soundtrack | Bloc Party: Helicopter

I've propably told about this but I say it again: I work usually listening to BBC Radio 6. Good music - and not to mention the English accent... A couple of days ago I realized one more good thing: it's so refreshing to have others living same time as I - to hear some one saying 'Good Morning' when my computer clock shows 1pm. Physically I might be in Finland but mentally I'm not near the not CET+1 (or CET+2) Helsinki timeline. True Londoner I am...


I've spent a LOT of time with Muhi -project slicing finished images and saving them to web usable format. But still there are few layouts unsure and unfinished. And of course: when I try to transfer them to a temp directory to Coloria - the whole site is down.


Some other updates: The Craft Museum of Finland, The Arts Council of Central Finland, Väripaletti... + demo site for Architecture+Art2005, soon to be published.


I just made some Dalai Lama personality test Teija send me. Well: my priorities are: pride, love, home, money and career; I'm considering myself alerted, my loved one sleepy, my enemies fast... Please, stop sending me those tests. I usually trash them right away but sometimes when there is hurry and I really don't have time, I find myself answering questionnaires. Oh, and I consider my life to be fluffy.


I'm a bit tired, my foot hurts and - Oscars are live on television. I use them all as an excuse and leave my c-ter right now.

soundtrack | Disco Ensemble: We Might Fall Apart

Outburst coming up:
Some small updates yesterday: Riiminka, Aino-K. Pajari + Kirsi Neuvonen's press photos and other press stuff prepared. I tried to concentrate on some bigger projects but...


There are two big projects I'm working daily with and feeling that I'm getting nowhere: Muhi-project for Sibelius Academy and some new layouts for Aalto Foundation. Plus one project about national costumes which, at this point, is pure copy-pasting - if I try too much my head explodes and I propably end up putting wrong information somewhere. With all these small updates and some of these large projects I sometimes feel so not-accomplishish (uh, I know you can't find that word on official dictionaries but I'm for buffynism... Create your own words if you don't know the right ones.) And because I basicly like of what I'm doing and like the idea of seeing the *finished* sites, it makes the whole situation worse.


So luckily I'm got something done and proved that some projects CAN end - eventually:


I finished www.coloria.net/salekivi yesterday. The site is propably temporary (eh, slight usability problems maybe) but it's easier to handle now since it's made with css. The old site was over four years old, so it was about time to make some changes.

soundtrack | Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song

Day started with some office working - bills and invoices, sending letters etc. I *never* seem to learn how much time it really takes to handle these small things. It was actually already afternoon when I got to do updates. So much work undone that I don't know how to continue. Blogger is a good place for pausing work.


A while ago I was chatting about desk top images and promised to make a pinkish one with flowers. Promises must always be kept. So...



Want one? Get one: 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024.

Other desk top images might be following: so far I have promised to make a 10-image flower series (this is the first) and 10-image ugly series...

soundtrack | Placebo: Twenty Years

I had thought that I could spend some quality time with Coloria this week... That's not going to happen. Instead of working non-stop during the weekend I ended up playing with Photoshop and made some images. View dig.art / right column.

Lot's of little boring things: last few days have been dotting and lashing uncorrect html-files (that is: adding dot to nameoffilehtm and slashes to directoryfile.htm). I haven't really bothered reading error reports from statistics site so when I finally did... There is still some work to be done. I updated Aino's webpage to work-o-matic but left some small sites out, I'll add them later. I should put my cv online (there has been some requests) but I think the one in dig.art page is enough. If people want more information, they can always mail and ask.

Websites of artists has been a topic here: I found unsent letter about Piitu's dollmaker website on my drafts - and I was wondering why she won't answer to me... Virpi's first layouts are *finally* finished. Hopefully there is the one we can work on. Timppa's new page will be propably online soon.

I have to start working with Art+Architecture2005 layout and finishing new Colour Association page (I started coding that one a month ago - - - I'm getting slow).

soundtrack | The Killers: Mr. Brightside

Nice. Yesterday I tried to keep one holiday but then I decided to try finishing Virpi's layouts for once and all (for some reason this has been really hard for me...) However, a couple of hours later I found myself making new layout for Timppa while I was downloading large press image to one work stuff. I actually finished the layout and started coding it - - - Noticing that dreamweaver had lost the sites AGAIN. This has happened to me once before. Now again. Only this time I didn't lose them all, only the one's alphabetically after k. I was just wondering if the site info still exists there somewhere. I couldn't find one to import to DW but when I installed Timppa's site again, it noted me about changing old settings... Someone wise - bring me the magic words with this.


I made some small code adjustments to Aino's page. It's now online and ready for viewing: personal.inet.fi/taide/aino-k.pajari.




Something almost fun happening on the working site. This could be THE best easter egg of my work history: I was so not in the work mood when I opened the Aalto Light Fittings envelope with image cd in it. There was no CD in it! One less work for this weekend! Ha!

soundtrack | My Chemical Romance: I'm Not Okay

Nothing has really happened in two days - just work. My life includes no life.

I got something finished though: the website for printmaker Aino-K. Pajari is online. Only in Finnish (English section is not finished yet) - but images work in any languages.

I've tried to make some layouts for Virpi Lehto, but my brain has like...freezed. No ideas, everything is either too wild or too sterile. It's hard to make web pages for artists - you can't really party with unconventional decoration etc because the web graphics should not remove the focus from the paintings. And I'm finding it difficult to make new minimalistic layouts without repeating myself. Anyway, Virpi's first layouts should be ready by tomorrow evening.

The biggest session of the last few days has been the Sibelius Academy Muhi-project. I'm finishing the article layout but there is something still not right. I'm not happy. grrrr The other thing I'm doing: I'm saving all the graphics to ready-to-use format which is slightly bigger job than I had thought. I've been working with that for TWO days.

Yesterday I had to take some time off and I spent some moments searching different kind of sentence generators. I was hoping to find something that should elevate my interviews with good artistic jargon but instead I found many others, like Ruåtsinkielisten lauseiden generaattori (makes random Swedish sentences - and you can even select if you want to use grammar right or do you want it to make mistakes...? Why not in my school time - perfect cheating machine). And the other one: Stupid translator (translates a sentence first to one language - badly - and then back or forward to another one. The results are hidious. If you have as lifeless life as I have, go and knock yourselves out with these. And the same translated with ST: If you it will have as the life liveless, as I have, goes mit_dieseno_yourselves_to beats for is.

Right now I'm waiting for some press photos Alvar Aalto Foundation to download. I'll propably fall into a sleep any moment now. ...Uh, here they are. Back to work.

soundtrack | Radiohead: Paranoid Android

Last Saturday I met Jani in Tampere. We set some plans for our net art festival, ate ourselves to near-to-death condition in Chinese restaurant and then headed to ex-TTVO multimedia student meeting. Next morning I took a train to Jyväskylä after three hour sleep. I got some good ideas in the train but now when I read my notes... The reality is harsh. The final conclusion is this: we really are not 24-hour party people. We are 24-hour megalomaniacs who have no life.

Some ancient projects are haunting me. Today I've called and mailed to some old ghosts that should already be over but which aren't - and not because of me. Irritating. I'd really like to move on to something new already.

Ryo just mailed me; there is a story of him in a local newspaper, Keskisuomalainen (in Finnish). It's been so great to see how the project has started and how he has managed to start his business in spite of the Finnish officers (nobody gave confirming answers to anything and always asked to call somewhere else - until we were at the same point where we started the whole thing). I made the original layout for Ryo's Muotoilu.com site but it wasn't commercial enough (today's layout is not mine).

I'm planning to work with the Sibelius Academy Muhi-project for the rest of today. I have to make a few adjustments and then I'll start to save images for Petteri who'll code the site. I'll propably make some kind of draft html page just to show how the elements should behave when using different resolutions. The project is quite demanding and I'm having temporary horror-momentums expecially with creating icons and buttons but still it's a saviour amongst other projects: they really want their graphics to be *something else* - in safe limits but anyways...

soundtrack | Kaiser Chiefs: Oh My God

Jeez. I checked Coloria stats today - I've never realized how popular work-o-matic is. Pressure to update.

These last few weeks have been hectic. I've made several small boring updates yesterday+today (f.ex. changed one photo of one site for four times because nobody could make the decision) and some boring bigger ones. I really shouldn't be whining - it's those updates which bring me my paycheck. Anyway, I've been like a high-productive factory here. A lot of unfinished small thingies got their deadline today. That eases a bit. On the other hand: I started a large scale panic after reading email from Jani - plans are getting bigger and bigger.

Anyway, I think it's going to be a bit easier from now on. This one killing project of mine is now partly finished - after this there is nothing I can do - I just have to wait and see if things went ok. I just have to find some happy thoughts.

Here is one: Timppa sold one painting a few days ago which means that we can afford to watch (reality) tv for yet another half a year.

soundtrack | Garbage: Stupid girl

Now I have two blogs, this one in English about my work related stuff and other one in Finnish where I try to sound intelligent and artistic, mostly about my own projects. Writing is a very purifying thing. So right now I'm wondering if I should start yet one more blog but with alias / secret identity. I'm having a big work dilemma of which I can't write because of the nature of the client (big one) + the top secret work (...even if I don't understand why). On the other hand I have this one sort of emotionally-heavy-stuff-own project that slowly eats me alive but of which I can't tell anything because there are other people involved. I really need the place to clear my mind. I tried to go non-digital - but hey - I can't write anymore with pen!

And then there are these killing projects I CAN talk about without reaching paranoia.

On Monday Jani and I met some people from University and Arctic & Fabulous/Nordic Glory and talked about organizing a small net exhibition event during Arctic & Fabulous film festival. The meeting was very promising and ...it's really happening. I've searched my panic button for a few days. It's hard to even breathe. Like I said in the meeting: there is a mention in our operating plan about some kind of small happening in the future but who could have known that the future would be here so soon.

Last weekend somebody told me about the possible possibility (...eh) to visit Potsdam (was it?) next autumn. On Monday morning I was planning to call about it but after the meeting with Jani I understood that there won't be time to breath before the end of November. This Spirited Herring net event propably will stand on my way. You people who'll come to visit the happening: remember my sacrifices.

Some updates: Gallery Becker, Alvar Aalto Foundation, The Craft Museum of Finland. Some more Jyväskylä Artists' Association bloggies will be online soon, layouts for new Spirited Herring and textile artist Hannele Ollakka are finished. I promised to Aino Pajari that I'd make her website during the weekend (...last one) and I just remembered it. Place some ugly words here.

Tomorrow will start with Aino's site and I'll have to try to make some icons for Sibelius Academy project - once again. I'm quite happy with the layouts otherwise but icons... I suck. I've tried to draw something using old fashioned pen & paper but I can't draw anything. It's now proved: I can't write and I can't draw. This is lame.

---
And where is the reality ctrl+z when you most need it?

soundtrack | Ian Brown: Time Is My Everything

Yesterday sucked. My masterplan for the day was to go to have some coffee with Sari and Seija but I had to cancel. That won't happen too often. Because of a headache I slept through yesterday and got out of bed at about seven pm - to eat. Then I panic-updated National Dresses -project until about half past three in the morning. The project will be introduced today at Helsinki... It's not even nearly finished yet.

My head isn't aching anymore but I'm wondering around the flat like a zombie: no thoughts. There was a momentarily activity peak in the morning though, when I heard that Marilyn Manson will perform in Provinssi-rock in June. I called through all the hotels in Seinäjoki and mission impossible turned out to be possible: we got a room! A smoker's room above a noisy restaurant costing zillion euros - but who cares?

On Tuesday I visited first Centre for Cultural Affairs of Jyväskylä + Nordic Glory Association where we talked about organizing a Spirited Herring net art happening next autumn. Then I visited The Arts Council of Central Finland whose project Spirited Herring now is. And then there was a Jyväskylä Artists' Association meeting in Gallery Becker. Next day I had a meeting in Alvar Aalto Museum about their soon to be online net book store. Otherwise I've been home being radiated by my monitor.

Work projects are all in almost static mode. I've been working with them all the time but it's like nothing crucial is happening. The changes are so small. But I try... But then there are these small projects (that propably won't pay anything), like Teija's Daidalos to which I made a small front page (more to come soon) and Playce. One of these projects is also the Blog project of the Jyväskylä Artists' Association - I coded the basic layout for bloggers and how toed them. Of course, all those blogs are written in Finnish...

Now I'm working with Sibelius Academy -project. I've started to be a bit unsure with myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm totally lost with that one and I'm not good enough graphic designer to that project. But a girl's got to do what the girl's got to do...