Fire with Water(colours)

My new website has been published and the blog has moved to the new address.
Check it out: www.peonyandparakeet.com

The location of the new blog:
www.peonyandparakeet.com/blog

And a new blog post is up!
Go to the new blog to see it:
Fire With Water(colors)

This Is How I Doodle

I doodled a little ornament in Photoshop and recorded how I created it. It took 10 minutes from start to finish but the video is shorter. I increased the speed to make it easier to watch.

Still Playing?

I read this from the editor's column of the Finnish handcraft magazine Taito: The girls that make hobby horses and play with them did not want to be interviewed for the magazine. They thought that they would be considered too childish. The magazine is a very respectable one and it is an honor to be interviewed for it. Actually, many handcrafters dream about it!

But that was not the reason I was touched deeply by the fact why the girls refused. I love hobby horses. I do not own any now but used to when I was a little girl. I rode with my horse every day. And my best girlfriend had one too. I even made a scrapbook page about the horses a while ago.

I would have loved reading about this hobby and how it is today when it's easier to find others who love the horses too!

I was about to write to the magazine: "Try harder! Make the girls say yes!"

But then I remembered a moment, just few months ago, when I was interviewed to the very same magazine by the very same editor. She wanted to take photographs of the doll clothes I make and sell. "NO", I said. "People think I am crazy. They don't understand!"

My dolls must have been very upset by that. They are fashion models in their heart anyway!

I began to think where does the playing end and the serious stuff start. I remember that when my childhood friend and I grew, our play with the horses became more secretive. We tried to ride so that no one sees us. It became pretty stressful. We had to give up.

But the funny thing is that when I grew I went back to playing. And I know that most of you who read art and craft blogs have done the same.


If you don't collect the dolls like I do, I bet you have put clothes on an art doll, or a paper doll or a digital image. Maybe you have made illustrations with women's faces like when you used to as a child. We might not ride with the hobby horses anymore but we surely play in our own way. Picking the pretty colors, buying ink, making something that is really not that useful and where the end result actually does not matter so much.

Like what I did today. Cut a head of a fashion model from an old Vogue magazine and doodled a dress. Thinking: is the world of play black and white. I claim it is not. Whether a child or an adult, we all play. I hope the girls with the hobby horses realize this sooner than I did!

Tell me, how do you play? What makes you play?

There's a Little Girl In All of Us

Have you ever wondered why women's faces are so popular theme in mixed media and collage? For example Suzi Blu's book Mixed Media Girls has not even published yet and it's already high in ranking at Amazon.

I know the answer why drawing faces is so popular. It is getting back to the state where women where little girls. I was not a big fan of dolls when I was a child but still - I loved my paper dolls. And I also drew faces on small pieces of paper and gave them names!

So no wonder I still draw faces occasionally when I want to be playful. This page is for my "Pretty Art Journal" and it is about women loving drama with historical costumes. "The drama stays the same even if the centuries vary" I wrote here and made the text be part of her hair!

Happy New Year!

Thank you for following my blog, hopefully you'll come back in 2012 too!

Where My Heart Is

I have always wanted to learn how to draw. After getting a bachelor's degree in design I was not satisfied with my illustration skills. Then I started to draw circles. You know this "repeat 10 000 times and you'll learn it". I have made more than 10 000 circles I'm sure. I do not know if I have become much of an illustrator but I have definitely got passion for using my pens. Keep me away from them for few days and you get a very angry and frustrated woman! It's where my heart is, truly!

A glimpse of what I've just made: more handmade business cards. (Look at my treasure box of handdrawn papers, it's pretty full!)

Merry Christmas!

This is the first Christmas after moving to the new house. I finally have the space for a real Christmas tree!

I made this ornament years ago when I used to make hand sewn quilts.

Merry Christmas!

Wild Doodling

Sometimes it's just not possible to stay controlled. I was thinking about art nouveau and Alphonse Mucha's work but wanted to give my pens a relaxed speed.

Here are some close-up details. The line is wild and fast.

The watercolor background is as arbitrary as the illustration.

The most difficult thing in illustrating is to get relaxed lines. That's why it's important to get wild once in a while!