ARTSTAR INDUSTRIES

It has been a while since my last post. The reason: summer holidays, moving house and all the usual stuff that keeps us all busy. But here we are again.

I always think I can't bear the thought of summer coming to an end, but every year, the first time I breath that crisp autumn air, the changing of the season feels welcome again. Moreover, sitting inside in front of the computer, blogging, sketching, pinning, feels less of a madness when the sun isn't shining with its full volume anymore. So, it is a good time to start focusing on my blog and all the other things I've been neglecting when the sun has been too tempting.

 
During the summer holidays I was interviewed by the lovely Lucy Bannister for Artstar blog. I did a small collection of illustrations for Artstar, which focuses on contemporary homewares. My work started a few years back and the first of the three illustrations was an image of a bear. I wanted to do something quintessentially Finnish, which to me personally is something to do with nature. The king of the forests, a bear, roamed on the sketchpad. A foliage of blueberries grew around it, not only because bears love to eat them, but because they so dearly remind me of all those hours as a little girl spent in the forests picking blueberries with my lovely grandfather. Later the bear was accompanied by a deer and an owl. The deer is very British with roses framing its noble head; the owl peeking through the cow parsleys again is something you could find in the forests of my childhood as well as the British forest trails I stroll around these days.

The illustrations have now been printed on cushions, cups, trays, cards and tea towels. I am really happy with the quality of the products and hope to work again with Artstar in the future. My good friend Rebecca Blair took all these lovely photos with her more professional camera (and professional skills for that matter) than the one I have. Also if you want to read the interview, you'll find it here.