Music & Literature Archives - Peony and Parakeet

Inside the Creative Process: Art, Words, and Morning Robes

Päivi — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 10:51:55 +0000

I often find that the bridge between painting and words is a difficult one to cross – especially when your latest work decides to speak a language of its own. Even though I’ve always loved writing, being a visual artist often brings moments inside the creative process where words simply disappear. Lately, I’ve been painting […]

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Building a Mystical Course with Hilma, Georgiana, and Virginia

Päivi — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:26:49 +0000

Usually, after making a course, I think: never again! It takes time to get new ideas and energy. But this time, after finishing Wild Garden, I had a new idea right away, and it felt like someone was talking to me: “You must do this, Päivi. If you don’t, nobody else will.” The upcoming course […]

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About Music and Painting

Päivi — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 15:08:53 +0000

This week, I share a painting that had a big goal: to achieve a similar effect to uplifting music. I think that all painters envy musicians because music can make great emotions flow in an instant. Music can make us feel that the world is expanding into the universe and at the same time, shrinking […]

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Let’s Paint like Emily Wrote – Emotional Connection with Childhood Novels

Päivi — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 13:41:20 +0000

This week, we are reminiscing about childhood novels while painting naturally with watercolors. Do you have this kind of emotional connection with the books from your childhood? Now that spring has arrived in Finland and the plants have started to grow, two words have risen above others: “warm” and “natural.” In January, I decided that […]

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Joyful Flowers with Watercolor Pencils – Watch the Video!

Päivi — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:06:15 +0000

This week, I have a free video where I create these joyful flowers with watercolor pencils. These are inspired by fabric prints and are more motif-like than many of my colored pencil pieces. I love this kind of playing with style. This is a small piece, just 8 x 8 inches. It’s colored freely with […]

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12 Spring Art Ideas from Over the Years

Päivi — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:51:06 +0000

This week, I share spring-themed art from the past 10 years and give ideas for creating spring art. There’s a variety of ideas and I hope everyone can find some that inspire to get creating! #1 – For Beginners and Dull Moments Doodle spring flowers with the mindset “more is more”! Course recommendation: Collageland #2 […]

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Writing About Art

Päivi — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 14:08:23 +0000

This week is dedicated to writing about art. I tell how I write these blog posts, and why it’s beneficial to write about art. How I Write a Blog Post I have been writing these blog posts for years directly in English, so, in a language foreign to me. I wanted to develop my language […]

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How to Create Comforting Art

Päivi — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:53:49 +0000

This blog post is for you who want to spread more joy through your art, and make your art more comforting and captivating. I am listening to an interesting course on writing. It’s Neil Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling. Writing and making a picture have a lot in common. When you look at your […]

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Romantic Watercolor Florals

Päivi — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 13:41:06 +0000

This week is about red, pink, sugar, and cream – so, romantic watercolor florals! I had a break from watercolor painting for a long time, but in the summer I started again. Romantic Flowers and Chicklit In summer, I had all kinds of complicated ideas for a new course, but my inner voice said: When […]

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Watercolor Flowers in Louisa M. Alcott Style

Päivi — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 15:20:30 +0000

This week, I talk about Louisa M. Alcott’s characters and painting flowers in watercolor. They say that nature should not be humanized, but when I paint flowers, I do that without hesitation. Splashes Start an Adventure I love getting to know my flowers little by little. Their life begins with random splashes and I try […]

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Art and Familiar Things – Inspiration from Sounds and Surroundings

Päivi — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 16:07:10 +0000

This week is about getting inspiration from familiar things like songs and the sounds of the surroundings. I live in an area built in the 1960s. I love the mid-century modern tile houses and their old-fashioned gardens with apple trees and bush hydrangeas. One year, at the end of May, apple trees were blooming like […]

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Expressing Winter Memories

Päivi — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 13:28:36 +0000

This week, I have a new winter-themed painting, and we talk about the many approaches for expressing winter and memories of any season. Here’s my newest painting called Winter Night’s Poem. This time, the Finnish name is much more beautiful: Talviyön runoelma. I wanted to give the painting a poetic name – like Shakespeare’s play […]

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