Blue dream

"Blue dream"

60 x 110 cm

2009

Wheee, its done. Finally.

It was quite exhausting (mentally) to paint this within 2 days just to keep the paint wet.

BUT it surely was a super fun challenge never the less.

Its based on a few photographs i took from my little angels.

It was a privilege to paint this.

And here is a closeup shot:

New paintings

"New mask"

100 x 70 cm

2009

"You can not see me"

44 x 70 cm

2009

Sketches

I have been on this flu thats going around. Finally i felt strong enough to do something fun :)

Heavy wind

"Heavy wind"
2009

It was a nice and windy day today. Good day to put the new easel into windtest.
We were painting on the shores of Helsinki.

"Nocturne Trees"
2009

I almost forgot to post this painting that i painted a few nights ago.
Its funny what kind of color harmonies can occure when you are only using a led based headlamp in the middle of the night.
Its fun and spooky, of course. :D

NEW EASEL!! EASyL Versa by Artwork Essentials

What an happy day!
I just got this new plein air easel. I could not be more happier about it!
Its sturdy and very solid in design. In this case it was a huge benefit that it is really fast to assemble.
I added a piece of glass and the grey paper on the bottom of it to have this glass pallette that i have been wanting to have for a while.
I only had like 30 minutes on the spot before the darkness fell, thats why the painting looks so sketchy. I had super fun!

I am also glad that they do ship these easels internationally. Find out more from
http://www.artworkessentials.com/

Blossoms

"Blossoms"
Oil on canvas
2009

I bought these flowers to my dear wife a week ago.
It seemed like a nice subject to paint. Flowers always have such a nice variation in edges.

SNOW!! Finally

"Nuoska"
Oil on linen canvas, 23 x 31 cm
2009

Nuoska is finnish word for the snow that is really wet.
It was a beautiful day and i really enjoyed the silence in there.

Lego Train

"Lego Train"

Oil on linen canvas, 75 x 104 cm
2009

This is one of the largest work so far.
It took me a quite a many days and nights to finish this painting.
There is some glare on the canvas, but i post a better picture later on.
It just started to snow. I do wish to do some plein air painting before it melts away :)

The Dynamic Duo

"The Dynamic Duo"
Oil on linen canvas, 40 x 66 cm
2009

We had this halloween party and our kids we dressed up as an batman and as a little bat.
This painting is based on a few blurry photographs and pure inventions of stuff.

Work in progress closeup:

I got couple of new books today, Sorolla´s and Leyendecker´s books. Those masters really created a lot of awesome paintings and i just had to paint something after reading those books.

Amazon links:
J.C. Leyendecker
Joaquin Sorolla

King of the Hill

"King of the Hill"
Oil on linen canvas, 27 x 50 cm
2009

In this one i really tried to push the colors.
Every master whom i admire (John Sargent, Richard Schmid, Anders Zorn..) has said that you should be sure about your strokes and that those should be put down
with total degree of certainty.
Basic principle was that the laid stroke was the permanent stroke.
Its mentally (for my brains) really hard to paint this way and also the reason i love it.
This is the first time i didnt actually scrape off anything. Lets call it luck. :D
But anyways it sure was super fun to see it unfold.


Here is one work-in-progress shot

Early Figure Paintings - THE BOOK

My first book just came out.
I can not wait to get the first copy of it :)
It is available for purchase online at www.blurb.com
Preview the whole book:

Click IN HERE

Princess

"Princess"
Oil on linen canvas, 40 x 28 cm
2009

This is a quick sketch i painted from my sisters younger daughter.
She is so beautifull child. To bad I didnt really achieve likeness in this small painting.

New stuff - unnamed actually

3 Onions

3 tomatoes

1 Artist

I havent posted anything in a while, so here it goes.
Sorry about the quality, but its hard to take good photos with crappy camera. :)

Determination

"Determination"
Oil on linen canvas 24 x 44cm
2009


And here is a few work-in-progress shots

All Aboard!

"All Aboard!"
Oil on linen canvas 57 x 67cm
2009


And here is a closeup shot from the boy

NEW BRUSHES!!

WHOOE! New brushes! I can finish my painting!
These look exactly like Langnickel Royal Sable Brush 5590´s,
BUT they are made by Rosemary&Co. Series 279 Long Flats.
Sizes 8-2. These should be very durable and the delivery was super fast.
I am going to put them into a test rightaway!


Order from:
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/mongoose-c-119.html

Review:
These are super-high-quality brushes.
Feeling when you touch the canvas is exactly like in the Langnickels brushes.
None of the hairs fell off last night, so thats a HUGE plus.
I am guessing that these will endure really heavy duty, because i love to paint both
thick and thin, fast and slow.
Shortly, these are my new bests friends. :D

The Last Cookie

"The Last Cookie"
Oil on linen canvas 27 x 74cm
2009

Girl In The Moonlight

"Moonlight"

Morning Traffic

"Morning Traffic"
Oil on linen canvas, 2009

JUMP!!

Its been a while since i have painted anything that makes any sense to anyone :)
This is based on a referende shot i took from my lovely princess.
I did take an huge liberties with the perspective angles and i forced the value system basically down to 3 values.
Thanks for dropping by :)

Innerspace

"Innerspace"
Oil on cavas, 30 x 53 cm
2009

I fixed a few drawing issues. :D
Here is some work-in-progress shots:

Stream

"Stream"
Oil on linen canvas, 20 x 35 cm
2009

Mauri and me on the location.
Mauri was doing some close up drawings of the nearby plants and trees.
Thanks to Ysi for providing this picture.

Valio

"Valio"
Oil on linen canvas, 40x66 cm

I added a better picture. I will add more back story about this when i have more time..

New sketch and sundays painting session

Sketch of my son, Nooa.
I repainted the face about 6 times. Its just so hard to get the drawing right sometimes.



Here are some shots from sundays painting session.
We were painting live model at our studio, with my super cool painting buddies.
Silver Saaremäel and Jussi Tarvainen

Luis Lazcano and Juhani Karlsson discussing about drawing techniques.

Kaija was doing some awesome set of drawings and i think we all envy her design skills. :)

Arto Isotalo with Kaija&Silver on the background

Team photo. I am the guy with the 4 horns.


"Red"

Thanks to you guys for joining in on sunday. It was super cool and we have to do it again soon!

Unicorn - Timelapse video

Video should appear shortly

IN HERE

I almost lost the whole video in a hard drive crash, but i managed to salvage the video.
Soundtrack was beyond repair, but feel free to ask any questions you may have.
I hope you like it.

True Love

"True Love"
Oil on linen canvas, 25 x 45 cm.


Here is a few wip pictures from the process.
I chose to go a bit more sketchy style with the background this time. Its fun to experiment.

Clouds

"God Lives There"

Oil on linen canvas, 40x55 cm

I tough to train my ability to see sensitive color changes.
Painting clouds and snow is really good way to see more color.
Mixing all those colors for the clouds was fun!

I don't think they saw us

"I don't think they saw us"
Oil on linen canvas, 25 x 45 cm

These dolls are beautifully designed and handmade by my friend Kaija.
You can easily buy these online :)
Here is the direct link:

www.etsy.com

Here is a work in progress shot from my studio, also known as the living room. :)

Two plein air paintings from today

"Stones"

"Resting tree"

Its been an another great painting day. These two were painted in the afternoon in Sipoo.
Its a natural reserve area. Really beautiful place in every way.