New box for drawing tools!

I have found a most practical thing from the bargain sale of local artists' shop in Jyväskylä. This wooden box actually has an easel on its upper deck and is spacious enough to store all color pencils, inks etc. needed for drawing. Painting tools would need a much bigger bag, of course, but this very box (British make)  fulfills the needs of a travelling drawer.

This is the night site for my drawing activity during wintertime: our quiet kitchen. The table stays by the window and I can watch the nearly-dark view towards the neighbors below (we live in the middle of a hillside). Traffic is almost stopped during winter nights which also helps to focus on drawing.

BLACK & WHITE RULES?

I think that I shall do some selecting and mapping of my old photos. There are so many of them, and in addition, I have saved their copies several times on my hard discs! How can I find them and delete those  which only lead to the lack of free disc space?

Sometimes, in the middle of this busy (and, honestly to say) not so nice job I can find something interesting like this one among all unimportant staff: a smoggy, quiet city morning in Jyväskylä, Finland, some 6 - 7 years ago.

My next question will be: shall I try to transfer this view on a paper/canvas or thrust on its strength as a photo? All the shades of grey should be visible in the final piece of art. Graphical style should be stored, but how? "B&W Rules"?

- I continue to think. Sometimes, however, it would be better to leave things like they are. But...?

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?