Narrow streets in the old town of Viipuri.

After spending several days in busy St. Petersburg (over 7 million citizens) I was very pleased to stay some hours in a much older and smaller town, called Vyborg (in Finnish: Viipuri) which population is roughly 80 000.

Limited period didn't allow any drawing or painting and I therefore spent my time taking photos of old buildings. This small, beautiful and restful town has belonged to Sweden, Russia, Finland, Soviet Union and - today - to Russia again but the period in the beginning of 20th century was very intensive for Finns because Vyborg was a most international town with economical activities (2nd biggest city in Finland after our Capital city Helsinki).

Photos help to make drawings and paintings but I am looking forward to spend some time in the real sites of this town, maybe already in next autumn.

Minimalist Art with Camera

A walk in the early morning on the shore of a Finnish lake...

Sometimes it will be a better alternative to take a photo than to paint  the view?

Weekend art school by KARSKU, Karlstad, in 2004!

Summer 2004 was warm and beautiful in Karlstad, Sweden, where we lived for my job tasks in local SE / Research Centre. We found out that there were also free-time activities - Finnish Cultural Society KARSKU (Karlstadin Suomalainen Kulttuuriseura) for "sing along" and arts.

KARSKU arranged a week-end art school in the countryside, and relatively many members joined this event.

Here am I sitting with an "impressionist hat" showing a scetch of my "high level" painting. The original is situated on over 900 m level from the sea in Norway, on the wall of our friends' "water-free toilet" ("PuuCee in Finnish).

I will send best greetings to Karlstad and Oslo! I wish that we will meet on some day!

Complete Lady - and Half of Her!

For some reason, our home will take in more paper than it will send out. This mesh of paper consists of newspapers and magazines, advertising efforts of companies and salesmen and, of course, colossal piles of A4's. I tend to wait and let them rest all over our home until my wife asks in a very polite way (typical for her): "Do you think that we have a lot of paper here?".

After such an occasion I started to invent my papers and what I found: A Complete Lady and Half A Lady! These ink drawings were made in winter 2006 when I joined a course of living model drawing in the center of our city. I am not sure what has happened to the upper half of the lady, 2nd in row - maybe I was not satisfied with it or I needed her face for other purposes.

It is always nice to find something which has been lost a long time ago. Like now!

Old drawing from my student times!

I was very pleased when, during cleaning of my old papers (and there are really lost of them!), I found this old drawing, dated 25.3.1975. I was living in Viikki, Helsinki, Finland on those days, studying microbiology / limnology / chemistry in HU. My student home was situated in a walking distance from university, in the middle of forests and fields. This area is fulfilled with institutes and other houses today - only the fields are mainly left untouched for the use of agricultural trials and training by the university.

I shall fix this old drawing to avoid further degradation of it. It has value for myself because it seems to be the first drawing after my school years. - Maybe frames, too?

An old drawing - who knows this site?

I have started to invent my old drawings. Here is an example of calligraphy felt-tip pen technique.

Who knows this site? I will help: it is situated in Finland...

Rapid sketches of landscapes with fountain pen

A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. (WIKIPEDIA)

 FIGURE 1. Lake Capern, Sweden, 2004.

FIGURE 2. Central London, England, 1998. 

FIGURE 3. Yorkshire, England, 1998. 

FIGURE 4. Juva, Finland, 1998.

These four sketches are examples of fountain pen drawings. I tend to carry this tool and a small (10.5 x 15 cm) sketch pad with me when travelling in Finland or foreign countries, either for duty or during vacations, since 1996.

This medium is very suitable in situations when the time limitations allow only rapid sketches (FIG. 1 and 2) as well as when focusing on the landscape or object without hurry (FIG. 3 and 4). No pencil is needed for sketching if the main horizontal and vertical lines can be found. Details will come later with ink, and no rubber is needed at all. This is the way I make sketches with permanent ink, either with fountain pen or calligraphy felt-tip pens.

I recommend all to try the fountain pen! It is easy to carry and contains usually ink enough for several sketches.

The only occasion when fountain pen caused me problems was when travelling back from my business trip to Shenzhen, China, some years ago. I have bought an inexpensive pen, filled with ink, and carried it in the pocket of my shirt. The left front side of my shirt was all black after the flight, obviously because the air pressure alterations and their effect on the soft (!) ink container of my pen...