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The linocut fish is colored blue and white and the eye is red. In the background, the sun is reflected in the water and the fish swims at the very bottom. Clay and small aquatic plants tickle the fish's belly. The background was made with soft pastels. The size of the picture is 15 x15 cm. The name for this fish comes from Aale Tynni's poem: "I find that I fit well into a happy and small riverbed."
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The "London Calling Epe" pastel/linocut is already in its place in its new home. And the place is absolutely amazing! The red sky of the Arsenal football team in the painting and the Emirates Stadium visible on the northern horizon are above the chair from Arsenal's old arena, Highbury Stadium. The chair is also made of red leather. It is an authentic seat from the Directors Box at Highbury, which was demolished in 2008. The chair has an original nameplate, which mentions its owner: the club's then main owner, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. The painting and chair greet those entering the apartment next to a coat rack. There is also a pop art picture of Johnny Rotten on the wall in the hall in its red frames, the owner's first art acquisition. What is it like to be in this club!
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Englantilaisen kuvittajan Naomi Wilkinsonin "Still Life" / "Asetelma" on vuodelta 2020. Musta, oranssisilmäinen kissa istuu kellanruskealla lattialla. Taustalla näkyvät vaakasuorat lattialistat ja pinkki kukkapurkki mustine lehtineen. Asetelma on tosi pelkistetty, mutta rauhoittava. Työ on todennäköisesti kollaasi.
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"Still Life" by English illustrator Naomi Wilkinson is from 2020. A black, orange-eyed cat sits on a tan floor. In the background, horizontal floorboards and a pink flower pot with black leaves are visible. The still life is very simple, but calming. The work is likely a collage.
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In this fourth version of a linocut fish, a tropical fish colored with yellow-brown stripes swims among the waves. The background is, as usual, soft pastel, now quite bright blue water, small, white waves and a reflection of the sun. The size of the picture is 15 x 15 cm. The picture was named after P. Mustapää's poem: "There is no shore, oh Thesis".
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The third linocut fish is more colorful. The fish has blue, purple, red, yellow and green stripes made with colored pencils. The eye is shiny yellow. The background of this fish is deep blue water made with soft pastels, into which the sunlight is reflected in rays. The size of the picture is 15 x 15 cm. The picture was named after a verse from Lauri Pohjanpää's poem: "The day was a hot, the waves were moving".
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The second linocut fish is blue and white. Only the eye is red. Behind the fish, soft pastels also created blue and white water, where a few rays of sunlight are reflected. The size of the image is 15 x 15 cm. The name came from a verse from Lauri Viita's poem: "Under the waves, if not ahead".
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I made a few test prints of smaller linocuts of two fish. I tested coloring the fish by hand, testing them for a larger work. The colored fish alone seemed so lonely on white paper that I made a background of water with pastel chalks. This yellow-brown-gray fish has greenish water in the background. The picture was named "Only the blue of the forest, the green of the water and the flowers turn red" from Pertti Nieminen's poem Omnia mea. The size of the fish picture is 15 x 15 cm.
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The English artist Frances Bond (1905-1978) painted many cat paintings. And often the cats were white and fluffy, like in this card. Here, the cutie looks with her yellow-green shiny eyes in the middle of purple flowers or a flowering bush. Each flower is carefully painted separately and the green of the leaves stands out beautifully in the sunlight.
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Now this mixed media work I made for a fan of the Arsenal football team is probably finished. As requested, the Emirates Stadium over the roofs of London and the red color of Arsenal in the sky have been added to the picture. This "order" was really nice to do as I am an Arsenal fan myself. The work was named London Calling Epe, adapted from The Clash's song. The size of the picture is 50 x 30 cm. The sky is soft pastel and the birds, moon and view of London are linocuts.
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The London sky was filled with a lot of Arsenal football team red, suitable for a Arsenal fan. . There was also some yellow in this colorful sky. The moon is also a cheese yellow, with a bit of silver among the yellow. This must be the spring sky after sunset. There is still blue sky above among the clouds and the last light of the sun is visible as yellow over the Emirates Stadium and the rooftops of London. Still needing little finishing touches...
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A flock of birds and the moon are coming over the rooftops of London and the Emirates Stadium. I placed the small linocuts of the birds and the moon in the sky upside down, the same way they are when they are printed. This way I can see the actual shape of the flock of birds, which I had first designed using baking paper by drawing a model of the flock. Before coloring the sky, I attached the thin plastic figures of the birds and the moon to the sky. This way I can leave light areas for their printing.
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A friend who supports Arsenal football club was still missing my mixed media work "London Calling". In these works, the lower part has been my linocut of the roofs of London. Now a friend suggested that we could include the Emirates Stadium in the picture. And why not! When I was printing the lower part, I removed one of the buildings from the linocut by covering it. Then I made a small linocut of the Emirates Stadium and added it on the hill to the gap, and finally I colored the front wall of the stadium red. The plan is to add more pastel to the sky and maybe birds and the moon or sun.
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The drawing by German illustrator Quint Buchholz is aptly titled "I'm the Boss" / "Ich bin der Chef". This cat is indeed the one who determines the place of the table. The eyes are bright yellow, the nose is pink and the right front paw is dominantly on the edge of the table. The faint yellow light is nicely reflected on the right edge of the drawing.
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The third version of the lantern fish is a fish in trouble. The fish is being chased by a flock of small fish, and there is strength among them. The lantern fish tries to swim to the shelter of the soft sea grasses, but it barely succeeds when that lantern shines brightly. The fish is a red-black linocut, the small fish are small red linocuts and the water is a soft pastel. The size of the picture is 24 x 36 cm. This fish picture got its name from Eila Kivikk'aho's poem "A mirror broken by a wave looks diagonally into the distance".
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We stopped by the exhibition of Pentti Kaskipuro's (1930-20109) metal graphics at the Sara Hildén Art Museum. The large museum was full, a huge number of small works, most of them drypoints. The Helsinki landscapes of the 1950s changed from the 1960s to 2000 to beetroot, onions, sausages and bread rolls. The images were darker than I imagined, but oh so peaceful and serene, like whispers compared to the wars, dictators and chaos of today's world. The Finnish winter landscape in black and white from the windows was a perfect match for the black and white works.
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The second version of the lantern fish is green. The fish's lantern illuminates the seabed, with only a couple of seaweeds swaying in the water. This croaker is a black and white print, while the first version was red and black. Water is soft pastel, The size of the image is 24 x 36 cm. The fish got its name from Sirkka Selja's poem: "Through the waves' wild, glittering strokes, I swim, with supple and powerful strokes, towards the green immensities of the sea."
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Something was still missing from this picture of hearts and cloud, but what? Birds of course! One big linocut bird - maybe an eagle hovered over Pispala. But the eagle looked lonely. Love, or heart images in the sky, needed friends. And then there were those, small linocut birds - maybe a whole flock of swallows, curving the left edge of the picture towards the eagle. The size of the picture is 50 x 30 cm. The name is from Juice's music; "Luonas kai olla saan" / "I Hope I Can Stay With You".
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The Victorian "chocolate box painting" by the English cat painter Adrianne Lester (1870-1955) is called "Bath Time". The painting has a beautiful, warm brown tone. All four cats have bows around their necks. The mother cat watches her kittens bathe with some concern. There doesn't seem to be any water in the tub, just a couple of blades of grass. What could be better - cats don't like baths!
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A mixed media work of clouds forming blue heart shapes in the sky had been lying in the corner of my study for quite some time. I had seen such a phenomenon in the sky (although only one heart) and I tried to interpret it by combining it with a linocut of Pispala and a hawk. Somehow it felt empty - something was missing. So I took it back to my desk on a cloudy day. How would it work if I added a little color, purple, to the horizon. This is still in progress.
