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Cards are also being sent to Iittala's naive summer exhibition. The A5-sized cards feature this summer's mixed media works: Pispala Ridge, moon, clouds, sky, birds and fish in the water. The square-shaped folding cards feature lots of cats. And cards from previous years are also being sent. The cards were printed in Tamkopio in Tampere. The exhibition Naivë Artists at Iittala: Homecoming is open from 18.5. - 30.8.2026.
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A few new towel designs are also caming to Iittala. The summer exhibition Naivë Artists at Iittala: Homecoming is open from 18.5.- 30.8.2026. These towels feature motifs from Pispala and a large lantern fish/monkfish. Older towel designs are also coming along. The towels are made in Finland by the Printscorpio company, the material is good: half linen and half cotton and the size is a suitable 44 x 64 cm.
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A pretty big pile of smaller linocuts, monotypes and pastels will be going to the Iittala summer exhibition, Naïve Artists at Iittala 2026: Homecoming. Framed, these can be found in sizes 40 x 40 cm, 30 x 30 cm, 20 x 20 cm or 15 x 15 cm. There are also many sizes in passepartouts: 40 x 40 cm, 30 x 30 cm, 20 x 20 cm or A4. And the subjects include: cats, fish, butterflies, birds and Pispala. The exhibition is open from 18.5.-30.8.2026 at Iittala's old wooden school.
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The studio wall is filled with mixed media works, linocuts and pastels. It's time to take them to be framed, as the summer exhibitions are approaching. The first thing to do is to send the works to next summer's Naïve Atists at Iittala exhibition. Iittala's summer exhibition is open from 18.5. -30.8.2026, every day from 10 am to 6 pm (also during Midsummer).
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What a wicked grin in the cat's eyes and face! The painting by German Michael Sowa (b. 1945) is called "Brunch". And this meal is not the cat's only one today, judging by his plump form and big belly. After brunch, there are mouse and bird skeletons, bones, feathers and eggshells on the floor. The cat still has a live bird in his clutches.
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Ready! The Milky Way rises above Pispala - reminiscent of some celestial explosion. The sky is full of stars and a few dragonflies are flying there. The shot tower on the Pispala ridge has been colored red with a marker. The lower part and the dragonflies are linocuts, the sky is soft pastel. The size of the picture is 88 x 39 cm. The picture got its name from Juice Leskinen's song Aphrodite's son: "The night recedes from the rooftops and I can see the light, when I stare out alone".
Linnunradan ympärille alkoi nyt tulla tähtiä, isompia ja paljon pienempiä. Tähdetkin ovat pastellia, mutta joukossa on myös tussilla tehtyjä. Oikealla reunalla paistaa pienen pieni kuunsirppi.
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Stars began to appear around the Milky Way, larger and much smaller. The stars are also pastel, but there are also some made with markers. A tiny crescent moon shines on the right edge.
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The Milky Way is now starting to form over the Pispala ridge in pastel chalk. There are certainly stars coming into the sky too, yellow, blue, purple.
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A white cat has one eye yellow and the other blue. The cat looks self-consciously, calmly and proudly with the tail sheltered under its front paw. There is reason to be wary, because a fiercely looking yellow-striped cat like a tiger rushes into the picture from the left. It has already knocked over a table, broken a flower vase and is grimacing with a desire to fight. The picture was painted by the American Marc Burchardt (b. 1962). The picture could be a card, but it is actually the cover of a CD. The music was composed by Mitski (Mitsuki Miyawaki), an American female singer/songwriter.
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I'm starting a new mixed media work for my larger series (70 x 40 cm). In this picture, there is a linocut of Pispala ridge at the bottom, and the shot tower is colored red. I've already added three small dragonflies to the sky. Next, pastel and color to the sky.
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This version of the linocut of a cat hatching from an egg is now quite yellow. The sky is pastel and reddish-yellow. The egg also became yellow by coloring. I also added a few small linocuts of a flying bird to the sky. It is appropriate for the approaching Easter, as is the title of the picture, which is an old Easter rhyme: "If there were a chocolate egg so big that it would take a train to transport it".
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Easter is fast approaching. So I'm making another smaller (20 x 30 cm) cat that hatches from an egg. In this picture, there will be red and yellow pastels in the sky while the lower part is a linocut.
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Felix is the name of this cat drawn by Agathe Singer. The blue cat sits on a blue background. The drawing is full of soft, curvy lines, paws, tail and head with a red nose. But the real highlight of the picture is those magnificent, curved white whiskers!
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The cat hatching from the egg was colored green. Did the picture look a bit threatening? At least the rabbits flying in the air look a bit anxious. The rabbits and the lower part of the picture are linocuts, the sky is pastel and the egg is colored with marker. The size of the picture is 20 x 30 cm.The name of the picture came from Lauri Viita's poem: "Let's Drive On a Cat To the Bishop's Yard".
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Some time ago, a series of linocuts were printed, in which a cat hatches from an egg in the middle of a field. I made both larger 50 x 30 cm versions of the image, with a larger sky, and smaller 20 x 30 cm versions. Now, three rabbits and a yellow/purple pastel sky flew into this smaller version. I think the egg is still getting color on its surface.
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For future mixed media works, I carved three small linocuts of flying rabbits. One of the rabbits even has wings. The size of these rabbits is about 10 x 10 cm.
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The cat card features a photograph of English textile artist Emma Morton's embroidery in her embroidery hoop. The cat is crying so much that a puddle of tears has already formed on the ground. There is a poster on the wall asking for a missing cat. Is the crying cat the missing cat, or is the cat crying for its lost friend?
Punaista tussia vielä muutamaan linopiirroslintuun ja kuva on mielestäni valmis. Alaosassa on linopiirros Pispalan harjusta portaineen. Yllä leimuaa punakeltainen pastellitaivas ja näkyy siellä sinistäkin taivasta pilvien välissä. Kuumailmapallo ja linnut ovat linopiirroksia, hiukan väritetty ja aurinkokin on linopiirros nauravine naamoineen. Kuvan koko on 50 x 60 cm. Nimensä kuva sai Juice Leskisen kappaleesta Afroditen poika: "Ja tuuli herää, aurinko hieroo silmiään".
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A little more red marker pens on the linocut birds and I think the picture is finished. At the bottom is a linocut of the Pispala ridge with its steps. Above, a red-yellow pastel sky flares and you can see some blue sky between the clouds. The hot air balloon and the birds are linocuts, slightly colored, and the sun is also a linocut with a laughing face. The size of the picture is 50 x 60 cm. The picture got its name from Juice Leskinen's song Aphrodite's son: "And the wind wakes up, the sun rubs its eyes".
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The hot air balloon flying in the red sky got some color. I added yellow, red, blue and orange stripes to the side of the balloon with felt-tip pens. Next I will print the little linocut birds and the sun.
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A hot air balloon over Pispala and orange in the sky. I added a few dark cloud edges, spreading next with my fingers. There are too many clouds. But the sun seems to have found its place in the upper left corner.
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In Terry DeRoy Gruber's black-and-white photograph, a black-and-white cat peeks out of a gap in the wall, looking a little sly. Has the cat managed to fit through that gap? Or has it already been on the other side of the wall? The gap looks hastily sawn and at least bigger than a mousehole. The photo is from Terry DeRoy Gruber's book "Working Cats" - but what work does this cat do? The card also includes a quote: "He's my silent partner. He prefers to remain behind the scenes."
