Sepia Art Studio

deeply rooted

wouldn't you love to have an treehouse on top of an ancient oak, or any tree?
that is one of wishes. someday i wish to have an lovely little treehouse, where i could dream away and observe the passing birds.

whenever i am in the nature i am the most happiest.
the flowers, the whispers on the trees; evertyhing captures my heart.

this jewelry pieces name is "Key to the Secret Garden".
inspired by the Secret Garden book of course!

this little faery boy listens your heart wishes and sends them to the stars...

among the faeries

Soft moss a downy pillow makes, and green leaves spread a tent,
Where Faerie fold may rest and sleep until their night is spent.
The bluebird sings a lullaby, the firefly gives a light,
The twinkling stars are candles bright, Sleep, Faeries all, Good Night.
~Elizabeth T. Dillingham, "A Faery Song"

when the weather is like it is today, have been for a week or so, i rather spend my time in outside with the faeries, than creating inside. somehow i need to put these together, otherwise my art pieces come out very slowly. even this piece took all together about an week to complete!

the spring is more than a summer; the tree leaves have been bursting open in such a time, that it makes my head spin... it has been never like this before...like i have wrote many times, the leaves comes out usually in end of may. but i am very happy how nature looks so breathtaking, how can i choose which season is my favourite? thought the expecting in spring is surely wonderful, wondering and looking when the plants stop's to play hide and seek, when the flowers bloom. all this queenly green has transformed just in a few days! just before May Day i climbed in to the hills, and saw the first leaves in rowan and baby birches.

tomorrow i will  go at the village, to purchase some seeds. since my family garden is long time mine (since my parents are still away, and my mother will be back in autumn), i will make this yard look like a faery garden, if i succeed with it... lots of sweet pea's, lavender, herbs, light blue flowers, violets et cetera.

ode to the nature

"unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, and imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. no painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does"
~ John Berger



the spring is moving me in a most softest way...
the first flowers and the rustling wind, the perfectly beautiful first butterflies. i wish i could fly with them, and see the world like the birds & butterfly does.
the spring is giving me a thousand wondrous gifts...
ideas and images, which i want to make come true.

honestly i can say that i had a pretty much a month dry phase in my life, with inspiration.
now it is coming back slowly slowly, like a butterfly.
inspiration is like a little bird, who flutters away, if i try too hard to capture it...

reaching out...

 I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
John Burroughs

to be visible to the trees

"nature is not only all that is visible to the eye...
it also includes the inner pictures of the soul"
~ Edvard Munch

This quote must be my favourite!
my heart ached from the beauty of it, when i read it.

here i am in a solitude in the country. i have never spent nights alone in here. i decided that i do not want to go in kotka in this weekend, although my other sister is living in their on my second "home". i try to avoid town life as much as i can...  i have found out that this is my true home, i have always felt that i am in home, when i am able to be with the trees and the birds. i thought that i would be scared to be here alone, the house of ours is on a place where is no street lights. but i feel serene.

my morning began with brewing cup of Victoriana Tea, and heading on our sauna cottage porch to observe the birds. i had my camera with me, but the birds where too shy to come out and play on a apple trees. after i took a walk on our "little forest" on the back of the cottage, i went to take some photographs from the birch forest, which is a minute way from our old house. birch is "the tree" of  Finnish people, and i do not wonder why. so breathtaking! i love this forest, full of white trees.

i can see on my eyes of the sou howl faeries celebrates in there and keep faery parties.

just few days ago i wished that i could see robins soon, and yesterday i did and even heard them singing, which i have not noticed before. they have absolutely beautiful voice, like little faery bells would be ringing.

Fern

"Here and there a tawny brook prattled out from among the underwood and lost itself again in the ferns
and brambles upon the further side. Save the dull piping of insects and the sough of the leaves, there was silence everywhere--the sweet restful silence of nature"

Arthur Conan Doyle

"sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out,
but to see who cares enough to break them down"
 

butterfly dreamer...i am

whole winter the golden butterfly dreamt from big things in her cocoon.
she dreamt from wildflower meadows and forget-me-not blue sky, with soft clouds passing by.
one spring morning when the sun rose from the sea, she decided that this is the day when i see my dreams.
she moved her wings, until she was free.

butterflies has a special place within my heart. first time when i went in a forest, a beautiful butterfly landed on my shoulder. butterflies are like particles of a soul, very innocent and pure. they look so joyful fluttering here and there, flowers to flower, trees to trees. they are magic.
few weeks ago i saw first butterfly, although weather is not that warm in here. i am sure the butterfly was too in haste to see the forget-me-not blue sky and soft clouds passing by.
spring is just beginning in here, trees are covered with buds (although usually they appear on may), which will open when there is enough warm.
i am waiting days when i can sit on our porch, create some jewelries and drink endless pots of tea.
i wish , that soon the fields would be filled with flowers and green, and butterflies would fly to greet me. otherwise  i am trying to live here and now, surround myself with beautiful things and be blessed by everyday miracles; the twitter of the birds, the wind on the trees, the sun on the fields... and i am grateful, that i can share these moments in here, middle of forests & meadows.

fairy tale nest

when does the rain stops, may i ask?? this is the fourth day, when sun is invisible.
all i can see from my wee studio window is the endless greyness... well, i have to admit that
there was a moment in morning, when drops did not fell from the greyness, and i had a change to take a walk to the beach trees, whom i have never met before so close. the trees can be seen from the windows, but the trees are so close our summer neighbours cottage, that i have never dared to walk there before. but now when they were not in their cottage, i took a leap of faith and walked to meet the trees.

some of the trees seem to be very old. my latest obsession is trying to find bird nests, have not been that lucky yet that i would have found one, which i could have took with me. i have been trying to search nests also from the trees.
probably that is the one reason why i have been begun to create nests from smoky grey wire. the photo on the right side is one of my "fairy tale bird" pendants, which i just listed on my etsy shoppe.

recently i have felt that i am somehow stuck. spring is the time of changes, and i feel that there will be changes in my life, in a way or another, or i wish there would be. why i otherwise feel this way... i have been trying to figure what it is exactly where i should concentrate on. recently i have been creating just jewelry. i would be very happy to  move on , and not feel this stuck.  but quiet times do teach us something very valuable, which may be seen just after everything is clear. maybe i should just not create for awhile, i have done that before, but now it seem hard to do so. i wish some joyful beginnings on my life...

alice's tea party

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. 
~Author Unknown

Today is my 27th birthday. i think the most wondrous gift was when i stepped outside the blackbird begun to sing, like it would have been waiting for me! i have been wishing to hear a blackbird singing, usually this happens in spring, since they do not sing in winter (though, one of my friends heard them in january). they truly have a breathtakingly beautiful voice.

the photo above is taken from my newest "alice's tea party" necklace.

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. 
~C.S. Lewis

soar blue tit, soar

I love words, and i do collect them like naturalist collects plants or other things. I am also an name collector, always when i hear a new name i write it down...i have done this for about eight years. Mostly i love unusual names, those which are not very common. i love write stories, and that started the name and word collecting.
which are your favourite word or name? i feel like i am the daughter of dawn and twilight, so the word twilight is very magical to me. i also love surrender, since it is very powerful and when i think about the word or say it aloud, i feel an  feel of relief.  names like robin, willow and sage, raven are one of my favourites, keiju which is a faery in english.

i wanted to show you one of my newest creation., i just completed the rosary yesterday since i needed to find something to hold the tea dyed paper where i have written "soar". yesterday i did little shopping at the local hardware store and found resin, though it was not in the form jewelry makers use. the resin worked, though there is some bubbles on it, but i love the imperfect look of it.
the rosary is called a blue bird, inspired by joyful little tit's, who really are one of the most prettiest birds.

   

{blogs with a view}

ooohhhh...what i discovered today in a mailbox. a wonderful, mood lifting Somerset Life spring magazine.
Last summer i got an e-mail from Jenny Doh, and she asked if i would want to write an article about my blog. of course i wanted to! I had been d r e a m i n g big time from opportunities like this, that someday some mag would ask if i would want to be involved in pages. i am incredibly grateful and so very happy about this article!
I love Somerset Life so much, that i need to order the first issue also.  The mag is full of beautiful things, which give tremendous amounts of inspiration. There is so many loverly artists we know through blogging world featured in this mag like Andrea, Brandy, Corey and Jennifer.

the blessings of the spring faeries

the spring faeries have started to awake from their winter nests.
there world will be soon dazzling with spring maiden's glory.
i have been visiting few times in a "willow forest" which i can see from our windows. today i walk in there again, and take some twigs for my new little studio {where i just love create new pieces} and for the kitchen and everywhere else. usually i do not take twigs from the alive trees, but i think willow faeries do not mind... and i always thank the trees.

beautiful beautiful frost feathers.

this is the view from my new studio window in a countryside.
you can imagine, why i long so much nature...

my newest isnpiration: rosary jewellery with a twist. the other jewellery pieces i have done, have been just a way to come in here; to discover my own voice with creating jewellery.

{Faerytales}

here is some studio peeks, again. i loved to look at my studio through a camera lens; take photographs from the beloved things & trinkets which capture my soul. i always try to give away things that i do not longer use, since it gives space for the new things for come in to my life...

here is my vintage typewriter, which i use all the time. i think it has become part of my signature, since i use this writer on my sepia art studio products and art.

some of my book covers and Victorian album pages waiting to be part of my art work. the book with a oak photograph will be a nature journal, which has been under progress for quite a while... i wonder why it is so hard to create art or nature journals for myself? those things are almost always under progress. well, everything has it's own time.

Julia Margaret Cameron. My most beloved photographer, has been  many many years.  It is such a pity, that photograph books does not show her work much. when i was in the art school i most loved to be in a dark room, and develop photographs from the beginning. the dream of having a own dark room has been on my mind for years.

some of my vintage Beatrix Potter books, which i have showed you before...
the painting on the wall is a print, but looks like a real painting, since it has been printed on a watercolour paper. it has been painted by my dear friend Anna Barrow. She creates the most enchanting  paintings, full of magic & enchantment.

...someday i will show you my faery & elf doll collection...
on thursday i will move in a countryside for little while, for month or so.
my parents will travel in tunisia, and i will go to keep an company for my soon 16 year old sister.
it will be absolutely wonderful to be so long on a countryside with the trees & birds. i need to pack  lot and lot art supplies & other things i will need, like Miss Potter, Becoming Jane, Jane Austen movies and such. this gives me perfect time to just be with a nature, and collect some treasures from the woodland...like i would have not enough already, but i do like that my studio looks like it would be some kind of museum of great finds from the nature.

the song of the oak leaves

"To pray you open your whole self to sky, to earth, to sun, to moon.
To one whole voice that is you and know there is more, that you can see, can hear..."
-Shaman Song

{nature journals}

It was time for me again to create some nature journals. They are one of the things, which i love enourmously to do!
Today i am travelling in a countryside. The trees are covered now on a fluffy white blanket, so very beautiful. Though i can not wait to see the first spring flowers and first delicate green buds on a birch trees -i do miss spring, since the winter has not been really a winter in here. The spring is usually very late in Finland, since we live in north. The birch are the first trees, where the buds will appear, in may. we will see if the spring is early in this year, i surely hope so. Usually April is very gloomy in here, i hope it will be something else in this year. It would be wonderful to celebrate my 27th birthday on a sunny day.

Next week i want to start decorating my nest with a spring-ish decorations. I will see what i will invent. Hydrangea's are one of my favourite flowers, with garden roses, blue bells, wood anemones, primroses, lilacs, apple flowers and snow bells... It is time again to purchase one. In this spring i want to plant a little window sill garden, i surely need to see more green in here.

the trees who whisper to us secret songs from near and far

When we first arrived in Dubai it looked a lot like Manhattan, whit it's skyscrapers.
Although i loved to see my sister and be part of her life in there, still the Dubai was not my cup of tea:
too much people, noice, cars, pollution and buildings which where constantly build. We visited in 'Irish Village', which was nice. One of the most lovely places where the 'Mémoires' store, which was an incredibly enchanting and full of furniture, paintings, jewellery, victorian era items... there where many tiny rooms, inspired by different themes... marie antoinette, victorian, nature & fairy tale.

We visited in a huge park, which was filled with trees and plants i have never seen. There where so many beautiful trees, some seemed to be very old. In the end of the day i just took my shoes off, and walked with bare feet; feeling the grass and energy of the place. I saw such a beautiful birds and even few green parrots!  The park was inspiring, especially the trees and birds and the shadows which the trees created.

Can you see how the trees hold each other? I did not noticed that when i took the photo. Sometimes i see in nature how the trees give each other space to grow, it is magical.

The leaves on the ground  where over 6 inches long, i have never seen such a large leaves.

I loved these trees, soon i saw them i wanted to touch them. They where waiting for spring to come. It was lovely to see how some trees in the park where in autumn, some where in a summer and some was waiting the sun & warmth. Trees are like big old hands, who radiates life energy and love on us, if we are brave enough them to let them be something else than "just trees". Try to ask something from the tree in your yard, and it surely will whisper answer to you silently. It does not speak with a strong voice, like we,  but through your mind & heart. They carry the messages to each other through wind...

There is more tree photos, but i think i show you just these.

Sky Dancer

I have been very interested about Indians culture many many years.
When i was creating some jewelleries, the name Sky Dancer popped on my mind.
I started to create an jewellery for this imaginative person.
Sky Dancer is an free spirit, who love to lay on a grass and look at the passing clouds and birds.
She is also a person who spends many moments by the trees and has an deep connection to Mother Earth and Father Sky.
Someone who understands the meaning of herself and nature.

sweet wonders of nature

I woke up before anyone else today and saw a *wonderful* view from the window: the snow was falling, softly to the ground, so beautifully that i decided to take my camera and take some photos before breakfast. When i went to pick the newspaper, walking the slippery icy road between the alder and pine trees i fell over few times; one time the camera fell on to my head... sounds funny now to me, but it truly was not amusing at that moment. 
But the scenery was worth of slipping in a road!
Little birds where twittering on the tree tops, so sweetly; it always captures my heart when i see tiny birds fluttering here and there, and twittering joyfully on a sky.
Bird are a good example, that life is something which should not be taken too seriously...they do sing and fly, allthough the day would be gloomy. Once on a dove's grey autumn day i withnessed an beautiful moment, when perhaps all the swallows in our forest flew on a rainy sky...it was utterly beautiful. I thought that they really know how to enjoy from the beautiful moments which mother nature so kindly give for us.

I am not sure why it is so hard for me to post photos about me in here, letting the whole world see myself as i am. Well i am quite shy person, but i think i am also an open book for those who truly want to know me as i am.

Tomorrow 5 am we will drive in airport, and tomorrow 6 pm i will be in a country i have never ever been before. Life takes us places, we have never thought we would go... If i can, i will maybe post some photos from my tiny adventure.

Take care of yourself, enjoy from the twinkle of the stars and twitter of the birds and we will see soon again!

{symbols of the heart}

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked"
-Bernard Meltzer



...send a secret bird mail...



...whisper your secrets for the one you love...



...unlock your heart, and let the pebbles on your path show you the way...



...give a tiny symbol of heart for a stranger...

shadows of the clouds

"whatever the struggle, continue the climb.
It may be only one step to the summit."
-Diane Westlake

Snow Bird

Once upon a time two little birds loved so much winter, that they decided to stay in north during the winter time, instead of flying faraway with their siblings. They started to change their appearance from golden brown to white, more and more each year. Soon the female bird begun to hatch their eggs in end of a winter, instead of spring; pure white eggs, which where dazzling like pearls. Children who saw the birds gave them a name ’Snow Bird’.

The Fox & The Child

Yesterday while watching telly, i saw The Fox & The Child film trailer. My heart skipped a beat. I am in *awe* I have never ever seen such a beautiful looking trailer...
My inspiration was instantly brighter and the dazzling world of magic and fairy tales was streaming in my thoughts. At evening, i read Jill Barklem's Winter Story.
I have noticed that films where is lots of magical landscapes and nature are the most dearest for me (like beloved Miss Potter); stories whispering words of inspiration and make your life look different than it was before...
If you can, go to see this film! I have had not opportunity for it yet, since i am travelling in the countryside tomorrow and will stay there three or four days, However, i am sure i will watch the trailer over and over again.

my heart is a tree shaped feather

”I have to be ever so gentle with the Hope I woke up today…
Maybe today? maybe now?

I lit candles
And made tea.

Alysson said to me the other night,
”you have had success at expressing yourself…that is the greatest success.”
-Sabrina Ward Harrison

I wish that someday I could wake up like this. Feel the litghness within my heart.

The trees look like a crystal chandeliers, with thick snow on their branches. The earth is silent as the fluttering butterfly. The birds have started to sing few weeks ago, because the weather had been so warm and they somehow thought it would be a spring. The temperature is lower now, and I cannot hear any voices when I open the window. The nature looks very soft for the touch.

i have not been writing in here, what feels like an longest time... i have been bit gloomy; the disappointment can truly suck the juice of ”life” from me. Usually i try not to expect anything from nothing, but there is always still the little flicker of hope in my heart, which hopes for the best outcome; change of luck. Some kind of change, which would change.
I have pondered: do i truly belong to the art world? or is there something else i should give my attention to. I know that I have a need to finish my story quickly…

I am just like a fearing child, who wants to crawl under the table. I would like to build a fairy tale tent, where I could drink pots of tea, and just be and feel I am taken care of and nurtured. I want to feel the enthusiasm for something inspiring, build things with my hands with a pure joy.

I think I am just too tired of loosing and hoping…
However, I guess life will change from this to something else.

”We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us”

The green collage is from the deco booklet i created, maybe four years ago? Somethings change in art, but other things change like the typewriting text and the passion for the nature mother.
The other photo is taken on a same time, i so very much adore the trees! They truly are my soul siblings.

bird nests, anyone?

this photograph is u t t e r l y beautiful, don't you think?
i would need an copyright free images of nests and birds.
and wonder if any of you have some images,
which i could "loan" for my art and jewellery pieces?
naturally if i will sell the piece on etsy, i would write that the photo is by you.

the photograph above is taken from the learner.org.
although i would be so tempted to use this photo,
but i dare not, since it is copyrighted piece.