Autumn Watercolor Flowers

This week I share an autumnal painting and talk about how dreams and everyday events get mixed in my art.

• In this project, I made the autumn watercolor flowers freely like in the course Freely Grown.
• The title “Satokauden kuulas” is a bit difficult to translate, but I explained it in the last paragraph.
• This piece is for sale at the online art store Taiko.art!

Autumn Moments

Although I usually aim for a grandiose atmosphere, my art is a lot about insignificant everyday moments.

For example, when I …

• … gathered apples from our apple trees
• … walked in a rainy storm with the dogs
• … admired autumn colors from the car window.

Or when I smiled at the hopefulness of the roses in the front yard and promised to give them a home from a painting before winter would surprise them.

Floral Watercolor Dreams

When I paint in my small studio, my mind tells me that I am a flower painter in 17th or 18th century Holland. I imagine lovely high windows, old costumes, and the clatter of shoes on the street. I imagine the flower market and how I will assemble a bouquet from the best finds.

But in reality, I’m just an ordinary Finn whose everyday life pushes through the brush.

There is a huge gulf between me and the master painter of the 18th century and yet I still jump into it again and again. Every once in a while, I decide to stop painting flowers because there’s so much more to paint. And yes, if I look at my oil paintings, my favorites don’t have many flowers. Nevertheless, the flowerless period never lasts very long.

When I go to the garden, the Flemish master is waiting for me there. He says: “It’s time to practice again, Päivi” I answer: “Yes,” and then assure him: “One day I will master this art of painting flowers.”

Still, I know that life can be far too short and far too mundane for me to ever reach that level. But like a rose facing winter, I take out my button and wet the paper again.

This piece was painted on Arches Hot Press watercolor paper. It has a very smooth surface so it’s great for a detailed painting, but I also find it a bit challenging because every stroke shows!

What’s Behind the Title?

Even if I painted autumn watercolor flowers, can you also spot the apples?

This piece is called “Satokauden kuulas” and I think it’s a beautiful title in Finnish but a bit complicated to translate. “Satokausi” means harvest time and “kuulas” is a romantic word for translucent. But there’s more. “Valkea kuulas” is an apple variety that is called White Transparent in English. So I think that the suitable English name is “Harvest’s Transparent” even if it doesn’t quite have the same romantic sound as the Finnish version.

This piece has a strong autumnal feel: bright colors meet more muted tones on a dark background.

Does the weather also appear in your art?