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 watercolor pencils on thick drawing paper.
Joyful Flowers – Watch the Video!
In the video, I talk about finding inspiration for art-making and tell stories about things that have affected my style. I just read abstract painter Darby Bannard‘s quote:
“Inspiration doesn’t follow style, it creates it.”
It made me want to share my thoughts about inspiration and style. I also wanted to create something colorful and cheerful that is not realistic, but more design-oriented. These joyful flowers were fun to make. After drawing the joyful flowers, I made something small to add to my boxes of joy. You can see that little flowery thing in the video too. Watch the video!
This video is a little longer than I usually post, but I personally like to watch long videos, and maybe you do too?
Joyful Coloring
My newest course Joyful Coloring teaches a color-oriented approach to watercolor pencils.
Start with blank paper and create freely with joy and sunshine! >> Buy here!
This week, I present a new cross-stitch pattern based on my drawings, and ponder about my word for the year: “integrate.”
It’s finally time to release the cross-stitch pattern that you, my dear blog readers, voted for in April. The pattern is based on the cats drawn for the course Magical Inkdom.
Magical Inkdom is one of my most popular courses, so no wonder so many suggested choosing a cat for the cross-stitch design.
Magical Cat Cross Stitch Pattern
The pattern is called Magical Cat. It features a soft and cute cat with sparkling eyes. I like to decorate, so I did that for the cat too. I have taken inspiration from fabrics and jewelry. The color scheme is sweet and happy, and gray serves as a good background for all the pinks, greens, and yellows.
The pattern is now available for digital purchase in my little Etsy shop Needle and Peony. In addition, you need embroidery threads, suitable fabric for embroidery, and of course scissors and a needle. Information about thread colors is on the pattern page.
I have embroidered the design on 14ct aida fabric and it measures approximately 10 x 10 inches. You can embroider just the cat if you want a smaller model. And when it comes to cross stitches, choosing the higher density of the fabric makes the model smaller.
Integrate!
When taking photos of Magical Cat, I have been thinking about what I want to give to the world as an artist. My word this year has been “Integrate” and I have allowed myself to try all kinds of things as much as I could combine them with what I have created before.
The third is maybe “confidence” because even though I’ve been in the discomfort zone many times, I’ve stubbornly convinced myself that I can do it all. That has led to new confidence – I can finish and publish all kinds of things and not just leave them as experiments. Finishing gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Maybe the fourth word is “joyful” because most of what I’ve done has brought me joy, even though it’s been hard work. I hope that the variety of projects that I have presented in this blog has brought joy to you too. My magical cat has had many lives indeed!
But today when I look at my results, I see them as scratching the surface in many directions. I want a new strategic word for next year. I haven’t decided on the word yet, but candidates are at least “elevate,” “expand” and “deepen.”
September is the last month of the grant I received from The Finnish Cultural Foundation. It’s time to show you the final virtual reality artwork and share more about my journey from painting to creating digital 3D art.
Finished Virtual Reality Artwork – Watch the video!
In this second video, you continue to see how I transferred the visual and expressive language of my paintings into a 3-dimensional digital format. All this includes adding movement, sounds, and interaction. It’s a pity that you can’t experience my VR artwork with virtual glasses and hand controllers, but I have made all kinds of recordings to deliver the experience at least partly.
I hope you enjoy this video that not only presents the VR artwork called “Unknown Land,” but also talks about painting and developing a stronger artistic vision.
This is one of the biggest projects that I have had, and it feels sad that it’s now coming to an end. I seek opportunities to display my virtual reality artwork, and hope to have a private exhibition in the near future that has both my paintings and digital motion art.
Integrate!
My word for this year has been “Integrate.” As I said in the video: I will continue to draw, paint, model, code, and compose. One activity doesn’t exclude another. I hope you will continue following my journey no matter what I create, and I hope to inspire you in one way or another. In art, we are always heading to an unknown land – you never know what comes up next and how it will change your life! And while we go to new areas, it’s also good to integrate – to save and not abandon – everything we have created so far.
A childhood dream came true when I finally made a painting with my favorite subject.
Saalistajan maailma – Predator’s World, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
I’ve always wanted to paint mammalians, but reaching this point has taken a long time. The best must be protected before it comes out exactly as it is meant to be!
“Predators, Right?”
The enjoyable beginning.
In July, I picked a brush, and said to myself: “Predators, right?”
As a child, my friends talked mostly about horses, but I was a lion girl. I drew a lot of lions and antelopes: predators and prey. I had learned from nature books that the world works that way.
Most animals are still hiding in this in-progress pic.
When I went to school, my parents bought a black and white television. Back then, my favorite profession was lion tamer. I wanted to be the new Joy Adamson!
“Paint What You Want!”
It is easy for a child to draw what she wants, but an adult is more critical.
After seeing life and understanding all its complexity, prey and predator are no longer separate, but part of a whole.
And to get hold of the whole, we have to get in touch with our inner self and grow our skills.
Art is like a meadow that grows seed by seed.
Love and sunshine are needed!
I try to speak softly to myself when I paint. Like it would be a child who paints, not an adult. I hope this friendliness also comes through in my classes!
Your Childhood Dream?
Painting big and detailed takes not only friendly self-talk but also patience. That’s why I like to practice with smaller drawings. Big or small – we are on this journey together!
What was your childhood dream? What subjects did you draw as a child?
