Hearts and Stories - Sign Up Now!

Peony and Parakeet

Fly to Your Inner World and Color the Emotion

Inspiration

Beginner’s Video Art – Paintings Come Alive

This week, I have a video, but it’s different than what I have ever made so far.

A lot has happened in the last few months, and it has also changed my attitude towards life. I have come to believe in destiny. Usually, when I’ve looked back, I’ve seen my life as loose threads. I remember the words of a professor of control engineering from decades ago: “Miss Eerola, what are you aiming for with your studies?”

I finally have an answer for him, maybe he will read my blog from the afterlife and be pleasantly surprised.

Now I know why I have studied programming, vehicle navigation, robotics, control engineering, and industrial design with 3D modeling. Now I know why the boys playing computer games feel my tribe even though I don’t play at all. Now I know why the nerd in me didn’t die even when I was painting oil paintings day after day.

Unity editor view, beginner's video art.
A view from Unity Editor.

I have programmed this digital work using the Unity game engine. The video has two of my oil paintings in the background: Runaway Sun and Happy Earth.

Beginner’s Video Art

I’m still quite clumsy in this sport. so this is more of a practice piece than a fine video artwork. But I have learned from all art-making that it’s ok to be a beginner. And it’s ok to share pieces that are not the best of you, at least when you look at them after a while!

When my husband saw the video, he wasn’t very satisfied with the outcome. But I told him that it doesn’t really matter if you’re going on a long hike if the first gas station serves a modest meat pie. The journey is long and there will be plenty of experiences – at least if fate works as it has so far!

Thank you to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the grant, which allows me to make digital art for many more months.

Enrich Your Art – Play with Shapes!

This week it’s time to get inspired by shapes and start playing with them!

Art play with shapes. "Visionäärit - Visionaries", colored pencils, from 2023. By Paivi Eerola, Finland.
“Visionäärit – Visionaries”, colored pencils, from 2023.

My dear reader, I guess you follow my blog because you love colors. And yes, isn’t it wonderful to choose, for example, a colored pencil from among several different colors: “Should I pick pink or red, hmm?

Art play with simple shapes. "Walking the Dog," mixed media, from 2018. By the artist Päivi Eerola.
“Walking the Dog,” mixed media, from 2018.

I have a degree in industrial design and maybe that has influenced me to think like this:

A color is a child. A form is a mother.

Colors take spurts freely on the paper while forms set limits. But you can play with form too!

Back to Nature, acrylic painting by Paivi Eerola, 2020. Playing with organic shapes.
“Back to Nature”, acrylics on cardboard, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

There is no need to turn the mother into an old woman who only sees the reality.

The soul of any shape is abstract and yet, even a simple shape has an expression. It’s fun to draw random shapes and then carefully alter them.

Retro living. Mixed media art. 2017. Art play with shapes.
“Retro Living,” mixed media, from 2017.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Shapes form a design language that you can constantly enrich. Don’t just draw isolated geometric shapes, but combine them to get more interesting ones!

The Secret Language of Peonies. Art journal page. Mixed media.
The Secret Language of Peonies, from 2017.
More about making this in this blog post!

When you have a shape on paper, give your full attention to it.

Art Play with Shapes

Talk to the shape! Interview it!

Don’t ask what she represents, but what kind of world she would like to create around herself.

Paradise, acrylic painting, by Paivi Eerola, 2020. Playing between realistic and abstract.
“Paradise,” acrylics on paintboard, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Ask where she belongs, and what kind of shapes she would like to meet.

"Arotuuli - Steppe Wind," acrylics on canvas, from 2020, Paivi Eerola, Finland. Abstract painting with horses and a variety of shapes.
“Arotuuli – Steppe Wind,” acrylics on canvas, from 2020.
See more about making this in this blog post!

Shapes can take you to imaginative places where realistic and abstract meet. Once you have been traveling for some time, you will notice that the delicacy of art is in the form, and the color – the child – is there only as a spice.

Jupiterin malja - Jupiter's Bowl, oil on canvas, 2022, by Paivi Eerola, Finland. Full of shapes and movement.
“Jupiterin malja – Jupiter’s Bowl,” oil on canvas, 2022.
See more about making this in this blog post!See more pics on the Finnish Art Store Taiko!

Art play with shapes – What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments!

About Birds and Art

This week is about observing birds and bringing them into our art.

Bird art. Digital collage of hand-drawn birds. 
These are from Paivi Eerola's online classes Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom.
Digital collage of hand-drawn elements.
These are from my online classes Animal Inkdom and Magical Inkdom.

Let’s start with a lonely budgie.

Last fall, the same sight always awaited me in the mornings – a lonely budgie in a big cage. The door was open, and I turned on the full-spectrum bird lamp, but nothing cheered her up. Ever since Primavera’s husband Leonardo had died unexpectedly, her world had been empty, and even the best YouTube budgies couldn’t fill it.

"Clock" - an ink drawing by Paivi Eerola. Birds around a clock.
“Clock” from 2018.

I have had budgies since 1991. My first budgie, Piuku, was also alone at first. Unlike 5-year-old Primavera, Piuku was a young bird. She adapted to being alone by taking me as her best friend. Later on, Piuku got other birds as companions.

Birds Bring Joy

"Mischief Maker" - a colored pencil drawing by Paivi Eerola. A bird is looking at flowers.
“Mischief Maker” from 2021. Colored pencils.

The most enviable quality of birds is their ability to fly, but the more you get to know birds, the more you realize that their social life is very lively. A small flock of a few budgies can be like a soap opera. There will be arguments, gusts of affection, gossip, singing sessions, and all kinds of fun play. This way, the day flies by!

"Envy" A page in a sketchbook.
“Envy” from 2017.

I have admired birds since swallows made their nest in the eaves of my childhood home. There were many other birds in the big yard too. I had bird books, and I dreamed about seeing kingfishers and other exotic birds.

Paivi Eerola and her painting Kingfishers. Oil on canvas.
Summer 2023 in the garden and my painting “Kingfishers”. Oil on canvas.

Similarly, as wild birds make you look up, pet birds bring lightness to the home. Their vocals are clear and the flight sounds lighten the atmosphere. It is as if the world is not only lying down but also up in the air.

The Rooster by Paivi Eerola, 2015. Acrylic painting.
The Rooster from 2015.

Birds and Flowers

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial career in 2008, I founded an Etsy shop to sell crafts and named it Kukkilintu.

Old Etsy shop banner from 2008.
Etsy shop banner from 2008

Kukkilintu is a Karelian embroidered bird pattern that symbolizes happiness.

Karelia is a place in Eastern Finland, a part of it was lost in the war with Russia in 1940. I live in Southern Finland but was born in Northern Karelia.

Karelian people believed that the soul leaves the body in the form of a bird. Kukkilintu is a bit like the Finnish version of the peacock, which appears in the designs of other countries with the same meaning.

Bird art. Handdrawn paper collage by Paivi Eerola. A bird flies with a flower.
“Believe” from, 2019. Handdrawn paper collage.

I thought the name “kukkilintu” was funny because it had the words “kukka” and “lintu” – “flower” and “bird.” When I was thinking about a name for my art blog a couple of years later in 2010, I thought that the flower could be a peony and the bird a budgie, so, a parakeet.

Old Etsy shop banner that has a bird.
Etsy shop banner from 2011.

These two themes “flower” and “bird” have guided my creative process. I have wanted to learn the language of flowers and create beauty in the world, but also understand the life of birds and include their movement. Birds, flowers, and art belong together.

Vapaudenkaipuu - Longing for Freedom from 2021, oil on canvas. By the artist Paivi Eerola, Finland.
Vapaudenkaipuu – Longing for Freedom from 2021, oil on canvas.

However, recently in my everyday life, it happened that the more I delved into the flowers, the more time they took away from the birds. I didn’t want to keep pet birds anymore, but felt that watching wild birds would be enough.

Magical Scene

Outdoors, one scene is above the rest – when a bird flies across the scenery. The bird then becomes kukkilintu – a flower bird. It takes over the landscape and erases all the sadness.

Villien paratiisi - Paradise of the Wild from 2021. Oil on canvas. By Paivi Eerola, Finland.
Villien paratiisi – Paradise of the Wild from 2021. Oil on canvas.

I came up with this when I was grieving the death of one of my dogs. Since then this very ordinary event has made me happy. It’s a message from the world that we always have inside of us, but that we don’t always remember, especially when we’re like a lonely budgie that has a hard time seeing ahead in life.

Birds and art. Blackbird, oil on canvas, 2021. By Paivi Eerola.
Blackbird from 2021. Oil on canvas.


We must believe in our abilities, and happy endings as well. I found a new home for Primavera, where it has a spouse who was also widowed. I wish Primavera a long life. After all, it already has a long-lived name-sake, the famous painting by Botticelli born in the 15th century, which I have been to Florence to admire.

Do birds appear in your art?

Life After Death – Commissioned Art

This week, I have a commissioned art piece to show you. I have fewer words than I normally do – not only because the project is confidential, but also because this project went beyond words in many ways.

Floral tribute painting. Commissioned art piece. Oil on canvas. By the artist Paivi Eerola, Finland.

Last fall, I got a commission for this oil painting. It was ordered by a man in memory of his recently deceased spouse. We brought elements of the wife’s life and references to what she liked into the painting. The painting is, therefore, a secret portrait, from which loved ones recognize familiar things, but which do not need to be explained to strangers, unless they want to.

Commissioned Art – Sketch First

I started with a digital sketch. Here you can see the sketch and the final painting side by side.

Making commissioned art. A digital sketch made in ProCreate and a final oil painting. By Päivi Eerola, Finland.

I painted the sketch freely in the ProCreate app. The sketch is more abstract than the finished work and is more about the impression than the details.

Painting Process

After the sketch was approved, I ordered the canvas. The size of this piece is 50 x 40 cm (about 19.5 x 15.5 inches). Here are the first blurry layers.

Starting a flower painting. A commissioned art in progress.

I worked several sessions and let the painting dry for 1-2 weeks between the sessions.

Working on a commissioned art piece. Painting flowers layer by layer.

The sketch helped with the painting process so that I could save my energy on the details.

Final Treatments

When the painting was finished, I photographed it outdoors. The natural light is wonderful now when Finland has a lot of snow, but the shoot had to be done quickly.

Photographing a painting in natural light.

I varnished the painting with Gamvar after the photoshoot.

Varnishing an oil painting.

I like to think that varnishing was like giving a special blessing to the painting.

Spiritual Meaning

This project made my work as an artist feel even more meaningful than before. I learned more about what kind of artist I am.

A detail of a flower painting by Paivi Eerola, Finland.

I thought: “What could be a better assignment than building a bridge between life and death?”
What do you think?

Scroll to top