Never Never land •Mikä-Mikä-maa: Projects

Never Never land •Mikä-Mikä-maa: Projects: 1.4.2016 A warm welkom to the exhibition "Mikä Mikä Maa" (Never Never Land): guests of honour are little artists from Hajala ...

Keanne • art and Illustration: From me to you and from young to old.

Keanne • art and Illustration: From me to you and from young to old.: Ah, how to start this blog. I haven t been writing here for about a half year now.  Overall, the past year has been very moving: changes...

From me to you and from young to old.

Ah, how to start this blog. I haven t been writing here for about half year now. 

Overall, the past year has been very moving: changes in process, some losses, and at the same time a lot of new projects. 

One of the projects that I loved was/is the "Never Never Land "project. I had the chance to develop this by the support of Taike.

http://www.taike.fi/

It s an interactive project involving me, in my workspace behind my drawing table, as well as an exhibition, untill workshops ending up again as exhibitions.
You find all about the project so far, on this page:
http://www.mika-mika-maa.blogspot.fi

The other project consuming most of my time, was the illustration of the teaching material named "Heart". It was a totaly new experience to work that applied, but nevertheless, a very fulfilling one. I feel like I stepped out of my comfort zone properly, and it make my challenge my technique, my way of working in general, and also how to work in such a diversed group. I m very thankful for this oppertunity, and the people involved are troughly lovely and very professional, each of them!

The project will continue at least still this year.

http://kauppakv.fi/sis/Otava/tuote/9789511288107?openHier=1041816.1041822.1041835.1041944.1042031

Also I got the chance to continue the library projects I started in the beginning of 2015. We created, together with Hanna van der Steen, an ABC system+ picture cards to go with it. 

Soon they will be printed and being taken in use.

From the images you can order also cards and a poster:

https://www.kaartje2go.nl/kaartencollecties/abc
https://www.printmotor.com/keanneillustration/



Our table theatre "Anselmi_ the fish who could play music" has started touring since may.
You can follow it s course:
http://www.anselmikala.blogspot.fi

In the mean while we stated rehearsing a new play "From black and white", meant to tour in elderly houses accompanied with a childrens audience.

The project started with workshops, to gather idea s and information. After that we started playing with the given. It slowly starts to live it 's own live, and I m sure we will get the same process happening as we did with our traveling play "Inside out",  which still gets/is possible to be ordered by schools.

Production for my own line Keanne • Illustration has been a bit calm this past half year, as other things took my energy. But still I m proud of the little book we created with Minttu:

https://www.weecos.com/fi/item/lasten-kuvakirja-yllattava-ystava

Well, this sums up the past half year in bigger lines.

Thanksto all who risk to be involved with me as an artist ;)
I experience that part of my work as the most fulfilling.

Love
Keanne

Keanne • art and Illustration: "Crawling with two eyes"/Users/keanne/Desktop/IMGP...

Keanne • art and Illustration: "Crawling with two eyes"/Users/keanne/Desktop/IMGP...: Summer has arrived and as I ´ve been meaning to write about the course of our new little book ("Met twee ogen kruipen",  Sandrin...

"Crawling with two eyes"/Users/keanne/Desktop/IMGP6394.JPG /Users/keanne/Desktop/IMGP6301.JPG /Users/keanne/Desktop/IMGP6317.JPG

Summer has arrived and as I ´ve been meaning to write about the course of our new little book ("Met twee ogen kruipen",  Sandrine Lambert, Het Punt 2015) for a while now I finely find the time to do that.

One day, actually a few years ago, I was in between projects and waiting for answers. 

So I decided to start drawing things I felt like, imagine how I would like to make a book without any commercial limits, publishers guidelines, context, verbal story…just the way I imagined I would like to have had a book when I was little.

I book in which you could almost "feel" a variety of materials.

I draw for about a week or 2, and I got about 12 drawings (24 pages) which suddenly could be a book. But something was missing. Pictures, in little windows to be opened in the drawings. 

We gathered with  Brazilian photographer/ artist Andrea vannucchi and idea s quickly matched. 

We found a selections of pictures which communicated perfectly with the drawings. Her husband who had a peak, and teased us :"ah, a book for a very small market: "artists kids " ;)

Well, looking for a publisher was not easy: we actually got quite a few  considerations,  but overall , it s commerciality was questioned.

But through a grant of Auraco I got to build a 40-40 cm fabric book out of it. I developed a series of workshops to tour at daycares in 2012- 2014, and yes,  also surprisingly working very well,  in elderly houses.

After that, a silence...

In the mean time  Andrea showed the book to a friend of her, Pauliina Vesslin, who got crazy about the pictures and saw a teatreplay in front of her. 

We gathered a group of … , let s call it, "arty" ;) parents: music LauNau, Direction Sarika Lipasti, and 2 actors Pauliina and Siiri. 

After brainstorming we decided the pictures could be projected with an oldschool light-box, on to a bed sheet with a whole in the middle, just like the book.  Also building this play took a while, we builded about 3 versions until we got to the right feeling. It was builded from the inside out, just like the work-title of the book.

The performance was received surprisingly well: we got grants from different places and also wonderful feedback. 

We are working on a sequel now, and courageously started to call our group "Nurinpäin (inside out) Collective"

But so the book. I couldn t visually make text, drawings and pictures work. Somehow it felt like there where to many languages. I couldn t find anyone who was interested in publishing the manuscript without words. 

Then I met Sandrine ( http://www.avondroodboeken.be ) online, actually trough my sister who took a writing course with her. She and some other people highly recommended me to contact her. I fell in love with the way Sandrine uses words.

We actually worked on it, just in bits and pieces, about 1 1/2 years, until we decided to send it to a few publishers. And in the beginning of this year we found a Belgian publisher "Het Punt" to be interested !

You can purchase this little pearl at:
http://www.deleeswinkel.be/sandrine-lambert-met-twee-ogen-kruipen.html

Now I feel like the circle is complete. Sometimes lovely things come from meaningless moments of play. This was one of these projects <3 

So always keep on trying, even when it feels like it doesn t make sense!

To live by the minute

The last week, I was spending in elderly house Tervaskanto in Somero where I was happy to give a therapeutic workshop-series of 10 parts/2hours already before.
Through Salo Art association (Salon taiteilijaseura) we got the chance to spend more quality time in one or more elderly houses, and share our creative points of view with the inhabitants and caretakers.
The main thought of the project is to bring a traveling exhibition (2 suitcases full of work from different artist from the art association) into the resting houses, and to build a project around it.

After setting up the exhibition, we spend a day on each department, while giving painting workshops. The idea was to use used white sheets, which we partly got from the house itself, as a canvas. We them turned into an object to support sensoric needs in the specific department. 

We chose to make an amount of pillows stimulating the touch-and visual sense. Also we created a curtain to ad to the window(door) at the end of a hallway to invite inhabitants to move through the hallways as an exercise. 

An other canvas we turned into a tablecloth for the sunny veranda to stimulate the to gather there more socialy. And last but not least, we made colourful flags to hang under the name-tags at doors in the hallways as a recognition point for their personal rooms. 

Inhabitants have been mostly painting them selves. Childhood memories, nature, flowers, small animals...seemed to be themes turning up all the time. 

It was inspiring to talk to the people, even if their short-memory would last for about a minute. It was intriging to hear about the hard work they had done and the live these people
 lived, before ending up in this resting home.

It was inspiring to talk to the people, even if their short-memory would last for about a minute. It was intriging to hear about the hard work they had done and the live these people
 lived, before ending up in this resting home.

looked at me and I saw in her eyes that she recognised me and gave me a warm smile without asking my name. I felt proud to have become a little part of her life.

As an artist , it feels as a refreshment to let go of your own art, and to be the supporter of someone elses, no matter what age… 

I hope that one day when I m old and grey, young artist will be motivating me to keep trying , to enjoy colours and forms, sounds, … again and again!

**Keanne**

p.s.: special thanks to "Varsinais Suomen Taiteen edistämiskeskus" 

Keanne • art and Illustration: Floating towards new things

Keanne • art and Illustration: Floating towards new things: I  just took a look and realise I haven t been writing on my blog for ages. Last year was a very moving and somehow confusing year for me...

Floating towards new things

I  just took a look and realise I haven t been writing on my blog for ages.

Last year was a very moving and somehow confusing year for me, as a person, and with that, also as an artist. 

But it is now that I start to realise that again it was just a part of the process, breaking old habits and patterns, and slowly building new ones towards new possibilities.

At the moment I feel like life is full of possibilities, and a lot of open questions are slowly getting answered, or at least getting direction. Now it s up to me to make something of it.

There for one, is the library-project I have been working on the last month, which now got to the printing phase. More about that after a while. :)

Soon I will start a new illustration project with Otava publishing, looking forward to it very much.

Our table theatre is almost ready, still we hope for some more fundings to get the stage in it s final form. Once we get that forward, we will be starting in springtime, beginning summer to do some performances. 

I have to say, it became a nice symbiotic mixture of a simple but dear story, an amazingly inspiring sound-world by Ramo Teder using anything around, and Pauliina (Veslinn) who s the talented guide of the paper-dolls. 

We did a test run with some smaller children and also with 1-2 graders. The age 2-8 seems perfect!

On top of  all that, we ll travel to London with Piia Lehti and Jaana Houessou to be part of the parallax art fair this week. Exciting! 

Anyway, I don t see myself getting bored before summer!

ow, spring is actually already in the air, so that will be soon…

** Keanne **

Keanne • art and Illustration: A little bit of news

Keanne • art and Illustration: A little bit of news: The sun is shinning and soon I will get visitors from the airport. This means a holiday feeling for me as well :) Before this, I quick...

A little bit of news

The sun is shinning and soon I will get visitors from the airport. This means a holiday feeling for me as well :)

Before this, I quickly write about some things going on now. 

I started as a part of the lovely weeks site: a beautiful web shop supporting sustainable living.

Have a look:

https://www.weecos.com/en/stores/keanne-illustration

This last month I have been working on a new little theatre-project. The idea is a mini/paper theatre together with artist Pauliina Veslinn. I m not revealing to much yet, but it is fun , refreshing and a whole other freedom to illustrate and working together and I have been enjoying it very much.

Time has also been flying ending my work project in the elderly house, which hopefully we continue in autumn. This month there where some workshops on festivals and our performance "Nurinpäin" (Inside out) has also been performed a few times more.

Last but not least, my illustration-exhibition "World-travellers" is running in Design Hill in Halikko, until the end of the month. Welcome!!!

Remember to enjoy the summer, wether it is raining or hot !

Keanne

Jeeee, our new book!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/187351293/ihmissatuja-pikkukummituksille

*keanne*

Keanne • art and Illustration: 40, YES!

Keanne • art and Illustration: 40, YES!: Yesterday I turned 40 yesterday, YES! today I m the same, and also as different as I chang...

40, YES!

I turned 40 yesterday, YES!

today I m the same, and also as different as I change from day to day, like I do every day.

Still I m supposed to feel something special about this. 

It made me wonder; before I turned 40, on the day itself, and after, what that could be? There s a lot confronting thinking possible on this front (getting physicaly older, losing contact with the stream of evolution around me because of the fact that household/work/life just consumes time, choices we made have had their impact in many ways,…).

Also there s a lot of positive thinking possible (the ability to think for my self gets stronger, more appreciation, more experience, more enjoying small things…) 

One can keep on analysing and explaining why we should or should not feel good about this.

Yesterday I had a conversation with my 14 year old. She wondered why she sensed that I was not completely happy that day, as she is the sensitive one to pic up on peoples feeling in a second. I wondered, "mmm, I m fine, but some how I feel like I m forced to stop for a second, and with that, a stream of nice, happy but also sad memories is going through me. I think that s why I m not a happy birthday-girl..."

After some warm phone calls and messages I also checked my Facebook. Going through those, I realised I have no idea what I actually mean to all of you, and at the same time it hit me. 

It doesn 't matter. What does matter was that, by passing your comments, I realised I m the lucky one to get an emotion with every name I pass. So many people that have meant/mean something to me. It can be a memory of a tiny sentence, a nice conversation, or just your face,work, kids related,..., it can be a struggle as well as nice warm moments.

It can be anything! 

Happy and thankfull to be able to realise that + the love of my familymembers who woke up at 6 to make me a huge breakfast, made my day into a perfect 40 years old-day !

That s what turning 40 meant to me.

Can t wait to turn 50!

*keanne*

                                                                                                                 

Keanne • art and Illustration: Shop

Keanne • art and Illustration: Shop: Online:    http://www.etsy.com/shop/keanne also you can find cards/ prints on these sites: https://www.kaartje2go.nl/zoeken/keanne...

Keanne • art and Illustration: Forrest- life

Keanne • art and Illustration: Forrest- life

Work-space

And a glimps of my "fairly" cleaned workspace...

Keanne • art and Illustration: A lovely wens day morning

Keanne • art and Illustration: A lovely wens day morning: Yes it is heating up outside, already - 10 degrees, and the sun is shining. The last 2 weeks has been below -15,-20 all the time. My brain...

A lovely wens day morning

Yes it is heating up outside, already - 10 degrees, and the sun is shining. The last 2 weeks has been below -15,-20 all the time. My brains slowly started to get frozen. But towards warmer feelings now.

The beginning of the year seems for many artist a starting point of new projects, but also quite some insecurity as grants applications/ publishers answers... haven t come in yet. 

It s like you have to imagine all the projects on your desk will come through this year, and go for it.

At the same time, you know perhaps none of them will or they will, all at the same time :). 

picture from Riitta Ryhtä s blog: http://riittar.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/nurinpain-teatterielamys-mummille-ja-mummin-mussukalle/

But it s good that we have a lot of imagination, so after a few weeks of doing bookkeeping, planning new projects and applying for them at the same time, I start to get warmed up and start at the top of my list. I ll let you know in the coming months what happens.

At the moment our sweet children theatre play is still running. We carefully started with a few performances, but it seems like we will be doing some more soon. 

It s an experimental play based on both Andrea Vannucchi s photographic work and my drawings, and object-theatre in addition to that, using an old fashion projector. 

The play is without speech. 2 characters, a brother and a sister, go through the day and their play. But everything seems to go backwards. The dreamy music/sound-world from LauNau combined with our colourful yet sensitive visual world and the fine humour of the characters, make a perfect combination, creating a whole new world on it s own. 

Friday and sunday are the last performance days for now, you can still book seats:

https://www.facebook.com/events/395940533872693/

Lately I have been thinking about how the economy is constantly pushing us to buy more/do more/ get bigger/be up to date ...and if you look at the result in the world, you might realise it s getting scary proportions. It s almost like you re captured in it and you will be immediately notified if your not allowed on that boat anymore. You will be ignored, excluded and are officially "not cool". "One minute you re in, the next you will be out". It s very powerful, and also feeding itself on people s biggest fear, "to be alone".

Yet I think there s much more to life, and actually, you will survive if you do it your own way.

Maybe not in the way people will think you are cool, but as a bonus you will be really connected with yourself, your friends, your surroundings...whether it are a lot of people because you are very social, or only with a few because you are not. The question "what do you really need in your life" may have become one of the most important you can ask yourself nowadays.

Therefore I loved watching this documentary:

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2118063

Inspired by it, I draw my own little balloon- house:


Now I m of to the sun (getting some woods to warm our little house :)

Keanne

Keanne • art and Illustration: Christmas spirit

Keanne • art and Illustration: Christmas spirit: Afternoon sun is shining into the room, soon (15.30) she will go under, and the long dark evening begins. Tonight although, will be filled w...

Christmas spirit

Afternoon sun is shining into the room, soon (15.30) she will go under, and the long dark evening begins. Tonight although, will be filled with warm candle lights and songs , as we ll go to church to listen to my sons/and classmates christmassongs. It will be the last time we ll go to a pre-school christmas-event...

I notice that in this time of the year I tempt to read more newsarticles as at other times. I remember, when I was small, my father used to encourage me to listen/watch news: so I would know "what happens in the world".
I have been fighting this for quite a while as it just feeled to much. But the last years I seem to catch up, and read, think about the world around me much more. I think one reason is the fact that our children are growing up, and it feels like a good idea to have a glimps of what happens in the world. Also I realise there s noting more important in our lives than to feel connected. to something, someone, somewhere...

On days, sensitive as this, I feel wisely attracted to positive headers, and luckely they are there to be found!
There is so much warm news around, and espesially in this time of the year, probably difficult for many people /families, it warms my hart to read about how giving people are and I feel like screaming "share this feeling if you feel it too"

Wishing you all a warm christmasmonth ahead!

*Keanne*

Silence after the storm

Yesterday it was very stormy weather although not as intense as in Denmark, Sweden...at least not here. When I look outside the window, it s amazingly quite.

Tree s don't move, no leaves falling anymore, no animals (the dog is flat out on the sofa, something to do with yesterdays stormy mood she had) and I just cached that one mouse that sneaked into my car (I hope)

Soon kids come home and everything moves again, but not yet....So yes, that silence.

Sometimes it frightens me a little bit. People ask, don t you get scared, or lonely living in the middle of the forrest. Well, maybe sometimes, just for a second, but the power and the goodness, the beauty of nature in all forms takes it away very quickly. 

Nowadays it s also so easy to contact someone: phone, Skype, e-mail... And taking the car on the country side is much less of a job then getting from one side of the town to the other, to meet a friend.

I have to say, today is such a day that I actually feel the silence. But most of the time, it just goes by. Time goes fast by working, planning family life, getting housework done, helping kids with homework, self-invented projects... taking care, driving towards social life...just by all the things that life includes.

                                         This balance suits me perfectly.

I will travel towards Belgium for a few days missing my family already. And will be at the book-fair on friday, signing my little book "Een potje vol STORM" at the department of Clavis(212). 

I ll dive straight into that crowded world of books, and hope to meet someone, or maybe find that special book...

Next week will be the end of an other project in the elderly house of Oinasjärvi, as I start to know the people a bit more there, I realise I ll miss them, even as they might not remember me :)

Some more pictures:

http://www.keanneillustration.blogspot.fi/p/about-me.html

After that we start these darker months with some brighter program (in schools) and hopefully room for new idea s... ohyeah, and christmas is coming of course <3

**keanne**

Keanne • art and Illustration: Exhibitions, bookfair and new things coming

Keanne • art and Illustration: Exhibitions, bookfair and new things coming: The last 2 months have been very busy. I was happy was part of two exhibitions (group-exhibition in Perniö, Salo, Helsinki)  and closi...

Exhibitions, bookfair and new things coming

The last 2 months have been very busy.

I was happy to be part of two exhibitions (group-exhibition in Perniö, Salo, Helsinki)  and closing my own one in Matlidedall.

Mostly I m amazed of how much effort was put in those, which I appreciate very much. It feels that in times of crises, creativity lives quite intensively. Creative People, are giving people, and clearely, when things are difficult in our surroundings, supporting each other.
I enjoy this breath of fresh air!

The end of last week and the weekend went mostly to the Turku book-fair, where our little town of Somero was main guest, together with America. I might have been a bit dissappointed about the part orientated to children and youngsters, as it was put into a cold corner, not worthy presented.

But it was very nice to be part and to feel some appreciation from close surroundings, and at the same time see how actively people are actually writing, making books in this area! We have poets, writers of table-books, Novel-writers, photographers, a well known cartoon-artist and me as part for the childrens books. Quite an achievement for a town having less then 10 000 inhabitants.

This week, finishing my elderly project (Osamispolku) and working on my marketingplan is next.

And then I start planning after-autumn-holliday workshops and some new book-relating projects, looking forward to that!

*Keanne*

Keanne • art and Illustration: Coffeecup-world

Keanne • art and Illustration: Coffeecup-world: The last half year I have been involved with a project, intending to find different ways of collaboration between artist a...

Keanne • art and Illustration: Coffeecup-world

Keanne • art and Illustration: Coffeecup-world: The last half year I have been involved with a project, intending to find different ways of collaboration between artist a...

Coffeecup-world

The last half year I have been involved in a project, intending to find different ways of collaboration between artist and elderlyhouses/care. At was partly education/workshops to get in contact with this world in particular,
and partly each artist would create an own project.

As a visual artist, for my part, we decided I would create an object wich would function as an idea-and senses-box for nurces/ the elderly and possibly their relatives to daily use or as a part of recreation. The name is "Coffeecup-world" and is centered around communication , past, present, future, and also stimulating our all our sences.

The box is created in a way that it could be commercionalised, in case a publisher would be interested to reproduce the boxes.
Otherwise, for now, it is a box, mainly build of recycling materials/partly print on canvas, and would be possible to order the box handmade for your elderlyhouse.

On friday I presented and handed over the box to the lovely local, very homy, elderlyhouse.
It was exciting and also refreshing, because I could finaly reflect my idea s for good and bad, wich will be usefull in case I will build more boxes. So for now it s a part of Somerniemi, in week 40 it will be exhibited in the library of Salo, among other projects, welcome to have a look!

Lots of sunshine to all!

Keanne

Keanne • art and Illustration: From summer to autumn

Keanne • art and Illustration: From summer to autumn: This week felt like a storm gone by. Lot s of little things moved forward. You know that feeling that all things seem stuck at the same ti...

From summer to autumn

This week felt like a storm gone by. Lot s of little things moved forward.

You know that feeling that all things seem stuck at the same time and suddenly get moving just at the same time. Well, on a personal level, my youngest one left to preschool, so now I m suddenly , in one days time, a big boys mother!

On a work level, I finaly got to present my work to my co-artists and curator in the Osamispolku-project (projects in elderly care). It was very intreaging to notice that the object I created, was understood quite well, and awoke positive feelings without explanations. Also the new idea s they gave me where very inspiring and usefull. Yes, working together brings more!  In a few weeks it will be tested, but more news about this later.

An other surpise was that the Salo librarybus, I finished illustrating just a year ago, was chosen to be the second best bus in Finland, from 20 participants. The buss got many good critiques as well about the outside as the inside of the buss. The buss also has a very friendly team putting a good collection of childrensbooks together each week.

My next book with Minttu is getting form. "Gosts don t believe in...", that s all I ll tell for now :)

Next spring it will be in the shops.

If you havent got any plans for tonight, I recommand to have a trip to Salo (for those living in Finland of course) as a very interesting "OUTLET SALE" of many good Salo artist will take place. There will be also over 60 illustrations from my hand as well, published or unpublished...

Unfortunately I can t make it myself tonight,
but have a nice opening for all who will !

*keanne*

Keanne • art and Illustration: A weekend at the sea side !

Keanne • art and Illustration: A weekend at the sea side !: Havent you been to Teijo or Matildedal yet this summer, I recommand to make a trip in that direction this weekend! In mathildedal my exhi...

A weekend at the sea side !

Havent you been to Teijo or Matildedal yet this summer, I recommand to make a trip in that direction this weekend!


In Mathildedal my exhibition "Olipa kerran" is still running. I dropped of some new cards and extra books in the "mini-store" attached to my exhibition, welcome!
The place is surrounded with other activities. There s the harbour and a beach, some lovely new and old furniture stores, a café with a nice atmosphere, alpaka-store+ animals present, a nice restaurant and beautifull surroundings to make a walk.

Next you could visit our summercafee in Teijo, Masuuni. Fresh wafles is our speciality for this summer, and all kind of other sweet and salty foods as well as cofee/tea/fresh made smooties...

In Masuuni itself there s a hand and craft shop, ceramics, antique store and an art gallery. The old church you can visit is just around the corner. More info about our café in Teijo you find: https://www.facebook.com/TeijonMasuuni

This sunday there will be a mini-festival at Masuuni, with some inspiring, experimental music and dance from artist from Salo, Teijo and Kemiö...
Also there will be a workshop for children, so the whole family is welcome and entry is free!

So if you can t figger out what to do this weekend...
now you might be tempted do something to sharpen your sences :)



*Keanne

Creative boosts

I m looking outside, it s raining, Launau on the background, dog hanging on the sofa…

I shiver, it s almost summer almost…(woollen socks still allowed)

This spring has been so filled with work and daily live, and plans changed all the time: Still, when I look back, quite some nice things happened. 

While illustrating the next book, my head looks for change, something new, and the idea to try new techniques and concepts, is  growing in my head.

I m suddenly thinking about what creativity means to me.

Creativity is a constant process, which I think, on some level, we all experience every day. How to solve a problem, how to make food, how the make daily  life work. We create things, but also situations, possibility s, and problems to be solved. It s living in us and it keeps us moving. 

For me, on a work level, I often start at some point intuitively with something. I don t want to know why at that point, because I want to "see what happens". That s definitely one of the reasons we ended up her in the middle of the forrest in Finland 

Next it s the seeing, of possibility s to make the connections with surroundings, to make it work, have a function, by which some kind of outcome or result get s born, whether it s a card, book, exposition or an work-tool for other things. These result are kind of like bricks to build witch, and I keep on collecting/creating new bricks, each time over and over from the beginning. At the same time my own space is created bit by bit, and my own story, dispite what others think or society thinks I should do to "succeed".

So for me, creativity is first of all breathing and evolving on a personal level, second of all a way of functioning in my surroundings… and most of all, i can t stop it, and I don t want to.

Sharing this interesting link about sweet Quentin Blake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rYXkIhBtY

Particulary loving the frase " ..It is not that I think that illustrations should be like that, but this is what I can do..."

Welcome by the way to my exhibtion in Meri-Teijo, wich runs all summer!

Some more info and pictures you find here:
http://marilehtisalo.blogspot.fi/2013/06/kesaretkella-teijon-ruukkikylat.html

For now enough serious talk, tomorrow it will be midsummer-night, 

wishing you all a creative party spirit!

*Keanne*

An "Under the surface exhibition" (45-years existing of our art-association) and our visitor Clara

Since almost 2 weeks ago, the exhibition "Under the surface" in Veturitalli (Museum) in Salo is running. 

http://www.salontaidemuseo.fi

The exhibition was curated by Otso Kantokorpi

http://alastonkriitikko.blogspot.fi/2013/04/nayttelykuvia-795-796-luettua-117-118.html

The opening was very crowded and lots of different reactions on different works. Personally I think it is a good selection , working as a total and gives a diversion of the association. There s a certain fragility, also humour in the works, and mostly honest personal works without to havy statements.

I vistited the exhibition with my 5 year old after, and he jumped excited from one work to the other, new sensations all the time and lots of stories, and he felt like dancing ! Heads filled with applejuice, round forms and waving wings, leaves to crowl under, and funny drawings, a car drowning, teatre-chairs, a large tree (can I lay down on it?) "THIS WAS GOOD"
Best critics these 5 year olds!

The exhibition runs until 2.6, welcome!

Then something about Clara the owl, who visits illustrators and collects their thoughts/drawings/

sketches about the experiences they have with 

here for a few days. It s fun, a light experience and at 

the same time nice to see some doodles/website of other

 artist I would other wise not have run in to.

Clara s site:

http://lillaluise.blogspot.de/p/traveling-owl.html

A nice and sunny day from Finland

*keanne*

Keanne • art and Illustration: Waking up from a winter-sleep

Keanne • art and Illustration: Waking up from a winter-sleep: Snow hasn t melt away yet, as it s colder then the usual march, but i guess it will at some point. Today the light turns to the no...

Waking up from a winter-sleep

Snow hasn t melt away yet, as it s colder then the usual march, but i guess it will at some point.

Today the light turns to the north, and this morning we were all awake at 6. This would nt have happened a month ago! It s amazing what the light does to your brains. At the same time it s lovely, like a light switched on and more air to breath, but at the same time it itches your eyes as it s a lot at once to take in . 

 But slowly we are getting used again , and if , soon, a bit of warmth comes with it, I ll be all happy and shinny again ready for spring plans.

The end of the winter I used to finish the book-projects. 

2 books will be published by Aurinkokustannus somewhere in the autumn, and one book will be published in Belgium by Clavis.

About publishing: someone pointed out this week, the situation of getting to find a publisher, wich is a wonderfull feeling when you get that kind of news.  But next to it is the large amount of work, and mostly the situation not to get grants for it, as you would have hoped. Even if you made a tons of applications.

So basicly, if you count the hours and the small author-rights compensation you get  throught the publisher, you can t say you do this otherwise then because you love doing it in the end. 

But it does weigh in the process and I keep wondering, while everryone says this is not right, while making efforts to change this, protest against this, creative people seem to be stuck in this for now. Is it because we love it, we don t deserve a proper fee above it? What do you think? 

But putting this a side again:

Now it s time for future plans. A few weeks ago I started in the project Osamispolku in Turku. 

It s a beautiful project. The idea to stimulate/create better ways for the artistic and care-taking world to collaborate.

We are a nice group of 9 and the group is very inspiring as there s different disciplines involved and the artists experienced. 

Also I started to plan a book-series with Jody Merelle, who moved to Somero a few years ago. She is half Finish, half English and we found a common idea, we are working on at the moment. This is also very exciting, not telling to much yet! 

We at least hope to get something ready for the Turku- book-fair in autumn.

For today, I ll clean my desk, make some sketches and handle some paperwork and orders.

Lot s of light to all!

Keanne 

A happy new year to everyone!

Back home from our trip, still waiting for suitcases. But at least they are spotted in Helsinki, and might be here in a day or 2.

I started to work since yesterday.

It was a bit like a jump into a cold pool.

But the fresh air starts to fill me up and idea s start to float again. It was good to, yesterday , do all kinds of preparing and practical things as making a clear planning for the coming half year. It start s to get full quite quickly and I m happy to have so many nice people to work with.

First of all, I was invited to participate in the lovely owl-project, you can spot in my sidebar.

Works for the 45-v anniversary of our art association in Salo, starts to get form. Next I will continue the new book-project I started already a bit before the end of last year.

I m very lucky to get the chance to get a book published, from which story and pictures are both mine. I have always been very insecure about writing, still am, but last year I felt like, why not try! 

And it worked in it s own way. Maybe it s a bit like when I say to people in courses: "everyone is creative and everyone can draw, in it s own way". And that process is way more important then how skilled or talented someone is. That s where we learn and find common language.

Maybe I can write in that way, who knows :)

Tomorrow, I get to paint in the elder-house again, it s great we can continue this project already for 3-4 years, and it s starts to look that cosy and colourful in there, that I silently start to hope to get to live there when I m old and have forgotten everyones name.

Hoping a wonderfull start for each and every one of you!

**keanne**

Lists of feelings!

Somehow I have been thinking I should write my last blog this year, but already a few days, I can t get my finger on the item at all.

I think at least I figured out why:) 

Yesterday I started making new lists "to do" for this last bit of the year, during my sleep I continued to do so(yep) and now I m…. so sleepy:). 

But at least the lists are on the table and started. And suddenly I realise the enormous chaos I felt around me lately.

It s strange to just go on. So many things happening at the moment in the world, which give people reasons to be scared, grieve, to be angry, sad and lost.  Systems fall down, trees, houses…It feels almost like, when you as a child builded a high tower of blocks, and suddenly a little brother/sister came to push it down, just on the moment your thinking, NOW I m where I want to be.

But actually maybe to many towers are not all right, maybe time is creating bit by bit new possibilyty s s for us, to balance things again and build a new foundation from these blocks again. 

At least this is how I decided to see things for the moment, and wishing everyone who needs it, the strength to find new possibility s in the coming year.

Lots of warmth to all, 

see you next year!

**Keanne**

Al the advantages you can get for christmas:

Below I have listed for you all the discounts for christmas:

-through my etsy shop: Calendar for only 12 euro + sending costs

-original illustrations for very nice prices

-the number of members in my Fb group got up to 398 already, if 2 more people join, I will do a give away (1 original) before christmas to a random member.

-a special discount code for 5% off to apply to anything available in the shop:

use as a coupon code: CHRISTMAS1

Christmas-markets on which I will be present and will be some special prices:

-in Somero ruokavamesu

-in Salossa: Rikalanmäki joulumyyjaiset

Further you will find my products:

In Somero:

-Pellavakeksus

-Somerokirja

-Justiina (somerniemi marketplace)

Salo:

Toinen Keksi

Design Hill

Lillan

Teijo:

Masuuni

New will be some surprises in coorperation with the Finish designer Somis (famous for here lovely curtains in Toinen Keksi cafee :)

In creating the products is as much as possible kept in mind recycling as well as ecology.

A warm coming up christmasperiod to everyone!

**Keanne**