The greatest little packet of the year

Yes, yes, I'll boast & rant about this forever...

Merry Christmas!

We are leaving tomorrow to the grandfather's empty cottage, so we are wishing you all happy holidays with warmest regards to our friends around the world. See you next year!

Netherlands...

Aww, last week was wonderful! We shared a hotel room in Amsterdam for five days -probably our last trip together for awhile. Lots of sunshine (which you do not see in the images!) with Indian, Japanese and Creek dinners. Not to mention a bit exclusive evening in a fondue restaurant: five different types and splendid wine! The week gave us fond memories. It was also nice to meet again some friends and colleagues, in Rotterdam and Haarlem, with happy baby news.

I loved the fleamarkets! We spent about three days shopping.

By the way, if you ever visit the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem (had a show in Haarlem last year), go and see the huge group portraits he did a year or two before his death (1666). The brushwork is free, vivid and clearly visible. Particularly, I like the hands. If I am ever going to write an essay about ageing artists or portraiture, I am going to entitle it 'Frans Hals Hands'...

Wow! We are still growing...

We visited the old grandfather's house a week ago... everything was grey, silent and so humid. Little trousers under production. Still dazed, with lots of plans and amazement. And yes, we are still growing, growing BIG! Puppy is very active between midnight and 2 A.M.

Whining and whimpering

Again, I am missing the summer! Paddling in falling wet snow can be quite fun, though.

Autumn cuisine

The mushroom season seems to be finally over! Since September, we have dehydrated a huge amount of Yellow legs chantarells (Cantharellus tubaeformis). Now we are practicing with Black Salsify (Scorzonera hispanica) soup.

We are growing big

This is now week 23. The seal puppy is now about 27 centimetres total, and he/she is quite active and kicking! We were opening 13 huge and heavy artwork crates in our studio... It took three full working days and surely, it was painful. We will have to find an assistant soon. Any applications?

Sea and solitude

Had to run away from the hurries. Paddled 97 kilometres: spent three nights in a tent, two nights were about -5 Centigrades minimum... Reading a book was fun in the nighttime, drying the tent from frost in the morning was not. The silence at sea was overwhelming and so very very relaxing. I had no-one to speak with for four days!

About seal puppies and other small creatures

(Baltic Sea, the Finnish Gulf, 2007)


On May 6th I was on one of my early paddling trips, which I do in the beginning of the season. Tens of thousands of migrating birds, and almost non-existing boat traffic give you a special mixture of solitude and joy. The days are hot and full of sunshine, but nights chilly.

I did find this seal puppy from the other side of the island, where I was camping. Unfortunately –this time, really– I was without my camera! He/she looked very charming, though the nasty yellow poo he/she left to the cliffs was not exactly very fascinating to watch. I was against the setting sun, and unvisible higher on the cliffs, so I had about three hours to draw some scetches into my log book. I did even get back to my camp to make some coffee and return: things were good and we two all the time in the world for ourselves. At closest we had only 10 metres between us.

We decided at home that this was a good omen. So, the nick-name of our new-comer is now 'Kuutti' –which means a young seal puppy in Finnish.

A new snapshot

The little seal puppy seems to enjoy his/her living (please, click the image). The acrobatic movements ensured us that his/her future might be in the field of modern dance –or ballet! With mixed feelings, I am going directly to catch my flight to Brussels. See you all next week...

New maternity pants

...were difficult to find. The new stylish curve of Riitta's belly is now clearly visible, but it has not stopped her going into the woods. She got about 8 litres of Yellow legs chantarells (Cantharellus tubaeformis) from the local forests yesterday.

Today...

... is the first day of my blog. My primary aim is add information about recent works to other pages, and possibly update some baby news here... This is now week 19 so we are excited and happy. Hopefully I will have time enough to take care of this page -so please, check for updates and links!