art – Nokisuu

Artsy Friday

11.7.202111.7.2021 julkaissut Nokisuu

We are having a heatwave at the moment and in order to have something else to do than sit at home eating ice cream and sweating I planned a movie night with my friends Heidi and Kristiina.

Since I was going to meet them at a cafe before the movie I thought to go city centre a bit earlier and see the Repin art exhibition in our National gallery before meeting them. I had to queue for about 15 minutes bc I didn’t want to buy the ticket beforehand as we have a thing called The Museum card here (you pay an annual fee and get to see as many museums as you like, to cover the annual fee you must visit about four exhibitions). I only took couple of photos of my fave paintings and walked through the exhibition in 30 minutes.

You can browse the other art works in the exhibition here: https://ateneum.fi/en/exhibitions/repin/

At the cafe we shared our latest news like that I got through my exams with flying colours (I was quite certain I had failed) and then we went to see Cruella. It was very good. I had expected something else so it was a very nice surprise. Of course great actors, i. e. Mark Strong 😎, and both female lead Emmas’ among others and the costumes, music and charming doggies. All in all a very good movie! Go see it it you can. We had great time and enjoyed greatly our first movie after November.

That was my artsy Friday. I had good time 🙂

Today we’ve had hottest day this summer, +31c degrees in shadow. Hubby has been driving me to swim in the sea and so far the blue-green algae is not yet bothering us. It’s been wonderful. As the beach doesn’t have boxes to lock one’s things into while swimming Hubby has been watching my stuff as he doesn’t like to swim in the ocean here 🙂

Lunch dates and road trips

30.6.2021 julkaissut Nokisuu

The beginning of my summer holidays has been busy. I’ve met friends over lunches and dinners and had lovely massages. I’ve also been swimming both in the Baltic sea and the public pool. We’ve had great weather, sunny and over 24 C degrees. Me like.

We celebrated Midsummer just at home. I bought five kilos of strawberries to put in the freezer for winter. We also ate about three kilos before that, the strawberries are so good now and they are all ripening now. I haven’t frozen strawberries for years but it’s a kind of civic duty here and people discuss where you can find the cheapest berries.

I’ve also seen some art exhibitions.

On Monday I, hubby and youngest son visited the Serlachius museums in Mänttä which has a Banksy exhibition. I reserved our entrance in good time already back in May. Since it’s an 3-hour-drive I was sure to get us booked in the afternoon and it was a good decision, we got to sleep and eat breakfast in peace without rushing (well almost.. teens you know) and then had a coffee break on the way. The exhibition was free and it was quite nice. We also took a round around the other exhibitions there and enjoyed them too.

We drove back via hubby’s childhood summer cottage but since it was already a bit late we didn’t go visiting his uncle. Besides hubby has such horrible memories of the place he was happy just to see it from the roadside 🙂

Today I went for a lunch with my friend Heidi. We were going to see an exhibition at the AmosRex museum but then we just browsed the shop and continued to the Helsinki City Art Museum (HAM) nearby. It was nice, the free side had some Tove Jansson’s works and the paid ticket side had some interesting art made by Katharina Grosse.

We were both a bit tired so it was a bit short day today. I had a osteopathy massage me yesterday and he found some nice sore spots in my legs. Last week he did my cheek muscles..

Some piccies underneath.

Here’s a song for you too. I quite like her voice.

Just a quick one

6.1.2021 julkaissut Nokisuu

Since Guylty asked to see more of my art (art and me being a bit too much said on same sentence) I’ve taken some quick pics of couple of things I’ve done.

I used to paint porcelaine. It was a dear hobby for about 15 years but then I changed workplace and couldn’t attend to the classes anymore so it was left behind. I still occasionally paint something by request, i.e. a plate for my godson but it’s very rare.

These cats are one of the last things I did on my classes. They are copies of a Finnish graphich artist Frans Toikkanen’s cats he made with mezzotint print. I was glad I managed to paint them on porcelain with their spirit intact.

This is just a quick drawing I made for my journal last year, on September pages. Actually it was the first draw for an Art Deco themed ’In the forest’ but I didn’t like how it turned out so I made another one for the deco and kept this myself. I like it more now.

Well. Another Christmas holiday over and tomorrow it’s back to work. Middlest son left back to his garrison already, their flying lessons will begin in few weeks (I’m a bit worried.. mothers you know) so I’m trying to concentrate on other things.

I received a wonderful gift on my birthday in September, my three best friends bought me a writer’s course. Of course it has writing assignments which was to be expected but I’m about to stress myself out with them too. I should write a short text every day and then there are other writing assignments too.. Well, it’s only ten lessons and then I’ve the lessons available next six months so I’m trying not to beat myself too much with that.

Oh well. Let’s enjoy a kitty in snow!

Nose and other stuff

18.11.202018.11.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

On Saturday youngest son went to a trampoline park with his friends for the the first time this year bc of the plague going around. Just after two hours he called hubby to get him home. One of his friends had accidentally hit him on the nose and he had a nosebleed and during the evening his nose swelled a bit. When he got up on Sunday his nose was aching and swollen so we took him to see a doctor who then sent us to the University Hospital’s ER.

Luckily there was just one old lady and us so it didn’t take very long for us to see another doctor. She examined youngest son’s face very carefully and said that the nose is so swollen we’ll have to come later when it’s gone down a bit and they can see if it needs operation. She also said the nose looked a bit crooked to the right and so we are going there on Friday morning.

Now the swelling has gone down quite well and it doesn’t look broken imo. Of course now youngest son has been on and off in school because first his nose was pretty achy and now he’s been couching the fluids up so that his voice is gone. Well.. just tomorrow left anymore.

On Sunday we got home just in time to say our goodbyes to middlest son who was having his one week free. Next time he’s coming home on Boxing day when he’s been ’in’ for six weeks service and then he’ll go back next year! Their flying lessons begin in January too. I find it funny as our last name means Great tit so the little bird gets his flying lessons finally 🙂

At my work we’ve had a conservator-restorer cleaning all the statues we have. Most of them are in the City museum’s collections but some are of the National Gallery’s collection and one of these had a bullet embedded into it. It made us very curious since the house has only been on place since 1927 but the statue is from the 1900. It’d be interesting to find out where the bullet is from. (Our statue is a copy of the one in the Wikipedia article, it’s called The Shipwrecked.)

Tomorrow we’ll hear if the City decides to close places as the Covid19 is increasing in the Metropolitan area again. Last spring I thought the quarantine closing would have been harder in November and look! here we are…

We found a nice paper bag for Sirius to enjoy.

Bought a peanut butter cupcake and chocolate mousse cake for evening coffee. I’ve painted the dragon years ago when I did porcelain painting as a hobby.

I know I’ve got weird taste in music but besides of the song I really like Rosamund Pike in this vid. ETA it can be disturbing so beware.

Birthday gifts and disturbing art

25.10.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

Last time I told about my birthday. Back then I hadn’t yet received the gift from my fandom friend Rachel and it was a lovely surprise when it came a week later (the Finnish postal services are really something these days..). Among other very nice things there was this perfect piece of art which found place next to my Lucius figurine.

A week ago Saturday I went mushroom hunting with my friend M and we found a lot of yellowfoot which is a delicacy I’ve never been able to find on my own. The day in the forest was lovely and weather was cold but clear and when it finally in the afternoon started to rain we were more than ready to go home with our catch.

This week has been hectic to say the least. Since I work some evenings too I had something every day, i.e. on Wednesday I went to theater which had been postponed on May. It was nice, two elderly Finnish actresses told about their lives and loves turning even hard experiences into dark comedy. The audience had all masks on and only half of the seats were filled with empty seats between groups of two. In May there was four of us at work going but now it was just me and my colleague since the other two felt a bit flu-ish and decided against taking part.

On Friday I had coffee with my friend Kristiina and before I met her I managed to see an art exhibition by Patricia Piccinini before it was closed. It was said to be kind of fantasy figures and the ad pics looked nice but when I saw all the pieces in the exhibit I don’t know… I know art is supposed to make people think and wake up questions but apart from the fantasy pieces and alien tunnels carved into furniture I found some these more on the pervert side and some of them made my skin crawl. If you want a closer look just visit her page I gave the link to.

Yesterday I went to my former workplace’s party with M. I was hoping to meet some of my old colleagues but with the situation here now there were just about 20 people of which I knew five (and M). Also it was supposed to begin at 5pm but when we got there there was less than ten people and only around 7pm everyone was there and the food wasn’t very interesting imo. I must say I was disappointed. M and I left round 8 pm and went to a nice restaurant to have dinner just between us which was a good decision.

I’m sewing a coat for myself, we’ll see if anything comes of it. I’d sew the outside on the inside today and then do the finishing but I think it may go on to the next weekend when I finally finish with it.

Well, here’s a movie trailer of the Moomin mom Tove Jansson expecially for Rachel. The scenes of Tove in her studio have been shot in her real atelier in Helsinki. Sorry for it being subtitled only in Finnish and spoken in Swedish.

Live music

5.9.20205.9.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

Hi there! I’ve been mostly off line or done some small surfing on my phone during my free time since I get enough screen time at work and I’ve noticed my eyes grow tired after 8 hours of computering.

Yesterday evening my friend Mareetta took me to dinner to Tammisaari where we did a little summer evening dinner already on July. This time she wanted to see a Finnish-Swedish musician Fredrik Furu to perform. It was a free concert on a restaurant garden and since I had a work day we had some issues with the timing and rush hour but luckily managed to get there in time.

The weather was rainy and cold but the food and music were good so it was actually pretty good Friday evening. Some pics included.

My Caesar salad and happy Joe’s non-alcoholic cider and M’s burger

In other news middlest son has been at home this week and last Saturday we did some wholesale grocery shopping which was good. They’ve been eating camp-ratios in the garrison due to the C-situation but it’s going to change soon, he ate like a growing young man. My aunt used to say young men have hollow legs and she knew since she had four.

I’ve been reading, knitting and crafting. I’m finally getting all of the old swaps I had forward, soem of them have been sitting on my desk far too long so I’m relieved. And a bit shamed but sometimes Life happens to the best of us. I wonder if there’s anyone swapping art decos on my readers?

Here is a pic of Sirius sleeping on my knee. I was trying to get to bed but you really can’t go when one is such s dear kitty, can you? On the other pic you can see our desk. We got some nice paintings from the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) to the House and there’s still some sculptures showing up next week. This painting is called ”Exhaust” by Petri Rummukainen and everybody says the bunnies are us, so you can guess who is the one with the handbag? Yeah 😀

I finally finished Lucifer Season 5. I tried to watch it just one ep per evening but it’s so good and then it was also very short season. Now I’m on Umbrella Academy S2 which doesn’t seem quite as good as S1.

A song by Fredrik Furu for you, he sings in Swedish but I think you’ll survive. I did.

Halfway through August

16.8.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

So I’m back in the city and work too, it begun last Monday and I’ve been so busy with everything. Youngest one’s school begun on Thursday too.

The cottage weeks went quickly and I enjoyed time with my eldest and youngest son and Sirius. Middlest son visited for overnight as eldest picked him from the city and then gave him a lift to the garrison which is an hours drive North from the cottage. I did some foraging in the forests and picked berries and mushrooms. We had some encounters with wildlife, i.e. bats, and one day we drove to Jyväskylä to meet my cousin and one of my local friends popped by for a coffee. Very relaxing and nice two weeks.

Here at home besides work I’ve been busy sewing masks for myself to use in public transport as it was finally recommended by the authorities. There’s still a lot of people not wearing masks.

I’ve also been washing laundry from the cottage and also from the clearing I did here at home. I’d still go through my clothes to see what to put forward and what to keep. I have less clothes to wash now as middlest son is in the army, he used to change his clothes so often that the basket was always full.

On Friday evening I had coffee date with my friend and we decided to visit two art museums in Helsinki which was nice. The other one has great cafeteria, so after the first museum we then decided to have dinner at this one and checked the exhibitions too and afterwards had coffee and cake. It was nice to catch up with her too.

On Saturday hubby went to buy us more firewood and it was a bit hot weather to put them into the shed later but I love doing outdoors things in good weather. Today we watched middlest son give his oath via live-stream so now he is finally a conscript and not a rookie. Usually they get a vacation after the oath but these days the vacation is postponed still two weeks. In his speech the general said they haven’t had any of the boys sick with Covid19 since spring which is really good.

I’ve finished knitting a scarf, I finally got more yarn on Tuesday. I visited my dentist and afterwards went to my hairdresser and as I had a spare moment I did a quick visit at the yarn shop near her place. Oh and my dentist suggested I’d get braces as now my back teeth are getting too much pressure so I’m going to have a consultation made in mid-September. There’s always some moneypit one can throw her earnings.

This is about all from me for now. Pics in instagram and read books in Goodreads on the right side sidebar.

Day trippin’

29.6.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

We did a short day trip today to a nearby old ironworks factory called Ruotsinpyhtää or Strömfors in Swedish. The village was chosen for ’the Village of the year’ in 2018. The factory dates back to 18th century and is an idyllic place to visit. There is a smith show on Wednesdays which is nice imo.

The old church has an altarpiece painted by Helene Shjerfbeck but unfortunately the church was closed when we visited. There were some interesting looking fir trees outside and the WWII soldier’s cemetery is always nice to browse and meditate for a bit. You can spot them in every village and city you visit here in Finland.

There was some art exhibition in the old stables and some of the pieces were really nice but I haven’t yet won the lottery so had to leave them there. Afterwards we walked to a lunch restaurant which served a really good lunch and then headed home.

Sunny Sunday

22.3.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

This afternoon I and hubby drove to Porvoo, a small town nearby. My mom and before her my granny used to live there and they still reside at the old cemetery there as does my grandpa and auntie and my mom’s granny. I never met my grandpa and my granny’s mom, I only know them from pics and stories.

Porvoo is an old town dating back to 14th century and the cemetery is also one of the eldest in Finland. Porvoo has also been significant in some historical events here in Finland, i.e. when Sweden ceded Finland to Russia.

There’s also a very nice candy factory called Brunberg in Porvoo. My granny used to live pretty near their factory and nowadays they have a candy shop in the historical center. Of course we went first to see if the shop was open and it was! Very good for them and not so good for my diet 😀

On March 27th, next Friday, it’ll be four years since my mom died. As we drove past her flat I watched the windows and it made a bit sad. I took some pics of the cemetery, there were some gravestones I hadn’t noticed earlier. In the soldier’s grave section the large wooden cross is made by a Finnish-Swedish artist Lennart Segerstråle who at some point was my granny’s tenant and we have one painting by him (which I should probably take to be valued one day), he had given it to my granny as a thank you gift.

Near the cemetery I noticed a large (I mean huge) glacial erratic rock I had never before seen, mainly because we usually go there from the other side and when I was a kid there was so many trees there one couldn’t see anything. The rock is called Näsin kivi and you can see some pics here. It’s so large that they’ve built steps and a viewing area on top of it so we climbed there and I took some pics of the river and city centre.

Tomorrow I’m going to work. Hubby said he’d drive me there and my boss said she’s going to talk with me about the possibility for me to work from home, there’s things after all I could do in the net. I’m quite content.

Old fortresses

20.3.2020 julkaissut Nokisuu

Yesterday I made another outing and decided to check on the old fortresses we have in the neighbourhood.

They are part of a string of defence fortresses cut into the rock in the 1914 when Finland was still part of the Russian empire. They were built just before the WWI as Germany declared war against Russia and never used. Now they are grown full of trees, there’s all kids of junk and kids (and teens) love to play in them. Hubby used to play in them as a child in the 1970’s and he says they were quite unsafe. Some that are located near residential areas are often used as compost for garden waste which is a disgrace.

The first one is actually pretty near to our house (around 500 metres) and on the way to kid’s school. The others are on the other side of the school, about a mile from my house and I just had to take a pic of the murals too.

I hope you enjoy the photo journey 🙂