Starting a New Sketchbook with Botanical Art
This week, I share how I am starting a new sketchbook!
Eged’s silverweed (meriketohanhikki in Finnish)
Starting the Dingbats Pro Green Beetle Notebook
For a long time, I’ve been looking for a sketchbook that works well with both pens and watercolors. I’ve used Fabriano’s thick (200 gsm) Accademia drawing paper for individual drawings for years. But now that I’m gathering material for a new painting series, I really wanted to create my work in a book instead of keeping loose sheets in a folder. Flipping through a book’s pages just feels so much nicer than turning plastic sleeves in a binder.
I noticed that a Finnish stationery shop, Vihkokauppa, had added the Dingbats Pro Green Beetle Notebook to their range. The product description said that the maker spent a long time developing the paper to make it suitable for watercolors. I don’t live near the shop, so I took a chance and ordered it online.
I was lucky. Based on the experience so far, the paper is truly great! It’s thin enough (160 gsm) so the notebook doesn’t feel bulky, but thick enough to hold water. The pages are wonderfully smooth and work great with fineliners and colored pencils. Because of its size (B5), it’s also a good fit for my new course, Drawing Soulfully, if you prefer to do your course drawings in a book.
Moving Away from Procrastination
I have a few topics I want to explore before starting my next series of big paintings. I have a short list, and I’ll share my ideas in future blog posts. These are mostly things I have wanted to explore more deeply for quite some time, but have procrastinated on for some reason. It’s time to stop that procrastination! Building the new course, Drawing Soulfully, has given me a lot of energy for that, and I hope that the course will inspire you too!
One of the topics on my list is plants. The exact species doesn’t matter, though of course I prefer to see the plant with my own eyes first. Plants have such interesting shapes and details that I want to add to my artistic repertoire. So now, when I was starting a new sketchbook, my first project was to pick a plant and draw it.
I took a few photos of a cute yellow-flowered plant during a little getaway in June, and later identified it at home. The silverweed made it as the very first entry in my new sketchbook!
I started the drawing without any pencil sketching, going straight in with watercolors. For the main flower, I followed one of my photos quite closely, but after that, I let go and worked more freely.
I think the soft feel of watercolors and the precision of fineliners go together so well. I just love drawing with thin pens.
Using only a little water with thin brushes makes me feel like I am a decorative painter in the 18th or 19th century! I also made some notes about the plant on the opposite page.
Having the black-and-white parts on the page didn’t bother me at all, so I actually thought about leaving the page like that—half black-and-white.
The next day, however, I decided to color in the black-and-white parts with colored pencils to bring more life and atmosphere into the drawing. It didn’t even take long, since the drawing itself and part of the coloring were already done.
Starting a New Notebook – Watch the Video!
I recorded a few short videos while working. In the video below, you can see the notebook and how the first page came together. You’ll also see the watercolor swatch grid I made at the front of the book.
Even if the starting point is botanical, the finished drawing can be expressive rather than stiff. I hope all of this inspires you to draw more, and maybe you are starting a new sketchbook/art journal too!
For the Love of Drawing
Don’t forget to sign up for the new course Drawing Soulfully! In the short video below, I talk a bit more about the love for drawing and what the course is all about.
Drawing Soulfully – Sign Up Now!
In Drawing Soulfully, we work with and without photos but always with a creative approach.
Drawing Soulfully begins on August 25, 2026. >> Sign Up Now!
Abstract Composition in Watercolor
This week, we create geometric and modern art. Pick your supplies, and make an abstract composition!
>> See this painting bigger at the Taiko online art store
Lately, I’ve been exploring the extremes of my own style, especially when it comes to visual language. I’ve been searching for something angular and adventurous for inspiration, as my style has recently drifted perhaps a bit too much toward the organic direction. Quite by chance, I noticed the summer issue of Watercolor Artist magazine in a local shop, which introduced me to an interesting artist named John Salminen.
John Salminen uses photos of urban landscapes as the foundation for his work. He converts the photo into a high-contrast image and sketches an abstract composition from it. He calls this approach “abstracted realism.” I like his paintings a lot. To me, they feel sophisticated yet masculine and go close to one extreme of my own style.
Starting an Abstract Composition
I now wanted to create an abstract watercolor using mainly geometric shapes. Unlike John, I started my work freely without any reference photos. First, I used plenty of water.
In the next layers, I applied less water to make sharper shapes.
Geometrical Abstract Composition
The basic idea is to create both small and large shapes, arranged in an asymmetrical composition on the paper.
You don’t need a ruler for geometric shapes. Thin brushes make lines easy to achieve, and a flat brush is perfect for angular forms.
What Do You See?
When painting abstract art, it’s best to first focus on the shapes themselves and forget about looking for realistic objects in the painting.
In my project, everything was going well until I realized that I was creating yet another flower painting. I’ve painted flower arrangements so many times that their structure is deeply rooted in my subconscious.
I turned my work upside down, hoping it would look different, but the flowers in the vase were staring right back at me! Give me any unfinished or finished painting, and I’ll turn it into a floral arrangement in a moment!
Shifting Direction – Making a Plan
This time, I didn’t want to paint flowers. I wanted a sense of space and adventure. So, I moved from my small painting studio to the computer and opened Photoshop. I planned out the perspective and started looking for shapes to support it.
Then, I designed the composition. I could have worked this out through painting as well, but then the final piece wouldn’t look quite as effortless. You can wipe watercolor away with water, but it’s hard to get the paper completely clean again.
Here are my digital additions created on top of the unfinished painting.
Purity, Clarity, Effortlessness
Lately, I’ve been inspired specifically by purity, clarity, and effortlessness. I’ve been watching a Finnish TV show called “Tähdet, tähdet” (Stars, Stars). It’s a singing competition looking for the country’s best performer. Each season features about ten professional performers, most of whom are musicians. The performers are pushed out of their comfort zones, as each episode focuses on a different musical genre.
In the latest season, one of the performers was the reggae musician Jukka Poika. I had never really paid attention to his vocals before. However, the other musical styles truly brought out the singer in him. His voice emerged pure, direct, and yet full of rich tones (listen to an example on YouTube).
Isn’t that exactly what we all want in visual arts: for our own voice and thoughts to come through pure and clear? “It’s so inspiring to think about the purity, clarity, and effortlessness we can achieve when we know exactly what to do in its simplest form, and have the skills to do it
The plan allowed me to bring beautiful tones and nuances into my watercolor without having to stress about perspective and composition.
Finished Piece – The Portal of Hope
I named this piece “Toivon portaali” (The Portal of Hope). There are situations in life that require going through the darkest of times – through a grey stone, as we say in Finnish. It is risky and requires a fighting spirit, but at the same time, the situation is also exciting as it’s a way to move forward.
Here are some photos of the details.
This was much faster to paint than flower paintings of a similar size. There were fewer layers, and geometric shapes are quick to execute.
I hope this inspires you to try an abstract composition with watercolors or colored pencils—or use a combination of both. My painting was done entirely with watercolors.
P.S. Check also this blog post, with more detailed instructions and for watercolor pencils: Modernistic Style – Create Abstract Art Step by Step!
Finding Emotional Connection Through Imagination
Imagination and emotional connection go hand in hand in art-making. If you don’t feel a connection with what you are creating, bring in more imagination and treat different areas of your work as characters – even if you won’t be including any humans. Let’s look at this example!
This small painting is part of a series I made for the Albert Edelfelt Foundation exhibition. It will take place in August-September.
Inspired by Albert Edelfelt
For the colors and composition, I was inspired by Albert Edelfelt’s artwork “Koivujen alla – Under the Birches”. It is not this painting that I photographed in the Albert Edelfelt exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum, but another similar work that I made a mirror image of.
However, I was more inspired by another “Koivujen alla.” See the picture here!
My version of “Koivujen alla” didn’t have any people. Instead, I used my imagination to depict human characters in the form of a plant and an object.
Combine Inspiration and Observation!
A good way to get the imagination going is to combine two different things. For example, if you saw an artwork that inspired you to create, also gather unrelated observations from your surroundings. This way, you need your imagination to bring them into the same image.
In this project, I remembered a pine seedling that I had seen in a nearby rocky forest. The name of the area is Pöllökallio (owl rock) and we often go there with our dogs. This little pine tree was like a bonsai! It was so sweet that I took a photo of it.
When the pink color of Edelfelt’s painting met a crooked stem of the pine, a tree-like rose was born!
Emotional Connection by Asking: Who is This?
The rose became the most challenging part because I wanted it to resemble the woman with a hat in Edelfelt’s painting. I thought about the hat when I painted a rose, but it didn’t work at all.
But then I came up with thinking about the character of the woman instead of her hat. That way my imagination met the emotional connection, and I quickly got the impression I wanted.
Build a Story to Boost the Emotional Connection!
One of the most common problems is that our art is full of separate islands. The sun might shine but the effect doesn’t show elsewhere. The person may smile but the eyes are not affected. There may be three ladies but what are their roles? Use your imagination to find connections between these islands and add elements that make the overall story make sense!
In my painting, there are not two women like in Edelfelt’s painting, but a rose, a leaf, and a feather – three introverts! The rose reaching for the sky has agreed to be the center point. The leaf examines herself through the pond. The feather has been a part of a bigger adventure and is now ready to shift the focus to others.
The small pond is a central element here. It brings the leaf and the feather together.
You can also see the colors of the rose elsewhere in the painting. For example, there are flying thoughts (red lines) that the rose tries to catch, and a bigger punch of roses that is in the background.
The painting is about three romantic introverts who went on a trip to a rocky forest on a lovely summer day. They are together, but in their own thoughts, just like the women in Albert Edelfelt’s painting.
When we paint or draw people, we hope to bring the character to life with their facial features. But we don’t need facial features to find an emotional connection. Once you get the hang of it, you can draw or paint anything, even just different shaped spots on paper.
What do you think?
Imaginary People – How to Paint Their Soul?
This week, the theme is painting imaginary people and how to find their soul. There’s plenty of examples in this blog post!
One of the wonders of painting and drawing is that we can give birth to an imaginary person – that we can create someone who breathes, talks, and has a life of her own. However, many times the doll that I have on paper hasn’t come alive. Or she has taken just a few breaths, and after the creative spark has gone, she just stares with empty eyes. So no wonder that I have had a love-hate relationship for painting imaginary people. I want to experience the miracle, but it can also be too much of a struggle.
References – Working with a Soul that Breathes Already
Using a reference may be the least innovative solution but if you find an image that really speaks to you, it can be a good one. Tiny changes in facial features lead to a whole new person so if you don’t follow the reference in the smallest detail, yours is like distant relative to the original – familiar features but still unique. For this oil painting called “Heaven and Earth“, I used a detail of Sandro Botticelli’s painting “Madonna of the Magnificat” (1483) as a reference.
Here’s a close-up of the faces. I changed the angle of the face, opened the eyes more, and made the mouth look more determined.
Sounds easy, but I often struggle with finding the soul when using references. With this painting, I tried to slowly work towards an individual personality, but creating a connection took a lot of time. Botticelli painted his soul, and it’s not the same as mine.
Here the work was in the early stage so that you can see how she has changed.
From the struggles of this painting and many others, I have learned this:
Working on the face alone never brings up the soul.
With the Madonna, as soon as I figured out the purpose and the style of the surroundings, I was able to finish the face.
The Soul Spreads Over the Painting
Even if a person is usually the focal point of the painting, the soul is not focused but spread.
The soul is in the setting, in the things, in the atmosphere. Even Botticelli’s Madonna can look just like a bored person without the crown, the light, the child, the book, etc.
So no matter if you paint intuitively without pre-defined ideas, sketches, or references, or more intentionally with a clear idea of how you want your imaginary people to look like, seek for the soul in everything you paint.
Flowers have soul.
Pots have soul.
Hair and hats have soul.
Inanimate and organic things also give the soul to the imaginary people.
In this watercolor painting called “Mirimer“, the fairy is the focal point, but her soul is spread all over the paper.
Imaginary People Exist in Shapes and Colors As Well
The painting doesn’t even need to have a face. Your imaginary people can be abstract, like in this small acrylic painting that I recently painted on a sketchbook.
Shapes and colors have soul.
Imaginary People – First or Last?
The idea for this post came from the question that I received a couple of days ago:
“I like your little people peeking out from within your art. I would like to learn more about that. Do you draw them first and paint around them or paint and then save a spot for them?”
I have many approaches.
In Innovative Portraits, we use references and make a sketch. The soul begins with the plan.
In Magical Forest, we lure fairies to appear intuitively from the watercolor background. The soul begins with the feeling.
In the new class, Decodashery, we start by building a visual world and then make the dollies to fit with it. So the soul is first just a small flower, then it expands to floral paintings, cakes, lace, and finally, the imaginary people are born. By gradually setting the style and the spirit is the best intentional way to add soul to your work.
Decodashery will begin on June 29, 2020. >> Sign up now!