Can Playful Art Be Serious?
This week, I want to talk about my newly finished painting titled Fauna. This is one of my most peculiar pieces, filled with strange ideas. With this, I want to challenge us to ponder the question: Can playful art be serious?
Ideas Have a Mental Age
This painting combines many ideas. I tend to come up with all sorts of ideas quite easily, and I usually try to categorize them: some make it here to the blog, some become sketches in my planner, and others turn into courses. Only the most mature ones are usually included in the paintings.
But let’s think about this word: mature.
Ideas have a mental age. Some ideas are like those of a five-year-old, while others contain ancient wisdom. For a long time, I have tried to ensure that my best ideas are “sensible adults”.
Fauna’s Ideas
Fauna started from an old idea: the Baroque style and historical ceiling murals. So I thought that the painting could feature flowers and have plenty of light blue. Here’s how it started:
But then I heard my inner child whisper that I should include an animal: “Fur is so wonderful to paint. Let’s include something like a ferret!” The adult me wondered, “Who would want a painting featuring a weasel?” But you know, some ideas are like tiny butterflies that appear and vanish in an instant, while others are like moose that take over your entire mind. And this was a “moose idea.” It wouldn’t leave me alone, so fine —let there be a weasel of some kind!
But what else could be included?
Words help when I am brainstorming. I read through various word lists and wait for the moment my intuition says “Bingo!” That’s how I found the word “hunaja” – honey. I thought about the intricate swirls of the Baroque style and the way honey drips, and I boldly added them to the painting.
Here I am painting the fur. I use not only short strokes, but also paint small patches with different tones. Layering is the key!
In the final version, the fur is softer and shorter, and lit by a rainbow. It took some time to decide whether the fur should be spiky or softer.
With the idea of painting honey, I found myself on a “mad path” where I stopped categorizing my ideas and challenged myself instead: could I create a painting that looks like a floral piece from a distance, but reveals a more playful character upon closer inspection? Could the animal theme lead toward animal figures—even toys? I wanted to achieve a purity of style that isn’t tied to a single era, but rather to my own way of dealing with shapes and lines.
Here you can see the beginning and the end side by side.
Playful Art – Drawing Animals
I have always loved animals and have drawn them a lot. Drawing with a pen is much easier than drawing with a brush.
Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom have been highlights of my course creation because, while making them, I decided to believe that everyone wants to draw animals. That mindset brought a lot of confidence and joy to the process, which also translates into the atmosphere of the courses.
I have had so much fun with all the animals drawn in those courses. My father used to draw with quite a similar technique, so I have continued on his path here.
The Playfulness is in the Details
Fauna is full of playful details. Many of them are quite subtle, barely noticeable. Here are some detail pics.
I see myself in this painting—all the versions of me at different ages, with ideas of all ages.
Even if Fauna was a challenge to create, it was also fun. I think I will create more of this kind of playful art.
Age of Ideas – Just Playing or Only Focusing on the Serious Side
This painting process made me reflect on how people who start making art often fixate on the “age” of their ideas. Some decide they are just having fun and playing. Others believe that skills—and thus art—can only be born through realism. But as artistic thinking and skills develop, there is an opportunity to combine the playful with the more serious. It is possible to be a child, an adult, and an elder all at once. Art doesn’t need to be narrowed down, because creating is a search not just for oneself, but for a broader understanding of humanity.
Fauna is a bit different from Halo – the painting that I showed last week.
See the blog post about creating this painting
See more pics and a video at Taiko Finnish Online Art Store
Which one do you like more – Halo or Fauna?
I Did the Same Drawing Twice!
I rarely sketch my drawings beforehand, but this time I wanted to try something different: creating the same piece twice and recording the process.
The first version was done freely with watercolor pencils. The second was a study of the first, but created using traditional colored pencils. These drawings have many kinds of flowers, including roses and tulips, but I don’t think you always have to know which real flower you are creating; you can have fantasy flowers as well.
Same Drawing Twice – Watch the Video!
When I began the first one, I didn’t have a reference or a model. I simply decided to draw flowers. Watch the video to see how it went!
Which Was Faster?
Both of the drawings took me about the same time—around two hours each. Watercolor pencils are definitely faster for covering the paper, but since I was starting from scratch with the first one, I had a lot of puzzles to solve with the composition and the overall mood. With the regular colored pencils, the process itself was much slower, but since I was just following my first drawing, it didn’t take nearly as much mental energy.
I hope the video inspired you to pick up your colored pencils! I am also curious to know: Have you ever tried an experiment like this?
Try Intuitive Coloring for a simple start to coloring freely, or explore Joyful Coloring if you’re into watercolor pencils. And for those looking to combine watercolors and colored pencils, check out Freely Grown!
Inside the Creative Process: Art, Words, and Morning Robes
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 a lot. The more I paint, the harder it feels to write all those applications and descriptions that an artist is constantly expected to produce. It’s just as difficult to read what other artists write about their work—and even harder to read a critic’s take on anyone’s paintings.
It feels like words just bounce off the surface of a painting without ever sinking in. When you paint, you are inside the artwork, living between wordless layers. It’s a good place to be. At least until you make the mistake of asking yourself: “Hey, what exactly are you painting right now? Tell the camera! Write it down! Share it with the world!”
When that happens, my confident grip on the brush vanishes, and I start to stutter: “I’m just… putting some green here… and a little bit of red. Just a tiny bit …”
Inside the Creative Process: When the Painting Speaks First
As a painting gets closer to being finished, the words come more easily. Or rather, it feels like I don’t have to go looking for them because the painting has something to say for itself. Even though I don’t speak French, I feel like my latest work speaks the language. I call her Boheme. She is like a woman opening her front door in a morning robe, with everything in her life a bit scattered and messy.
In my own life, I think I’ve only opened the door in a morning robe once when a surprise package arrived. Back then, the postman certainly didn’t see a mess behind me — everything was in its place. So, it’s a mystery why this opposite creature appeared on my canvas. I knew from the start that I couldn’t control her with a heavy hand. Not because Boheme would be afraid of orders, but because I have no desire to fight that kind of energy. I’d rather let her grow, be free, and express her own kind of beauty.
Dreams I Didn’t Know I Had
Maybe that’s where the conflict lies. My own world is small, and I find myself quite uninteresting as a person. Yet, my paintings reach further and bring out things I didn’t even realize I was thinking about. That’s my favorite part of this job—seeing your dreams come true, especially the dreams you didn’t even remember having.
Despite all this “unconsciousness,” it’s still good to recognize the words, music, scents, and moods that belong to your artistic vision.
Finding the Right Mood
A few weeks ago, my husband told me about a record review he had read. He hadn’t heard the album yet, but the description stuck with him. Just from his brief explanation, I got a strong feeling it could be interesting for my art. We searched for the article to find the singer’s name. It was the album LUX by the Spanish artist Rosalía, and it felt familiar from the very first notes. I love her track Bergheim. It mixes different styles with classical music, creating a luxurious, grand, and slightly mystical atmosphere.
Boheme and I have been listening to the song together. Through her, I’ve realized that when it comes to morning robes, the mint-green terry cloth one my mother once bought me has nothing to do with the luxurious creations Boheme has in her closet. And those are the kind of closets you actually want to leave open when you answer the door.
And that’s the true beauty of art: it always gives you a better view.
The annual major painting event, the Sales Event of the Finnish Painters’ Union, takes place in March at the Cable Factory, Helsinki. I am participating in the event with this painting, along with a few others.
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.