Going Beyond the Conventional Archives - Peony and Parakeet

Drawing a Summer Ornament

Päivi — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:01:57 +0000

This week, I want to show that an ornament can be more than just a decoration. An ornament can be a framework for expression in the same way as a portrait, a still life, or a landscape. I love drawing ornaments. It feels as though the universe is shouting at me: “This is right, this […]

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What Tsubaki Stationery Store Taught Me About Making Art

Päivi — Thu, 28 May 2026 16:48:01 +0000

I listened to a wonderful book. It was like a refreshing rain pouring straight into my heart. The book is new and by the Japanese author Ito Ogawa. Its Finnish title is Paperikauppa Tsubaki, and it is also being released in English as Tsubaki Stationery Store (Amazon – affiliate link, Goodreads) Tsubaki Stationery Store The […]

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Artistic Line Drawing – What Do You Think About This Course Idea?

Päivi — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:47:13 +0000

To me, all visual art begins with drawing. When you want to get to know yourself, draw! When you want to develop as an artist—say, as a painter—draw! To draw is to think. Make your lines come alive, and gradually, a whole new world will emerge, even on a small piece of paper. That’s what […]

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Can Playful Art Be Serious?

Päivi — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:20:12 +0000

This week, I want to talk about my newly finished painting titled Fauna. This is one of my most peculiar pieces, filled with strange ideas. With this, I want to challenge us to ponder the question: Can playful art be serious? Ideas Have a Mental Age This painting combines many ideas. I tend to come […]

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Exploring Light and Mass When Creating Semi-Abstract Art

Päivi — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:16:43 +0000

This week, I show my latest painting and talk about creating semi-abstract art where some details are quite realistic, and others are more abstract. I also give five concrete ideas for creating semi-abstract drawings or paintings. For the past couple of months, I’ve been working on four “sisters.” They are all the same size, yet […]

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Colored Pencil Tutorial “Limitless World”

Päivi — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:41:41 +0000

This week, I have a step-by-step colored pencil tutorial for you. It’s called Limitless World. We color without outlines and end up with something that is partly realistic and yet more creative and limitless than any traditional drawing. Supplies This tutorial uses regular colored pencils, but feel free to try it with watercolor pencils, watercolors, […]

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Making Florals More Modern

Päivi — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:36:47 +0000

This week, we are making florals more modern! So, when you want to get away from a botanical look, and draw and paint flowers that are more abstract and expressive, here are my tips for you! In my recent painting Gossamer, I have stretched my style to a modern direction. The painting was born much […]

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How Realistic Should Your Art Be?

Päivi — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:56:07 +0000

In this post, I divide visual art into two parts. The division is a bit extreme, but it helps us to ponder about this: How realistic should my art be? Realistic or Abstract? Realistic expression emphasizes drawing, while abstract work more often emphasizes painting. When we draw realistically, we express things through the external world. […]

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Gentle Morning – Expression Through Watercolor

Päivi — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:44:08 +0000

This week, I share a watercolor painting that has more expression than correct botanical details. I created a sweet, luminous atmosphere for this delicate flower painting, where the water appears soft, refreshing, and nurturing. The gentle water and morning light express new beginnings that are filled with hope. Life sometimes gives us gentle mornings – […]

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Creating Menagerie

Päivi — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 09:37:48 +0000

This week, I share a recent acrylic painting called Menagerie and talk about the process. This is an example of making the most of the rich visual vocabulary – the topic that I talked about in last week’s video, but now we focus more on the idea of the piece rather than the style. Recently, […]

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Painting a Mystery

Päivi — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 15:03:06 +0000

This week is about painting a mystery and entering another world through art-making. My paintings are in an art journal and made with a loose touch. It All Started from a Withering Bouquet “The Midsummer bouquet has withered. I have to throw it in the trash,” I said. “But the setting is just like those […]

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Coloring an Intuitive Selfie

Päivi — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:10:31 +0000

This week, we draw an intuitive selfie, so without a camera or a mirror. Let’s pick the colored pencils and create a self-portrait freely and intuitively! We use the pencils as a camera and draw the face as it’s a photo taken from the inner world’s view. At the same time, we explore blurriness, freedom, […]

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