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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".
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Another small pastel background for linocuts has been made. Three linocuts of hares are jumping into the sky around an orange linocut moon. I made green-yellow fields in the lower part, above which a reddish sunset can be seen. Things are going wild in the nightless night of Finland. The size of the picture is 24 x 17 cm and the name came from Aaro Hellaakoski's poem: "When I get tired once, I fall, I fall from a high place".
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In between other jobs, I often make pastel backgrounds for small linocuts. It's always amazing how much a little color, often in the sky, clouds or green fields, can change the mood of a picture. In this linocut, two cats look over the edge of a wicker basket. Now that the sky is dark and lightnings are flashing, the cats look a bit scared. This 24 x 17 cm picture was named after the poem "They play together, they hide in their arms, they always purr".
Tätäkään versiota A4-kokoisista linopiirroksistani Pispalasta en ole vedostanut yhdessä 20 X 60 cm kokoisena. Arvelin aiemmin, että niitä ei soisi yhdistää alaosassa olevien kattojen tai niiden osien takia. Tämä maisema oli vain yläosa isommasta neljän A4-palan kuvasta, jossa alaosassa näkyi talot kokonaisina. Kuvassa on iso liuta Pispalan maamerkkejä, haulitorni, Näsinneulan näkötorni, Pispalan koulu, Pispalan portaat, Pyynikin näkötorni ja jopa jo purettu hyppyrimäki eli Tahmelan hoppa. Haulitornin ja pari kuplavolkkaria näkötornin juurella väritin käsin.
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I haven't printed this version of my A4-sized linocuts of Pispala together in 20 X 60 cm size either. I previously thought that they shouldn't be combined because of the roofs or parts of them at the bottom. This landscape was just the top of a larger picture of four A4 pieces, where the houses were visible in their entirety at the bottom. The picture shows a large group of Pispala landmarks, the shot tower, the Näsinneula observation tower, Pispala school, Pispala stairs, Pyynikki observation tower and even the already demolished ski jumping hill, or Tahmela hoppa. I hand-colored the shot tower and a couple of bubble Volkwagens at the foot of the observation tower.
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I have not printed earlier this version of the Pispala ridge linocuts I have engraved before. This image contains two A4-sized linocuts, so the size of the image is 20 x 60 cm. On the left edge, light shines from the Pispala shot tower and on the right edge, light can be seen at the top of the Pyynikki observation tower. The Pispala stairs rise somewhat in the middle of the image, so the image was named "Stairs to the top". The big bird is a white-tailed eagle, several of which were seen soaring above Lake Pyhäjärvi.
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I printed two A4-sized Pispala linocuts into one image. For some reason I had not combined these before, but they work. I colored the windows at the top yellow, the light shines. The bottom shows plots of vegetable garden on the shore of Lake Pyhäjärvi, boats and a cat, as well as a lot of stuff left in the yard, from benches to a small cat in a box. The image is 40 x 30 cm. The image got its name from Väinö Kirstinä's poem: "It is sweet, whose brook chars the feathers".
Näitä pyyhkeitä ja myös vanhempia malleja on myynnissä Naivistit Iittalassa-näyttelyn aulapuodissa ja Interi ry:n kesäpuodissa Runebergin mökissä Haiharan taidekeskuksessa Tampereella. Yritän ehtiä laittaa pyyhkeitä myyntiin myös Etsy-kauppaani (Linokissa).
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These towels and also older models are for sale in the lobby shop of the Naive Artists in Iittala exhibition and in the Interi ry's summer shop in Runeberg's cottage at the Haihara Art Center in Tampere. I am also trying to put towels up for sale in my Etsy shop (Linokissa).
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The lobby shop of the Naive Artists at Iittala exhibition offers a wide variety of products: my lino drawings framed and unframed, cards, kitchen towels and now Ulla Heinonen came up with the ides of fish lino t-shirt (dark blue, lovely light material).
