Four Art Mediums – Four Projects in Progress
Many Mediums – Many Versions of Style
I am not overly excited about the word “focus.” I have one artistic vision, but I don’t limit art mediums much. I think my style is evident in whatever I do. This year I have allowed myself to stretch even further than before, and embrace the challenges that different art mediums bring to me.
Cross Stitching – A Cat in Progress
Do you remember this cat from the course Magical Inkdom? In April, I asked what drawing should be my next cross-stitch design, and you voted for the cat.
I have now made a design based on the drawing. To make sure that there are no errors in the chart, I have been stitching it myself first, going through every detail. The stitched piece is nearly finished as you can see in the picture!
While stitching, I came up with the idea of including different colored versions of the cat to the final instructions. Maybe a black cat at least. What do you think?
I hope to get the chart for sale before December. This is a project I have been working on in the evenings.
Oil Painting – A Big Painting in Progress
My main medium – oils – were on a break for a few months so it was really nice to get a new painting started in July.
I work slowly from one layer to another, letting the painting dry between the sessions. Here’s where I am now.
In the photo above, I am wearing a patchwork skirt sewed from the fabrics that I designed many years ago. The motifs are based on my drawings and knits.
I have still quite a lot of work to do with the painting. I hope to get it finished in October.
Digital Art – A Virtual Artwork in Progress
Transferring my painting style to digital three-dimensional modelshas been a year-long project. Watch this video to see what I made last spring for the project. The project is now coming to an end in September. I still have some things to adjust and add, but most of the things have been done.
Sadly, the photos are nowhere near the overall experience that can be watched with VR glasses.
There’s a lot of movement. but also interaction: a user can move around, open a flower, create new objects etc.
Still images are not the same as seeing everything in moving 3D, but at least you get a glimpse of the atmosphere. I will make a separate video in September where I will share more of this project.
Watercolor Pencils – A New Course in Progress!
I am super-excited to announce that a new course will begin in September 16, and the registration will open next week! The course is called Joyful Coloring, and it’s about using watercolor pencils for colorful happy art.
More about the course next week. I hope you will join!
Motion Art – Ornamental Land
This week, I have a short video artwork that has motion and sound. It’s been made as a part of the big project that I am working on. I have received a grant for it from The Finnish Cultural Foundation.
This is my first video artwork that also has audio. I recorded bird sounds and other natural sounds earlier in the spring and composed the soundscape from those recordings.
The 3D shapes are modeled in the 3D modeling program called Blender, and I have programmed the movement in C# programming language. Everything except the audio was put together in the Unity game engine. I added the soundscape in the video editing program called DaVinci Resolve. These are all pretty complicated tools, and it has taken time to learn them. If you are interested in the process, watch my video: “From Painting to Digital 3D Art” where I tell about the first half of the grant project.
Motion Art – Working with New Media
The big project is called “Unknown Land,” and I call this video artwork “Ornamenttien maa” which is “Land of Ornaments” or “Ornamental Land” in English. It has been a challenge to transfer my drawing and painting style to a new media, but I think I am getting closer and closer. What do you think? Does it look like my work?
Creating movement and sound has been new to me, and I will also add interaction to the final piece.
Even if I have spent a lot of time on my computer called Turandot (named after my favorite composer Giancomo Puccini‘s opera), I am not leaving painting and drawing. You will see my digital artworks from time to time, but there will be a lot of other content too. For an artist, working with one medium can help with other. My main inspiration always starts from drawing what ever I create.
From Painting to Digital 3D Art
This week I have a video that is made for all who love art and love creating art. It’s about my artistic journey from painting to digital 3D art. My new digital creations move and change color on screen and in virtual reality.
3D Art – Watch the Video!
I am currently making digital artwork in a three-dimensional world. I have received a grant for it from The Finnish Cultural Foundation. The project will continue until September 2024, but it has progressed to the extent that it is good to gather thoughts and show some results on a video.
The main programs I mentioned in the video are Nomad Sculpt, Blender, and Unity. My virtual glasses are Meta Quest 3.
The artwork is not finished yet. The most important thing that I need to do is the interaction with the viewer. I will also include sounds. Fortunately, the project still has five months left. The project is part-time, but on the other hand, breaks are good, because the ideas have time to grow.
Traditional 2D Meets Digital 3D
I understand that I am only at the beginning of everything that technologies make possible and where my artistic thinking can go. It’s exciting. For a long time, I have envied how the students of my painting and drawing courses have great enthusiasm to learn new things. Now I have this situation with digital art.
I am grateful to have been born in an era where all this is possible. With digital art, we have something Rubens and Kandinsky would envy. It would be wonderful to show them all this, even if it would be only just this video. I think a certain da Vinci would like to join Rubens and Kandinsky! There have always been artists who have wanted to see into the future and go on a journey to an unknown land. I think this attitude doesn’t break the tradition but keeps it alive.
What do you think?
Art Exhibition in Villa Albert
This week, I have photos from the group exhibition I am currently participating. It’s called Taiteilijat Edelfeltin tunnelmissa – artists in the mood of Edelfelt. And here are four of us from left to right: photographer Niclas Warius, painters Kristina Elo and me, and another photographer Maarit Lehto. The sculptor Kaj Lindgård is also in the exhibition, but missing in the photo.
The red wooden cottage in the background is a summer studio of the famous Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905). It is in the possession of a private foundation Albert Edelfeltin säätiö that cherishes the memory of Edelfelt. Even if it’s just a small cottage, the location in Southern Finland is beautiful – near the sea and very near Porvoo, which is a small town popular with tourists.
Albert Edelfelt painted here in summer and then went to France for winters.
When you look at the studio from the sea, you can see the gallery Villa Albert behind it. The foundation built it in 2019.
The gallery is a nice space with a small shop as well. All visitors who come to see Edelfelt’s studio, come first to the gallery to buy the tickets.
The head person of the gallery Hanna Kaarina Syrjäläinen is very skilled at hanging the exhibitions. I was so satisfied with how my paintings were displayed. Here an editor of a local magazine interviews me before the opening.
The foundation organizes concerts and other cultural events in the gallery. I think my paintings look great behind the grand piano!
I had 12 paintings in this space and four minis in a separate showcase.
The gallery was full in the opening. The gallerist made a lovely speech about the exhibition.
Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of the other artists’ pieces, but do visit these websites to see their work:
It is an honor to be in the company of these artists!
I had a good time in the opening meeting new people who like this kind of art that has a connection to art history.
After working on the paintings alone for a long time, it’s so nice to hear what others see in them and tell about the creation process that started early this year.
My paintings were mostly from this year, but there were some from the last year. I think it is a cohesive collection and as a whole, maybe best what I have presented so far.
The exhibition continues until October 1st, so if you are in Finland this fall, do visit the Albert Edelfelt Studio Museum Villa Albert!
P.S. See the previous posts to see the paintings more closely. I still have a couple of pieces to show you, and now I feel the urge to draw, so more art to come in the next weeks as well!