Song about a leggy man

Today I've been working on this illustration for a song about a leggy man and his bowlegged wife ("Pitkäsäärinen" in Finnish). What an earworm it is! The song comes with step by step illustrations on how to play it with a friend. It's quite an addictive game. I find it hard to concentrate on drawing when the song is in my head and my arms and hands want move about. I just want to get it right, that's all!

Turnip thieves

These little buggers are stealing all the turnips! I keep on working on the music book project...three weeks till deadline. I dare not count how many illustrations I still need to do. But I'm enjoying this almost meditative feeling of painting with thick gouache and listening to Radio Helsinki and music by my favourite artists and bands. When I look out of the window the world is white, grey and brown. So bring on the colours!

Illustrations for children's music and play

Here's something I'm working on at the moment. It's a book for young children and their families to pass the time when travelling in a car, on a plane, train etc. The book comes with a music CD. Anyway, it will keep me busy for a while and its' a lot of fun! More about it later...

Still Life with Birds

I made these three paintings for my exhibition. They were based on the objects I found from our family's summer home in Johannislund, Kiikala and things I had photographed at Pettson & Findus' World in Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm.

The three 'Still Life with Birds' -paintings will be printed into postcards and sold by Putinki Oy. The original artwork has been cleverly photoshopped to be standard postcard size. I'm looking forward to seeing them!

 

The glass bottle (with text "Punssia", "Punch") in Still Life II was actually made in Johannislund Glass Factory which operated from 1813 till 1960.

My father's old study lamp when he was a young boy. 

The old mustard jar I found hidden in a cupboard.  

From Pettson's workshop.

 

Findus & Pettson kitchen art!

Yes, it's that tiny drawer in the middle.

Christmas decorations

Next weekend I'll be selling these special Christmas tree decorations at illustrators' own Christmas Market in Kruununhaka, Helsinki. The wooden birds are based on my dancing birds in the "Pas de deux"-paintings. This small, one-off edition of unique bird decorations is for sale along with acrylic, hand-painted snowflakes designed by my partner Jussi. We are impressed by Laser-Riimikko's careful work in cutting the detailed shapes.
Also original illustrations, signed prints and lots of lovely things by me and other talented Finnish illustrators for sale this weekend only!

Which hat would you choose?

Mysterious 'incognito' style?

Balancing in black and white?

A really grand headwear with a lovely pattern?

Fashionable brimmed hat with real feathers?

Elegant hat for a good posture and grace?

A choice for those who love stripes and shade?

Picture Book Day

Yesterday I participated in a one-day conference organised by Pro Lastenkirjallisuus http://www.lastenkirjallisuustalo.fi/, an association that works towards getting a proper house for children's literature and illustration in Helsinki. The association is only two years old, and hopefully the dream of a house full of children's books, workshops, illustrations on walls and all the wonderful things related to children's books will come true in the near future. Similar buildings can be found elsewhere in Europe, so fingers crossed that it can happen here too, and soon!

The seminar was very inspiring, with many excellent guest speakers from librarians and teachers to illustrators and children's book authors, translators etc.. I will be writing an article about the conference for 1/2013 issue of Kuvittaja, the quarterly journal about illustration (published by Kuvittajat, the Association of Finnish Illustrators). I'm already looking forward to the next picture book day, as do these two friends above :)

New studio!

This photo is from my old home studio. I moved a couple of weeks ago to an office building near home. Now for the first time ever I have a work space outside my own home, and it's fantastic! No washing up to do, no bed to take a creative afternoon nap, but a nice restaurant to have a proper lunch, a morning walk to the 'office' and so on. I couldn't be happier. This is what I needed!
The room looks pretty much the same as it did at home, and I get company from my partner as he moves in the room next to mine in December. Good times!

Back to the drawing board

Egg Walk

Ok, it's time to get cracking with all sorts of little projects. The Birds! -exhibition finished yesterday and everything went really well. Now some of my birds will continue to live their lives in someone else's homes. That's a nice feeling. I have plans for my birds in the future, but first I need to catch up with other things and get organised!

Dancing in the dark

November and winter are here again and I feel like a hedgehog needing to hibernate until next spring... Suddenly I seem to need two hours more sleep every day with chocolate breakfast, lunch and dinner. But dancing is always a great way to wake me up. So I promise myself that here in my new studio (finally!) I will get up and dance every time radio plays something groovy. I hope I'll get some work done in between!