Video: Artist’s Life and Inner Inspiration
This week, I made a video blog post where I share what I have been working on lately. This watercolor piece is one of them.
In the video, I also talk about the inner inspiration – that not everything has to come from outside, but there’s a lot within our inner world already.
You get to see my planner for 2026, which is also my art journal. It’s a notebook that has pictures of Jasmine Becket-Griffith‘s art.
Artist’s Life and Inner Inspiration – Watch the Video!
My favorite topics – flowers, watercolors, colored pencils, and abstracts – are all covered in this video.
In the last part of the video, I share my joy about the newest course, Mystical Minis – abstract art with colored pencils – Buy Now!
Making a Creative Impact – My Words for 2025 and 2026
I like to choose a word for the year that guides my actions. In 2025, it was “Release”. This year, it’s “Impact”.
I think that Impact is a natural continuum of the word Release. Once you have learned to release a lot, it’s time to learn more about making a creative impact.
Have You Chosen Your Word?
Tips for choosing your word from last year’s blog post:
>> Choosing the Word for 2025
Discover your word through art journaling from 2019:
>> Guiding Word – Choosing and Visualizing Your Word of the Year
How Did My Word Work in 2025?
In 2025, I released a lot. It was not only because I wanted to, but also because I had to. The year was very challenging financially, and the world events have been depressing. It has meant bad things for the Finnish economy as well.
My art year could be divided into three sections: oil painting, watercolor painting, and drawing/art journaling.
Reflections on 2025: Exhibition + The Best Painting
In February 2025, I had a solo exhibition at the gallery Gumbostrand Konst & Form, where I presented not only my paintings, but also my virtual reality artwork, Unknown Land, which I completed the previous year.
Here’s a video about preparing for the exhibition.
Another highlight of the year was a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
In 2025, I painted five oil paintings and a couple of acrylic paintings. It is usually difficult to choose the best painting, because they are all unique, but I think I am most proud of this painting called Elixir. It has already been sold, because I had to, but I have looked at the image of it many times since then.
See how Elixir was made: Following the Inner Color
Watercolor Painting in 2025: Wild Garden
One of the biggest projects of 2025 was making the course Wild Garden. I made a lot of recordings for it, some of them from our garden. Before Wild Garden, I had made a course called Freely Grown, where you also paint flowers freely. But in Wild Garden, I wanted to go deeper and expand the subject. Wild Garden is a tribute to flower gardens, where we paint flower greeting cards and larger garden views.
>> Wild Garden – Flower cards and garden scenes in watercolor – Buy Now!
I love painting flowers freely with watercolors. I painted several flower watercolors in addition to the pieces for the Wild Garden course.
>> See how this painting was made: Let’s paint Like Emily Wrote
Happened in Drawing/Art Journaling: Fun & Mystical
In 2025, I pulled together everything I’ve done over the recent years in art journaling. In spring, I made a course called Hearts and Stories, where you make small drawings and use them as collages on the journal pages.
>> Hearts and Stories – Draw hearts and characters – Buy Now!
In summer, I went through my art supplies (Art Supplies I Should Not Use Anymore) and donated the supplies I no longer needed to a person who had just started an art hobby. In the fall, I went through all my art journals (Half-Empty Art Journals I Should Fill Up) and combined or discarded some. I also finished one of my art journals and made a video about it.
In December 2025, I released a course called Mystical Minis, where you draw abstract art with colored pencils. This course really captures the essence of the word Release. When I got the idea for the course, I decided to just follow my own lead – the words “Intuitive Power” – and let my creative engine run at full speed. I was in a flow state, and making the course felt exciting. I hope Mystical Minis is also an exciting and mind-opening experience for you, too!
>> Mystical Minis – Draw abstract art with colored pencils – Buy Now!
Word for 2026: Impact
I have been thinking about the impact the outside world has on me and how I can positively influence it. Even if creative ideas arise naturally and intuitively, I also want to think about what kind of impact they make.
For example, when finishing a freely-born painting, highlighting one detail above the others increases the impact. In the painting Cosmos, it was important to paint a small blue flower so that it connects the universe in the upper right corner and the beautifully rising vase.
>> See how this painting was made: About Music and Painting
In my work, whether it’s creating or teaching, I want to adjust small things to achieve even greater impact and connect many kinds of things in an impactful way.
The word Impact is not only directed outward, but also inward. We can ask whether all inspiration has to come from the outside. We are exposed to a large amount of information and external events anyway. So, could now be the time to give more space to inner inspiration that will have a more creative impact? I want you to start this kind of process with my course Mystical Minis, and in 2026, I aim to support you on this path.
I think that the biggest threat to art is that people give responsibility for their own thinking and entertainment to others. Then there are no paintings at home, only screens. Then moments become fragmented, and there is never enough time for yourself and your art.
Smilingly: Tell me, am I getting old? Or am I just too Finnish with these thoughts?
Anyway, I hope to remain relevant to you and make a positive creative impact on your art-making in 2026.
From Painting to Digital 3D Art – Part 2
September is the last month of the grant I received from The Finnish Cultural Foundation. It’s time to show you the final virtual reality artwork and share more about my journey from painting to creating digital 3D art.
This week’s video is a sequel to the video “From Painting to Digital 3D Art” which was published in April this year.
Finished Virtual Reality Artwork – Watch the video!
In this second video, you continue to see how I transferred the visual and expressive language of my paintings into a 3-dimensional digital format. All this includes adding movement, sounds, and interaction. It’s a pity that you can’t experience my VR artwork with virtual glasses and hand controllers, but I have made all kinds of recordings to deliver the experience at least partly.
I hope you enjoy this video that not only presents the VR artwork called “Unknown Land,” but also talks about painting and developing a stronger artistic vision.
This is one of the biggest projects that I have had, and it feels sad that it’s now coming to an end. I seek opportunities to display my virtual reality artwork, and hope to have a private exhibition in the near future that has both my paintings and digital motion art.
Integrate!
My word for this year has been “Integrate.” As I said in the video: I will continue to draw, paint, model, code, and compose. One activity doesn’t exclude another. I hope you will continue following my journey no matter what I create, and I hope to inspire you in one way or another. In art, we are always heading to an unknown land – you never know what comes up next and how it will change your life! And while we go to new areas, it’s also good to integrate – to save and not abandon – everything we have created so far.
Painting a Childhood Dream
A childhood dream came true when I finally made a painting with my favorite subject.
I’ve always wanted to paint mammalians, but reaching this point has taken a long time. The best must be protected before it comes out exactly as it is meant to be!
“Predators, Right?”
In July, I picked a brush, and said to myself: “Predators, right?”
As a child, my friends talked mostly about horses, but I was a lion girl. I drew a lot of lions and antelopes: predators and prey. I had learned from nature books that the world works that way.
When I went to school, my parents bought a black and white television. Back then, my favorite profession was lion tamer. I wanted to be the new Joy Adamson!
“Paint What You Want!”
It is easy for a child to draw what she wants, but an adult is more critical.
After seeing life and understanding all its complexity, prey and predator are no longer separate, but part of a whole.
And to get hold of the whole, we have to get in touch with our inner self and grow our skills.
Art is like a meadow that grows seed by seed.
Love and sunshine are needed!
I try to speak softly to myself when I paint. Like it would be a child who paints, not an adult. I hope this friendliness also comes through in my classes!
Your Childhood Dream?
Painting big and detailed takes not only friendly self-talk but also patience. That’s why I like to practice with smaller drawings.
Big or small – we are on this journey together!
What was your childhood dream? What subjects did you draw as a child?