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I made an A4 linocut of a round kiosk. I´m now trying to combine this lino to my larger picture of Pispala. This large picture has eight A4-sized parts, and I am now replacing one of them with this round kiosk. On the right side of the picture are running the Pispala steps towards the highest spot of the ridge. The round kiosk will be on the left side, and the Pispala cats are meeting there for a chat or exchanging ideas, perhaps even buying a cup of cream.
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The summer exhibitions are getting nearer, so I ordered new cards of my linocuts for them. There are three sizes of cards: A5, 15 x 15 cm and A6. A5 is postcard and the smaller ones are folded cards with an envelope. I´m so pleased with my printing firm Tamkopio. The cards have been printed on cardboard with a little texture, and it´s repeating even colours really nice. I've heard that some people have even framed these cards - why not. Cards will be on sale at least in Naïve Artists in Iittala exhibition, naïve art exhibition in Varkaus and Jyväskylä, and also in Runeber´s Cottage in Haihara.
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An addition to my series of linocuts of Pispala houses is Portaanpää 10 (Pispala house: 14). The size of this lino is 15 x 15 cm. Portaanpää 10 was a commission for a birthday present, and these kind of linos are really fun to make. I added to the picture two cats who are living in the house, and also all kind of paraphernalia on the yard: a bench, shovel, lantern and table.
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This card is from French illustrator Benjamin Lacombe's (b. 1982) painting "Pianist". A cat is stepping on the keys of a piano wearing a Mozart wig. Cat´s movements are like very chic music, the tail in a circle, and eyes enjoyably shut. Especially the posture of cat's right front leg is splendid and tender. The keys in the background have been painted fuzzy like foggy or from a photo. The bone colour of the keys is beautiful.
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My friend Maritta Hirvonen wrote a fun little book, a collection of short stories, and she asked me to make the cover picture for the book. Many of the stories are connected with music, because Maritta was the better part of her career the curator of Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. In one of the stories there is a wooden outhouse which is also on the cover in the middle of Pispala, there is a big orange moon in the sky and dragonflies. The original picture for the cover is a linocut & pastel work, 50 x 30 cm. Especially I like the cover picture when the book is spread out, because the picture is repeated over the back and also inner covers. Surprisingly there popped an idea to use small linocuts at the beginning of every story, like vignettes, and I already had quite many small linos somehow connected with music in my store. The book was published by Sresa this April.
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I made earlier a linocut of the slopes of Pyynikki, two cats on a rock, observation tower and Pyhäjärvi on the background. I printed the picture black and white. But somehow the picture felt too heavy. So I carved dark parts lighter and printed the picture teal. Now it looks better. A couple of print went to the bin, because it´s more difficult to use coloured ink than black and white, it´s easier to get too much colour on the roller and so the picture goes "clogged" or then there is too little colour enough. It´s amazing how the colour can change the picture. Now even the pine trees look almost like palm trees. In future I plan to try more printing in colour.
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"Have a catlike nice holiday" - the text was added when the card was printed in Finland. The picture was however done by Mary Fellows, a ceramist artist in Great Britain. A cute black and white cat is prancing on a green background, and on the right side of the cats there is a profile of the Queen Elisabeth. The picture is like a sheet of stamps, which will be used for sending a greeting card or letter.
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The phone booth is now green. I printed still some yellow at the bottom, because there might be some pale electric light in the phone booth. This A3 sized linocut was made in zigzag technique i.e. the phone booth was cut off from the other part of lino, coloured green and pressed back to its hole. The part of lino depicting Pispala stairs, houses and bushes has been coloured traditionally black. This kind of retro green metallic phone booth from the 1920s is in the main square in Tampere, but in my imagination it was relocated in Pispala.
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The phone booth in Pispala has now been cut apart from the other part of the linocut. This technique is called in linocut circles zigzag technique. When you cut a part off from a linocut, you can easily colour it with different colour than the other part and still print the whole work at the same time. I plan to print the phone booth green.
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Was there ever in Pispala same kind of green metal phone booth, that now exists in central square in Tampere? Well, at least in my imagination one is now beside the Pispala stairs. This A3 -sized linocut is a mirror image of an earlier one, where three cats were dancing on the stairs.
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The anticipation of summer is perceptible at least in Iittala. We took my works for the Naïve Artists in Iittala summer 2021 exhibition to the lovely chaos at the old school building. The exhibition will open May 29The walls are still painted, and the works of all 50 artists are stacking on the floors and leaning at the walls waiting for the hanging starting next week. I firmly believe that the exhibition will be a success like last summer despite the pandemic. And the pandemic situation will be easier for the summer, there will be more people vaccinated, and all the domestic travel will be popular. Before the opening of the exhibition there will be private showings and even a weekend for invited guests and naïve art collectors. The exhibition will surely be fine at least based of the glimpses I saw.
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| Ulla Heinosen kanssa tulevassa aulashopissa / With Ulla Heinonen at the future lobby shop |
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A white cat looks really small in front of a huge wooden dark buddha. The cat is like disturbed while watching the statue. A metal chain is separating the cat and buddha. This photograph "Snowflake" is from Terry DeRoy Gruber´s (b 1953) book "Working Cats". Perhaps this cat´s job is to chase mice from the statue. Gruber has added to the photo this text:" I don´t know his name. I don't even know who he belongs to. He just seems to exist in his own space".
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The pastel sky came rather blue around the yellow moon and mottled cloudy on the upper right corner where I plan to print some linocuts of butterflies.
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A new pastel sky is under planning for my larger series of linocuts & pastel drawings, 70 x 40 cm. In this version there is a steam boat at the bottom and the highest spot of Pispala ridge. I´m planning to add a big moon and butterflies in the upper part of the picture. Both the bottom part, moon and butterflies are linocuts.
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Happy and peaceful Easter! A cat is sleeping on a sheet on a chair and there are two lemons in a beautiful rattan basket. As it´s Easter I first thought that there are eggs in the basket. The painting was done by Lesley Fotherby.
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This new linocut & pastel sky mixed media work became quite dramatic. A bit goofy cat is wondering the way the world is going on a pier. A blue moon is shining in the sky, and feathers are floating in the air. The size of this picture is 70 x 50 cm. Like sisters are these two works, the other one is depicting Iittala railway station. I´m still trying to find a name for this picture, perhaps from Juice´s lyrics like the other works in this series.
