Peony and Parakeet

Fly to Your Inner World and Color the Emotion

Color the Emotion

Pick a few colors and create without stiffness.

Category: Digital

Happy Holidays with Video Artwork

Posted on Posted in Digital, Seasonal, VideosTagged 10 Comments on Happy Holidays with Video Artwork

This week, I have a video artwork for you. Here’s how the background story goes:

Far away in an unknown land there is a crazy chapel. Your imagination is this chapel. When you’re there long enough, you can see anything, and experience anything, and some of it leaves a mark on your heart and thus on your art.

A screenshot of the video artwork called Crazy Chapel. Animation art composed and programmed by Paivi Eerola.

Art is born when you deviate from the paths and go alone to scary places. When you say: “That bench is just an inanimate object,” but still see it breathing. When you say: “These ornaments are just decorations,” but still see them dancing. Then time goes in a direction you don’t recognize, and you can’t control everything that starts spinning in your mind. This wild and crazy imagination is the source of both creative and spiritual life.

Crazy Chapel – Watch the Video Artwork!

Crazy Chapel, programmed animation with music, 2024. Click the last icon on the right to watch full-screen!

I made this video artwork “Crazy Chapel” digitally step by step. The music was improvised on the iPad. The shapes were drawn in the Blender 3D modeling program. The movement and the generation of the shapes were programmed in C# programming language. The code and the shapes were put together in the Unity game engine. The introductory texts and the recorded scene were combined in the Da Vinci Resolve video editing program. This year was special to me, because I not only drew and painted, but also created animated art. (See more of how I make these animations: From Painting to Digital 3D – Video 1, Video 2)

Happy Holidays!

With the video artwork “Crazy Chapel”, I want to wish you happy and relaxing holidays. There are many ways to create, let’s celebrate it during these holidays!

Päivi and her handmade Christmas cards.

P.S. This blog will be on a break for a week, but will be back after New Year.

P.P.S. I have often publiched a video greeting near Christmas. For example, check the video “Dreaming and Painting at Christmas” from 2015!

Painting by Programming – Modern Vanitas

Posted on Posted in Abstracts, Digital, Going Beyond the Conventional, History, VideosTagged 2 Comments on Painting by Programming – Modern Vanitas

Happy Halloween! This year’s Halloween artwork combines painting and programming.

A screenshot of an algorithmic artwork "Modern Vanitas", programmed in Javascript P5. By artist Paivi Eerola, Finland.
A screenshot of an algorithmic artwork “Modern Vanitas”, programmed in Javascript P5.

This week, I have a video that has excerpts from the artwork I programmed. The program picks four of my paintings at a time and forms a Vanitas-type arrangement with a skull, fallen crown, extinguished candles, and withering flowers – symbols of our transience. The program has 50 paintings from 2021-2024 to choose from. The music for the video is composed by me, representing a conversation about the temporary nature of life.

You can watch the video bigger by pressing the last icon on the menubar.

If you are interested in seeing more of this artwork, here’s a longer video that explains the Vanitas concept and shows more samples.

I designed the 3-dimensional shapes and then blended the paintings on them by programming.

Painting by Programming

One of my oil paintings is also Vanitas, so the theme is very familiar to me. The transience of life has both horror and beauty, maybe emptiness too that goes well with the machines. The way the computer paints with me produces fascinating details.

Painting by programming. A detail of an algorithmic artwork "Modern Vanitas", programmed by Paivi Eerola.
Painting by programming. A detail of an algorithmic artwork "Modern Vanitas", programmed by Paivi Eerola.
A detail of an algorithmic artwork "Modern Vanitas", programmed by Paivi Eerola.
A detail of an algorithmic artwork "Modern Vanitas", programmed by Paivi Eerola.

We can continue the tradition of Vanitas paintings and use any technique to make our own versions.

What kind of version would you create?

P.S. This month there was a digital art exhibition “Deform and re-form” on the screens of the Helsinki Central Library Oodi. The exhibition called “Deform and Re-Form” was organized by the Finnish National Gallery’s digital team. Oodi is a very popular big library building, with lots of visitors every day. It felt great to see my artwork “Queen of the Night” there.

Even if a part of this year’s art is digital and painted by programming, I still keep creating traditional art as well.

From Painting to Digital 3D Art – Part 2

Posted on Posted in Artistic Identity, Big Projects, Digital, OtherTagged 6 Comments on From Painting to Digital 3D Art – Part 2

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.

Unknown Land - a screenshot of virtual reality art, created by Paivi Eerola, Finland.

This week’s video is a sequel to the video “From Painting to Digital 3D Art” which was published in April this year.

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.

Four Art Mediums – Four Projects in Progress

Posted on Posted in Abstracts, Animals, Big Projects, Crafts, Digital, Flowers & PlantsTagged , , , , 8 Comments on Four Art Mediums – Four Projects in Progress

Many Mediums – Many Versions of Style

I am not overly excited about the word “focus.” I have one artistic vision, but I don’t limit art mediums much. I think my style is evident in whatever I do. This year I have allowed myself to stretch even further than before, and embrace the challenges that different art mediums bring to me.

Cross Stitching – A Cat in Progress

Do you remember this cat from the course Magical Inkdom? In April, I asked what drawing should be my next cross-stitch design, and you voted for the cat.

A cat drawing for the course Magical Inkdom. By Paivi Eerola of Peony and Parakeet.

I have now made a design based on the drawing. To make sure that there are no errors in the chart, I have been stitching it myself first, going through every detail. The stitched piece is nearly finished as you can see in the picture!

Cross Stitch cat design by Paivi Eerola.

While stitching, I came up with the idea of including different colored versions of the cat to the final instructions. Maybe a black cat at least. What do you think?

I hope to get the chart for sale before December. This is a project I have been working on in the evenings.

Oil Painting – A Big Painting in Progress

My main medium – oils – were on a break for a few months so it was really nice to get a new painting started in July.

Paivi Eerola and her oil painting in progress.

I work slowly from one layer to another, letting the painting dry between the sessions. Here’s where I am now.

Paivi Eerola and her painting in progress.

In the photo above, I am wearing a patchwork skirt sewed from the fabrics that I designed many years ago. The motifs are based on my drawings and knits.

I have still quite a lot of work to do with the painting. I hope to get it finished in October.

Digital Art – A Virtual Artwork in Progress

Transferring my painting style to digital three-dimensional modelshas been a year-long project. Watch this video to see what I made last spring for the project. The project is now coming to an end in September. I still have some things to adjust and add, but most of the things have been done.

A snapshot from Unity game engine scene view- creating an artwork for virtual reality. By Paivi Eerola.

Sadly, the photos are nowhere near the overall experience that can be watched with VR glasses.

Using VR glasses to experience digital art in 3D.

There’s a lot of movement. but also interaction: a user can move around, open a flower, create new objects etc.

Virtual reality artwork in progress. Using digital 3D modeling for creating art. By Paivi Eerola.
Click for a bigger photo!

Still images are not the same as seeing everything in moving 3D, but at least you get a glimpse of the atmosphere. I will make a separate video in September where I will share more of this project.

Watercolor Pencils – A New Course in Progress!

Using watercolor pencils as art medium.

I am super-excited to announce that a new course will begin in September 16, and the registration will open next week! The course is called Joyful Coloring, and it’s about using watercolor pencils for colorful happy art.

Sneak peek to the course Joyful Coloring.

More about the course next week. I hope you will join!

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