Back to the basics

Iiris, my new challenge


My retirement period had lasted about half a year when I was asked to do fashion for a new and different kind of magazine.

The concept was so temptating that I couldn't say no. Iiris is a monthly life-time magazine for 50+ people. It's elegant, honest, culturel, clever and very high-profiled. Just for me!

My atelier is a part time photographer-studio every now and then.

For the April issue I painted a background for the white shirt photos, which was our theme that time.

It was a big piece of white cotton! At first, I thought about painting it with latex matte paints, but the watercolors turned out to be the best solution. Even though it took a long time to do it.  

Towards the center I changed the blue tones to shady violet shades and light pink and went back to blue shades at the other end.

I attached the cloth to my father's relief board and painted it while standing on the table.

White with blue... white with yellow, red and black... with lots of water.

My inspiration was the sea, the sky and old walls. It will look great with white shirts.

Sometimes the preparation stage is the best part of it all. 

The fond is about 4 meters high, so I had to paint one end first and then turn it upside down to paint the other end.

The background is working fine. Reija's adding final touches... Our model was perfect to represent a beautiful adult woman. 

Jouni Harala, master of lighting.

Soft light, so right.

Ready to start.

Go to www.iirislehti.fi if you like see the Iiris magazine.

Milky Day

White all around inside out


The winter light in Finland is dim and it makes everything look soft and shady. I love the shades  toned white and gray. Soon the sun gets brighter and this milky world changes bright.

The sofa and cushion

The bathroom details

Light through a curtain

The gym ball

The atelier window

My wool socks

Killing Me Softly

Gently with these covered shades


Here in the coutry everything is now like looking through a soft, almost transparent curtain.
The Day is very short. I was walking the dogs at four o' clock taking photos with my iPhone camera and it was dim and gray. When we returned everything seemed to be dark and blue and black. Lovely twilight time that makes colors broken and blurred. Outside and inside.

Brown and grey, so fragile, the light without shadow.

Fields are black and the sky is grey and lilac.

Green with grey so soft and broken

Blue, blue, blue...

...ending with deep indigo.

Gentle warm grey inside the house

Lights on all day long.

Soft, light and sleepy bright, good night, sleep tight.

There is Someting about Flowers

Frozen Beauty

Every year I feel deep melancholy before the autumn falls, but when it's here I feel strange comfortingnes and peace. Let it be dark and let it rain...

The birsch ally looks open without leaves

Frozen, sugery roseberry

Ice powder brings all the constructions and details up

Late afternoon light

Frost gives the leaf a decorative border

Bordered leaves

Red and gray

Frozen beaty

Autumn world is silent and calm in colors

Wrap up gifts!

Is the Outside more important than the Inside? Of course!

This is the best time of the year for a person who has a passion to wrap up gifts, like me. It started today, the Fathers' day. I made a present for my father and the father and grandfather of my son. Next one is my name day when I also give presents, then The Independence Day and many little Xmas-parties where we always give a lot of presents, and Xmas and the New year...
I love to make diffrent themes and choose a main color for the season...This year I will do 20ies avantgarde-mood.

The Father's Day gift for my son's father. Inside of the package is a book.

For my father. Inside there is dark belgian chocolate.

The Harvest Time

Chokeberry - my new passion

I'm not a country girl and I'm not used take some salat or herbs or potatoes right from the earth. It makes me so suprised and happy when I can really eat someting I have grown by my self!
Yesterday I made juice of chokeberrys and I love it. The berry is not tasting good if you eat it just like that, but when you make juice it is little like wine. I must admit I used a lot of sugar.It's also very healthy. I don't drink any alcohol so It's good to have someting so delicous to make a toast with!

A toast to long hot summer!

The chokeberry bush with bunches of lovely black berries. They are so easy to pick. 

It took some ten minutes to gather about five liters. They are very sour if you eat them raw.

This is my new machine to make juice. You put water into the bottom level and berries into a toplevel, cook and open the tap, juice is running...

So here it is! My chokeberry juice! It is almost black.  It's a also really nice to make  beautiful look for the bottle also...

There is someting about Flowers

Kaija's Flower of the week 
is a bunch mixing  all the rest what is left in the garden

It happens always when I should do someting urgent, I step out and start going around picking up the flowers. I calms me down and I forget everything else. To day it is an unbeleaveable august day, hot like midsummer and  the wind is so soft but very strong, like in Italy!
I deside to enjou the end of the summer here, look how the trees get color and go bac to the winterhouse when I'm ready here in the country.

A great mix: A hydrangea, a pink rose, milfoils, mallows and something from a field.

I'm happy there are sitll so many flowers blooming.

It's a great pleasure to find the right vase and backround for your stil life. I have beautiful old Arabia-factory servise and the grave boat makes a bood basic for a horizontal setting.

Summer is not over yet! 

The cress is one of the flowers you and also eat.  The rest of the summer I'll eat only flowers. I'm sure it makes me beatiful and healty!  The acvarel at the background is my Eila-sister's work.