Picture Diary: The Hanging

Some help from my father and Coco the dog

The view: an old yard in Neristan (Old Town)

The natural light was quite magical

Coco takes a nap

Planning some participatory act

"The Young Adult Room"

SUNTTI (OLD) MAIDEN

I finally finished the last painting and got it on the wall. The post about the gallery & the art show opening will follow... Suntti (Old) Maiden is an ironic name for this painting. The city stream Suntti leads to an open sea but this maiden might just blend into her haven, smell the lilacs and bake some rhubarb pie as the time goes by...

WORKING

Work in process

All the history and quaint atmosphere surrounding me suffocates with rapture. So much to register, to identify with and to express. I must accept that I can't take it all in and produce everything out as art. After all this whole experience stays and starts to develop in my subconscious and consciousness.  I will process it trough my art making for a long time afterwards. 

SUNTTI

By me

From HERE

from HERE

from HERE

from HERE

from HERE

Suntti is the city's channel that used to be a very important route from the sea to the marketplace. I chose some inspiring photos from the web for describing my own experiences around Suntti.

Here's very interesting old photos of Suntti!

The channel is drying and disappearing because of the land rising every year (you can read about the special phenomenon from here).

SEARCHING FOR THE LATE 1700S SPIRIT

Kokkola was one of the richest towns in Finland once. Tar, bourgeois, schooners, democracy and schooling are the concepts that are popping up in every corner on my way (while the sun is still shining at least until 1AM). I will dig deeper into these next...

Very touching story of a captain's wife, a strong and a wise woman, can be read here and here in Finnish. I'm pretty sure the sailor Alexander Hammar mentioned in the text is my grandfather's grandfather as a young man.

WELCOME

WORK IN PROGRESS PART TWO

"Blast in the past" and "Good bye grandpa" almost done... I must say that working with memories can be consuming.

WORK IN PROGRESS

These are just base coats.. Memories from the summer cottage in Honkaluoto (Kokkola), grandpa and granny are coming up..

THE STUDIO

This is my studio, a corner room in the Nordic Art School. The wooden building from the late 1900-century has operated also as a Swedish Elementary School and even as a military hospital during the war time.