Row houses

I made some green row houses for Alternative_decos group swaps

The Goddess of Fire

more crows

Crows

I really, truly love all corvidae but especially crows... my beloved hooded crows. I'm in the process of making lots more crow related art soon but I just wanted to share a few pictures now that I've found so much joy in playing with image manipulation program.

from the woods...

on a rainy day...

train ride across the twilight lands...

I was listening to Jan Garbarek's Rites as I traveled through the twilight of an early spring evening...

What the street told me...

Sometimes the streets tell us stories...

Spring is so beautiful!

Wood anemones are in full bloom in the nearby forest. Everything looks like a fairyland!

And there was a beautiful swan on the sea shore as well...

Inspiring people: Saima Harmaja

Saima Harmaja was born May 8th 1913 and died of tuberculosis in the spring of 1937, just before she turned 24. Even if she lived a short and pain filled life, shadowed by illness, she knew her calling for poetry from a very young age. She was very passionate about her art and lived her life longing for understanding and kindred spirits. Her ponderings on God and nature, feminism and relationships still feel fresh and resonate in me. She too was a worshiper of beauty.

I've just read her diaries from age 10 to 23 and I felt truly charmed by the humorous, passionate person who shines through almost manic-depressive sounding phases of bliss and suffering. How such an amazing soulfulness mixes with young person's temper and pride and matures up into an acceptance of approaching death, is a very thought provoking thing. I don't know if any of her poems are translated into English but in Finnish they will live on, decades after her and I believe that even if she died young, she fulfilled her calling and thus became a tool for something bigger. And that is what she essentially asked for from life.

Altered books

My work team organized an altered book workshop in a recycling event this weekend. It was a great success and the tables were full of people all day long. I made a few AB's myself, trying out different styles...