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There are old elms on the shore near the Pispala log-floating tunnel, and one of them found its way into my linocut. The tree appears black in the linoleum block because I colored it with a felt-tip pen. Sometimes, coloring with a pen helps—for instance, when carving thin branches—as it makes the uncarved areas stand out more clearly from the carved ones.
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Stairs have now appeared in the linocut of the Pispala log-floating tunnel. They lead from near the shore to the Ylä-Voima building at the highest point of the Pispala ridge. A few houses have already been carved onto the lakeshore, but the smaller houses on the ridge are missing. It looks as though there is a stairway to heaven.
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During the summer at the cottage, I started working on a new linocut featuring Pispala. The subject is a familiar sight from my walks: the old Pispala log-floating tunnel. I had often wondered about that strange opening on the Pispala hillside. I read a bit about its history online: the tunnel was built between 1966 and 1968 to float bundles of logs from Lake Näsijärvi to Lake Pyhäjärvi. However, it was never used and remained idle for 40 years. In 2013, the tunnel was finally opened, serving as a shortcut for pedestrians beneath the ridge and a transport route for moving boats between the lakes. It was a momentous occasion when one could finally walk through the tunnel. Well, now the tunnel is closed again. This linocut depicts the log-floating tunnel—with an opening I plan to color yellow—along with a stretch of the Pyhäjärvi shoreline, the highest house on the ridge, and the metal transport platform designed for the tunnel, which still stands on the shore.
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How wonderful it is to get a picture of your sold painting in its new home. It's quite rare to get a picture like this, so it's always an event! "I Drowned, I Slept, I W Up - I Found Heaven Here", a rather large linocut/pastel traveled from the Iittala summer exhibition to Helsinki and a wooden house. With permission, the new happy owners are also revealed: Matti Remes and Susanna Tan. The painting has a great location, next to the rocking chair. I can just imagine a dark autumn evening when the round lamp has light in the same way as the lantern fish. When sitting in the rocking chair, you can almost feel yourself rocking under water. Exoticism can also be found on the floor, Matti's aunt's inheritance is a camel-shaped football from Tehran, a milking stool from Ouagadougou and a donkey rug from Afghanistan. The exotic fish on the Tahmela beach fit in very well with the same group.
Tämä versio sai nimekseen P. Mustapään runosta säkeen: "Maisema on keltainen, kultainen, keltainen kuin olki". Kuvan koko on 15 x 20 cm.
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For fun, I made another linocut of a cat driving a car with a pastel background. Now the sky is much more simple than in the previous one. Just red, orange, yellow and blue and a few stars at the top. There is no meaning or sense in judging these, but still, it says: "Which one is better?"
This version got its name from a verse from a poem by P. Mustapää: "The Landscape Is Yellow, Golden, Yellow like straw". The size of the picture is 15 x 20 cm.
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I made a dark blue and red pastel sky behind the linocut cat whizzing down the hill in a car. One of the fun things about a summer day is making pastel skies for these little linocuts. This picture was called "Flaming Hearts Were Left On the shores of Arcadia " (from the poem by P. Mustapää) and the size is 15 x 20 cm.
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This linocut cat has strength. It lifts the entire Earth and another cat on its shoulders. Cats and the Earth are linocuts, where the Earth has been printed blue and the continents have been hand-colored in green. The background is pastel. The size of the image is 22 x 11 cm.
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The linocut of an angry cat, the moon and a lightning cloud now has a soft pastel background: yellow cornfields, a darkening sky and lightning. The size of the picture is 23 x 17 cm. And the name of this picture is: "Äksy ärripurri äänensä korottaja" (impossible to translate)
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I used soft pastels to create the background for this picture, which combines several linocuts: a hot air balloon and three flying rabbits. I hand-colored the hot air balloon. The background turned out to be quite summery and light, with a bit of purple and yellow in the cotton candy clouds. The size of the picture is 31 x 24 cm. This mixed media work got its name from Aaro Hellaakoski's poem: "There Is Space In the Sky, There Is Sound Above, Below".
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A rainy day at the summer cottage, what a perfect time to make a pastel background for a linocut of an angry cat and the moon. The background was the evening sky, a bit of purple and blue and lots of stars. The picture got its name from an old verse: "The cat's name is Misuliini, I'll catch the cat", The size of the picture is 23 x 16.5 cm.
Tätäkään kahden erillisen 20 x 30 cm kokoisen linopiirroksen yhteistä vedostusta en ollut aiemmin tehnyt. Nyt minua ei häiritse, että samankokoisen alaosan puuttuminen jättää oikealla olevat talot hiukan vajavaisiksi ja portaat loppuvat kesken. Haulitorni, Näsinneula, Pispalan koulu ja Siilinkarin majakka kaikki kuvassa näkyvät ja paljon Pispalan taloja. Haulitorni on väritetty punaiseksi ja ylimpien talojen ikkunoista loistaa valo. Tämän 20 x 60 cm kokoisen linopiirrosversion nimeksi tuli "Palikkaleikki moreenipenkereellä".
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I had not done this joint print of two separate 20 x 30 cm linocuts before. Now I don't mind that the lack of the same-sized lower part leaves the houses on the right a bit incomplete and the stairs end in half. The Pispala shot tower, Näsinneula, Pispala school and Siilinkari lighthouse are all visible in the picture, as are many of the houses in Pispala. The shot tower is colored red and light shines from the windows of the uppermost houses. This 20 x 60 cm linocut version was named "Palikkaleikki moreenipenkereellä" / "Block Play On the Moraine Embankment".
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In my series of small linocuts in a pastel landscape, here is a cat driving a car. A small cat logo had already been added below the image. The cat has room to turn the steering wheel, as the landscape looks like a sandy desert. The image is only 17 x 20 cm in size and its name comes from Kirsi Kunnas' poem: "Silky fur, rose mouth, little cat Krumeluu".
Linopiirros/pastellin idea lähti punaisista kissoista, mutta siihen tuli pari lisäystä: punainen raitiovaunu ja uimarit Pyhäjärvessä. Sydämenmallisissa pastellipilvissä on hiukan pinkkiä ja joukossa lentelee muutama linopiirroslintu.
Tätä työtä oli ilo tehdä, kehitellä yhdessä lahjan antajan kanssa ideoita ja toteuttaa niitä.
Kuvan koko on 70 x 40 cm ja se sai nimekseen Juice Leskisen kappaleesta: "Mihin ikuisuus päättyy mä tiedä en. Rakkaus on ikuinen".
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The wedding has now taken place and the gift picture has been handed over to the new couple! Congratulations!
The linocut/pastel idea started with red cats, but a couple of additions were made: a red tram and swimmers in Pyhäjärvi. The heart-shaped pastel clouds have a bit of pink and a few linocut birds are flying among them.
It was a pleasure to do this work, to develop ideas together with the gift giver and to implement them.
The size of the picture is 70 x 40 cm and it got its name after Juice Leskinen's song: "Where Does the Eternity End, I Don't Know. Love Is Eternal."
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What would be appropriate for the sky of a wedding picture? Well, heart-shaped clouds of course, since cats already have their tails wrapped in a heart shape. A blue summery pastel sky and light clouds. Could I have some pink?
Continuing...
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Could the wedding gift picture include a personal reference to the bride in addition to the groom's red tram? I heard that the bride had been a competitive swimmer in her youth. So I made a small stamp of two swimmers. I printed the stamp in the middle of Lake Pyhäjärvi. It shows the happy couple swimming crawl in the middle of the lake. Continuing....
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Last summer, the Naive Artists at Iittala exhibition featured my linocut/pastel of two red cats with their tails intertwined in a heart shape. What a fitting painting for a wedding gift, given that the title was "Eternal Love"! But the picture had already been sold. The groom's mother didn't give up and got in touch and we started planning a new version around the two red cats. Continuing....
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The third version of the Pispala ridge linocuts, which is still awaiting proofing, is two A4-sized linocuts together. I have colored the windows of the highest houses on the slope and the Pyynikki observation tower yellow. In this picture, the border between the two pieces is clearly visible. Perhaps it should be corrected a little, darkening the foliage of the trees. The bird is a white-tailed eagle seen over the lake Pyhäjärvi. The size of this print is 20 x 60 cm. This version was named "In the Shadow of the Observation Tower".
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Originally I made a small linocut of an outhouse (huussi in Finnish) for the cover of Maritta Hirvonen's short story collection "Music From the Outhouse" /"Pikkukamarimusiikkia". Now I added a rainbow to the sky behind the outhouse in pastel colors. Then I realized that the rainbow as a symbol can also be associated with the Pride marches and weeks of early summer. I support it! The size of the picture is 16 x 14 cm and the name came from an old saying: "Sit down, relax and enjoy, summer is the magic of outhouse!"
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The third small linocut and pastel background is another lino of cats in a basket. These cats are looking at the summer sky. A few white cotton candy clouds are sailing in the blue sky, and a couple of birds can be seen there. The basket of cats is in front of the window on the kitchen table on a red and white striped tablecloth. The size of the picture is 23 x 16.5 cm, and the name came from Aale Tynni’s poem: "Alone you are not as alone as you are, friend, at your friend's place".
