Recent News with Mystical Thoughts
This week, I’m sharing a bit about what I’ve been up to. This fall has been and will be full!
Giving Life to a Line
Creating the course Drawing Soulfully has been one of my biggest projects this year. The videos are packed with content, and making them took a lot of time.
Now, it has been wonderful to see the participants’ drawings and discuss them together. Everyone has their own unique line, and I tried to design the exercises to bring that out as well as possible.
My motto is: Art begins with a line!
And you could also say: Style begins with a line.
A line can be so much more than just an outline. It can express emotion, movement, space, and spirit.
Tough Break Ended
In August, I finished a series of 10 oil paintings that I had started last year. That was another big project, but as I was finishing up the final details, new ideas were already starting to pop up.
Most of the time, my ideas are connected to broader themes rather than exact subjects or techniques. These thematic thoughts are verbal, so I write them down in my calendar. But writing is not the same thing as expressing yourself visually. The breaks between paintings are always tough for me. First, I’m exhausted, but as new ideas start to pile up, I feel restless and suffocated. It’s like being a fish without water!
Fortunately, I’ve now been able to release the tension and start the first painting of a new series this week. It’s still in its early stages, but I look forward to working on it week by week.
I usually work on two paintings at once, because that way, each painting has a sibling, so to speak, and doesn’t have to grow up alone. And even now, I have a canvas of the same size waiting that I hope to start soon.
Babies, Toddlers, and Hamsters – One Killed!
In my dreams, unfinished paintings and courses appear as babies or toddlers, while smaller tasks appear as hamsters. I used to raise hamsters a long time ago, and even though I don’t have them anymore, my subconscious has somehow given them a symbolic role.
Usually in these dreams, I suddenly realize I’ve forgotten to feed the hamsters—but recently, I had a nightmare where I was trying to kill a hamster. When I woke up, I knew I had to let go of the mentoring program I had been advertising lately.
So, there won’t be a mentorship group, but if you buy any of my courses, you’ll get access to my Bloom and Fly Facebook group where I am very active!
Sales Table Preparation
I’m attending at least one art fair at the end of this year. I’ll have cards and prints with me, but I also dug out some of my old watercolors from storage. I should probably touch up a few of them from this pile, as my skills have developed over the years.
Do you like to see revamped projects here on my blog? Do you ever revamp your art?
My biggest paintings have their own sales channels, but attending a fair is a great way to meet people and see their reactions. The last time I had a sales table was in 2022, so it’s about time!
Mystical Meetup!
Do you remember when I launched a course called Mystical Minis at the turn of the year? Making that course was a mystical experience. It started when I heard a whisper: “Intuitive Power.” I then connected the words to the Swedish esoteric artist Hilma af Klint. The course was made in a flow state, and it’s perhaps my most unusual course yet. I took its structure from a short story by Virginia Woolf and included a third artist, the English painter Georgiana Houghton, in the exercises.
And guess what? At the end of October, a super-interesting exhibition called Arcana Borealis – Northern Women and Esotericism opens in Helsinki. It features paintings by Hilma af Klint and her partner Anna Cassel, alongside other Nordic female artists. I will go to see the exhibition and hope that Hilma starts whispering to me again. I’d love to make a new mystical course!
More Mystical Thoughts
It’s a bit sad that winter is coming to Finland. Our summer is exceptionally bright, but our winter is very dark. Still, I think the turn of the year is the best time for esoterics, as we find ourselves in a kind of extreme state.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about what our world needs right now. My thoughts are that in the middle of fast consumption, we need a deeper connection with ourselves. Whether one believes in the supernatural or not, there is always something mystical and unexpected in going deeper. I also feel that in art, we don’t have to decide what is imagination, what is intuition, or what is a stream flowing directly from the outside.
Just by stopping to look and listen more closely, we bring mystical depth into our work. Visual poems start to rise, quieting the outer world.
What do you think?
Make Old Art Journal or Sketchbook New Again
This week, I have a 1-minute video about revamping my old art journal!
This sketchbook is from 2018, back when I was practicing different portraits and creating a course called Innovative Portraits. There’s still plenty of empty space left in the book.
My Old Journal and How the Cover Was Decorated
My old art journal is from The Pink Big. I decorated the cover around 2020.
I cut hand-painted papers, added shadows, and protected the collage with gel medium. See an old blog post about how to create the collage!
Now I brought the book back out to start filling it up again.
Oil Pastels in A Journal
The first page was done with smudgy oil pastels, so I left the opposite page empty.
Oil pastels are fun, but maybe not the most practical for journals. See an old blog post about ideas for using oil pastels!
Abstract with Colored Pencils
On the next page, I made an abstract drawing using colors that go well with the original 2018 page.
Fun with Sakura Gel Pens
These brown pages are great for trying out gel pens. I made a new drawing on the opposite side.
My newest course Drawing Soulfully is about drawing all kinds of lines, and it was fun to use those techniques here.
Flowers and Fabric with Colored Pencils
I placed a paper sheet to protect the previous page, and then colored flowers with colored pencils. The opposite page only had three faces, so I added flowers there, too. I love historical styles, so the main figure got a big, decorative sleeve with dramatic folds.
The next spread is already waiting! I hope this inspired you to make an old art journal or sketchbook new again and use your past pages as inspiration.
P.S. You can still sign up for Drawing Soulfully! >>Sign Up Now!
Drawing a Summer Ornament
This week, I want to show that an ornament can be more than just a decoration. An ornament can be a framework for expression in the same way as a portrait, a still life, or a landscape.
I love drawing ornaments. It feels as though the universe is shouting at me: “This is right, this is a good thing!” If I’ve had past lives, I’d think this is the work I’ve always done in some form, because it feels so natural.
Step 1 – Grid
If I decide to draw an ornament, nothing holds me back—not even the requirement of symmetry. This time, I made a grid to help me achieve similarity on both sides more easily.
It’s good to have center guidelines, but there can be more and placed anywhere. All guidelines are helpful when drawing the ornament freely.
Step 2 – Pencil Sketch
I sketch the biggest symmetrical parts in pencil. But I try to keep this phase short because the best part of drawing ornaments is letting loose and discovering how the symmetry can be broken.
Drawing an ornament is like putting your soul into a lion’s cage and then watching it break out with cleverness, rather than violence.
Step 3 – Getting Creative with a Non-Erasable Pen
For the actual drawing, I use black markers. Here, I’m using Copic FineLiner pens and a Copic Gasenfude brush pen. An ornament is like a meandering canvas where you can draw anything. You can draw both the realistic and the abstract, and it all looks great because it’s embedded in the ornamental structure.
We currently have summer here in Finland, so I wanted to draw summer-related things: the sea, a garden, and birch leaves.
Step 4 – Getting Lost in the Details
When I have most of the things in place, I put on an audiobook or a talk show and focus on the details!
My ornaments almost always have jewels because I find them fun to draw and the result rewarding. A jewel comes to life when you draw geometric shapes with a fine pen and fill them differently.
I always include elements that are pitch-black to create contrast. The brush pen is quick in these details.
The Freedom in Drawing Ornaments
The longer I draw, the more I want to create tension and asymmetry. In this ornament, the lines took on a life of their own and spread beyond its borders. Ah, so liberating!
It’s exciting and even contradictory that such freedom can be evoked from a rigid ornament.
The Summer Ornament
Here you can see how I’ve used the pens for the fine details in the center.
I hope this summer ornament inspires you to pick up your pens and start drawing!
For more inspiration, see also these blog posts:
Abstract Composition in Watercolor
This week, we create geometric and modern art. Pick your supplies, and make an abstract composition!
>> See this painting bigger at the Taiko online art store
Lately, I’ve been exploring the extremes of my own style, especially when it comes to visual language. I’ve been searching for something angular and adventurous for inspiration, as my style has recently drifted perhaps a bit too much toward the organic direction. Quite by chance, I noticed the summer issue of Watercolor Artist magazine in a local shop, which introduced me to an interesting artist named John Salminen.
John Salminen uses photos of urban landscapes as the foundation for his work. He converts the photo into a high-contrast image and sketches an abstract composition from it. He calls this approach “abstracted realism.” I like his paintings a lot. To me, they feel sophisticated yet masculine and go close to one extreme of my own style.
Starting an Abstract Composition
I now wanted to create an abstract watercolor using mainly geometric shapes. Unlike John, I started my work freely without any reference photos. First, I used plenty of water.
In the next layers, I applied less water to make sharper shapes.
Geometrical Abstract Composition
The basic idea is to create both small and large shapes, arranged in an asymmetrical composition on the paper.
You don’t need a ruler for geometric shapes. Thin brushes make lines easy to achieve, and a flat brush is perfect for angular forms.
What Do You See?
When painting abstract art, it’s best to first focus on the shapes themselves and forget about looking for realistic objects in the painting.
In my project, everything was going well until I realized that I was creating yet another flower painting. I’ve painted flower arrangements so many times that their structure is deeply rooted in my subconscious.
I turned my work upside down, hoping it would look different, but the flowers in the vase were staring right back at me! Give me any unfinished or finished painting, and I’ll turn it into a floral arrangement in a moment!
Shifting Direction – Making a Plan
This time, I didn’t want to paint flowers. I wanted a sense of space and adventure. So, I moved from my small painting studio to the computer and opened Photoshop. I planned out the perspective and started looking for shapes to support it.
Then, I designed the composition. I could have worked this out through painting as well, but then the final piece wouldn’t look quite as effortless. You can wipe watercolor away with water, but it’s hard to get the paper completely clean again.
Here are my digital additions created on top of the unfinished painting.
Purity, Clarity, Effortlessness
Lately, I’ve been inspired specifically by purity, clarity, and effortlessness. I’ve been watching a Finnish TV show called “Tähdet, tähdet” (Stars, Stars). It’s a singing competition looking for the country’s best performer. Each season features about ten professional performers, most of whom are musicians. The performers are pushed out of their comfort zones, as each episode focuses on a different musical genre.
In the latest season, one of the performers was the reggae musician Jukka Poika. I had never really paid attention to his vocals before. However, the other musical styles truly brought out the singer in him. His voice emerged pure, direct, and yet full of rich tones (listen to an example on YouTube).
Isn’t that exactly what we all want in visual arts: for our own voice and thoughts to come through pure and clear? “It’s so inspiring to think about the purity, clarity, and effortlessness we can achieve when we know exactly what to do in its simplest form, and have the skills to do it
The plan allowed me to bring beautiful tones and nuances into my watercolor without having to stress about perspective and composition.
Finished Piece – The Portal of Hope
I named this piece “Toivon portaali” (The Portal of Hope). There are situations in life that require going through the darkest of times – through a grey stone, as we say in Finnish. It is risky and requires a fighting spirit, but at the same time, the situation is also exciting as it’s a way to move forward.
Here are some photos of the details.
This was much faster to paint than flower paintings of a similar size. There were fewer layers, and geometric shapes are quick to execute.
I hope this inspires you to try an abstract composition with watercolors or colored pencils—or use a combination of both. My painting was done entirely with watercolors.
P.S. Check also this blog post, with more detailed instructions and for watercolor pencils: Modernistic Style – Create Abstract Art Step by Step!