Two Temples - two different milleniums!

Two countries, two completely different eras and two techniques: 

LEFT is an acrylic painting from Karpathos Island, Greece. 

RIGHT you can see an oil painting of a small orthodox temple, "tsasouna", from Suolahti, Central Finland, built following the guidelines of traditional Carelian orthodox temples. 

Features of "kaamos" and importance of librarians. - Kaamos Exhibition by KOPRU is now erected!

"Kaamos", annual period of polar night, affects strongly human beings in northern countries (by the way, a similar period can be found also on southern hemisphere but is not so much discussed because the small number of people suffering of it). Severe "kaamos depression" symptoms will wake up ideas to sleep all the winter, avoid all activities etc.

That is the reason for the KOPRU Kaamos Exhibition (see photo above). In much smaller scale as annual Summer Exhibition in Wanha Woimala (see photo below) but it helps against depression. At least, we think so.

Humble "kaamos exhibitions" could also be held privately. And now it is time to mention the Librarians, those kind professionals who will help you to construct a small-scale exhibition in your local libraries! This kind of "pop up" exhibition took place one year ago in Säynätsalo Library (situated in the famous "Säynätsalon Kunnantalo" by Alvar Aalto - photo below).

It was a happy coincidence that our exhibition was risen on the very same day when the reconstructed Vaajakoski Library was opened and I met our previous Säynätsalo Librarian Tiiu when visiting the Vaajakoski facilities just before closing time  (my wife Sanni (l) and Tiiu (r) during the Säynätsalo exhibition in the photo below)

Only three works per society member were hang on the walls of the minor gallery. One of mine is the small acrylic colours/colour pencils artefact "Juureva Astraalityttö" ("Astral Girl With Roots", photo below).

Welcome to "Kaamosnäyttely" by KOPRU in Vaajakoski!

Progressive steps of painting: "Sortavala Cathedral"

Drawing is always my starting point - also when painting. I am basically a drawer, not a painter. I will paint drawings - so simple it really is.

The idea to paint Sortavala Cathedral (situated in Russian Carelia, on the shore of the great lake Ladoga / Laatokka, not far away from the border between Russia and Finland) originally arose when discussing with Maria, a student of Orthodox church music, whose father serves  Sortavala Orthodox parish as its Senior Father. I have received some photos of the cathedral from Sortavala and, after some problems with the perspective, I finally got an satisfying result where the vertical lines and shapes of the building matched (as every photographer knows, it is not an easy task because the straightening of the lines will also affect the basic forms of the walls).

Now I have reached the first step: to draw the sketch of the cathedral:

Then I started to fill the shapes with acrylic colours. That is true: I chose the shades which matched to the colours of the photo - like working with a childrens' colouring booklet. The lines of ink still stayded visible.

Hours of active painting...Acrylic colours were much better than oil colours because they dried faster and corrections were could be done very soon when needed. In addition, they gave no odors into my kitchen...

After several nights' work the final step was reached: the drying of the complete, modest piece of art.

Some photos from 00's!

In the beginning of this century I have spent nine months in Sweden when working for my previous company SE Oyj in Research Centre Karlstad, Värmland. The summer was fine! The "culture club" KARSKU (Karlstadin Suomalainen Kulttuuriseura) constructed an art weekend near Karlstad where we could use different methods for drawing and painting. I have made an acrylic sketch of a small Norwegian mountain brook, situated some 1 000 m over sea level (I call it my "peak painting").

The final painting was made with common wall paints on the inner wall of a toilet, owned by our Norwegian friends Liisa and Peer. I wish that my "peak painting" will resist the harsh winter weather over there!

These photos, by the way, were taken with the universally most sold SLR camera, ZENIT, made in USSR!Over 12 000 000 cameras in all world! I still use it relatively frequently, especially for landscape photography.

More photos of my exhibition in Petäjävesi Library, September 2015

Photo 1. Three techniques: colour pencils, acrylic colours and oil colours.

Photo 2. B&W drawings made with calligraphy felt-tip pens (1,2 and 3 mm). Upper work: The Old Church of Petäjävesi, an UNESCO Heritage target.

Photo 3. Calligraphy felt-tip pens with colour pencils.

Photo 4. Works with acrylic colours. The landscape on the right bases on a photo from the island of Karpathos, Greece, and shows the oldest building which I have ever visited!

Photo 5. Entrance of Petäjävesi Library.

Orthodox Cathedral of Sortavala

Orthodox Cathedral of Sortavala in Russian Carelia, on the shore of Lake Ladoga (Laatokka). No more corrections - let it be like this. - This painting describes the church like it is today, with blue color on roofs and domes.

Orthodox Cathedral of Sortavala, Carelia

I will first thank Maria in Sortavala/Joensuu for this beautiful photo of Sortavala Church!

This cathedral seems to be in very good condition today. The colour of the roof and domes have chanced to blue (I have seen an old painting of it in Jyväskylä where the colour is different).

Some problems have caused a delay in the finishing of this acrylic painting.

I should start the drawing by making a decision about the vertical lines. My friend Petteri helped me by transferring them parallel (like in a photo taken with a tele objective). This, however, caused certain shortening of vertical lines (you can try it by taking a photo book and keep its upper side in a shorter distance from your eyes than the lower section). I finally got an agreement with myself by taken both the direction and the length of the lines into account (which means that the result is something between tele and normal objective views). I am not sure if I was right but "let it be"...

Next problem is the sky.

I like to draw (and I think that I am relatively good in drawing) but the colours are very difficult for me (actually, I am no painter yet). I will therefore thank my teacher Minna who helped me to correct the shade of blue (which was much too dark in the beginning)!

Last problem still stays: I started this work on a thin paper
by WINDSOR & NEWTON (excellent for drawing!) with pencils but, for some reason, decided to turn acrylic. Thin drawing paper does not suit to wet techniques! I shall now find a solution to this problem - how to get the even surface of the paper back again. "Let's see..."

New technique for Sortavala Church - accidentally!

Two large ink spots covered this drawing last night when I was joining our local art school. "What to do?", I was thinking. Could the problem be covered in some way? My teacher Minna suggested that I can use acrylic white to hide the spots (still seen in the middle of the drawing).

This was the way I found a new technique for my drawings: first pencil, the ink and, at last, acrylics! Goodbye, for awhile, colour pencils!