Volvo Amazon

Here is Askos "new" car. A Volvo Amazon from 1965. Asko is a Volvo Amazon fan and this is his third Amazon.Obviously we had to take some photos of the new car right away. Asko has a new owl tattoo as well so that one is also visible in the first photo. Actually I realized that the tattoo and the reflection in the car window make a nice combination; a dark forest and a spooky owl. I'd like to say that it is on purpose but it's not :/ just a nice coincidence.

Couple photo

Here is an old couple photo of me and Asko. Taken about 4 years ago :) the wig was my inspiration to go blond ;)

Winter swimming

Last winter I tried out ice hole swimming. I never thought I would do it but since my 8 year old nephew went swimming as well, I could not be a sissy and I had to dip in the ice water too ;) Luckily there was sauna afterwards ;) ...and yes, of course I made somebody take a photo of this unusual event! These kind of things need prove!

cold dip in the ice hole...

...and sauna :)

Stencil painting 4

I did another stencil painting. I told you, it was going to be a series ;) I wanted to paint somehow a "swamp woman" in this... from the end result I get a jungle vibe. Well ,close enough to my original plans.

Stencil 4 (50 x 40 cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013)

1954

Here is a photo of my grandparents in the summer of 1954. My grandparents were both entrepreneurs. Grandmother made lamp shades and she also had a shop where she sold children's clothing. My grandfather was a photographer and he had his own studio. He was also talented in drawing and painting, but he was so critical with his own work that he threw most of his artwork away. 

Anyway, I wanted to post this photo because I think it's really beautiful and honors my grandparents who have both passed away. 

  

Renewed website 2013

I just renewed my website. I used Twitter Bootstrap to make it. Earlier I had a Flash website, but that was not very user friendly, so I decided to renew the whole thing. During moments like this it's good to be a bit of a geek ;)

http://www.nadja-art.com/index.html

Now I can focus on painting again :) Happy Easter!

Stencil painting 3

Here is the third stencil painting I did. The model for this one is the beautiful Cherry Dee Licious. Cherry is quite the multipersona; she is a burlesque dancer, graphic designer, harbour worker, fashion blogger (Freelancer's Fashion Blog), mother and so much more! I really enjoy reading her creative blog :)

You can see here the reference image for this painting. I'm quite happy how the painting turned out. I wanted to get a sort of "slavic" look to this painting and I think I managed to paint my vision.

Cherry Stencil (Stencil 3):
40cm x 40cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013, model: Cherry Dee Licious

Tallinn birthday trip

I just recently had birthday and me and my friends went to celebrate my birthday to lovely Tallinn. I just love Estonia and Tallinn, it's always a pleasure to go there. The country has so much beauty and history that's visible everywhere. I especially like the old town of Tallinn. Below are some silly tourist pics.

A few things I would recommend in Tallinn. I like to eat at www.africankitchen.ee and I love to shop at A.G.A.N.

Eight Arms of Inspiration: The Octopus Art Project

I participated in this art book project called "Eight Arms of Inspiration: The Octopus Art Project". This week I got the book in the mail and I'm so happy to see it :)
This is the first time my art has been published and it's a dream come true for me :) It makes me happy and proud to look at the book. Despite obvious subjective reasons I really like the book. I'm crazy about art books anyway and love to buy all kind of collection picture books. So many thanks for Jinxi Caddel for the wonderful work!

I sincerly hope I get to publish more of my work in the future. This makes me kind of greedy for more ;) 

The book is available at:
http://www.oosbooks.com/
(the book is also available at amazon.com and ebay.com) 

Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2013

What a weekend! Me and Asko went to the glittery Helsinki Burlesque Festival. Such a mindblowing event! It was a blast to see so many various acts! :) 
I really love watching burlesque, the audience can get so much involved as well; shouting,screaming and whistling. It's like being in a sport audience but much better ;)

Below are some pics from the festival. Obviously I had to get a photo together with the beautiful stars :) I was especially happy about meeting Dirty Martini. Can't believe I finally saw her amazing "Love America" act live!

Before the actual event I participated also in workshops of Angie Pontani and Dirty Martini. Asko had a photo project before the festival with the "Savage Girls" and you can see here some posters.

Everything about the event in general: http://www.helsinkiburlesque.com/
oh, and here is a small video (in finnish) about the event:http://www.iltasanomat.fi/videot/viihde/vid-1288545076158.html

Me and the amazing Dirty Martini

Me and Angie Pontani on the left and on the right it's Xarah von den Vielenregen

These amazing festival photos are by Tuomas Lairila. See more at: https://www.facebook.com/tuomas.lairila

New painting Cypress

Here is a new painting of model Brion Bonaventura from the Itty Bitty Tease Cabaret. My partner Asko recently had a photoshoot with the burlesque group so I dragged along the painting to get a few pics of the model next to the painting. I always like to see model+painting images of other artists work, so it was nice to get that kind of images from my painting too :)

Below is also a snapshot closeup of the first stage of the painting when it was nothing more than just pencil and a thin layer of paint. And by the way...the fabulous frame is from saraheina.fi

 Cypress (70cm x 50cm, acrylic paint on canvas year created: 2013) 

Stencil painting 2

I just started a series of these "stencil" paintings. Before paintings this, I watched Hitchcock's Psycho (I saw it for the first time). After that it was dark and I was home alone so I let out my spooky side ;)

Stencil 2 (50cm x 70cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013)

Stencil painting 1

Here is a new painting I did last weekend. The inspiration for this was in fact an old painting of mine (the "Face" painting below) that I did almost 10 years ago in 2004 (time goes by so fast!!!). Anyway, I was thinking of doing a series of this kind of stencil paintings. My goal is to do at least 3 of these (I have some ideas already what the next ones will be like). 

The model for this painting is Brion Bonaventura, who is also model for this painting.

Stencil (50cm x 50cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013)

Face (50cmx70cm acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2004)

Harilaid lighthouse

I mentioned earlier here about our trip to Estonia last summer. Well, I still haven't posted pictures from my favorite place that we discovered :) 

We went to see the abandoned lighthouse at Harilaid. The lighthouse is known as "Harilaid lighthouse" or "Kiipsaar Lighthouse" and it was built in 1933 just 25 meters from the coastline. Originally the lighthouse was painted black and white. Nowadays the lighthouse is abandoned and it is known as the Pisa tower of Estonia. 

The lighthouse is about 5km away from the nearest road and we had to walk all the way there...which was very enjoyable because the island of Harilaid is really beautiful :) The flora of the peninsula represents 261 species of flowering plants and vascular cryptogams (in general I got the impression that Estonia seems to be full of flowers). The island is geographically very young; it arose from the sea as an island 1000-2000 years ago.

Below are some pictures that Asko took at the lighthouse. I dragged a pretty dress along with me to pose a bit for photos. Because as you know photography is about location, location location ;)

 Below is a museum image of the lighthouse. I also found some interesting travel blog which shows different states of the lighthouse of how it's slowly disappearing into the sea.

Source: http://etts.ee/EE/tuletornid/tuletornide-nimekiri/saaremaa/kiipsaare

Notre appartement

Here is a glimpse of our apartment. I have a few of my own paintings on the living room wall like my Octopus painting and my recent Winter painting. I have inherited the art nouveau style (actually it's from the 1930's) sideboard from my grandmother. The couch is a flea market bargain and the table is made by Asko. Apart from being a photographer, Asko is also a cabinet maker. Below is an example of Askos work that happens to combine both :)

black commode by askojonathan.com