arts, music, performances, exhibition and activities in shops and galleries, parks and streets.
This year we arranged a spontaneous happening at one of my favourite designer Gudrun Sjödén's store, where I work from time to time with some wonderful, talented people. The night included Fado songs, live models in the window and improvised watercolour painting.

Detail from the randomly painted patterns

Me and Lumimarja, the live models

Siiri and Elsa enjoyed painting...

...and wanted a new white sheet to paint on!

Artwork by Siiri and Elsa

Royal Wednesday

Queen Elisabeth I

King Louis XIV

Today's favourite colours are crimson, vermilion and scarlet red. According to Wikipedia, scarlet is closer to red than vermilion that has a slightly more orange flavour. Crimson has a tiny bit of blue mixed in. These are my three top reds at the moment. Bright, cool pink gets the fourth place!

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!

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.

Work in progress

I'm working on my exhibition, a whole gallery full of BIRDS!