March has turned out to be a busy month, and the weather already feels more like April. My paintings are currently on view in three galleries. The farthest of them is in Venice, at the beautiful Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.I won’t be spending my days — or especially my nights — in such a fine Venetian palace, but my paintings have made the journey. I will be visiting Venice for a few days to see the exhibition and to discover what kinds of works other artists have brought with them, and from which countries they come.

Kaapelitehdas, Puristamo Espoo Arts 50-year exhibition. One of my paintings, Cat House, is displayed on one side of a column, and on the other side is my painting Clouds, Flowers and a Shimmering Sea. On the final day of the exhibition, March 20, I will be at the gallery during the morning hours. You are warmly welcome to come by and see the exhibition.

For the painting Cat House (56 x 76 cm), I was inspired by news stories about people who take in large numbers of cats. My son’s cat, Ella, was not very cooperative, so I had to bribe her with treats to get her to move along the path I wanted. This created a new challenge: it was difficult to capture photos of her without traces of the treats showing at the corners of her mouth. I used green tea bags as the leaves of the tree. Working with tea allows you to make use of every part: the bags themselves, the filter paper as a base for wet beads, the used leaves can be added to soil, and string can be used to support the “tomatoes.”

Creating the painting Clouds, Flowers and a Shimmering Sea (56 × 76 cm) was a wonderful experience, especially with the sunlight streaming in and the blue nanosellulose films of the sea shimmering with golden highlights. The iridescent properties of nanosellulose have even been documented in scientific journals. These color effects are most striking in thin films. The flowers at the bottom of the painting are actually mushrooms coated with nanosellulose, and similar forms appear as clouds in the sky.

I work with Sisusavi® clay and pigments as my primary materials. I developed the Sisusavi clay myself, and its main ingredient is microcellulose. A micrometer is one millionth of a meter, and as the crystal size of a material decreases, its properties change. The same phenomenon occurs with cellulose fibers when they are reduced to micro- or nanoscale. While microcellulose cannot be used to make paper, it allows for exceptional color rendering and other properties that are perfect for artistic expression.

Gallery ArtFrida's Bird Garden exhibition, the paintings on display are Magnificent Bird and Blooming Flowers (36×48 cm), and  Lurking Above (39 x 60 cm), presumably featuring a bird. In Magnificent Bird and Blooming Flowers, the bird’s feathers and the flower petals are made from nanocellulose films, which also exhibit iridescent effects. The petals are so light that they sway gently with the wind.

In Lurking Above, the painting depicts a bird from above as it searches for prey on the ground. The bird is both dominant and strikingly beautiful, with colors that may shimmer — I also incorporated pearlescent pigments to enhance the effect.  

Toukokuussa on soolonäyttely Kampissa Four lab gallery.