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Wild birds (linocuts) are frolicking in the pastel sky among the pink heart-shaped clouds. At the bottom there is a linocut of Pispala houses with two red cats in front perhaps standing on a stone wall with their tails tangled. I actually like that very narrow red line in the horizon. This is quite large work (70 x 40 cm) and it got its name from Juice Leskinen´s song To the Winds of Heaven:" Dance With Me To the Winds of Heaven".
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I´m already arranging some small linocuts of birds among the pink heart-shaped clouds. Still in need of finishing...
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Chat Naïf / Naive Cat is name of this picture by French J.M. Pariselle. Well, the cat is looking a bit naive, perhaps, but at least she is stylish. Your attention is drawn in this round picture to square and rectangular shapes; blue tiled wall of small squares, floor molding of rectangular tiles and the floor of white and black square tiles, which are forming larger squares. And on the fur of the cat the white and black parts are forming patterns, which are easy to shape as squares in your mind: the ears, cheeks, chest and sides.
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Today Sunday June 26th, 2023 opens a Naïve art group exhibition at Esa Leppäsen´s 100 Pictures Gallery / Sadan taulun galleria in Lehtimäki, and its a pleasure be one of the artists. In addition to Esa Leppänen´s scrap metal sculptures there will be Juha Mäkelä´s wooden sculptures, Kyllikki Lahtinen´s and Tarja Rinta´s paintings and my linocuts, cards and tea towels. After two weeks the exhibition will move to Esa Leppänen´s another gallery in Kuusamo.
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The heart shaped clouds are getting more form when the blue in the background is getting stronger. And then the clouds change to pink!
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When the sunlight hits the work table in the evening, the heart shaped forms of clouds are already visible on the paper. The horizon is dark blue pastel, and I have already spread only white soft Pan Pastel as a foundation. The colour comes next.
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Two cats are standing with their tails intertwained in Pispala on a fence of stones. This bottom part of a new mixed media work is a linocut. In the sky there starts to come quite dark blue horizon with soft pastel chalks.
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What a fun situation was it to give my linocut & pastel London´s Calling (after Clash´s piece London Calling) to Minna and Veli as their birthday present. Surely now the address was spot on to keen supporters and season ticket holders of Arsenal. And it was quite a wild coincidence to hear that the family did call in the morning to a telephone wish concert wishing happy birthday to Veli with Clash´s piece London Calling. IN the linocut the London roofs are a view from one trip to London from a hotel behind the National Portrait Gallery. The flock of birds on the pastel sky a memory of of birds flying over chirping loudly in one evening.
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There are two art exhibitions at the Haihara Art Centre with a couple of pearls. In the back room of the Runeberg´s Cottage you can lose yourself in the cuteness and glitter, I liked most in this exhibition by Nonna-Nina Mäki her acrylic paintings of cats on lace trimmed cloths (napkins or table cloths). In the Talli building at the exhibition by Pirkkala Art Association /Pirkkalan taideyhdistys there is a lot of art work, for example Minna Iso-Lähteenmäki´s gentle flower paintings, Johanna Lehto´s wooden sculpture, Anu-Riikka Lampinen´s fun elephant and Marjukka Stenlund´s flowers. Between the exhibitions you can stop for a cup of coffee in the atmospheric cafeteria in an old log people´s room.
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Tiger patterned cat is sitting on a polished table. Next to the cat there is a summery bouquet of flowers, daffodils, dahlias and poppies. The cat is watching out of the windows and she seems to be deep in her own thoughts. British Catherine Daniel´s watercolour or gouache work is called Private View. The picture is really elegant, colours and shapes are in balance, this maker has the technique in her possession.
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Took more of my popular model of tea towels "Ridge of Pispala" to Interi´s summer shop in the Runeberg`s Cottage. In the picture we are posing with Viivi. I got a photo from Esa Leppänen of the exhibition, which is opening in a weeks time in his 100 Pictures Gallery in Lehtimäki. The tea towels were already finely hung. And these tea towels can also be bought at Naïve Artists in Iittala exhibition´s lobby shop.
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The series of lino/mono cats continues. Now is the turn for a flying cat or is this really an angel. The cat is a linocut and the background monotype. I made the place for the cat using a stencil covering the place place where I later printed the cat. The size of the picture is 15 x 15 cm.
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There is a caption behind the car card "A Hand-printed Linocut", and you almost believe, that the card was hand-printed perhaps with some kind of embossing machine. The markings of the printed areas are clearly felt as raised. And the areas for different colours can be seen roughly under each other. Two cats are warming up in the glow of a fireplace. The black and blue cat seems to even have a toy. The black and white car is walking to her own toy, a mouse with a string.
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This small and happy cat is one of the series of mono/lino cat. The cat is a linocut and the background monoprint & linocut leaves. The size is only 9 x 9 cm.
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A couple 15 x 15 cm sized lino cats, now round in a ball. The cats and birds and flower shapes are linocuts, the background is monoprint. The series continues...
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Three a bit different versions of Alma the cat peeking over her shoulder. Alma is a linocut, as are the leaves or birds in the background on monoprint. The size of these mixed media pictures is 15 x 15 cm.
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A linocut of a black spotted cat is floating in the middle of green and brownish leaves, there are some kind of flowers also in the air. Another similar cat is floating in the middle of green leaves. The backgrounds are partly linocut stamps and monoprint.
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In this dramatic painting Black Cat by English Ruskin Spear (1911-1990) there are fine colours and also shapes, soft and mellow yellow, green and brown, the angular patterns on the wall and carpet. It´s rather dark in the room, but the daffodils are gleaming as are the eyes of the cat. Has the painter disturbed the dreams of the cat or has the cat jumped on the chair and stole the picture?
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The schools are celebrating their graduation days and the summer holidays start! What could be a better moment for this acquisition? My linocut "Opintie / Study Path" is on its way to a new home. In the background of two cats there is the Pispala school on top of the ridge.
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Two Pispala-themed linocuts: the hot air balloon and "Between Two Lakes" with the shot tower are on their way to a new home. This acquisition has a nice story. A while ago a person bought for his new Airbnb room on the Pispala ridge one of my Pispala-themed linocuts. A person in turn staying in the room took a fancy to the lino and Pispala, found out the maker and came to visit me in my studio.
