La Roux - Tigerlily

I've been planning to make Monsterium badges for ages but for some reason I've done nothing to proceed with that project for ages. Yesterday, however, the Riiminka designers were visiting me and we made some badge designs for their collection. They've purchased a badge machine which made me to look around web for some prices etc. The badge machines are a bit expensive (well, in this state when I don't actually have the product quite ready yet and no byers to be seen) but I found some nice looking clip on badges which won't need machine at all. I thought I'll give it a try. If it seems that there is some demand for Monsterium badges, I could always rent a badge machine for a day (and I could borrow one from Riiminka, they promised). I however could first try out some clipping badges and see how they'll be received. (I also found some nice printable puzzle templates etc. Hmmm...)

I've been also making new colouring images. It's easier to find time when the weather is like this: thunder and rain and constantly turning my computer off and on. (A few years back during a thunder storm we took of all the other plugs but the old phone - which was then hit by the thunder. Even though we live in a block of flats in the city, not somewhere in the countryside. That's why I've become somewhat paranoid with thunder - I don't want to buy all the electrical devices. Even if the insurance would pay for them, I couldn't face another installation process of all computer thingies... Grrr.) Anyway, during the rainy thundery days it's nice to sit on a comfortable chair next to the living room window and just draw. Somehow it's always more rewarding to finish something hand made.

(This one in the images is not actually a badge design but part of the Monsterium poster I made last year...)

Royksopp / Robyn - The Girl And The Robot

[Absent 29. Pigment ink print, 15x14cm. Edition of 5.]
I sold one image from Wanha Woimala exhibition (to Canada!) and one from Pikku Galleria exhibition (to Helsinki). But gladly the Poissa - Absent series seems to be quite popular: I've used a couple of days just printing and signing the images... which isn't a lot really: I'm just slow. The hot and thundering weather makes me sooo slow in all possible ways. Anyway, I should only get my new site finished as soon as possible with all the new images and a good catalogue of my work. (*Should.*) I've tried to tell people to request the images via Gallery Becker / The Gallery of Jyväskylä Art Society which also lends out images with small down payments.

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I also got a little surprise a while ago: Matti Niinimäki's and my "Animated movement" project got a small grant for project planning. More about the project later - the workshop (+ sidekicks) will be a part of Tanssin Aika (dance festival) in the end of September.

Mansun - Wide Open Space

Elsewhere - exhibition in Jämsä from June 23rd to July 14th, 2009.
Open daily, free entrance.

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After this exhibition I have a few months break from art exhibitions, hopefully I'm able to finish my print website before the next exhibitions hit. I'm a bit late with my work projects at this time but I just have to put some extra effort... After I've returned from Medieval Festival from Turku where I'll be going for the end of the week...

The Mummers - Wonderland

This has taken my time: making images and all the work projects at the same time. + School.

Hopefully I'll get a tiny glance of the summer at one point...

Timo Sälekivi & Päivi Hintsanen Absent
Exhibitions in Wanha Woimala
(Naissaari, Vaajakoski, Jyväskylä)
10.-28.6.2009
Exhibitions open from Tuesday to Sunday 12-18
Free entrance

Welcome!

Villakas

Tiina Leino is my good friend: a graphic designer, emphasis on the print world. This very talented woman has worked about zillion years in advertizing agencies until she finally decided to move in countryside and start her own business as freelancer. A Finnish name of "Villakas" refers to something woolly - which brings out Tiina's another hobby (and hopefully work too): crafts. She will organize at least some natural dye workshops during the summer of 2009.

The site design is heavily based on Tiina's own calling card design and she has also drawn the outlines for the whole work.

Only in Finnish: www.villakas.fi

Malmilta maailmalle - net exhibition for Alvar Aalto Museum

"From Malmi (airport) to the world" is a net exhibition commissioned by Alvar Aalto Museum. It exhibits f.ex. the designwork that Aalto's architecture bureau made for Aero Oy. The exhibition also shows the numerous trips Aalto made and how those trips influenced his architecture design.

For me, making this net exhibition was a great deal of fun: I got to view the old, vintage tickets, cards and Aalto's personal calendar notes. The schedule was quite tight and it was clear that I was not able to make any kind of flashy multimedia show, but - and as I understood the museum as commissioner wanted - I ended up making a clear three part site; one part presenting the housing area Aerola, one the interior design of the airport and one of Aalto's travels. I kept those three parts separate and created very simple pages for them.

Net exhibition, only in Finnish: www.alvaraalto.fi/net/malmilta_maailmalle

Flying (Live) Herring

There is a communal exhibition on the theme of flying in The Art Museum of Jyväskylä and of course Live Herring wanted to be part of it. We bring some old flying related films and also flying games to the exhibition. And our own flying agency A2 size poster - only three pieces were made.

I had so much fun in making this. I haven't been making printed material a lot and I've made even less anything vector based. This is most likely my first public / commission work made by using vector graphics. I used both Illustrator and Photoshop in designing this poster. I wanted the print to look old, so it was printed to offwhite matte paper - the printshop didn't have any yellowish paper on stock and we didn't have time to order one. But I'm quite pleased with outcome.

The Shop page for Craft Museum of Finland

The Craft Museum wanted something different for their shop - not the usual nanny-layout so many times associated to crafts but something different. The task was to create one page which could present the whole variety of the shop selection, not to create an online shopping possibilities. When I started to make layout I knew already that updating the page could be a difficult task: information runs well but photos are the issue. So the whole layout could not be based on some topical visual issues but I had to find some timeless elements. And something dynamic.

The page is actually very simple: just one page with two main items: books and other items. Books, other items and the t-shirt poser are picked randomly with every reload of the site. So, first time you may see the girl standing on white t-shirt, a book about rugs and hand made toys and the next time you come to visit you'l may see the girl standing on black t-shirt, book about socks and some jewellery made out of forks. Small product introductions will open by clicking the small images.

Because the "other items" div is placed on the right lower corner, the site seems a bit empty when viewed by larger browsers. I'm going to fill the background of the page with badge images to avoid empty spaces... - when I'll get them...

And because of the lack of shop photographer - my first photo commission ever! Quite good photos with my compact camera without any special lightning. Would not work in brochures, but on the net site - who would guess that they are not taken by a professional photographer... :D

www.craftmuseum.fi/shop/

This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren

Antti Auvinen

The Finnish classical music composer Antti Auvinen's website was both challenging and fun to make: something different for a while. Antti's idea of having a "different" website was born when he visited my work-o-matic - he wanted some kind of grazy machine also for himself. The final site is based on my first sketch but boy was it built! There is also a more user friendly version of the composer machine there, somewhere...

Cardinal - Dream Figure

Some time ago I got a little order for unique coloring pictures and finally I got the set ready to be sent to orderer. I'm hoping to get some more coloring images to be sold in Art Museum Bazaar. These images are drawn to a 200g acid free Fabriano drawing paper with water proof archival pigment ink Picma Micron 08 marker and each image is unique with signature. I've planned my colouring tip site for ages now... Maybe it's finally the time to realize some ideas. Soon...

Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why

www.taitoshop.fi/en
Just went online: Taito-Shop site also in English (selected content...) with a christmassy layout.

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And short advertisement is always a good thing: At December 13-14 there will be an "art bazaar" at the Art Museum of Jyväskylä where I'll sell (or try to) my prints and possibly some colour/dyeing related stuff. I have prints ok, but this dye thing (I had planned to make some dye example kits) is still unsure since I've been with flu for some weeks already and not very vital at the moment...

Walkmen - The Rat

Three membered (Soile, Ilkka and I) Live Herring work group was nominated as regional artist of film and media-art by the Central Finland Art Council. We start our project from the beginning of year 2009. After two years work there is still a possibility to have three more years if we do our job well... Our Very Official (!?) portrait is from “Wish You Were There?” installation of Tomi Knuutila which is part of the Live Herring ‘08 exhibition.

More about Live Herring and the exhibition going on right now (until November 23rd) from www.liveherring.org

Live Herring 08 print design

How did I end here? My first ever printed two-sided REAL brochure (not those copied ones), a poster and a flyer...

The brochure design is a doubleside A4, folded in three parts, the inner sleeve showing the main works of the exhibition. The poster is very simple A3 size poster.


More about Live Herring and the exhibition going on right now (until November 23rd) from www.liveherring.org

The National - Fake Empire

Documenting work days, project continues:

(~10am) Started the day with answering some emails with full coffee cup on my side. The exhibition place for next June is now reserved for Timppa and me - this was truly good news since we were already thinking that the place wasn't available anymore. The meetings for tomorrow confirmed. Sent some Project X ideas to be read before the meeting. Requesting about one missing url for one net exhibition (of which people are starting to be mad to me even though its not my project at all... Grrrr.)

Some photo searching and photoediting for Swedish Taito Shop site (to be open soon).

Some wlan modem configuration... (ARGH!)

Received a letter with intranet passwords from school. Wrote some stuff for school.
Started making demos of the Craft Museum one page shop layout but couldn't get too far when I had to leave.

Went to computer shop to ask about the missing bioprotection of a new laptop / notebook. (Where I met one friend from a looooong time ago - who actually doesn't live that far from here. Promised to send him Facebook inv. but this day it just didn't happen...)

(~1pm) At about one met with A in café. Discussed about some personal stuff + some design/art related possible projects (for the next year).

(~2pm) because of cancelled meeting ended up to the Central Finland Arts Council to have more coffee and to read some encyclopedia. Wrote down some ideas for following meeting and some ideas for the art project next summer.

(~4.30pm) Project X meeting in Sohwi - where I also had my meal.

(~5.30pm) Live Herring project meeting with only some things to talk about.

(~7pm) Home, downloading some press images for a couple of projects. Sending my comments of the flyer of Live Herring / Arctic & Fabulous / Jyväskylä Art Museum / Jyväskylä light event. Forwarded dates for Art Fair in Helsinki.

(~8pm) Some small updates for Swedish Taito Shop demo. Also some product updates for Finnish TaitoShop.

(~9pm) Setting up the wlan for new laptop / notebook. (Hallelujah, it's now working. So proud of myself.) Continued a bit with Craft Museum shop layout but still didn't finish. Thank God for coffee.

(~11pm) Working with if you just project.

(~1.30am) Small updates to Värjärikilta site. Sending blog invitation to one dyers' guild member.

(~1.50am) Updating Savi-M site.

(~2.30am) Still some adjustments with if you just project.

(~3am) Writing this. Very tired. Head filled with stuff.

Come - Bell

I haven't been to Estonia since 1990 (for a few days in Talling in some strange rock / punk festival) when it was still part of Soviet Union. Except for a short drive through via Via Baltica in 2002 when Timppa and I drove with Sebastian B. to Vilnius, Lithuania in one day and then Timppa and I returned for about week later from Vilnius to Tallinn by bus in one night and then right across the sea back to Helsinki without seeing anything. So, the former is a whole different story and the latter doesn't really count.

When textile artist Ulla Lapiolahti told me last autumn about this potato print festival that she had heard of, I was ready to go right away. So, when the middle of the August finally came, we packed out bags and after one night stay in Helsinki we crossed over to Tallinn, took the train from Tallinn to Türi and continued from there to the Laupa mansion. The whole festival was organised very freely without any timetable stress or pressure to do everything in a strict way or order which suited me more than well. We even worked in my normal day schedule (breakfast in 10 or 11 ... or at 1 pm...).

Since I find myself sitting in the front of my computer monitor 24/7, the festival was really a refreshing break to my usual life. I found also the place, the Laupa mansion and its peaceful surroundings, to be absolute meditational heaven. The mansion, which works as a school these days, was under renovation and everything was piled and wrapped - the pianos for example were wrapped in plastic foil - which brought more of the surrealistic clang to the place. I enjoyed sitting around the building just feeling the atmosphere. There were many empty spaces and I was a bit frustated that I *didn't* pack Zoom (digital sound recorder) with me - there would have been many strange and beautiful voices and soundscapes to save...

Anyway, I really didn't get as much images done as I had planned but I got some new ideas to my future art work and other work projects too. I wrote many pages to my memo book after arriving home at Sunday night / Monday morning at about three/four am, before going to sleep. I'm absolutely enthusiastic right now! Ulla gave a lecture of natural dyes and pigments and for the first time I tried printing with natural dyes - I did most of my prints with soot black (which is pigment) and cochenille and madder tinctures mixed with gum arabic. This is the thing that I must continue to do. (I still have to find more detailed info about concentrating the natural dyes into inks and paints though.)

Sadly I noticed that I haven't got any images from the lecture of potatos (changing the world) by the director of London Print Studio, John Phillips, which I found really interesting and entertaining. Lecture by Phillips was not the only thing I didn't take pictures of. I'm quite angry with myself for not taking more images from the event generally, since there would have been so much to document. When I looked through my photo files I found mainly images from the Laupa mansion rooms and little details all over... Well, it's the organizers' fault really: why do they find such an interesting place to have the event... :)

Anyway: new ideas, new working methods, new techniques and most important: new, interesting contacts. People taking part to the festival were with various backgrounds which made the festival more interesting. I hope to be in contact with those people in future too.

More about the festival: www.printpotato.pri.ee Festival works will be exhibited in EKA Galerii (Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, Tallinn) September 3.-15, 2008.

Bookhouse Boys - Dead

Unbelievable - three months have passed since my last blogging. What has happened? Well, we spent the most wonderful two weeks in Florence in Italy in May; in June we took a short trip to see Finnish lighthouses on the west coast, I took part to the Medieval Market in Turku with Värjärikilta (Dyers' Guild); in July we went back to Turku for Ruisrock and on the end of the month I travelled to Evo to spend some days in dye courses etc - and next week I'll be travelling to Estonia. But nothing has happened on my digital web / graphic mastering office. NOTHING at all. (Copy-pasting doesn't really count.)

I'm a bit behind with all of my work projects; many ideas going around inside my head but nothing coming out except blurry versions of them - so there's really absolutely nothing new with my life at this time.

Except: in June I found out that I got accepted in school: in autumn I'll start studying masters programme in media production in Tampere. Not moving there though. That should be interesting...

Css - Rat Is Dead

Eemil.fi www.eemil.fi [January 2008; graphic design]

It's soooo beautiful outside that it almost hurts. Well... It hurts. As I am sitting inside trying to finish some projects off so I can have a few nice holidays without worrying unfinished projects.

The spring has provided me some lowest lows and highest highs. I won't talk about the lows more than that it was something to do with my health and everything is ok now, nothing to worry anymore. But more words about the highs: the absolutely highest point of this season was when I received the Cultural prize of The Jyväskylä City. It was given me in the ten year anniversary seminar of the Jyväskylä Art Museum April 22, 2008. I learned about the prize already in February but I had to keep it hush-hush until the prize giving day, but because my spring has been so full of things to think about, I actually realized the whole thing after the prize was given to me and partying happened. Feels quite strange. Nice but strange.

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Lately I've been working with my portfolios. I decided to apply to a school - to get me an upper level degree. I *did* fill all the forms needed and I *did* made myself a portfolio of my recent doings, however, I'm not here when the interview part of the process is going on. So, let's see how it goes and can I fix something up.
I updated my work-o-matic and simplex a bit but there are still some projects missing. I'm hoping to get myself pulled together to make a proper portfolio and also a new art site. But this has to wait for some time...

Marit Bergman - Out On The Piers

The Finnish Critics Association www.sarv.fi [2007/2008; graphic design]

Spring is the time for endles copy-pasting. New spring collections for both Papiina (the site design is not mine but I've been updating the site anyway) and Riiminka are now online.

This last week I've been having a short easter holidays and then a few day trip to Kuopio (not really recommending for spending more than one day in winter time; propably nice town to live but not for city tourist). I've done some projects that have been hanging there for a while, f.ex. Värjärikilta (Dyer's Guild) logo and new site layout which I hope to realize in a few weeks time.

I've also been fighting with composer Antti Auvinen's website. I've liked that project from the beginning because Antti had such strong opinions and wishes of how the site should be and I've had some challenges that I've really like solving - like a large puzzle mystery. But now it's finally starting bugging me a bit because nothing works like I've planned. The very same thing is happening with Jyväskylä Art Museum site.

Then there is co-operation project with dancer Noora Nenonen (If you just...) which is a cross media art project. I should finish the website this weekend... Another project that I don't know yet how to execute the whole thing.

So off I go. To scrub my head.

ps. About the SARV project of which the image is from... The final layout is a version of my layout. Originally there was quite different navigation font, a little bit lighter (not due to colours but not so heavy).

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Misery Loves Its Company

Textile Artist Hannele Ollakka www.hanneleollakka.fi [December 11 2007]

I've been passive onliner for a couple of weeks: I've read a lot blogs and just wandered around the net but haven't written anything or finished any work projects. I've just put things to be done further away. Some kind of overload.

Beginning of this year - so far - has held the deep lows and highest heights, the both at same time. There were some serious things happening in my life - still are, but things are looking much more brighter at already. Although I'm not writing about anything devastating, somebody passing away or anything like that, there are sometimes these small defining moments when you just stop and look around and notice where you are and what you've done.

My moment turned out to be good: a new start really. I decided to put more effort to the visual design, illustration and design thingies in general. Maybe those zillions of post-its will get to put in "projects done" file instead of "projects that will never be realized".