My Story from IT to Art – Audio Interview
Lovely Lou Blaser from Second Breaks Podcast interviewed me and it was a lot of fun. She had interesting questions and we also talked about the vulnerability related to sharing art. Listen to the podcast here!
Live Broadcasts Begin – Come to Meet Me Next Week!
It has been my dream for a long time, and now it’s time to do it: I will begin broadcasting live blog posts!
Live Broadcasts – Artists’ Coffee Breaks
Think of these as artists’ coffee breaks for inspiration! I intend to keep the broadcasts short and then publish the recording on my blog. The weekly blog posts will continue, but many of them will be recordings of these live broadcasts.
My idea about the content is similar to the blog so far: have a wide variety of narrow topics related to my recent art discoveries and offerings. A new thing that live broadcasts enable is that I can invite other artists to talk about art so there will be interviews too!
Next Week’s Topic: Creating Small-Sized Art
The topic for the first live broadcast is creating small-sized art and how to use that to strengthen you as an artist. I will show some of my small drawings and paintings and share the enthusiasm and new perspectives that they have given to me.
The broadcast will take place on April 25, 11 AM in Finland.
It’s 9 AM in London, Europe
6 PM in Sydney, Australia
8 PM in Wellington, New Zealand
I know it’s a bad time for you who live in the USA or Canada (1 AM PDT / 4 AM EDT) but the weekday and the time will vary. You can watch the replay so you won’t miss anything! I will post the recording here on my blog after the live session.
Come to Meet Me Live on April 25!
On Wednesday next week, I will broadcast at Crowdcast where you can register for free. You can also chat with other participants when watching me – it’s just like having a coffee break together!
Creating Small-Sized Art – Click Here to Register!
Little Assistants – How Pets Help with Art Making
I work at home with two dogs and four birds. My husband leaves early in the morning and then there are only us, the gang of seven. One of my little assistants is a beagle called Stella, a very cute little angel to every human but I think she would describe herself as a hungry hunter and would order a very different portrait than this one!
Gathering Inspiration
First, I take the dogs out for a walk. I solve most of my work-related problems and make plans in this private morning meeting, happening inside my head. In the afternoon, there’s another walk, but that’s not as productive as the one in the morning.
I always carry a phone with me so that I can take photos if I happen to see something inspirational and artistic. As a result, I have a lot of pictures that are not so great or meaningful to memory keeping and such, but that look abstract art to me.
This winter we have got quite a many snow storms. In February, it had snowed a lot during the day, so before we left our front yard, I was already taking photos of this mad whiteness that we were trying to overcome.
We had been wading for some time when I realized that I had lost my keys in the snow while taking photos. After a lot of sweat, and stepping back and forth, I finally found the keys in the middle of “the road.” During a year, there are many days in Finland where everyone else than dog owners have their meetings indoors.
Taking Healthy Breaks
On a workday, my dogs hang around quite a lot. They have learned that if I set something on the floor, it’s not for them to lay down on.
They try to be patient when waiting for daily treats but maybe see their role as interrupters who force me to have short breaks now and then. Cosmo, the old one, is the leader who decides when to stop my work, and Stella quickly joins him.
These breaks don’t always seem so healthy and fun to me. I am often in a very concentrated mode and find a soft touch of a nose just annoying. But who could resist these faces?
Getting Genuine Encouragement
The birds – four budgies called Henrietta, Citronelle, Dynamite, and Bonneville – see my work differently. They want to join me and encourage me when I am at my best. It means that every time I record videos, and they sense the excitement in my voice, they start chirping: “Go on, you are doing great! Oh Paivi, you are so inspiring!”
Hearing the birds is a contradictory thing. My birds don’t lie so if I don’t hear any sounds when I am speaking, I know that my enthusiasm doesn’t show and I have to fix that. But despite the walls, the mic picks up the high-note sounds easily. So I have to stop recording, go to the library room to ask them to be quiet. Sometimes nothing else helps than darkening the room and adding a cover on their cage. It often feels cruel, especially after seeing them happy and excited first. So many of my videos have bird sounds in the background, and I hope that you forgive us!
Having Pets as Models
Cosmo and Stella are very proud of their modeling skills, and they think that the reward they need for every minute is very moderate too. However, it’s often cheaper for me to take a photo and use that as a reference.
Unfortunate for them, but I don’t often paint dogs. But this month, when the monthly theme of Bloom and Fly is stretching the imagination and adding surreal elements to art, I wanted to express how cute Stella is in my eyes.
Learning Leadership Skills
My position as the leader of the pack has strengthened during the past years. We all wait eagerly for my husband in the afternoons but I am often the one my pets turn with their needs. My husband loves them as much as I do, and it hasn’t always been this way. But the time spent with them matters, and it gives me the sense of satisfaction when I don’t have to leave my pets alone.
This year, leading an online community has been new to me. In fact, when I left my day job in 2014, I thought that I would be just making self-study classes and taking care of the pets! There’s a false sense of independence built in the art making because most of the creating happen alone. But after running my first workshop, I realized that I can help more when there’s more interaction.
With the community, it has dawned on me that the role of a leader doesn’t mean that I have to know it all. We are all learning from each other. It’s a liberating thought, and it doesn’t only empower the leader, but the members as well.
We often have intentions to create a certain kind of art or share our art but postpone it because we feel that we need to figure it out by ourselves first. Some of the things that I have postponed are diving deeper into watercolor painting and develop more ways to use art for self-exploration.
But the truth is that when you have the support, changes start to happen. You get structure and kindness that gives you courage. There’s no need to struggle alone or wait until you are ready. The life is not so long after all.
Bloom and Fly – Don’t wait until you are more skillful, join the community now!
Minimalism in Creating – Making the Most of What You Have
Here’s my latest little study in watercolor, called “Ikebana.” I finished it today, but for a long time, it was just a piece of watercolor paper with random doodles and colored spots. I had started the piece in December 2016 when running a local art class. I had just painted mindlessly while discussing with the students and then left the piece unfinished.
Choosing Not to Toss Away
When I was holding the unfinished, ugly painting, I thought of my choices. I could toss the paper away and forget the thing. Or I could treat it as a treasure and make the most of it, despite the controlling straight lines that went through the page and other uninspiring details. To me, choosing to continue the painting, is usually always the better choice. Making the most what I have calms me down, gives me a sense of purpose, and positively challenges me. I don’t consider it so much as a choice of saving money or space but getting a peace of mind.
I have also noticed that when I work on with the old pieces, I find new ways to make them more expressive. That in turn, helps me to develop better classes and help my students. This time, I was inspired by April’s theme of Bloom and Fly – surreal art!
Getting back to old doodles also reminds me that even if I can’t make all the details work together, art is never fully perfect. Often the minor “mistakes” add personality and interesting tension to the piece.
I also like to store the finished pieces organized in folders.
Using Up Old Art Supplies
One of my favorite things is to organize art supplies once in a while. I try to find the best places for them so that they get used up. I find it much more pleasurable to buy new supplies when there’s the actual need. It’s also nice when I have had time to think what to purchase next.
So when I noticed that some pans of my White Nights watercolor set are getting empty, I decided to experiment and fill some with paint from the old tubes. I found an old gouache tube by Schminke, the pink that I totally love but had forgotten, and I hope it will keep on wetting well even after the pan is fully dried.
One of the pans that I made, the muddy green, is a color mix. It’s a color that I usually use for watercolor paintings to give brighter colors more power.
My Meditation – Cleaning Brushes
The longer I have created art, the more I have put a focus on my brushes. I used to buy them carelessly and toss them away once they didn’t seem to work anymore. But nowadays, I like to appreciate what I have and take time to clean the brushes carefully after each painting session.
The cleaner that I currently use is The Masters Brush Cleaner, recommended to me by my artist friend Eeva Nikunen. I have saved many old brushes by cleaning them properly with this cleaner, and I couldn’t even think of cleaning oil paint from the brushes with anything else.
This cleaner is a solid soap. You dip the brush in water and then rub the soap with the brush. Formerly, I only washed the brushes with warm water after watercolor painting. Now I use the cleaner for watercolor brushes too, and it’s lovely to begin a new painting session when my brushes are like new!
No Need for Inventing New Ideas
To me, looking old stuff with fresh eyes is one of the best things in art, and it applies to ideas as well. See “From Innovation to Experience” from 2014 and Origami from 2016-2018!
Is This Too Much Minimalism?
I was hesitant to write this blog post because I don’t want to take the joy out of buying new stuff and starting new art. I also enjoy that! But often the best cure for procrastination is to stop thinking what you don’t have and start using your creativity to make the most of what you already have. Bonding with the old supplies and ideas can give a sense of independence and freedom too.
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
I heard this quote from one of the members of Bloom and Fly, and it feels appropriate here too!
Bloom and Fly – Get new inspiration and perspective to your art!
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