J o u t o m a a

Spring works are coming! :)

2010-03-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I thought that I should say something in English too :) I have posted only in Finnish lately, I have a Finnish blog here. So..I feel so lucky because I have a studio AND my own little shop now. Old buildings are somehow just so relaxing, and it's a great pleasure to go to work every day. Christmas time in the shop was very busy, and great fun! :) I am surprised and grateful that so many people have found my shop already, and many of them have visited many times already :)

I have been very busy with my spring collection. I have some works ready already, like these:

This is "Candy Day" (Karkkipäivä):) I don't if you have ever heard of candy day, but it is common in Finland that children have candy day once a week, usually it's saturday. Then you can eat (huge amounts of) candy! :) This little fox has such a huge lollipop, that he can share it with friends :) Candy day is, or was, recomended because it is not so good for you teeth, or for your health in general, to eat candy every day. I think that it's a fun and sort of nostalgic tradition, and we have also candy day with our girls :)

This one is "Guardian Angel of The Frog Prince" (Sammakkoprinssin suojelusenkeli). Many people have asked for a frog card, and here it is! :) You can tell that this frog has some kind of a secret, he smiles like he has one! :) The little guardian angel is a little uppset, because she couldn't protect him, and now he is a frog. But the frog prince doesn't mind, because he knows that although he may seem like a frog, inside of him are the most beautiful things!

I will be posting the new works in Flickr, here, when I get them ready (and when I have the courage to do so! :) New works will be available as postcards and prints in about two months.

I try to write more often in here also from now on! I hope that we see again soon! :)

News!

2009-09-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have finally decided the opening date of my store! It's going to be Monday, October 26,2009.So five weeks to go and a million things to do! I was at the local Aura Street Market on weekend and I gave these flyers to everybody. Yeah, it's in Finnish but you might find someone familiar from the list of artists and artisans whose work I will carry :)The market was a succesfull one and now I am really tired but extremly happy for all the wonderful feedback and comments my customers gave me! It's so great and so important to hear that the works that are important to you can be special for others too. Thank you so much! :)

Me and one of my little helpers :)

I have started a blog in Finnish too, called joutomaassa. It's dedicated to things that happen in and around my shop :)Tervetuloa!

Doing summer things

2009-07-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

I think that in summer you have to do at least this: Be near water as often you can, eat so much strawberries you possibly can, and see as much art you possibly can . And do all that together with your family. We did all that on our small vacation, here are some pictures

Being together :)

Seeing art :) Upper pictures piece is by Eero Hiironen, lower Pekka Parviainen

Eating strawberries and relaxing

Being near water, and feeding ducks that's a must too :)

Now I am back to work again, winter collection has been printed, and I should get the cards today, yay!

My first christmas elf :)

2009-07-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have done several christmas/winter card illustrations before these new, but never real elfs. Just lots of animals with red hats :) Now I found these sweet faces, and elfs came alive :) These elfs are of a very small variaty, I think. This little one is helping with christmas decorating :)

I hope you like him!

Being mermaid... :)

2009-07-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

This one I really enjoyed doing! It's, quite simply, called ' The Mermaid' .I really like the kitschy souvenir -look it has..it is so tacky it starts to be adorable :D This came somehow straight from my heart, so I don't want to explain it too much..usually I really enjoy writing about my thoughts about my works, but this one is too close to me I think :) It is from the new series I have started, called self-images.

New postcards from these illustrations will be available in my Etsy shop in August-September.

Also a better picture of 'The Queen of Snow' :)

My work in NY, Yay! :)

2009-07-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

I have great news! My prints are now available in New York! At the very cool Urban Alchemist! How cool is that!! :) More information here: http://nymag.com/listings/stores/urban-alchemist/ So if you are anywhere near Brooklyn, please go and check it out :) I have many retailers in Finland and a few in Japan but NY...never really thought that this could happen :D

I have been busy here, working and visiting family. New works are coming together. Here is one of them called 'The Snow Queen' from the new series called 'Self-images'. This is a detail, and a not so good picture of it :) I like the branch-like-thing border, which is done with doily :)

I can feel a new series coming :)

2009-07-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy working with new illustrations. And in the middle of christmas cards I found a new path I can follow, a new series of works that feels like an unexpected gift. The works that will be coming... I have made them more to myself than the recent works I have done, and they might not be as 'commercial' as my more cute stuf :) but at the moment they feel very important, something I HAVE to do. And I do think that other people might find themselves from these pictures too, so I have decided to make postcards out of them. Prints may follow too :) I will keep the pictures to myself for a while stil, but I can give you a glimps of my working table and of one work in progress. As you can see it involves doily, among other things :)

I think that there will be two cards from this series available in fall, I have to leave some room for the Christmas cards too :) but this subject needs much more work, so I am sure that the series will be growing :) I am so happy for this great working drive I have at the moment, knock on wood :) It feels so good after a VERY difficult spring. Have you ever had a time when everything you try, fails? I felt like that, and it was terrible!! Luckily I managed to get over that somehow and managed to believe in myself again. I think that this series came from those experiences. The name of the series is 'Self-images' ('Minäkuvia)

In our kitchen

2009-06-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Because the lack of proper working place for me at the moment, I am doing my work on our kitchen table...it's a good thing that the weather is so good, we can enjoy our meals in garden :) Between packing orders and designing new chrismas cards I did a whole lot of wall stareing :D

And this is how they look:

The numbers are a fleamarket find. Great find, I payed only 2€ for all of them!!(thats about $2.80) They have been up there a few years now. In the old window frame is a picture of Finnish old time movie stars: Eino Kaipainen and Ansa Ikonen, clipped from an old magazine cover. I loved old Finnish black and white -movies when I was a little girl, oh so romantic :)

This is our medicine cabinet, old one that my father-in-law has done, and I renewed it a little :) On top of it are also some fleamarket finds.

On top here is my first attempt with a latch hook, some rags and burlap...I made it about 10 years ago, and it was great fun! Underneath it an other fleamarket find. Well these were the nice parts :), now I have to get back to work, see you!

First one, Yay!!

2009-06-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Jippii!! So glad that the first new christmas card original is out of the oven :) Now I'm not that stressed out anymore, blank canvas syndrome is defeated, and the next ones will come easily (It's good to live in hope :)

There is this couple..the "work name" is 'Exciting Surprises'...I think that they have been together for fifty years or so, and for the last 30 years she has always got a new nightgown and he has always got a new pair of long underpants :D But they LOVE each other so it always feels like a exciting surprise, because that's what christmas is about, isn't it? Love and exciting surprises, and most of all LOVE.

I sort of like this :), hope that you like it too!

Cooking up colors

2009-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

I love using tea in my works, the color goes great with everything. And extremly well with deep cadmium red and white, witch makes it perfect for christmas cards. And of course tea brings the vintage feeling too. Good way to add vintage is a wash of tea over too bight colors :)

There will also be polka dots, in my new christmas cards...yes stil :) ..I am not able to let them go..and wallpaper pattern too.. a good reason for that wallpaper pattern I use over and over again: It brings animals instantly to human enviroment, and adds whimsy :)

The summer has come also in Finland, really hot day today. But it felt surprisingly good to be working with new collages today. When the flow comes, everything else seems to disappear, even a hot summer day :)

Who are you little bug?

2009-06-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

I really like bugs of all kinds, caterpillars and beetles are my favourites. I even used to have a caterpillar as a pet when I was a little girl :) I can even live with spiders. I think that every single living thing should be appriciated as they are, as wonders. So who are you gorgeous little one?I looked him up on a book of mine and I think that he is Miris striatus "Dandy bug" Keikarilude in Finnish (I also love their names! :) He lives on trees, like in our apple tree here :), and is rare in southern Finland. Yay, I spotted a rarity!

Midsummer fun

2009-06-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

We celebrated midsummer quite in the traditional Finnish way: at a summer cottage, in freezing and rainy weather :). It included going to sauna, swimming (too cold for me though :) and eating grilled food. And of course playing outdoor games, like 'Mölkky' (in the pic) Rules are that you throw a wooden block and try to hit these with numbers and you aim to get 50 points (okay that was the short version... :) I am really bad at this, as in all outdoor games that require some motoric skills :) I am really not a outdoor type of person at all! But my husband is, and he would like to go hiking and stuff like that...he has trained me a little bit over the years, and last summer I slept 3 weeks IN A TENT! Can hardly believe it myself :) Actually it WAS fun, and maybe we are going camping this year also :)

All back together again

2009-06-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

My husband and our two daughters were visiting grandparents for a couple of days, but now they are back home again, yay! I enjoy very much being alone too, but being alone TOO long don't suit me, infact it brings out the worst in me :) I eat too much chocolate, stay up too late, get way too emotional and worried about everything, and spend way too much time just day dreaming. I need to have someone to kick my but from time to time! :)

So to celebrate this happy home coming I decided to introduce them to you

Here we are in co-ordinated colors :D This is SUCH a rare occasion that the pic dates back to 2005...usually we run around in T-shirts that have been washed way too many times :D

My husband (Juha) is holding our younger daughter ( Temppu from now on, her nickname :) born 2004 and on my left our older daughter (Raksu, her nickname, born 2000)

And here we are again, last summer..now in co-ordinated facial expressions, sort of... :D

We visit this amusement park every year, and have decided to take this same kind of picture every time :) Fun way to see how we have changed, children keep growing up but me and Juha just stay as childish, I hope :D

We are celebrating midsummer tomorrow, I will spend my time away from the computer, but I'll be back soon enough, see you then!

Plans and peonies

2009-06-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have been planning and sketching christmas cards today, and thinking so hard that my brains where coming out of my ears :) so I stepped outside to take a deep breath and a picture of these peonies

Peonies are my all time favourites. My grandmother used to have them in her garden, and I have loved them since. It's amazing that such beautiful plants need so little, they are so good of taking care of themselves! Maybe it's the clayish ground around here that they prefere.

But now I have to get back to work! See you!

This is my work :)

2009-06-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

I have been calling my retail customers, signing prints, packing orders...

and gessoing plywood panels, that I use as backround for my collages...

This is what I love about my work! I can do so many things that I like: connecting with people, selling and creating. Downsides are that I'm doing it all by myself (and on my kitchen table) :D Luckily I have a darling husband that supports me always and helps where ever he can.

I hope that you have/had a great working day today (or holiday-day, if you are so lucky :)

Switching to Christmas mode

2009-06-15T07:48:00.001-07:00

I am hoping that these fabulous ornaments are helping to get me in christmas mood. Dear Sandy sent them to me with my order, and I love them! Sorry about my awful pic that doesn't do them justice! Sandy is such a talented artist, you should take a look at her shop http://sandymastroni.etsy.com/

So, I should be making christmas cards...they are a little challenging you know, there should be something familiar and traditional christmas thing in the picture, but with a fresh approach..hmm :) I have some ideas, but I would love to hear from you, what would you love to see in a christmas card?

Book-keeping..blaah :)

2009-06-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

I have done some book-keeping today. Unfortunately me and calculating just don't belong together :) But I do enjoy making notes. When I was a little girl I used to watch ski jumping with my father, and I made notes of everybodies scores :) Feels so good to see something marked on paper..neatly in rows..maybe there lives a little book keeper inside me anyway! :) And these folders make calculating almost art related :)

2009-06-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is the door in to my new studio/shop to be! I will be moving there as soon as I can, and I can hardly wait, but first there is a lot to do, like new christmas cards :) And then I might even have time for a little summer holiday. But then..time to move in, YIPPEE!! We have just cleaned the space up and bought some shelves and tables. And there will be LOTS of tables: one for "The office" one for packing things, and three (yes 3 :) for creating. We found some good ones from the recycling center :) I will show you some inside pictures when I have decent ones :)

Here we go :)

2009-06-13T02:27:00.000-07:00

My very first post, scary and fun :) little bit like whispering to the dark: waiting for someone to answer and scared that someone would! I have wanted to start a blog for a long time, and now I have so exciting news, that I felt that this is the time to do it, so...

I HAVE RENTED A LITTLE WORKROOM!!

This is so great! I have had my workroom/stock/office at our home, and it was driving everybody grazy :) cardboard boxes, cards,paints and papers all over the place, and me "working" and "doing homework" at the same time. It is going to be so nice to have a actual working place where you can go to, and leave too (hopefully)

I am so excited!!