Watercolour Works

I'm sorry to make such a short posting today. I'm trying to shoo away a flu that found me this week. Besides resting I have actually painted a lot with watercolours. They are a meditative medium for me. :)

Harmillisesti tämäkin julkaisu tulee olemaan lyhyt, koska yritän taltuttaa flunssaa. Tällä viikolla, levon ohessa, olen nauttinut vesivärien hiljaisesta soljunnasta. :) Meditatiivista, vaikka paperi on ala-arvoista. Jospa taidetarvikeliikkeeseen pääsisi jo ensi viikolla...

Hi!

Hi again!
I have been away quite a while, almost two months! It has been a struggle to get all the necessary things in order in my life. Finally I have moved all my belongings to a new place and cleared my way for a better life.

Hei vaan! Aikaa on kulunut lähes kaksi kuukauttaedellisestä julkaisustani, mutta tauon olen käyttänyt hyvin. Pääsin muuttamaan muutama viikko takaperin, ja pari tiukkaa puristusta tavaroiden siirto vaati. Omassa sopessa on ollut hyvä pohtia elämän virtauksia, mitä vaatia itseltään ja miksi. Näin kaamoksen aikaan elämän järjestely tuntuu tavallista vaativammalta. Pienet valonpilkahdukset ovat jotenkin tosi merkityksellisiä.

Järjestin itselleni aikaa toissaviikolla, vaikka muuton viimeinen puristus oli tekemättä. Ehkä rentouttavinta, mitä yöunia lyhentäneen hässäkän keskellä voi tehdä, on vapauttaa itsensä muutamaksi tunniksi maalaamaan. :) Alla oleva työ syntyi Päivin Intuitiivisen maalauksen kursilla. Tekniikka oli helppo oppia, ja se ei vaatinut sellaista alkusuunnittelua, johon saatan ajoittain jäädä jumiin. Intuitiivisuus jäi mieleen soljuvana työmenetelmänä. Kiitos rauhoittavasta ilta-kurssista, Päivi!

Above is a work from an intuitive painting workshop held by Päivi from Peony and Parakeet. That really relaxed my mind among this consuming moving process. I guess a break with wtercolours is something I could use more regularly. :) Almost like meditation!

For now, I seek some time for myself. I certainly feel like my self-expression is starting to open, so I'll look forward to publish some new stuff here :)
Great to be back! XXX

A Peek of Colourful Fairies

Hi again! As you might have noticed, I'm have taken a summer break from blogging and craft projects. But not entirely! Here's some technique experiments from June - I took my oil pastels out and sketched a couple of fairies.

With oil pastels I also used a lot of watercolour, and a bit of sparkling mists! This combination is all about colours, so I left black out completely.

Heippa taas! Olen ottanut vähän "omaa lomaa" askartelusta ja bloggaamisesta tänä kesänä. Ajattelin kuitenkin rikkoa hiljaisuuden tällä keijuprojektillani. :) Värikkäät kokeilut syntyivät öljypastelleilla luonnostellen ja vesiväreillä ja misteillä täydentäen. Musta väri oli helppo jättää pois, ja eivätpä nämä työt sitä kaipaakaan.

Kun kesä ja helteet vielä jatkuvat, jatkan minäkin vielä hiljaiseloa tovin, kaikenlaista tekemistä kun riittää. Mukavaa elokuuta jokaiselle! :-)

/ Thanks for reading this! I'll continue blogging little less frequently - got still a lot of summer things to do. Hope you'll have a great August! xx

Art Journaling - Third Page

The third page of my art journal looks quite finished!
/ Kolmas sivu tämänvuotisessa art journalissani on kovin valmiin näköinen. :)

I'm glad the watercolour splashes on the background are still somewhat visible. Completed the page with some glimmer mist and stamping with perfect medium and perfect pearls.
/Taustan vesiväritäplitys ei onneksi kadonnut kokonaan viimeistelyssä. Leimailin kuvioita perfect mediumilla ja mineraalijauheella, ja sumuttelin kimallesumutteella nuo tekstikorostukset.

A Birthday Surprise From Finland

Recently I sent a surprise present for my close friend who lives abroad. It's not so long ago when she left there but knowing she misses Finland gave me an idea how to cheer her up.
/ Hiljattain lähetin ylläripaketin pitkäaikaiselle ystävälleni, joka asuu ulkomailla. Hän ei ole asunut vielä pitkään siellä, mutta kaipaa kotimaataan. Aiheesta keskustellessamme sain ajatuksen, kuinka lähettää palan Suomea synttärilahjaksi.

The solution was a talented acquaintance of mine. She makes cute and personal jewellery which I have bought few for myself, like my favourite owl earrings. :) There are also cup cakes, doughnuts and other fun stuff. (Her new web page is purppurapuu.omasivu.fi, and more works you see from Facebook.)
/ Mieleeni tuli lahjakas tuttavani, joka tekee ihanan söpöjä ja persoonallisia koruja. Lempparikorvakoruni, nuo pöllöt, ovat hänen tekemiään. Ideani Suomi-teemaiseksi koruksi taisi kuitenkin saada kimmokkeen niistä ruoka-aiheisista koruista. joita hänellä on Facebookissa esillä. (Purppura Puulla on myös uudet kotisivut, joilta myös löytyy kaikenlaista kaunista.)

So I ordered a personalized necklace for my friend. I think Elisa did terrific job with it with lifelike rye breads and bright wooden pearls!
/ Kaulakorun tilasinkin siis erillisenä työnä, ja Elisa työsti heittämistäni ajatuksista upean kokonaisuuden, pienine ruisleipineen ja pirteine puuhelmineen. :)

I completed the gift by making the greeting card on the background. There I used watercolour drops for watery effect. The fairy and dragonfly stamps fit there perfectly I think. :)
/ Taustalla näkyvä kortti onkin sitten omaa käsialaani. Halusin jatkaa itsetehtyä tunnelmaa, ja käytin vesivärejä taustan luomiseen. Keiju/vedenhenki ja sudenkorentoleimat istuivat kivasti vedelliseen kokonaisuuteen.

Well, this about time to get off the computer. we have sunny Friday here! :) Have a lovely weekend!
/ Nyt taitaisi olla aika lähteä koneen äärestä auringonpaisteeseen. :) Mukavaa viikonloppua!

29 Faces 2014 #28 & #29

Long time no see! My last entry is probably a month ago and I feel almost guilty for it! ;) Been busy doing all kinds of stuff, starting by seeking new job, seeing friends and going through a Spring cleaning in home...

On International Women's Day my 28th painting got ready.
The name of this piece is "It Comes Down".

The last, 29th face I struggled to get done. After getting other projects ready I finally found my inspiration. The flirtatious songs I listened tonight definitely had an impact on her look:

So there you go, all 29 faces for 29 Faces challenge of February 2014! :) Glad to have them all here!

29 Faces 2014 #23, 24, 25, 26 & 27

Hi!

The last week was the end of 29 Faces challenge.
I managed to get the 22nd face done. I decided to complete all the 29 in my own pace. I have tried to rest more since my health has not been in best shape lately.

Quicker sketches are a thing for me at the moment.

The watercolour pencils are gladly versatile!

The colourful 23rd face:

The 24th & 25th mono-colour faces:

The 26th pencil sketch:

And the 27th, a red pencil drawing that I completed with water and black ink.

So two more to go... I'm sure that'll be no problem! ;)

29 Faces 2014 #20, #21 and #22

Ok, it's 25th day and I'm a bit late - and the month is soon over! I plan to get all the faces together - as slowly as it goes. I'm very slowly recovering from infection.

Here's a trio of watercolour faces. Numbers 20, 21 and 22.

29 Faces 2014 #16, 17, 18 and 19

This evening I was somewhat tired and decided to amuse myself with some doodled faces.

I used black ink with very thin brush for drawing the characters and coloured them with watercolours.

Feeling little better - animal drawings can be fun! :) Also one gentleman included - he's probably amazed by why he's there - it's because of the moustache, of course!

#16: A friendly lop-eared bunny

#17: A cat named Safir

#18: An English gentleman

#19: A sleeping mermaid

It is soon bedtime for me - I'll try to dream about being mermaid. ;)
Thank for looking!

29 Faces 2014 #14 and #15

Here are two more faces... I'm keeping a steady pace. :) Today I have also felt better, maybe I'll be in better shape soon, yay!

Number 14 looks little like a person I photographed few months ago. The hair is more festive though! It's interesting to surprise yourself by finding familiar features from a random drawing.

Number 15 is my try-out of a face of an older person. Very inspiring thing to go for! I'm pretty satisfied with the result.

Thanks for visiting! I try to return the visits more now that the flu thing is giving up.

A Postcard for the Faces theme

Hi!
After a short pause I'm taking part again to Sunday Postcard Art -challenge.
The current challenge is Faces. I think it's a fun subject because an artist can use only few lines and still capture person's character...

Here's my card, in 6 x 4 inches:

I think I name it "Bow Ties Are Cool". I didn't plan to make a fan art piece of Doctor Who, but the face just appeared on while painting with watercolours. :) That helped to design the surrounding area with stamps collected from various places.

Thanks for visiting!

Mixed Technique Drawing - Metallic Details

I think I finally did something worth framing - this is almost finished so it's safe say it out loud. ;)

As a part of home decoration project I have gone through my drawings and paintings. Most of the finished pieces are soon 10 years old! I'm sad to admit but they don't inspire me as they used to. And I find more mistakes from them... Maybe you know the feeling?

Well it was obviously time to get something new and fresh done! I'm really interested of mixed techniques right now, but have only little experience of it. With this work I wanted to push myself to that direction.

As a subject I chose Tribal Fusion Belly Dance as it also inspires my imagination right now.

Oh and I'm taking part to Paint Party Friday with this piece. :)

I found out that the stamping inks go well together with watercolour pens. And the water based inks are a lot of fun with wet paper!

Some textures in the picture are made with stamps as well as some details (such as keys and dragonfly). I think I really got a better hold of metallic gel pens I have.

Here are some details:

Going to take a small break from this before I frame it. Maybe that will help to find anything worth fixing.

Thanks for visiting! Hope you have a very inspiring New Year!

More Sketches of a Fairy Painting

Hello again! Last October was quite a stressful month in work so I've rested a lot and let blogging wait. Now was as good time as any to break the silence.

The only craft project I worked on was a painting for a Finnish drawing competition. I hope I have a chance to win some quality drawing products. ;-) I actually sketched a lot for it. Here's two pretty advanced sketches - one that is in my art journal, the other on a single sheet.

As you might guess I started with acrylic colours. It required a gesso-based background paper. I really wanted to work little details more. and enjoy some drawing, so I changed the medium.

This one is less dramatic but more interesting on details. I added some of them with oil pastels and watersoluble metallic pens. This paper is 200 g/m2 and recommended for mixed media but it couldn't absorb all the water. In nature the background colour actually looks as dull as in here. I'm glad I tested it so I knew the final work would require more heavier stuff.

I think I'll show the final work later. I'm not sure when I hear how the competition went, but I tell as soon as I can. :-)

Art Journal Tryouts

After last months intensive face painting & drawing I decided to take few days break from artist stuff.

But I have to confess that the break did not last long. ;) I have been trying out some new stuff on my art journal...
The gesso based pages are not made for watercolours but the effect looks fun!
The upper one has a thick gesso base and the lower a thin layer.

And I'm also preparing for Halloween-time... :)

29 Faces #18, #19 and #20

Here are some not-so-planned faces for the 29 Faces challenge...

18th, of subconscious messages. I had fun doing this a step by step, whatever came to my mind.

As you can see I used a lot of techniques and pre-cut paper shapes. That's too big list to start at this hour...


19th was a quick watercolour work that I didn't like earlier, but now it's better with ink lines.

20th, today's version of an old sketch from my notebook. Redrew her with watercolour pencils.

29 Faces #17

Wow, there are around 300 people taking part to 29 Faces challenge now!
So much styles too see and blogs to visit... :)

Ayala asked how we are doing, and for me the challenge is going fine. I still feel excited!
My 17th face is now ready. I take no pressures over the schedule even though my free time is limited. I just wish I could use more time visiting others. The comments cheer me up and mean a lot, and I try to do that to others too.

Well, this is my latest outcome: She does not look like me but I felt like I put a piece of myself here. That's probably because my thoughts take flight alike every now and then...

I experimented with stamp images and my own drawing. Learned many things of how to combine those. I guess I'm happy with result - watercolours and stamping colours mixed up nicely. Even the white ink I used for butterflies and some details looks good. I also added some metallic and shiny gelly pencil colours just for fun.

Thanks for visiting, hope you're enjoying the challenge! x

One Way to Live in a Moment

What a great challenge theme - Dance!
It's one thing I enjoy whenever there's a chance for it!

Sunday Postcard Art challenge has this lovely theme this week - thank you!

I'm not sure if I succeeded with the colours. Normally I use less colours, but this I wanted it to be as full of joy and excitement that I can show...

Fairy Painting in Frames

I'm glad to finally present my latest bigger project: fairy painting in frames. I had such a fun time with it. :) I made this for a "secret fairy" friend swap and this is the first time I get to tell about it here.

I'd like to take part to following challenges:
Lexi's Creations: "Anything but a card"
Inspire Me Fridays 119: "Anything goes!"
Southern Girls Challenge: "Make Believe"

I wanted to use same theme for the painting and the frames. I decided to go for a "Summer in river bank" -theme based on my fairy sketch.
Last Spring I went to a course of Emmo. There I learned using gesso, stamps and acrylic colours all together. It helped to make the frames since I have never done those before. The gesso was great base for stamping and painting colours. To make the result water resistant I brushed two lyers of decoupage finish.

Materials of the painting:

Watercolour pans & pencils
watercolour paper 200g/m2

Materials for the frames:

Gesso
Dragonfly board stamp
Water resistant green ink pad
Acrylic paints
Decoupage finish

29 Faces #4

Hello again!

The 4th face comes here:

The watercolours seem stuck on my desk, lol!
In this picture I used the pencils very little.
It was fun to do the hair with a thin paintbrush.

Thanks for looking! x

29 Faces #3

Yesterday was quite busy with my dance lesson and all, so this aquarelle is the third face I've made for 29 Faces -challenge.

I used watercolour pencils and watercolour pans (not sure if that's what you call it). Surprisingly hard but it's fun to see how water creates effects. :)