Today I want to point out to artist Mara Korkola and her small winter landscapes. The format is modest, but somehow the views she paints seem bigger. The presentation in triptych might give to that effect, but does not explain it in full. I like the clarity and stillness in these images which I have seen so [...]

A couple of days ago I went to the same place I started the forest diary sketchbook on a grey afternoon in January 2009. I started with a humble sketch in ink, black and white,which still reminds me of those insecure days when the financial crisis hit. Now at beginning of autumn 2011 the scenery [...]

On hot days oil pastels are very nice to use as they get much softer. Depending on the brand it might even be necessary to keep them in the shade or covered. Sennelier oil pastels melt to almost liquid state in summer heat under direct sun. In this sketch I used a cheap standard student [...]

Buy this sketch as postcard on Zazzle July has been to moist and too cold for the season, but I do not mind. Hot weather is not for me. I prefer 15-19 °Celsius. In other words the weather on 30th of July was perfect this year. Today I wanted to sketch the forest ground, a [...]

Buy this sketch as postcard After half an hours walk in the woods I noticed that I had forgotten to fill my water bottle (500 ml). So I had to take a little detour through the thicket to reach an artificial fish breeding pond. from there I made my way to the edge of the [...]

This is a quiet forest path, people rarely walk here. The birds were very active on this morning. Young woodpeckers made such a noise that I had to choose another place. I regret that I was not able to catch the vivid contrasts of light and shadows in and under the canopy of the trees. [...]

There are not many conifer forest around here. Therefore a spruce tree forest of a few acres offers a somewhat exotic atmosphere in comparison to the oak and beech trees. On my last visit I had done a quick ink study of trunks and spent some more time with photographs of the intriguing light and [...]

Buy this painting as postcard on Zazzle Recently I found the water soluble linocut colours by Schmincke in the local art supply store. I could not resist to buy a basic set of magenta,yellow,blue,ochre,sepia and black. The colors are 4 times as expensive as the Schmincke academy gouache. The colors I selected have a minimum [...]

The many spring greens already merge into the more or less uniform,saturated and dull summer green. The images above show how the latest sketch developed. The advantage of gouache is that it is opaque and it is possible to paint in layers. Especially for depicting foliage this property can be very helpful as it is [...]

Buy this sketch as postcard on Zazzle I had made a mental note of this place on one of my recent excursions through the thickets. A remote place away from the walkers highway. Only the farmers are around on the fields with their spraying machines, but I got this one done before I had to [...]