My birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm sure that everybody loves their birthdays because its so amazing day in person's life.

When I woke up then I got a big surprise. My mom had made me a cake and there were even candles. I felt like a little girl again.

Later we cooked together. I have always wanted to cook a Jollof Rice. It's an African food and it tastes so good. I think it might be my new favorite.

I'm so grateful for all  those lovely birthday wishes that I got. It was amazing day.

So this is how I celebrated my birthday. How do you celebrate your birthday?

Why I decided to become an artist

Since my birthday is not so far away, I decided to reflect on this question. Obviously I have been loving drawing since I was a little girl. Sometimes I was drawing even for hours. Oh yes, in drawing I feel like I'm in my own element.

My grandmother was usually drawing and painting with me. I can still remember clearly how we used to sit in the kitchen and paint with watercolors. That was so much fun!

Later on when I was about 8 years old and went to school, I also took some art classes. I was always very excited to go there. I think I was attended at these classes for few years. After that I had to concentrate more on my studies because it turned out that I wasn't good at math. Sometimes I felt quite sad because I missed those art classes.

When I was a teenager I went to a model school. At first it seemed so interesting and perfect but as the time passed, I realised that it wasn't for me. That because I got an opportunity to represent one brand's clothes and that required me to stand on the stage and walk on the podium. But I was and still am a really shy person and I knew that I can't do anything like that. So I decided to quit the model school.

During the high school I didn't draw very much. We had an art history class and sometimes teacher gave us some homework to do which included drawing. Everytime when I drew something, I felt like my soul was singing because of the happiness. And sometimes when I was at home and doing my other homework, I used to take some breaks from studying and during those breaks I used to sketch something. I think it was my way to relax because I was having a lot of tension because of the school. Many times I was having troubles with mathematics, physic and chemistry. I even had private teachers who helped me to stay on track. Looking back, this was my body's way to tell me : " Liisi, mathematics, physic and chemistry is not for you.You are meant to draw, you are meant to be creative"

After high school when most of my classmates went to study something in the university, I had no idea what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. Sometimes its just hard to figure out so important things in life, you know?

Going to the university immediately after high school didn't seem right for me. Especially when I didn't know what I wanted to study. I took some time off. I went to work. I worked in the cafe and sport shop. It didn't take me long to realize that customer service isn't the thing that I want to do for the rest of my life. Because not all the customers were nice and I found it emotionally really exhausting taking other people's negative energy inside of me and in the end of the day when I finished work and went home, I felt so tired and sad.

I understood that most of the people are doing the 9 to 5 work just to survive and they were so sad and angry inside- they didn't like what they were doing.

Finally I got an idea. I wanted to study business and marketing. So I went to the university. Most of the time I was happy with my choice but then I started to get some doubts. I had to do some presentations and that meant public speaking. My legs were trembling and I was having real difficulties by remembering what to even say. And again there was a lot of tension in my life. I tell you a secret. There were days when I got my panic attacks and depression so I wasn't even able to go to school. I was so depressed and sad. I started to draw and paint again. Slowly I started to feel good again. My mood wasn't so bad anymore and life didn't seem to be so hursh. Eventually I quit university and started to concentrate on art again. I can't even tell you how happy I was making that decision. I just felt refreshed.

Looking back I now understand that all those things that I experienced were there for a reason. To show me what I should do and to learn some life lessons. Thanks to all this knowledge I can start my own art company.

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive"- Howard Thurman

Have you ever experienced something similar? 

What are my goals for a new year

I hope that you all had an amazing year. At first I would like to tell you what were my goals for this year.

At the beginning of 2014 I made a list of all the things that I wanted to happen and what I would do to achieve those things. Looking back at those goals, I can say that I accomplished almost all of them.

One of the goals was to study how to paint fur. In the beginning of the year I was drawing wildlife animals with pencils to learn how to make the proportions and the second part of the year I spent on learning and trying to figure out the techniques.

I even purchased an e-book from Jason Morgan. So if any of you are facing the same problem: how to paint animal fur, then I highly recommend this book. I found this e-book very helpful. I can't tell you how happy I was that I found that e-book!

Another goal was to start my own art blog. Actually I already had a blog, since 2011 but back then I didn't know how to use blogger. But in autumn I found some really good courses on udemy.com how to make a blog. Such a great site! After a lot of research and watching videos on udemy, I got my blog going.

I also wanted to educate myself and learn everything about business because I want to make my own art company. So I spent a lot of time reading different business books and there were also some great blogs that taught me what I need to know to make my own company.

And of course practising. I also started to paint with watercolors because I hadn't done that since I was a little girl and I wanted to remind myself how to do that.

The hardest part of the work was theme setting for the year but I finally did that after realizing how much I'm in love with African music and culture. So this is where most of my inspiration came from. I started painting African animals. At first I painted many animals with African landscape but then I wanted to make something different and started to make another backgrounds too.

For 2015..

First of all I will focus more on business. I'm going to perform my own company. And I will start selling my artwork online.

I also want to make a website for my artwork because every artist needs a website to show her artwork and get more exposure.

I am going to focus on learning more painting and drawing techniques. Because I still have so much to learn and I want to get better and better every day. So growth is very important!

"Growth isn't something that happens to you, you produce it"- Rachel Wolchin

I will finish the challenge that I started. 50 paintings in 1 year.

That's all I've got so far ( I'm sure I will come up with some new goals on the way) And I still need to sit down and set out some specific action plans.
I'm really excited already how the next year will turn out.

What are your hopes, dreams and aspirations for the year of 2015?

Painting #19

Cheetahs
Oil on canvas paper
Reference: kridah-stock on deviantart.com
50x65cm

Maybe some of you have noticed that I haven't posted much on my blog lately. The thing is, last week I caught a cold and had a high fever. I felt really weak and couldn't paint anything. 

So today I finally had a chance to finish my Cheetah painting. I found the reference photo from deviantart.com and decided to paint them. Aren't they lovely?

I really enjoyed painting cheetahs. I will paint more cheetahs in the future.

And here are some work in progress shots:

Painting the background

Painting the first layer of the fur

Painting the black fur

What I like about Christmas

I like to decorate the Christmas tree. This year the tree shines in shade of gold. I realised that we haven't had the Christmas tree for a long time. You can see that my cat also loves this Christmas tree.

And of course all kinds of candles shining in the dark. This really brings up some good memories from my childhood.

I really love family get-togethers. This is the time when all your loved ones come together and have a good family time. I think the best gifts in life will never be found under a Christmas tree, those gifts are friends, family, kids and the ones you love.

Fairy lights and  pretty decorations. I love to decorate all the house. This gives the feeling that Christmas is near.

Another thing that I like, is Christmas landscape. Here you can see the view from my living room window.

Poinsettia is really beautiful Christmas flower. This year we got a really huge Poinsettia. I wasn't aware that there even exists so big Poinsettias.

What do you like about the Christmas?

Lessons I've learned as an artist

Today I thought that I will share some lessons that I've learned during the past 4 years.

1. If you get artist block, then don't get frustrated. Take some time off, do something else, go for a walk, meditate, listen to music or read a book. Anything which would take your thoughts off from the fact that you can't create at the moment.
2. Don't compare your artwork with other artist's artwork. I know that its so good to view artwork that other artists have created but sometimes we tend to forget ourselves and start seeing all these artists who are better than we are. The truth is, there will always be better artists. That doesn't mean that you aren't good enough. You are good in your own unique way. By constantly drawing and painting you will get better and better every day. You just have to be patient.
3. Don't be a copycat. Don't try to be somebody else. Don't try to copy some other artist's style. Be patient. In time you will develop your own style and this will be something how people will  remember you, this will make you special.
4. Take some courses or buy some new e-books. Try to learn some new things and develop your  art skills.
5. Try to be open minded to all the ideas that you get. It's good to try new things and step out of your comfort zone. This way you can grow as an artist.

5 ways how I cope with artist block

As many of you might know and maybe have experienced, artist block is a worst nightmare for an artist, isn't it?
It usually comes when its least expected. Feels like you have lost all your inspiration but there are some ways to overcome it. I'm sure you have thought to yourself  "This is driving me crazy"
Over the time I have found some effective ways which have helped me to overcome it. And I would like to share them with you.

1. 1.Often times I have started to listen to music and sing. Singing is something that I love and it really helps me to get the attention off the fact that I can't create anything at the moment. And it always makes me so so happy!
2. The other thing that I like to do is yoga.  Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice or discipline that aims to transform body and mind. And after yoga I always feel less stressed and more relaxed.
   Sometimes I have got some good ideas during the yoga and sometimes after I have finished doing the yoga.
3. Meditation is something that has helped me most of the time. Because during the meditation I quiet my mind, eventually reach a higher level of  awareness and calm. And after that I might also get some new good ideas and inspiration.
4. Something that I have also found effective, is going for a walk or meeting a friend. Just to have a quality time with my friends. It makes me feel good and it might inspire me to create something.
5. Challenging myself. In the summer there was a period of time when I didn't have inspiration at all. I was struggling a lot. So I came up with an idea to make 50 paintings in 1 year. This challenge has hold my mind busy most of the time. And I have more ideas.

I hope that you found something which could help you. Or if you have some great tips how you overcame artist block, then I would like to hear about them. Let me know in the comments section.

Painting #18

Tigers
Oil on canvas paper
Reference photo: Chris Allsebrook
50x65cm

After I finished my last painting I was planning to start painting 2 cheetahs but then I came across 1 really lovely picture on Facebook group:  Reference photos for artists 2. If you are an artist and are looking for reference photos for your artwork, then I recommend this group.
So I took my oil colors and started to paint. I was really excited because I hadn't  painted 2 tigers before.
As always, I started from the background. I painted the first layer with aqrylic color. I used Burnt Sienna to do  that.. Then I let the painting dry.
After that I started painting the tigers. Layers by layers I painted the tiger's fur. I started with the darkest  colors and with each layer I added more white to the colors. I wanted the fur to look as realistic as possible.
I also spent a lot of time painting the tigers eyes. I had watched many tiger eye painting tutorials and now I was trying to apply all the knowledge.


And here are some work in progress shots:

Painting the background

Painting the tigers fur with Burnt Sienna aqrylic color

Painting the first layer of the fur

Painting the second layer of the fur

Evolution of my art

Today doing a huge cleaning in my room I found some really old drawings and paintings that I made in my childhood. I really got in the nostalgic mood as I was watching every drawing and painting that I had done. Why does it still feel like it was all yesterday? Time does indeed fly.

I thought that it would be a great idea to share them with you. So I invite you to take a trip with me on a memory lane.

These are the oldest drawings that I have from my childhood. I was 6 years old when I made these drawings and paintings. As you can see I loved horses a lot, I still do. In fact, back then I was kind of obsessed. My biggest dream was to have my own horse. I didn't realise how much time and money they would require. I told my granny that we can keep my horse in the garage. She just looked at me and laughed.
And I also liked to paint flowers. Most of the times the flowers were from our own garden.

At the age of 7 I still drew horses but I also explored other things and I also started to draw more houses and there was one cartoon that I really liked called:  Muumilaakson tarinoida. Please tell me that you enjoyed that cartoon as much as I did when I was kid. It was Japanese- Finland cartoon. So the red creature that I drew, he is from this cartoon.

At the age of 8 I drew all kinds of things but I found only one drawing from that time of period. I guess I was trying to draw some kind of village. Oh yes, I loved to draw dogs. When I was 8 years old then I had a dog called Bianca ( the name is from the Italian word bianco, which means white) and this dog on the picture is probably Bianca.

At the age of 9 you can see another drawing of the cartoon: Muumilaakson tarinoida. This time you can see more cast members. I guess I was kind of obsessed with this cartoon. And I drew a bear with an honey.

At the age of 10-13 I made all those drawings and paintings. Some of them I made in the art classes where I used to go. And after that there was a long period of time when I didn't draw at all because I had to concentrate on my school studies.

So these are some of the drawings that I made many years ago. Do you have some old drawings from your childhood? I would like to see them. Post them in the comments section.

Stay joyful and inspired!

How I get ideas for my artwork

As an artist I have heard many people asking that where do I get ideas for my artwork. So I will tell you some of the ways that I've discovered along the way.

1. Lot of my artwork comes from everything that I see around me.
2. Since I love music very much then music has a huge part in my creativity. Sometimes I can get ideas by playing the piano and the other times I can get ideas by singing or listening some songs. I have noticed that violin music does the miracles for me. Especially Lindsey Stirling's music. She has some really good songs. And of course Enigma. My favorite Enigma's song is Return to the innocence.
3. I get ideas when I'm in the bed and ready to fall asleep. There have been so many days when during the days I have thought long and hard about all the possible ways and techniques how to make my art better. And finally when I go to bed, then sometimes I might get about 15 ideas. So I keep my pen and notebook close.
4. Lately I started to do yoga. There have been moments when some ideas have popped in my mind.
5. And there have been times when I've seen the image in my mind and then I've started to put this image on the canvas.

So these are some ways how to get some ideas for my paintings. If you have some good ways, then I would like to hear about them. Post them in the comments selection.