Autumn book club: Let the right one in.

Hi guise!!

OMG I'm going to see Lady Gaga in Helsinki this month!!! I am so excited =D I got a really good seat too, right near stage, so I should be able to see Gaga perfectly <3 I'm going to see her on Monday the 27^th so only a few weeks left. Will be perfect since I'm looking to work really hard the rest of the month. I haven't been feeling particularly artistic right now, so it's gonna be inspiring to see Gaga's show. I have a couple of collages that I should finish, buuuut since I'm doing long hours at work, I don't have the energy to focus on art afterwards. Hence I thought I'd do something fun for my blog for a change.

I know there are hundreds of blogs focusing on literature and literature is very popular subject among Finnish bloggers. I believe one of our ministers keeps a literature blog which he updates regularly. My blog is a miss-match of different things I'm interested in. Well so far it has been about art, but I'm looking to talk about other stuff too.

There are times when I read books in tandem, and then there are times when I don't read anything at all. Right now I'm on one of my literary tandems, hence I thought I'd give you the 4-1-1 on 5 books I have 'recently' read.

However, there is a catch (with me, there's always a catch xP). IF I post all 5 right now, this would be seriously looooooong entry. Nothing wrong with that, but I think you, the reader, would get frustrated about how long this entry is going to go on (like reading a school book: 'OMG I have already read 30 pages and there is still 30 left on the British bread wars!'). And since it's me writing these reviews, they are going to be long.

I'm going to start with a book I read in June followed by:

The Taker by Alma Katsu

Män som hatar kvinnor (The girl with the dragon tattoo) by Stieg Larsson

Rei Shimura series (I think I'll review two of those) by Sujata Massey

and the last one is...well I haven't decided yet.

I'm looking to post The Taker next month and Lisbeth's series in October and so on...

Now, I must warn you about big time spoilers. In order to give you my honest opinion on these books, I have to assume that you have read them, or are curious to know what happens and you don't mind spoilers. If I have to avoid spoilers this would be just another plain book review. There are many things I wanna say about these books so it makes more sense if I'm allowed to assume that you have read the books. I'm going to be critizing some of the books quite 'heavily' so hopefully you are not one of those people who get offended easily --_-- You have been warned!

I'm going to start with a book that I really really liked for its capability to amalgamate fantasy in to reality. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the right one in) by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I read a few reviews on this book years before and I came really close to buying the movie (the Swedish one, duh!), but I knew that I'd read the book one day so I didn't wanna spoil the story for me. I read this book in June and what happens to me sometimes when I read a book is that I start reading it, then I get bored and leave it for a few and weeks and then finish it. Same thing happened with this book because I felt that it wasn't proceeding fast enough and that there wasn't much stuff happening. When you get past that, Låt den rätte komma in is actually very interesting story.

What I think is important to understand about this story is that it doesn't religiously follow the main character, this is more like a collection of mini stories involving people who are accidentally involved with each other. The main character is a twelve-year-old Swedish boy named Oskar. The story takes place in a suburb near Stockholm in early winter of 1981. Oskar is bullied at school, he has a problem with urination and is slightly over-weight .He lives with his mother and doen't have anyone to call a friend. So he is a typical little boy (who wasn't bullied at school, who had ''friends'' but didn't have friends?). The book takes a really interesting turn right in the beginning when Oskar is walking through a forest to find a secret place to let out all his anger. Mean while there is a man in the same forest searching for a prey. I seriously thought that Lindqvist would kill off his main character right in the beginning. My skin was crawling when the story was describing the lurker's thoughts. Håkan (the gay pedophile lurker) kills a different boy and drains his blood. It's revealed that Oskar was on his way to a different spot where he played that he'd kill his bullies by stabbing them to death (he stabs trees with a kitchen knife). So Oskar lives to fight another day, until he meets Eli. Eli is a girl living in the next apartment house (she and Oskar share a wall). At first Eli is cold and distant until she warms up to Oskar's gestures to become friends when he loans her his Rubik's cube (she shows genuine interest in the toy). Hence they start meeting every night after dusk. During the day Oskar goes to school and avoids bullies, steals knives and candy and buys stolen items from his neighbour Tommy and deals flyers on the weekends.

I found it fascinating how genuine Oskar was. Here we have a twelve-year-old boy who is severely abused and humiliated at school, yet he still manages to find small pleasures in life. I know in America people would be appaled to read about a damaged young boy who steals weapons and runs away from his father in the middle of the night, but to me, this is very realistic depiction of this child's life. Cause and consequences. Under the circumstances Oskar is, you can't expect him to be too-goody-two-shoes. I mean, kids run away from home all the time, kids steal stuff, yet none of this is barely depicted in stories anymore. Contemporary stories tend to stay tame or, on the contrary, they go way over board, to the point they become silly. This story isn't silly (well until the point when Håkan..well you'll know when you get there). It's very endearing to read about Oskar's attempts to befriend Eli. It warms my heart when the two indeed become friends and for the first time Oskar has a real friend in the world. I found it encouraging to read how Oskar slowly gains more confidence and gets over his urination problem (caused my trauma) and for the first time stands up for his tormentors.. In the beginning Oskar may seem like a young boy heading to loony town since he is obsessed with keeping a scarpbook of newspaper articles about murders. He even practices how to kill his tormentors and uses the threat of 'the ritual murderer' to steal a proper hunting knife from a store. However halfway the book it struck me that Oskar is actually pretty smart. But you'll have to have read the book to see for yourself.

While Oskar's and Eli's friendship deepens (Lindqvist doesn't rush the process), we move on to follow the gay pedophile Håkan. It doesn't take a genious to realize that Håkan is involved with Eli and kills young ones (not too young!) to supply Eli with human blood. Later in the story we learn that Håkan was an elementary school teacher who liked young boys. He wasn't involved with anyone from his school, but a collection of child pornography was found in his possession, so the school fired him and somebody burned down his house. Eli found him when he was literally at the bottom of his life. He is in love with Eli, but remains passive, even gentleman-ish, towards her, who refrains from all sexual intercourse with him. He deeply longs to touch and feel his loved one, who time after time denies this pleasure from him, still he feels deep attachment to Eli. After killing his second victim (the one in the woods) he goes to a library in Stockholm and purchases oral sex from a ten year old immigrant. What really struck me was when Håkan notices that the boy doesn't have teeth =( He assumes that they have been removed to make the oral task easier (more pleasurable for the receiver?) so he gives the boy a fast sum of money to get new teeth. Everyone probably assumes that Håkan is the villain of this story, but the way I see it, he is the anti-hero. I am strongly against pedophilism and do not agree what Håkan does in the story, but Lindqvist writes so accurately about Håkan's regret and conflict that one can't help, but pity and like him at the same time. He is a diamond in the rough, a person who has been making wrong decisions all his life. His innocent obsession with Eli is rather endearing and it's rather amazing to see him respected her wishes not to have intercourse, even though he is clearly aching for her. Lindqvist is really good at telling about Håkan's conflict without going overboard. With small gestures he tells how greatly bothered Håkan is by the murders he had to commit to keep his loved one alive. Still Lindqvist doesn't tell this via fancy words nor drag the sentence on and on by throwing in various figurative expressions. I don't shy away from extreme characters, and you have to admit it, when was the last time you saw a gay pedophile in a story? It's fresh and it's obscene, and it's so Scandinavian. Hello from North Europe, we bring you a collection of extreme characters who are as much extreme as they are realistic. I think it was nice of Håkan to give that young boy money to get his teeth fixed. Yes he is a criminal, but Lindqvist has build this character so well and accurately that I can see a real person there. He has major unforgivable flaws, but there is also goodness in him. Not that I think it's right of him to purchase oral sex from little boys to begin with. However it is a bit annoying when Håkan mopes about his eternal love for Eli and the things he has to do for her, while she has no respect for him what so ever. He is just a food provider to her (personally I think she's a dick). At least he gets to feel like he is the luckiest man on earth to have been chosen by such an angel (and there might also be a promise of eternal life).

Håkan's lifes takes a drastic turn when Eli sends him for his last mission (after she screwed up badly and killed a local drunk Lacke ← this is actually a really sad story). Håkan says that he will get her blood one more time, under the condition that he may hold her and touch her after the deed is done. So he goes to a local swimming pool (indoors) and rents a booth to himself, where he makes a mess in his booth when he sees young boys (I guess he is easily stimulated). He manages to capture and 'drug' a boy (he uses some sort of helium tank to make the victim unconscious and then drains them dry) and proceeds to drain him. (regarding this practice there is a wonderful little conversation in the beginning of the story between Tommy and his friends. They hang out at their building's air-raid shelter and discuss how pigs are slaughtered. One of them says that the pigs are hung upside down and drained from their blood while they are conscious). The boy wakes up and makes a ruckus. Before men can burst in to Håkan's booth, he takes a jam jar and pours the acid inside all over his face. His last thoughts are rather moving, he imagines that Eli, angel boy Eli, comes to take him away, and then he pours the acid whilst yelling 'Eli, Eli'.

Mean while Eli has been making a mess of her own. Håkan has dissapeared and she needs blood. She is strong enough to move on her own, but she needs more blood. Hence before she sent Håkan to his last mission, she killed a local drunk Lacke who spend his evenings and nights in a local Chinese restaurant. Now we meet people who may not seem as important to the story's development, but we'll get there. I'm guessing this group of bums is Lindqvist's way of showing how much damage a single parson can do to others. And that every single person has a life and plans of their own, that we shouldn't look down on people no matter what their social status is. At first I was confused to be reading about these local bums who spend their days drinking at a local pub/restaurant with no plans for the future nor ambition (they reminded me too much of the local 'drunks/bums' we have at work). But then Lindqvist gives us Lacke, a man who may be a bum, but still has some drive in him to go traveling and maybe meet someone and settle down. It actually opened my eyes a little since I reckon some of the bums at our restaurant are just spinless, boring people with no credibility. But Lindqvist reminded me that just like Lacke, those bums have plans, things they wanna do and see (but I don't get it why they wanna spend their time at out restaurant EVERYDAY, literally everyday from 10am or 3pm until 10pm). So it's very sad to read when Eli attacks Lacke and kills him. The others are left to grieve for his dissapearance (Håkan dumps the body in a nearby lake), however someone saw Eli attack Lacke. Gösta is a...uummm local loony, cocooned in his apartment with dozens of cats. The others know him and visit him every now and then. So the gang goes to visit him and Gösta tells them what he saw. Lacke's bestfriend Jocke (yeah...I know) is devastated and in his grief insults badly his old (and current) flame Virginia. She rushes out and is far ahead before Jocke rushes after her. He is just in time to see Eli attack Virginia, but Eli is unable to kill her, so Virginia is left wounded. Note that Gösta and Jocke only see a child attack Lacke and Virginia. They don't know Eli.

At this point it would be appropriate to tell you that Eli is a vampire (chuckle). Virginia is infected and begins to turn into a vampire. The story follows her struggles which is rather interesting since she has no idea that she is turning into a vampire. Reading about her ordeal was actually really touching. She was the innocent one. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and now she is left to pay for it. Hence it should be clear by now that Lindqvist wanted to make everyone of his characters victims. It's up to you to decide whether they are all victims of Eli or of their own life style (I personally like to think that they are all victims of Eli). In the end Virginia ends up in a hospital and commits suicide (she asks the nurse to open the drapes). Jocke is once again left devastated and if not earlier, this is where you should realize how realistic this story actually is. It's not a story about silly vampires and monsters, it's a story about people with real-life plans and thoughts. This is especially visible in Jocke's gang because they aren't Hollywood-good-looking people with fast sums of money and a few thoughts on life. They are regular people who have very ordinary lives, who seek small pleasures that they can find in their enviroment and pass yet another ordinary day. You won't find 'a thing' happening in these places, no catastrophe or monster lurking in the woods. It's plain everyday life. People go to work, they come home (or our restaurant xP) and do the same thing tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and so on. However, in this case Eli delivers a massive blow to their everyday life by taking Lacke's life and, in a way, Virginia's life. Jocke has been planning to move to the country side, and have two cabins build, one for him and one for Virginia. He came to a conclusion that they could never be a couple in traditional sense, but they both enjoy each others company and like each other enough to stay 'together'. And once again I'm saddened by the fact that they loose another member of their 'gang'. It's very Scandinavian of Lindqvist to remind us that life is fleeting, and anything can end it sooner than it began. The presence of death is a very popular subject in Scandinavian works. I don't know why, so please don't ask me. (maybe it's the melancholy factor?).

Eli has been very busy when she finally founds Håkan in a hospital. He is very much alive but badly disfigured, hence he has been able to conceal Eli from the authorities. Håkan asks Eli to end his life, but right before Eli can finish the task, someone comes in forcing her to stop so she leaves. Håkan leaps of the open window, killing himself in the process. Naaah I'm just kidding, he doesn't die, instead he later turns into a middless vampire who is fueled by his obsession with Eli. Bad people always get what's coming to them. Oh the irony!

Back to Oskar. He has already began to fall in love with Eli, when he discovers that she is a vampire, and the man he once saw was 'the ritual murderer' who supplies Eli with blood. PLOT TWIST. Eli explains that she is not in fact a girl, but a boy named Elias and he was castrated during his turning ritual. He wears girl's clothes to disguise himself. Oskar bolts, but later decides to stick with the only friend he has ever had.

Eli, 'shunned' by Oskar, goes to the air-raid shelter and meets Håkan by chance. Håkan in his insane tantrum hurls himself at Eli and tries to force sexual intercourse on him. Eli fights Håkan off and managed to lock him in a..basement? Another room in the air-raid shelter? Eli leaves and we learn that Tommy is now locked in the room with the senseless Håkan. Håkan is later killed by Tommy in rather traumatizing way (Tommy slowly beats Håkan to a bloody pulp, literally).

Back to Oskar. He is now convinced that he wants to remain friends with Eli, even though Elias is a boy and a vampire. He sneeks in to Eli's apartment and finds him sleeping in a bath tub filled with blood. Oskar goes to sleep on the sofa. Later Jocke walks in and attempts to kills Eli. But Oskar wakes Eli up and Eli kills Jocke. I'm now feeling very passive-agressive about this. Here we have a ten-year-old wee monster boy who totally fucked up 3 people's lives. Not to mention the other three who are now left grieving for their lost friends. Eli has no idea what he has done. Although he is becoming a little more thoughtful because for the first time Eli goes to buy blood. Before Håkan caught him, he bought and drank little bit of Tommy's blood. So we can assume that Eli is trying to make an effort not to kill for food anymore (that's how we vegetarians feel. Why are there so few of us still?). Still to me Eli is really uninspired and impersonal character. Actually I find him the most boring character in the book. I groaned a little when ever the story followed Eli. It's clear that he is emotionally and personally constipated character who finds loneliness oh-so-killing. Really --_-- there isn't a single vampire/monster in stories who isn't tormented by loneliness (well except Mr. Hyde). And somehow some of the other writers are able to get past that little quirk, giving us interesting vampires. Buuuut.... Lindqvist kinda dropped the ball with Elias. He is not interesting because he has no personality! Sure it's endearing to watch Eli and Oskar become friends, and it's even more endearing and heart warming since Oskar had no friends before. But it doesn't change the fact that Elias is an impersonal monster and nothing more. Although it is releaving to see Oskar make true friends with somebody at last.

Oskar has been 'training' to stand up for his bullies and his friendship with Eli gives him new courage to finally fight back. He manages to really hurt the worst bully and accidentally sends their classroom on fire (Oskar sneaks in to the school one night and burns the bullies' desks plus half the classroom by accident). The next day Oskar goes to the school in the evening to workout with his gym teacher and fellow students. The bullies sneek in and knock down the teacher. They proceed to burn and drown Oskar in the swimming pool (indoors). While the other kids watch Oskar is nearly killed BUT LUCKILY Eli bursts in, rips the bullies' heads clean off and takes Oskar with him. One the last page, Oskar is travelling (I forgot where he's going) with Eli's stuff and money and we get a hint that Eli is waiting for him at his destination.

Although it may seem that Lindqvist is dragging the story and the stuff that happen don't really mean a thing, they really are building towards a bigger conclusion. I know, I know it can get frustrating to read about characters like Tommy's future stepfather (it's funny, after killing Håkan Tommy probably turned religious like his mother and future stepfather me thinks ;D), but believe me when I say that Lindqvist makes interesting story structure and..umm inner dialogue. The characters think a lot, but fear not, Lindqvist's style makes it an interesting read. However what I really liked about this story was its sense of reality. When I told my BFF about this book he immediately dissed it because it didn't seem to make any sense to him at all. Perhaps the monster Håkan isn't that realistic, but when Oskar tries to befriend Eli, or when he is thinking to himself that he can't afford new winter shoes this year either, it's these bits that make the story so realistic. Plus I really really like the setting, that the story is based in Sweden and not some place else (ALTHOUGH it is such a cliche of the writer to situate the story in his/her home country) Like I said before, all the people in the book get more or less involved with each other. It's quite fascinating to read how their lives become entangled. 
I know that Lindqvist is trying to build this idea of every character in the book being a victim, but I am more interested in how the character influence each other's lives.

As far as vampire books go, this is the best one I have read. And you should know that I have read MANY, repeat, MANY vampire books. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the right one in) doesn't scream 'vampire', which may dissapoint some people, but come on, how many actually good vampire books have you read? Come at me bro, how many!!??

This story is daunting, it's thrilling even scary at times, plus you can't denye the fact that every single character in the story could exist in real life (even Elias if you choose to believe in vampires). All in all I was not dissapointed with this story. Lindqvist's writing style is interesting and he doesn't do the 'say it figuratively' thing that has taken hold of many writers *caugh* (British house mom with SM fantasies) *caugh*. In fact I think you'll find that Lindqvist's style differs from anything you have ever read before. That have been said, I really enjoyed this book and I'll most likely read it again.

Hope you enjoyed my review on Låt den rätte komma in and stay tuned for the artist of the month.

Cheers and byes!

A.P

Artist of the Month (July): Tove Jansson.

It's seemingly impossible to find a person in Finland who does not like the Moomins.
No matter if you like the Moomin story books, or the comics or the animation series there is something for everyone in the Moomin publication. I'm not a complete greenhorn when it comes to the Moomins. I have read the picture books and the comic strips. I once visited the Moomin museum and still watch the animated series. Not to mention I collect Moomin mugs and have a set of Moomin linen (omg the Moomin linen sets are so a-may-zaah! There are so many you can choose from). Yet there is still so much to learn from the Moomins (like read the story books).

Dancing Moominvalley.

July's artist is one of Finland's national treasures, Tove Jansson. Artist, illustrator, writer, doctor of philosophy and creator of Moomin, Tove Jansson was born into an artist family in Helsinki on August 9th 1914. Jansson's mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson was an illustrator and her father Victor Jansson was a sculptor, her two brothers became artists later on. Tove's family was part of a minority group of Swedish speaking Finns, which is why she is most often refered to as 'Swedish-Finnish' however her nationality was always Finnish. 
According to my research, Jansson drew her first Moomin sketch on the wall of their outhouse, but this proto-Moomin was thin and ugly and had devilish kind of tail (not the puffy one we're used to). Under the proto-Moomin she wrote 'Kant' as revenge on one of her brothers (she had lost a philosophical quarrel to him). If my memory serves me correctly, evidence of that outhouse Moomin exists, I just couldn't find any images.
It wasn't until the late 1930's when the proto-Moomin appeared again as part of Jansson's signature on her political cartoons.

In 1930 Jansson went to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. After graduating in 1933 she moved back to Helsinki to study at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Jansson kept herself very busy studying and after completing her four years of studying in Helsinki, she moved to Paris to study at L'École d'Adrien Holy and L'École des Beaux-Arts. Personally I am amazed by how hard she studied for almost a decade. Even during her education period, she managed to display artworks in exhibition. I can only imagine how much time and effort she put into her education and promoting her art. It seems that Jansson was a very dedicated, blossoming artist from very early on.

Although, Jansson had began her 'career' even before she went to art school. In 1929 she worked as a cartoonist for the Swedish language magazine Garm and this relationship with Garm lasted for over two decades. Her cartoons were mostly political and she achieved a brief international fame with her drawing of Adolf Hitler. She worked with other smaller productions too, drawing them a cartoon or an illustration every now and then.

Moomin and the Comet.

Jansson's first Moomin book The Moomins and the Great Flood was written in 1945. This new Moomin, Muumipeikko (Moomintroll. I refuse to call them by their translated names), had now gained weight and reached his round bluish-white appearance we are familiar with. The Moomins origin story is rather funny xD When Tove was living with her Swedish relatives in Stockholm, her uncle tried to stop her from pilfering food by saying that a 'Moomintroll' lived in the kitchen closet. It would breath cold air on people's necks if they tried to pilfer food. Needless to say, Jansson was very inspired by her uncle.
Muumipeikko (Moomintroll) is the imaginative, benevolent main character who is always off to look for an adventure. Muumipeikko and Muumimamma (Moominmamma) are the primar characters of the Great Flood book, but there would be several principal characters in the later stories. It would take two more Moomin books to make Jansson internationally famous. Comet in Moominland 1946 and Finn Family Moomintroll (or The Magician's Hat) 1948 were the cornerstones of Jansson's success. 

The first Moomin books were adventurous, filled with danger, humour and supernatural events, spiced up with morality of the importance of family and love. The Exploits of Moominpappa 1950 is Muumipappa's personal story of his youth. Moominsummer Madness 1955 is about Moomins exploring an empty theatre and Muumipeikko and Niiskuneiti (Snorkmaiden) getting lost. Along with Moominland Midwinter 1957 came a change in style. These new Moomin stories were more realistic and psychological. Realistic in Moomin terms, not realistic realistic. The Midwinter story tells about Muumipeikko waking up in the middle of winter (Moomins sleep from November to April) and has to to cope in the new, strange world. Jansson's other books, Tales from Moominvalley 1962 (short stories), Moominpappa at Sea 1965 and Moominvalley in November 1970 deal with the same themes, isolation, fear of loss and fear in general.
 

Illustration from the Swedish translation of the Hobbit

After Moominvalley in November Jansson began to write for adults. The Summer Book 1972 is distinctly for adults though the topic is rather simple. It's about a young girl and her grandmother spending a summer on an island. In addition to her writings she illustrated Swedish translations of The Hobbit, The Hunting on the Snark (Lewis Carroll) and Alice in Wonderland. And it probably goes without saying that Jansson illustrated her Moomin books herself.

By 1952, the Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll had been translated into English. Jansson was becoming rather famous which led a British publisher to ask if Jansson would like to draw comic strips about the Moomins. Evidently Jansson had already drawn a long Moomin comic loosely based on the Comet story for a Swedish newspaper. She accepted the offer and in 1954 started drawing the comic strip 'Moomintroll' for the Evening News. With her brother Lars Jansson, Tove drew and wrote (okay this info could be way off! One of my sources says that she spend 21 years drawing Moomin comics, whilst my other source says that she drew 21 long Moomin stories!) 21 Moomin comics. According to my research, Jansson wasn't happy at all drawing the comics. Drawing Moomin comics seemed fun and inspiring at first, but apparently Jansson grew tired very quickly. Working on the strip didn't leave her enough time to write or paint. Tight deadlines and lack of inspiration led Tove's brother to take over the strip which he continued until 1975.  The Moomintroll comic appeared in over 40 countries between 1954 to 1975. The Moomintroll comics are now available: The Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Vol 1-5.

Comic strip from 'The complete Tove Jansson comic strip'. Volume 1.

Besides the Moomin novels, novels and Moomin comics, she wrote and illustrated four original picture books: The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My 1952 (I have this book! It's so awesome, it's like a peek-a-boo game, but it's a book), Who will Comfort Toffle 1960 (another  awesome book and a beautiful story. Note that 'Horray!' the 2012 celebratory Moomin mug features a scene from this book), The Dangerous Journey 1977 and An Unwanted Guest 1980. And not forgetting her semi-autobiographical book the Sculptor's Daughter  written in 1968.

Jansson's books are translated to over 30 languages, including several Theatre, Opera, Film and Tv adaptations. Jansson continued painting and writing for the rest of her life, although she rarely drew or painted the Moomins after the 1970's. She had a studio in Helsinki, but lived much of her life on a small island called Klovhary (near the town of Porvoo) with her female partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä. Jansson died in Helsinki on the 27th of June in 2001 at the age 86.

Personally I really love Jansson's Moomin paintings. They are very colourful and practically radiate the positive and charming aspects of the Moomin characters and stories. 
Her painting style is really unique, from the colour choices to the look of the characters and items we can see how much her personal likings and imagination influenced her. When I was little I especially feel in love with the flowers I saw in the Moomin animated series. In the image above, you can see what I mean, those flowers are so pretty and unique! Especially the flowers in episode "Hurry Up Snufkin" (my favourite episodes are The Golden Fish, The Giant Pumpkin and The Vampire) seemed so special to a little girl (still do). I am very greatful that the animation series 'Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka' matches to Jansson's paintings perfectly. I watched a document about Jansson on christmas eve 2011, and in the document she said that she really didn't want the Moomins to be animated. However the Japanese were very persuasive and evetually she allowed them to make a pilot. As it turned out, Jansson liked what she saw very much and so 'Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka' was born. If you aren't too familiar with Jansson's paintings, the animation series is a great way to study her style. Even though Tv Tokyo made it happen, the look of the series is rather Jansson like. Well, all those who like Japanese art and stuff are able to see that the series is influenced by Japanese painting style, but personally I think the style of the series is more about honouring Jansson's style than trying to Japanise it. In Jansson's paintings we can clearly see the magical and secure world the Moomins live in. It's a place of happiness and innocence which Jansson's painting style convey's beautifully. Looking at this painting makes me think of my own happy childhood in Finland.
Actually one of the most precious aspects of the Moomins is their plausibility. And personally I think every child should have the chance to live the life of a Moomin for a while. When I was a child, I did live like a Moomin briefly. I went out into my family's woods and picked flowers without a care in the world. I ate pancakes outside with my family and went rowing with my dad hoping that we'd find a desert island where I could find amethysts. In case you were wondering, Moominvalley is situated in the forests of Finland ;)

Alice in Wonderland

As a colour fanatic I prefered Jansson's colourful paintings over her ink drawings, until recently. In college I discovered just how special and imaginative Jansson's ink drawings and illustrations really are. Whilst her paintings are really tender, her drawings are wild. Personally I think Jansson was very gifted with black ink even before she started illustrating the Moomins. We can see how much attention she is paying to her drawing style. She literally creates a different shape and/or pattern for every element. What kind of pattern would indicate water? And how the trees look like? It's not hard to see that experiment and imagination fueled her to create such beautiful drawings. Not to mention she was very skillful with the medium. Trying-out techniques and styles was something Jansson was clearly very good at. Perhaps trying-out is not the right word. I mean that Jansson's previous drawings must have helped her develop her style until she established the style we now know her from. 'Moomin' (image below) is a great example of Jansson's exquisite drawing style and ability to grasp a feeling. She has perfectly captured the atmosphere of a cold winter night, when everyone else in the Moominhouse is hibernating, except for Muumipeikko. It's extra dark in winter and Scandinavians know how scary winter can be. To be alone in a big house, just snow and forest as far as the eye can see (then again, if the night sky is clear, then it's rather luminous outside). This drawing is a great example of how Jansson worked with black and white. She dared to leave huge areas white and to top that she was not afraid to draw some areas pitch black. It seems rather odd that Jansson choose to draw Muumipeikko almost black. I get it that it's the play of light and shadow in this drawing, it's just interesting to see the bluish-white Muumipeikko in different colour. Even in her comics, the Moomins are white, symboling their innocence I suppose, so it's very interesting to see a black Muumipeikko. The diversity of black and white in her drawings and illustrations is incredibly refreshing and daring. There aren't many artists out there who would be bold in enough to leave so many areas white. The Moomin drawings give us an idea of what great understanding Jansson had of shape and shaping things. 

Moomintroll.

In Finland the Moomins are a commodity. Arabia (Finnish interior design and ceramics brand) has been manufactoring Moomin dish ware products since the late 1950's. The very first moomin dish set featured Niiskuneiti (Snorkmaiden) and Muumipeikko (Moomintroll). But the real 'Moomin boom' had to wait until 1990 when everyone suddenly wanted to get their hands on Moomin dish sets and limited edition products. And lets just say that the limited edition products have become quite the collector's items. I, along regular buyers and collectors, collect Moomin dish sets. Well to be more specific, I collect Moomin mugs. So far I have 6, two of them are standing designs. The other 4 are limited edition mugs. I love all of my Moomin mugs very much =^.^= I'm not one of those who collect stuff and put them in the cupboard and keep them there until their value has tripled. I use my mugs on a daily basis, they make great tea cups <3 
However this year I'm making an exception. Since Helsinki is the design capital of 2012, Arabia launched a special celebratory Moomin mug featuring a scene from Jansson's book 'Who will comfort Toffle?'. And this is a mug I wanna keep in my cupboard and wait until its price has tripled. Naturally, I got two ;D One for myself to use everyday and one to put in the cupboard. It costs little under 25€ so maybe after 5-10 years my extra mug could earn me 300€ ;D Below a photo of my mugs and their info. Now off to buy 'Moominpappa' mug!

I'm so happy that there is so much information about Jansson on the internet. And if you are interested to learn more about Tove Jansson and see more pictures, go to http://www.moomin.com/tove/ It's a really good website =)

As some of you may now, there is a museum for the Moomins in Tampere. It features all kinds of Moomin stuff =) I have been to that museum once and it's about time I go again. There is also a 'theme park' for the Moomins' in Naantali called Moomin World (Muumimaa), I have never been there, but it looks cute =^.^=

I hope you enjoyed my review and so sorry I posted it late. Like I explained in my RANT RANT post, I was too busy at work so I couldn't complete this on time. Still I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it =D

See you very soon!

A.P

RANT RANT! July's artist post delayed!

It's almost 12am and I am pissed off!

I was supposed to post this month's artist review, but because I had to work overtime today, July's review is going to be few days late. Seriously guise I am so so pissed off right now.
 

Here is what I think of serving you

The thing is that I was hoping to leave work early today and finish my review. However...of course 15min before closing time we get one group of five and two groups of three --_-- Naturally they all wanted wine and cocktails and appetizers, the works. Meaning that the evening manager and I couldn't start our evening routine because we had to serve all the people in the restaurant first --_-- When it was time to start tidying up, the evening manager was no help at all so I had to do EVERYTHING by myself. I was counting on that I could leave at least 15min early, so I'd have had plenty of time to finish my review. BUT you know how it is, you think you can leave some place early, but you end up staying way longer than you expected and it's no fun at all. I was really cursing behind the bar, because I was so angry that I had let down myself like this. I had promised myself that I would not miss or delay a single artist review. I'm also very sad that those of you who look forward to my review (people are reading my blog? O_O) have to wait even longer to read July's review. So for the first time (after 6 months of being on time) I'm posting an artist review late.

*sigh* I know it's a little my fault for leaving it till the last minute, but like I said, if I had managed to leave work at least 15min early, I would have made it. Our restaurant was empty by 9pm the day before so it was pretty unlikely that I'd have to stay overtime today. WELL the joke is on me.

I know that I could stay up all night and finish the review, after all the biography is done, I just need to give my perspective on the artist's work HOWEVER, in less than 6 hours I'm catching a boat to Tallinn. I have to get up after 5am because my BFF and I are going on a day trip to Tallinn. Well it's a hair cut trip really. My family has been going to the same hair salon in Tallinn for almost a decade. We love the place, it's really really cheap and they always do a good job =) Plus it's always so nice to go to Tallinn. They have this really a-may-zaah sushi place there! <3 Their menu is very contemporary!

You don't want to be doing that...

 All of you who have worked in customer service (or are/ have been waiters and waitresses) can understand how annoyed I am right now. I could have left on time, because I'm just an extra, I am not obligated to stay overtime. But I'm planning to move London in January so I need to save all the money I can, hence overtime is a nice little bonus.


I am deeply sorry that July's artist review will be posted in August. I have friday off from work, so you can expect to read the review on Aug. 3rd. Thanks for understanding, meanwhile here is Bigbang.

                                                   Go G-D, kick that mannequin's nuts!
A.P

The truth behind animal abuse. Part two: Animal crush videos.

Hi guise!

This is rather unexpected of me. I didn't think I'd have enough time to write TWO entries this month (artist of the month coming later), but after an alarming and disturbing cause was brought to my attention, I knew I had to post it here right now! My fur factory farming entry is my most read entry so clearly you guise are interested in learning about what horribles things people are capable of doing to animals (so for now one you can ban fur from your life and not buy anything from L'ancome or Pantene ProV).

To be honest, I wasn't completly aware that issue like this was even out there. I'm still very shocked about what I learned goes down in fur farms. It still keeps me awake at night. I'm consciously avoiding my animal testing research because I know what that knowledge will do to me. I have like basic knowledge of what the test subject animals have to go through, but I'm convinced that once I dig deeper, all kinds of horrible and unforgivable stuff will come out. As a result, I'll be 100% more traumatized than I already am. (I'm a sensitive person you know, I can't just research about this stuff, write about it and then forget it. No. This stuff will most likely haunt me for the rest of my life).

I was naive to think that cruelty against animals was 'limited' only to fur farming and animal testing. With occasional animal murder/torture you read about or hear about. Sadly there is a-not-so-vocal 'practice' of animal abuse that is now getting attention from animal rights organizations and the public. As the title suggests, this animal abuse act is about smaller animals being literally crushed for the sake of sexual pleasure and 'entertainment'. I use entertainment loosely because only seriously sick people would find these videos 'entertaining'.

And this is no joke, videos like these really exists. Those aren't stunt bunnies, those girls really killed them on video. No CGI or animation, that's all real.
I really don't want to feature more pics than the one above, because the stuff you'd see, is seriously nauseating, not to mention heart breaking. One of the concepts of the animal crush videos is this: A person (most often a young woman) crushes a small animal with her stiletto heels. Literally, slowly 'stomps' the animal to its death. Additionally these videos include people skinning small animals alive, setting them on fire or breaking and tearing their limbs to earn more screams. The list is endless. And might I add, this is a serious misuse of the phrase 'use your imagination'!


 You know some people say that video games provoke violence. And some suggest that people (especially young people) who have committed a homicide is because they were unable to tell the difference between fantasy/game land and reality. Like where fantasy ends and reality begins kinda thing. Well just think what the people who watch animal crush videos are like. It goes without saying that a person who enjoys watching animal crush videos, or similar videos starring humans, is a deeply deeply disturbed person. It makes me sick to even think that someone could find sexual release whilst watching these videos. It takes a really sick mind to 'be able' to enjoy something like this.  

I'm interested in psychology and I know that anyone who is in their right mind wouldn't find animal crush videos sexually arousing or amusing or entertaining. I'm not really that concerned about what video games do to young children, I'm seriously concerned about what people who like to watch these type of videos are capable of doing to other people. I read somewhere that a person who enjoys torturing animals or likes to watch animal torture videos is a serious threath to other human beings (and naturally to animals). If they are already lacking in the empathy and 'what's right and what's wrong' department, we can imagine that these people don't really care much about their actions no matter how brutal they are.
And it strickes me as odd that these people are not locked away. Well perhaps once they get caught they are, I can't tell for sure, I know that the law in some parts of the world, is pretty kind to criminals --_-- I don't know anybody who'd find animal torture videos anything, but horrible and unforgivable so I'm not sure how the people who do enjoy them are punished.


However, what about those who MAKE the videos? As much as I am concerned about that someone would actually like to watch these videos, who is that person (or gang) who likes to make these videos?! I noticed that most of the culprits are women O_o Asian women --_-- I have nothing against Asians it's just that the fact that animal crush videos are mostly made in Asia doesn't surprise me. How could a continent, that has limited human rights, could have any animal rights. That's what I think. The animal laws in Asia are very vague than what they are in Europe or North America (here in Europe we actually have strict animal rights laws) so of course most of the animal crush videos are filmed in Asia. Again, I'm very much in love with Japan and Japanese culture and I'm slightly interested in South Korea and I'd like to go to Singapore. However, I think Asia is light years behind Europe and North America in human and animal rights. And I hope with all of my heart that they are trying to fix those for the better as we speak. 
So I was talking about those who take part in the act. I cannot even fathom out how anyone could just stand on top of a screaming baby rabbit and slowly crush the life out of him or her and not feel any remorse. Or how could someone set a kitten on fire and watch whilst he or she screams and runs around in your living room and still not be affected by it. The mere sound of an animal in distress tugs my heart strings. There are so many things I cannot understand about this world, but to hurt an animal (or anyone) willingly, takes the cherry. Should be pretty clear that those who take part in animal crush videos lack in both empathy and sympathy and must have pretty sadistic personalities. I don't see how otherwise anyone would agree to take part in such act. 

Needless to say, the government and society should be aware of this practice for it contributes to the generation of the serial killing mind. According to stopcrush.org all serial murderers share a common history of animal abuse. And usually the next step is homicide. It should be made governments task to protect the animals as much as the society from this kind of practice. Not only is it inhumane and unnecessary, but it could be used as a tool to jolt the unstable minds of indefinite characters.

Funny story, in the early 2000s the museum of modern art Kiasma in Helsinki Finland, featured a video which at one point showed a man (he calls himself an artist) killing a rescue/shelter cat with an ax and then masturbates on the cat's corpse. It took the museum a while to remove the video and the man got away with a fine. He had abused animals before he made the video.

 Here you may sign a petition for the UK Parliament to outlaw animal crush videos.
http://www.change.org/petitions/u-k-parliament-outlaw-animal-crush-video-by-enacting-legislation-with-severe-penalties 


SIGNED!


And here you may find more information on animal crush videos and about the Stop Crush organization who is working so hard to stop this cruel practice.
http://www.stopcrush.org/


Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them - Dalai Lama.


This is what I believe in.
Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you in a few weeks when it's time for the artist of the month!


Cheers! AP

 

Artist of the Month: Jasper Goodall

"It's so tacky to exhibit one's ultimate art over and over." says Deidara as he is captured by Kankuro's team *chuckle chuckle* Do I need to remind you that the only person who probably saw your art was Sasu, and it's not like he's gonna tell anyone. And now you are inside a wooden casket so again, who's gonna see your art DeiDei? xD I just love to tease him, though the way DeiDei turned his body into a bomb, looked pretty cool  O_o Yeah I'm watching Naruto Shippuuden again since the plot is actually moving on for a change (I had to wait for those 3 bloody filler episodes to blow over --__--)

It's also summer =) I love summer! well okay it's not even close to +30'C, but we are getting there. Sun is shining and couple days ago we had +23'C. 
And if all goes well, I'll be moving to London or to Paris come autumn. I have decided that I want to become a make up artist and (central) Europe would be the best place to acquire education in make up and cosmetics. I have 2 pretty prestigious schools in Paris and Milan to consider and one pretty promising school in London (well there are like 3 of them, but this one sounds really promising career wise). I'd be interested to move to Paris, however, there is a pretty massive language barrier between me and Paris. Even if they teach the classes in english, chances are I won't get hired easily since I do not speak or understand French. It would be such an amazing opportunity and experience though. Paris or London?

Yeah just incase my pals were feeling a bit curious about what I'm going to do the rest of the year. It's Year of the Dragon so good choices + career eyes on us dragons.

 This month's artist is the naughty British artist who likes his (imaginary) women latex-ed and his art digital/graphic, Jasper Goodall. The picture in the beginning, I have no idea what the title is and I'm a bit skeptich whether it's actually Goodall's work. I found it via Google, but it wasn't listed on his webpage. It could be a very very good imitation. However for arguments sake, lets hope it is authentic Goodall.  If you read my Luis Royo entry you'll know that I'm really into this kind of art. I find people's fancy for fetish, eroticism, fantasy and smexy outfits really interesting because it makes me wonder what kind of people they are. So my first thought on Goodall's work is "jaw dropping".  It's still a little hard to graps that such a famous artist is so openly making such sexy work about sex. Well I guess that is subjective. Some people would say G's work is an insight to personal preferance and conversation about eroticism's place in fantasy and contemporary culture. And some just see the latex ladies. I think the setting in the first image is simply delicious. Four ladies dressed in black latex, 3 of them are wearing masks that cover their faces. And the last girl is on her knees expressing her infatuation for the girl in front. That or she's just doing what her mistress has told her to do. I have always been interested in how artists who work eroticism and sex into their work describe/picture it. There comes always the question about wheter the piece is art or porn. It's usually the art studying/knowing people who say that there is a very fine line between artistic eroticism and pornography. From my research I could argue that this type of art would become pornograph if G would keep the digital polishing to a minimum and was using real models/people. Then his work would be dangerously close to porn and adult imaginery. It would seem like just another naughty fetish series or a new line of fetish garments. What sets G's work apart from other artist working the same medium is his authentic look. I have seen a few artist who like to do the explicit sex-art thing, but those pieces are more about sex-meets-art than art-reinventing-sex (like how G does it). I think Royo's work applies here a little. His work is most importantly a sexy fantasy tale, whilst G's work is shamelessly playing the sexy factor ;) I could be wrong though. There could be a much deeper meaning than what G's pieces suggest. After all G likes to use a lot of symbols and cartoonish characters to explain and express things. It's those characters and his vector art/graphics that are moving his work away from pornographic. Suppose when it comes to making 'sexy-art' simplicity counts. Personally I think 'mistress and the apprentices' (yeah I gave the piece above a nickname xP) is really gorgeous. Who could have thought black vector art looked this good. Having that print on your wall would be one way to start a conversation or to impress (or shock) someone ;) Someday when I have my own place and enough cash, I'll decorate the place with a few Jasper G prints *heart*

Jasper Goodall was born in Birmingham (UK). He graduated from the University of Brighton in 1995 and spend the rest of the 90's rejuvenating the illustration genre and bring it to the state it is today. I'm guessing illustration was more about literally illustrating books and recepies and such before G and various other artists started to reinvent it in the late 90's. Now vector art and illustrations similar to G's style are used in ads, book/story illustrations, magazines and so on.
In february 2009 G had his first solo Gallery show in London titled ‘Poster Girls’. This marked a new direction in his work. He still keeps treating us with new prints that express his talent on mixing photography and illustration. In 2010 G participated in a show for Christian Dior called "Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty" creating a 3-D fabric/acrylic silhouette of a woman leaning. His CV includes rock band, magazine, swimwear and liquor bottle designs, public art. In 2010 he ventured to Australia for a lecture tour, visiting Sydney and Melbourne. Recently he has returned back to his previous style (mid 2000), well returned is not the right word, more like developed his previous style. His most recent work 'Silhouettes' is a mixture of that graphic look from before, yet now it's more stylized. One could say it's a combination of vector and graphic which he then styles further.  G continues to work as a freelance illustrator, but he is represented by creative consultancy Big Active. On top of this G teaches the illustration degree course at the University of Brighton.

photo: Heini Mika. Electric Blue Gallery London. 2009.

I had the pleasure to visit Electric Blue in April 2009 when G's additional Poster Girls prints were on display. By additional I mean that the actual show had ended, but I guess the gallery continued the show, but with smaller prints. It was a relatively small gallery, but they used the space wisely. The prints were hang up like that, like laundry on clothes line and on the opposite wall was a big wall print. I especially loved that pink lady who has sticky stuff between her fingers xD it looks really gorgeous (I love pink!) and kinda avant-garde. There's actually two slightly different versions of these prints (black bambi, tiger and pink girl), it's kinda print-meet-live-model. For ex. the pink girl print is actually held up by a model sitting on a chair and we can see that she is wearing pink latex stockings and heels, similar to the print's pink. This express G idea of mashing up fantasy and reality and I think it worked superbly well. Those model pictures look as gorgeous as the prints we see above. The idea is pretty simple and besides models holding up pictures, there isn't really much else going on in these prints. Hence perhaps it's G's composing talent that makes simple scenes interesting. He manipulates shapes and colours and voilá he shows us these results.

Olympias

Personally again I think it's so cool when an artis comes forth with controversial pieces. To me G's work touches something forbidden and nasty. Something that I know some people are part of this scene yet to me it's still a piece of fantasy and mystery. It requires guts to work this topic.
Which of course some people can't digest. Which is why I think it's important to talk a little bit about art as a tool of objectifying women. My tutor (female) in Uni was very particular about bringing this subject up when ever there was a piece that showed a lot of skin and girls in suggestive poses (but I think she was very peculiar about fine art master pieces that, in their own time, were viewed as objectifying too). Naturally G's work has brought out the question whether his work objectifies women. I think when ever an artist shows a lot of skin and suggestive poses in their work, it is identified as 'objectifying'. Even though G's work comes from a man's point of view, I don't think his intention is to literally objectify women and express that women are only delicious eye candy who do a lot of sexy and nasty/naughty stuff. Like in Luis Royo's (see my entry on Royo) work G shows us a fantasy. It's up to the viewer to decide how seriously they are going to take it. And so what if there is a little bit (or a lot of) truth behind G's fantasy. I personally happen to know a few ladies who are into some nasty/naughty stuff so it's not like women are unwillingly lured into this kind of fetish scenario G presents in his work. Some people are just really into that kind of stuff. I like the idea and it would make me smirk and chuckle so much if some of the senarios were..well real. I'm personally not offended by G's images. I think they are sexy and witty and beautifully done. I can understand why people would be offended by them especially since it's a male artist who is showing us women in this light. It is offensive to think that women like to wear sexy clothing to attract male's attention and the reason they engage in these sexual acts is to fulfil some sort of male sexual fantasy. But that's what I think is G's plan all along, it is just a fantasy. I when I was a teenager I was offended by Coke Zero and Axe (I think this is called Lynx in the Uk) commercials because they showed boys that using these products could get them hot models. As I grew up I realized that if boys really thought that spraying Axe would make hot women come running for them, they are going to be so dissapointed. You can't help, but laugh at that. Nowadays I laugh every time I see those commercials. That's what I think G's work is about. It's portal to a fantasy world that have little to do with our society or culture. Naturally there are people who enjoy the same fetish-sexy treatments as the characters in G's work and we shouldn't be offended by it. People are different and if this is the stuff G is really into I must raise my hat to him for being so brave and bold to show us his inner most desires (and it's not like he became famous and then started doing his sexy art. He became famous by doing sexy art).   

JG4B swimwear line

 Naturally it's really important to know your audience when you make art like this. It's mostly magazines, ads and young adults who are interested in vector/graphic art-illustration. After all this medium is still relatively new and doesn't quite reach the artistic values and appreciation that Fine Art enjoyes. On the other hand G has proven that there is so much artistic and commercial potential to graphic art. See that gorgeous one piece? That is so gorgeous! G teamed with Louise Middleton in 2003 and together created a gorgeous swimwear line. If you look hard, you can still find some of the bikinis sold online. See this link for more information and history about their collaboration http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/staff/jasper-goodall/portfolio-of-major-works/jg4b-swimwear


It's clear that Jasper Goodall is quite a genius with his own medium. During one interview he expressed how he isn't a fan of people who come up with a style or an art method and stick with for years and years to come. I couldn't agree more. It is such a yawn to see an artist do the same thing over and over again. Deidara may think that his explosive sculptures are state of the art (well that one sculpture's, once destroyed, special feature was to invade one's cells and destroy the body from within was pretty genious), but you have been blowing up your art for years and years. You'd think that Goodall was the same, that he has worked graphic art since the late 90's and hasn't changed his style or course a bit. But as we can see in the final image below, he most certainly is out to look for different methods and styles to develop his work. Yet even in the new pieces we can still recognize his genius and style.


Hope you enjoyed this entry. See you in July!


See ya!
AP

Leopard Dunes

CitySummer (AOTM)

Hey, guise! ^_^

Again a month has gone by and it's spring in Finland. Well it's practically summer, but compared to last week's heat wave, we're cooling down for now. It was so hot and nice last week. But that's pretty much how it goes every summer, we get a heat wave in late May- early June and then the rest of June is cold and rainy --_--
You like my new hair in the banner xD I'm a brunette again <3 blonde hair was fun, but I think brunette hair fits me much better.

About this entry, I thought about reviewing Jasper Goodall, however, I'm taking part in a group art show in June-July so I figured I could talk about the work I'm going to be showing there. Hence you may expect my review on Goodall in late June. I'm not making myself the 'Artist of the month', the show CitySummer is the 'AOTM'. I kinda swore to myself that I wouldn't skip a single 'AOTM', but since I have only today to post this entry I came to a conclusion that those who are coming to see the show might wanna learn about the idea behind my work for CS. Of course you can view the paintings on my website and they are available for purchase. I'm also thinking about continuing this series after we finish the show.

CitySummer is the name of our show and it's actually Akvart's (the gallery in Helsinki) annual show. Same name, different artists (well some of the artists take part in the show every year).
The currator only told us how large out works could be and what kind of frames we were allowed to use, but that was it. The topic of this show gave me quite a fright. Right from the start I had an idea to make lovely cityscape/monument paintings. Like those lovely paintings you can buy in Rome, Paris, Lisbon etc. Like a painting of the Fontana Di Trevi etc. I wanted to do lovely city scapes and monuments with peole posing next to/near them. My first painting was about Paris, a lady on top of a hill, sitting on a stone ledge holding her big hat and behind her is the Eiffel tower and the Parc du Champ-de-Mars. I still like that painting very much. But too bad cityscapes/monuments are done to death. You can buy an artist made painting of the Eiffel tower anywhere in Paris. I became literally scared and was rather depressed about what to make for the show.

I brainstormed for a month. I wanted to do something with cityscapes and if you are familiar with my work, you know that 'garbled and smudgy' (as I like to call this) type of painting isn't my style. Far from it actually. So I tried to think how I could  make cityscapes interesting.
I have a vast collection of photographs from my travels and some of them are so good that I could exhibit them like that.  That's when I realized that I could do "mash-up" of photograps and imagination. I could use the photographs I have of Helsinki like that, but alter it so that other things are happening in the final image.

Töölönlahti. 2012. H.M.

 "Töölönlahti" is the first painting I made. This place is a real place in Helsinki. I merely altered the background because that water is actually a gulf, on the opposite shore there are just rocks and few houses. I made this new background to go with the theme of this series. The geese were there for real, they tend to make camp in this park every summer xP

I named this series 'Summer City' and I imagine it to be a real place somewhere, but not here. Summer is eternal in Summer City and its people only know leisure and pleasure. Their only purpose is to excist and enjoy their lives =) Summer is my favourite season, so I wouldn't mind living in Summer City. However it's not an ordinary city, humans have obtained a way to really live their lives as they see fit. As we can see in the painting above, the woman on the background loves to fly. She has made a pair of wings and can now fly with the geese. The girl in front is just posing for the person taking her picture. Desire and leisure really come together here =)

To me Summer City is a mixture of Helsinki's tranquility and Sydney's tall buildings. I really fell in love with Sydney and I'd so much like to live there. Too bad it's so far away from everything --_-- (I'm a European after all, you can't move out of Europe and not miss it). "Töölönlahti" is a photo a real photo. To be honest, that girl in front is me. I posed for this picture, and I always wanted to use it somehow because the atmosphere and surroundings were interesting. In 'Summer City' we'll see other paintings like this. Original photographs which I have turned into paintings. Like the painting below. 

Munkkiniemi. 2012. H.M.

 This scene is a photograph too. I didn't alter it, though the real girl in the photo doesn't have long green hair like this girl does. I imagined this 'Summer City' resident is a mermaid (hush, this is a secret ;) ), but the others don't know it. In reality this is quite a fantastic photo and I really like to thank my good friend from Germany for posing ^_^ She really liked the photo and people kept calling her Ariel. I'm really happy she liked the photo and now I had the pleasure to use it in my series. At first I wasn't too fond of this painting, but now that I look at it in its frames, it looks pretty awesome ^_^ In my mind this mermaid is living in Summer City, but she has disguised herself as human to protect her secret. She comes to this beach often for a swim.

Bear. 2012. H.M.

This last image is imagination all the way xD I can't exactly recall how this image came to be. I remember RJ and I were goofying off and talking about character costumes people have to wear. Like at Disneyland or Moominworld. We were talking about this 'funland' in Finland where she thought she might apply. She'd then wear this big happy bear character costume. At some point we were talking about how some characters in Pokemon have like, I don't know, models or servants by their side (in weird uniforms!) all the time. So I (or maybe it was RJ) thought how funny it would be if RJ, in her costume, had like these harem girls by her side all day long. We thought that must be one of the bizzarest things ewah O_o It sounded so weird that I had an sudden urge to sketch this idea and make it into a painting. 

Here we see Mr. Bear with his faithful...eh..followers.. Bear has taken charge of the city's underground scene. He and his followers are always close by. At first I thought he'd be the black sheep of the society, but I have changed my mind since I'm in the middle of creating two youngters who unofficially rule Summer City. I think Mr. Bear is Huggy Bear, sort of. Somewhere between a criminal and a good guy. Bear could be the guy people come to to make their more extravagant dreams come true (like learn to fly). And of course some girls wish to join him cuz he's so darn cute! This painting took a lot of time, trust me =P

These are few examples of what's to come at CitySummer. I have 5 more paintings for the show. I'm hoping that people find them as beautiful and entertaining as I do. I love stories very much and hope that people see stories in my paintings. I'm having a lot of fun painting these paintings and perhaps a little bit of that joy shines through them <3 The mediums I use are Aquarelles, Gouache and Sai japanese watercolour pens (markers to be precise). 

I hope you liked this entry. And for those of you who are coming to see the show, I'll see you then! <3

Thank you for reading. Panty out! 
See you!