III

"these wounds need to heal"

II

"thinking of you"

the king of worms

I was reading a book about stained glass and this is the outcome.

t-shirt

My design participates in the contest on lafraise.com. If you want that they print this T-shirt so that you can have one, please vote my design and let's hope others will too.

Direct link is here. (You'll have to register on laFraise to vote)

Thanks.

I

"it all came out wrong"



You know the feeling when things are in perfect order in your head? But then you make the tragic mistake and try to say your thoughts out loud.

inhale

through the ivory gate

I had this dream where I was a child again. With some other children, I was running away from this group of soldiers who were chasing us- of course the soldiers were nazis - in an enormous house with endless corridors and staircases. Finally the soldiers had us cornered in an attic room, there was no escape. But then another group of soldiers, led by this huge bearlike creature, appeared and killed all the nazis.
The creature approached us, kneeled down and took of its mask. It was a little boy inside a polar bear suit. His face glowed like the sun and the whole room was suddenly filled with warm, bright light.
"Now you are safe" the boy said.

There was a really weird atmosphere surrounding the boy, something that I cannot explain with words or pictures. But I had to draw the boy anyway, so here it is:

tattooed

work in progress?

"So I was wondering..."
"Yeah?"
"What have you been doing lately?"
"Well, today I've been mostly drawing leafs"
"Leafs?"
"Yeah, leafs. I got this idea of an old woodling face that is encircled by leafs. Lots of leafs. It's going to look nice, but after a while, drawing leafs becomes quite boring. And it's very slow work."
"So... you're drawing every leaf then, individually? You do know that there are ways to give an impression of a whole bunch of leafs without actually drawing each one of them?"
"Of course I know, but the detail is the thing here. Have you even looked at most of my work, I happen to like detail, especially in trees."
"So what's the purpose of the detail in this particular work you're doing?"
"?"
"Don't say you're doing it just because you're in love with the technique and the details? And because its going to look nice? Haven't you always said that you don't much appreciate art that lacks the idea, no matter how perfect the technique is?"
"So do you want a lecture what the trees I'm always drawing mean to me? Or start a conversation about art in generally?"
"... no, actually I'm not that interested in you. I just want to look nice pictures while I'm having my morning coffee or having a break at work. Which brings us back to beginning of all this. Where is all the nice pictures I like to occasionally watch? There used to be new stuff here more frequently. But don't think I'm checking your blog daily. As I said, I'm not that interested in you."
"Well, drawing my graphic novel kind of exhausts most of my need to make 'nice pictures'. And I haven't shown much of the progress to anyone. I'm not going to until all the pages are drawn and inked."
"So when's that?"
"When they're ready."
"Oh, that's the usual answer when someone doesn't have the slightest idea when something is going to be ready"
"No, I have an idea and it's soon."
"...hmph...So can I see it?"
"See what? Didn't I just told that..."
"No, not the damn secret graphic-who-knows-what-it's-gonna-be-novel. I mean the leaf thing. Just write 'work in progress' and put it here, ok?"
"If that makes you happy, yes"
"Happy? Don't flatter yourself, there are lot of other places I can found nice pictures to look at, I'm not that-"
"- interested in me. Yeah, I got it. So here. Work in progress:"




































"Hmm. Can't say much about it, cos it's not finished. Don't know if it's nice or not. Maybe you should post it again when it's colored and all. Like when it's done. People might get more out of it then."
"??!??!.... you don't say..."
"Oh, I finished my coffee, have to get back to work now. Let's talk again some other time."
"I'm looking forward to it..."

the smell of autumn

The leaves are still green here but you can already smell it in the wind... autumn is coming.

I have all the time in the world

"patience"

I thought you were listening the same

I had to draw some company for the boy I did some time ago.

Badges

I did a couple of badges today...






















Various designs of Kouvostoliitto.

















And of course some trees.






















It took some tinkering, but these are also available with magnets attached in back replacing the pin. Just waiting to occupy some refrigerator doors.

horned

prints

I have two good-quality art prints, size is about 47 cm x 60 cm. Drop me a line if you want to purchase one or both.

edit: gone, they found a new home.

updates

I did an overhaul to my portfolio, it has a new layout and I also removed lots of veeery old stuff which I think were quite irrelevant. Go and check it out.

the escape

"My dreams never did fit here"

a big bully

Yeah, sure it was the biggest and meanest crow he had ever seen, but there was still no damn way the bird was getting his best kite without a fight.



Detail of the boy:

the keeper of rain

It has rained most of the day today. There's something about rainy days, it's like you're given an excuse to just stay indoors and do something different. Even though you normally stay indoors most of the day wether it was sunny or not. But the rain gives a feeling that all the people suddenly stop what they are doing, find a cover and wait the sky to clear. It gives a break and a moment to think. To listen the thoughts that are only possible when it rains.
Of course this could only happen if we all still worked on the fields all day.

But for me, rainy days are definitely for thinking. And as I'm watching the rain, I'm thinking that it has rained too long inside my head.

playing with scissors

There was something very ominous about the way my scissors looked at me today...

white dragon

new layout

Uu-uh, new hot layout, hotter than a dead moose in a freezer!
I got really tired about the old one actually a long time ago, especially the colors, my blog was like a damn rainbow. But now everything is fine.

New stuff coming next week. Maybe even a moose? Or a freezer. Who knows. Come back and see, and as always, feel free to leave comments.

broken face

Just started to draw something before going to bed, emptying my head. Hoping my thoughts don't follow me in my sleep.

something fell from the sky

Work in progress.

Late last night I found an old sketch doodled on some piece of paper. The sketch had a very promising feeling now that I had already forgotten it's existence. So I picked up my pen and didn't sleep very much last night, but fortunately that's what the days are for.
I'm just afraid the grass is a real pain in the ass to color.

playing with knives

echoes

These are going to be on the upcoming issue of Tähtivaeltaja.
Illustrations for Echo, a short story by Elizabeth Hand.

I haven't been very productive lately, as you may have noticed. Still trying to cooperate with the light issue, I guess. Or maybe I'm just having a less productive phase. Once, when I was again complaining how I can't get anything done, someone told me that you don't actually have to be productive all the time. A good point but I always forget it, as most of the time I just think that I'm never productive enough.

Now I'm off to my balcony where I'm just going to sit in the sun and drink some rooibos tea, and not thinking the following:
- work
- money
- am I doing enough work
- am I adequate ( as in a person and an artist and as in everything)
- things I should have been doing today
- all the things that are unfinished (in life)
- life generally
- reasons for my daily headaches

the growing absence of darkness

"please don't go"


The days are becoming longer and longer and there's a ridiculous amount of light every day considering how little of it we had just a couple of months ago. It's a good thing, I wish it was summer already, but the light has also some negative effects, like the lack of creativity. It's been really hard for me to do anything creative for several weeks. I blame the light.
I work mostly at nights when it's dark, so if it was hard to do anything daytime at winter, now it seems almost impossible. But I guess this will pass, it's just the dramatic and quick change of light that seem to mess up my head.

I've been mostly drawing my graphic novel, it's finally showing some progress. I'll post something when I do some inking, the pencilled pages aren't much to show.

big yellow robots are a girl's best friend

I like the area below the speech bubble and left from the girl's knee. Everything else just came up as something mediocre. Oh well, moving on...

a boy with too much fear in his heart

Finished.
At first the girl was also supposed to sit on the roof outside her window but I just couldn't draw her there the way it would look good, damn frustrating. So she is in the window now, but it doesn't change the idea much so it's ok.

I noticed that I have developed a new addiction in things I like to draw. The trees are having a rest for awhile, now it's swirling clouds in every picture I start to sketch or even think. Wonder what that means...

just for the fun

Another work in progress
















Yeah, I know I'm quite far from the fountains of original ideas with this one, but I just had so much fun drawing this that I couldn't stop. And there is always room in the world for one more picture with giant robots and girls with gas masks in it, right? Yes, of course there is, I knew you would all agree with me.

more postcards

I was asked to do more postcards, so apparently people are buying these. These three new and also the old ones are being sold at Kuuomena, which is a gift shop in Trio, Lahti (Aleksanterinkatu 18). So if you happen to be somewhere near, stop by and check them out.


Oh, and then something odd and confusing. Someone in Romania has decided to write something about me, I have no idea what though, my Romanian is a little bit rusty.
Weird. Just weird.

some ink on a paper

work in progress





















A boy with too much fear in his heart.

Did some inking today, too much actually. It took almost the same time to clean it up afterwards as it took to ink it. Let's just say that there was an accident - or actually two accidents - with a cup, some Indian Ink and an enormous amount of stupidity.
But everything's fine now and the inks look surprisingly good considering I'm almost never satisfied with my inking. It still needs coloring though.

you can hear but are you listening?

bad air

Here's the cat picture I promised to make.

and one more

...and another

Leftovers from last night.

another girl

More girls tomorrow, now I need some sleep.

a girl

Just sketching tonight, drinking tea and listening music. Feeling a little bit melancholic, but drawing things help. Let's see what else I come up with tonight.

a new year and everything is still the same

First post for this year, same old things though. Loneliness is still going to be the theme of my pictures. It just doesn't give up so easily.






















"lost together in self-deception"