Going Beyond the Conventional Archives - Page 3 of 21

Beginner’s Video Art – Paintings Come Alive

Posted on February 2, 2024February 2, 2024Posted in Going Beyond the Conventional, Sceneries, VideosTagged software36 Comments

This week, I have a video, but it’s different than what I have ever made so far.

A lot has happened in the last few months, and it has also changed my attitude towards life. I have come to believe in destiny. Usually, when I’ve looked back, I’ve seen my life as loose threads. I remember the words of a professor of control engineering from decades ago: “Miss Eerola, what are you aiming for with your studies?”

I finally have an answer for him, maybe he will read my blog from the afterlife and be pleasantly surprised.

Now I know why I have studied programming, vehicle navigation, robotics, control engineering, and industrial design with 3D modeling. Now I know why the boys playing computer games feel my tribe even though I don’t play at all. Now I know why the nerd in me didn’t die even when I was painting oil paintings day after day.

I have programmed this digital work using the Unity game engine. The video has two of my oil paintings in the background: Runaway Sun and Happy Earth.

Beginner’s Video Art

I’m still quite clumsy in this sport. so this is more of a practice piece than a fine video artwork. But I have learned from all art-making that it’s ok to be a beginner. And it’s ok to share pieces that are not the best of you, at least when you look at them after a while!

When my husband saw the video, he wasn’t very satisfied with the outcome. But I told him that it doesn’t really matter if you’re going on a long hike if the first gas station serves a modest meat pie. The journey is long and there will be plenty of experiences – at least if fate works as it has so far!

Thank you to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the grant, which allows me to make digital art for many more months.

Enrich Your Art – Play with Shapes!

Posted on January 25, 2024January 25, 2024Posted in Abstracts, Doodling, Going Beyond the Conventional, Visual Voice / StyleTagged acrylic paints, colored pencils8 Comments

This week it’s time to get inspired by shapes and start playing with them!

Art play with shapes. "Visionäärit - Visionaries", colored pencils, from 2023. By Paivi Eerola, Finland. — “Visionäärit – Visionaries”, colored pencils, from 2023.

My dear reader, I guess you follow my blog because you love colors. And yes, isn’t it wonderful to choose, for example, a colored pencil from among several different colors: “Should I pick pink or red, hmm?“

Art play with simple shapes. "Walking the Dog," mixed media, from 2018. By the artist Päivi Eerola. — “Walking the Dog,” mixed media, from 2018.

I have a degree in industrial design and maybe that has influenced me to think like this:

A color is a child. A form is a mother.

Colors take spurts freely on the paper while forms set limits. But you can play with form too!

Back to Nature, acrylic painting by Paivi Eerola, 2020. Playing with organic shapes. — “Back to Nature”, acrylics on cardboard, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

There is no need to turn the mother into an old woman who only sees the reality.

The soul of any shape is abstract and yet, even a simple shape has an expression. It’s fun to draw random shapes and then carefully alter them.

Retro living. Mixed media art. 2017. Art play with shapes. — “Retro Living,” mixed media, from 2017.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Shapes form a design language that you can constantly enrich. Don’t just draw isolated geometric shapes, but combine them to get more interesting ones!

The Secret Language of Peonies. Art journal page. Mixed media. — The Secret Language of Peonies, from 2017.
More about making this in this blog post!

When you have a shape on paper, give your full attention to it.

Art Play with Shapes

Talk to the shape! Interview it!

Don’t ask what she represents, but what kind of world she would like to create around herself.

Paradise, acrylic painting, by Paivi Eerola, 2020. Playing between realistic and abstract. — “Paradise,” acrylics on paintboard, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Ask where she belongs, and what kind of shapes she would like to meet.

"Arotuuli - Steppe Wind," acrylics on canvas, from 2020, Paivi Eerola, Finland. Abstract painting with horses and a variety of shapes. — “Arotuuli – Steppe Wind,” acrylics on canvas, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Shapes can take you to imaginative places where realistic and abstract meet. Once you have been traveling for some time, you will notice that the delicacy of art is in the form, and the color – the child – is there only as a spice.

Jupiterin malja - Jupiter's Bowl, oil on canvas, 2022, by Paivi Eerola, Finland. Full of shapes and movement. — “Jupiterin malja – Jupiter’s Bowl,” oil on canvas, 2022.
See more about making this in this blog post! – See more pics on the Finnish Art Store Taiko!

Art play with shapes – What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments!

Flower Time – Watercolor Video

Posted on November 16, 2023November 16, 2023Posted in Flowers & Plants, Going Beyond the Conventional, VideosTagged watercolors2 Comments

This week, I have a treat for you – a free video about painting flowers. In the video, I claim:

“When you create art, sometimes it’s adventurous “bird time,”
and sometimes driven by the need for beauty and comfort, so “flower time.”

Janonsa sammuttaneet, watercolor painting by Paivi Eerola, Finland. Watch her video Flower Time to see more of this! — Janonsa sammuttaneet, watercolor, 29.7 x 42 cm

I believe that we are not only inhabited by an inner bird but also by inner flowers. At the adventure, the flowers are only seen as passive decorations. But when you get friends with the flowers, you notice that they are active characters who like to get together. The inner bird is a hermit adventurer, but flowers tell the common story. This togetherness is also what we need as humans.

“Janonsa sammuttaneet” could be translated to “those who have quenched their thirst.” In this painting, I thought about wallpaper and how its flowers jump from the wall to quench their thirst.

Flower Time – Watch the Video!

Everytime I see a bird flying across a landscape, I feel the need to paint something big, dramatic, and immersive. Art invites us to fly high and see far – to live the adventurous life of a brave bird. Imagination is our inner bird that wants to experience new things and move forward … Watch the video!

More instructions for flowers in watercolor: Buy my newest course Freely Grown!

Flower Portraits

I used to think of flower paintings as still lifes, but now I look at them as portraits. The delicacy of flowers makes my inner bird rest and roots me in a comforting life. From the inner bird’s point of view, there are always new sceneries to travel, and the world is never enough. But from the flowers’ point of view, it’s always good to look close to one’s heart and express that we are enough.

Valosta voimaantuneet, watercolor painting by Paivi Eerola. Watercolor flower art. — Valosta voimaantuneet, watercolor, 29.7 x 42 cm

“Valosta voimaantuneet” is Finnish and means “Empowered by Light.”

Think about birds and flowers as symbols for two kinds of art – the other is adventurous and escape-seeking, and the other is easier to digest and connection-seeking.

What do you think of this? Do you have more “bird time” or “flower time?” Leave a comment!

Painting Flowers Freely with Watercolors

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023Posted in Flowers & Plants, Going Beyond the Conventional, HistoryTagged colored pencils, watercolors2 Comments

This week, I share thoughts about my new course Freely Grown, and about its central idea of allowing the painting to grow freely.

I’ve been in a really good mood lately. I have two great sources of joy. The first is that a new period in my life will begin this month when I start a year-long half-time grant period for digital artwork. Another source of joy is the new course Freely Grown, which I started making in the summer and whose material I have now been finishing.

Freely Grown

This course has been like a friend to me and I hope it will be like that to you too. Like paintings, courses also have their own character. This course is both playful and goal-oriented. I usually look for a suitable course name for many months, but this one gave me its name right away and I haven’t even thought about alternatives!

I’ve been so enthusiastic about the subject of the course that the abundance of plants is appearing in the work planner too.

Decorating a planner with colored pencils. Drawing plants.

Painting Flowers Freely

I am really inspired by the idea that a plant can grow freely. I don’t think it has to be a wildflower at all. Even if a plant grows in a flower bed, the gardener can let it sprawl. Similarly, our lives can have certain routines and restrictions, but still, imagination can grow freely.

When the brush spins and twists on the paper, it’s wonderful to indulge in its play. The painting can also grow freely.

Starting a watercolor painting. Splashes and paint.

I like to consider that a painting is an independent party, not so much an extension of my own self. When I relax a little about what I want and let the painting suggest a direction, a new kind of pleasure is offered, even an adventure!

Painting flowers with watercolors. Painting freely and intuitively.

A surprising thing in this painting was that the largest flower suggested turning away from the viewer. I wondered if I could let it do that. Would the setting look impolite?

But when I study old flower paintings, their natural charm is that the flowers stretch out in every direction. So why couldn’t we let our flowers grow freely where they want?

A still-life by Jean-Michel Picart, oil on canvas, 1600-1682 — Jean-Michel Picart, oil on canvas, 1600-1682

Only when the painting was about to be finished did I realize that the flower turns towards the light as if to welcome a new era! When you give the painting freedom, you always get more than if you strictly control it.

Working on a flower painting. By Paivi Eerola, Finland.

I think this A3 size (11.7 x 16.5 inches) is really nice because it’s big enough. It’s hard for the flowers to look expressive if they are very small.

Coloring on Watercolor Painting

When I finish with colored pencils, I aim for the colored parts to continue painting naturally.

Creating flower art. Finishing a watercolor painting with colored pencils.

Here you can see a close-up of the coloring. I always leave watercolor visible too.

Painting flowers freely. A detail of a watercolor painting finished with colored pencils. By Paivi Eerola, Finland.

I’ve done a lot of colored pencil stuff in the last couple of years and the number of pencils has reduced. But it’s fun that every now and then I can buy an out-of-stock color and introduce a new arrival to the old pals.

Painting flowers freely with watercolors and then finishing the painting with colored pencils.

I love this abundance of flowers – born by painting freely, without reference pics!

Watercolor flower paintings by Paivi Eerola

I hope you will come to the course!

Freely Grown >> Sign up here!

Color the Emotion

Category: Going Beyond the Conventional