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Swedish illustarator Marie Åhfeldt's cat drawing is called "The Year 2020". I can't figure out why these cats are associated with the year 2020. There are nine cats. They look like they were drawn quickly: black outlines and color and stripes added with marker or digitally. All of the cats are sitting and have small round eyes. My favorite is the dark-faced, fat cat in the bottom right.
Linopiirrokset ja kortit lähtivät kohti Taidekeskus Väinölän kesän naivistista näyttelyä. Marja-Muusa Hämäläinen ja Timo Hämäläinen hakivat tavarat treffeillä Lempäälässä Mantunkulman Nesteellä. Timo Kanerva nappasi iloisen vappukuvan.
Naivistinen yhteisnäyttely "ILOA - RAKKAUTTA - NAIVISTIT VARKAUDESSA" on avoinna 25.5.-23.8.2026.
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Linocuts and cards headed to the summer naive art exhibition at the Väinölä Art Center. Marja-Muusa Hämäläinen and Timo Hämäläinen picked up the items on a date at Mantunkulma Neste in Lempäälä. Timo Kanerva snapped a happy May Day photo. The naive art joint exhibition "JOY - LOVE - NAIVE ARTISTS IN VÄINÖLÄ" is open from 25.5.-23.8.2026.
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I printed little linocuts of flying rabbits and birds over a cat hatching from an egg, the birds lower into the red sky and the rabbits up into the blue sky. The orange moon is setting or rising, I can't decide. And I can't decide if that bird's egg needs any color at all. I usually color those eggs, but this one looks pretty good that way, bright.
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Now I think the pastel sky is blue and red enough and there are wisps of clouds in between. I placed the small linocuts on the sky, and I can still adjust the sky around them to match the size of the linocuts of hares and birds-
Taivas munasta kuoriutuvan kissan yllä sai lisää väriä, aika tummaa punaistakin. Taivaalla olevat vaaleammat kohdat on varattu pienille linopiirroksille lentävistä jäniksistä ja linnuista. Vedostan ne vasta kun taivas on tarpeeksi punainen.
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The sky above the cat hatching from the egg got more color, quite dark red. The lighter areas in the sky are reserved for small linocuts of flying rabbits and birds. I will only print them when the sky is red enough.
Kuvan inspiraationa on ollut intiaanipäällikkö Sitting Bull.
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Michael Weigall's collage is about one of the famous people in history transformed into a cat. Weigall used his own cat Merlin as his model. Weigall has done quite a few of these. In this picture, Merlin poses as the Indian chief "Chief Sitting Cat". The cat has a charmingly large and colorful feather hat and in the background you can see an Indian village with tents, yellow and brown.
The picture was inspired by the Indian chief Sitting Bull.
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I left empty spaces for the small linocuts based on my layout and will print them when the pastel sky is ready. I have noticed that it is easier to print these small lino on a finished pastel base - you don't have to be careful of the proofed images when coloring the sky. However, you have to remember to soften or blur the shapes of the future lino rabbits and birds.
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Above the cat hatching from the egg, a series of linocuts now appeared in the night sky: flying rabbits and birds. I arranged the small linocuts so that they are in the form in which they will be printed, i.e. upside down.
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There will be born (at least) one more cat from a bird's egg. This version starts with me printing a linocut of an orange moon rising from behind a hill. The cat and egg at the bottom is also a linocut.
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A surprised cat hatches from a bird's egg. But the wonders don't end there. Flying rabbits and a cat whizz in the sky. I added stars to the sky to accompany the moon, even though the sky actually looks cloudy. But anything is possible! This mixed media work, linocuts and pastel sky got its name from Lauri Viita's poem: "Why curse and row, when moonlight and rain can be picked up without a hook". The size of the picture is 50 x 30 cm.
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Behind the cat and the rabbits, the sky became quite cloudy, blue and purple. The moon began to glow yellow and the cat, hatching from a bird's egg, peered at the event in wonder. The lower part of the picture, the moon, the rabbits and the cat, are linocuts. The sky is a soft pastel color.
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Endre Penovac's watercolor painting "Sprint" captures the movement of a cat. The black cat runs diagonally, curving, perhaps to avoid Andre in front of it. The yellow eyes look straight ahead. And that tail is absolutely amazing, big, fluffy and soft.
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The challenges with this mixed media work continue even after the moon. I had placed the small linocuts on the sky with the image side facing up (picture below). That's the opposite of when printing a linocut. You should always remember to plan your linocuts upside down. So the layout was redone. Now the cat is jumping over the moon and the rabbits are on the left side. Some of the linocuts go over the border and the sky. I put a stencil on and started with a pastel sky, blue and purple.
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The yellow moon now covers the failed hare print. The last layer on the moon is a linocut of the moon with craters and underneath it is pastel and that unfortunate hare. Challenges are fun. I think I will continue from here!
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When I was printing a small linocut of a hare for my mixed media work, it failed! I had applied too much color to the linocut and when printing it, it became quite messy (picture below). What should I do? Throw the whole work in the trash and start over or should I come up with something? I made a stencil with a round hole the size of the linocut moon. I first colored the moon I had designed on top of the hare in gray and reddish pastel colors. You can still distinguish the hare's figure on the moon.
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A new mixed media work of a cat hatching from an egg is in the works again. In this 50 x 30 cm image, one cat and three rabbits are flying in the air. I placed their linocuts on top of the already-printed egg cat. The moon is probably also coming into the sky
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This cat card is an old Palet card (558/9). You can tell by the beautiful decorative border and the slightly inaccurate printing. There is no information about the artist. The kitten has fallen ill (hopefully just with the flu). However, the worried mother has called in a cat doctor in his fedora. The doctor is giving medicine to the kitten with a spoon and there is a doctor's bag on the floor. Everything in the cats' home is lovely, a heart at the head of the kitten's green wooden bed, flower paintings on the door, a red curtain rod, plates on the wall shelf, two paintings and slippers next to the kitten's bed. Get well soon!
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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.