. . Hanna Aalto . .

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Siikalahti bird rich wetland has its year of celebration 2013. The exhibition The Bittern’s World – Summer in Siikalahti Wetland reveals the secrets of this unique bird sanctuary. Tens of works of art in the exhibition introduce the visitor to what goes on in the reserve and the species that live there. The blog following the preparation of the exhibition also includes writings about the wonders of nature in Siikalahti.

The idea of an exhibition celebrating the natural environment of Siikalahti had been simmering for years and is now organised as a collaboration of three artists. Hanna Aalto, Pirjo Tikkinen and Marjaana Tykkyläinen have created the paintings, sculptures and installations for the exhibition. The purpose of the exhibition is to display the flora and fauna of Siikalahti and open people’s eyes to see what is happening in nature.

The exhibition starts its Finnish tour at Savonlinna Provincial Museum.

www.siikalahti.fi

I had a chance to participate football tour to Paris. Instead the game, my tour highlights were museums and handcraft stores. I had planned visiting art supplies store, but there was no time for that.

Eiffel tower was of course must place to visit. Weather was colder than in Finland, but we climbed half way up in freezing weather. Last half was done by elevator.

Louvre

The most visited museum Louvre was our main destination. This huge museum is 160 000 square metres large and there were of course no change to see it all. This time we chose ancient Egypt and the most famous art works of the museum.

We arrived just before doors were opened and there were no crowds yet. When we left people were queuing outside to enter. Most of items had their own glass vitrines. Painting halls walls were more crowded. Glass pyramid was surprisingly fine and did not spoil the look of the yard.

Paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci

It was amazing how different style Da Vinci has compared to other artists. His works were easy to spot even if I have seen only couple of his paintings before in Hermitage. Mona Lisa had its own wall and four security guards of its own.

d’Orsay

This museum is dedicated to French impressionism. It was built in to old train station along Seine River. Its three exhibition floors had good collection of paintings and sculpture. Most famous were Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Renoir and Edgar Degas. One floor had art nouveau furniture that I liked a lot. Photographing was unfortunately not allowed.

Mont Marte hill has an avenue called Place de la Tertre where painters and drawers make their work and sell paintings. Most of painters made just mechanical paintings but some were really good. Most interesting was seeing French easels at use. They seemed to be very practical.

This newest illustration is about Wolverines not in the Lapland as usually, but in scenery where almost half of our Wolverines nowadays live.

When I saw Riusuke Fukahoris goldfish resin paintings couple of years ago, I immediately knew that I have to test this technique. I managed to buy one and half litres of this great resin that cures very clear and glass or water like. In these winter conditions it takes 3 days to cure instead of 24 hours promised. It does not shrink so getting the piece out from mould was difficult. Different layers are visible fron side, but not from above.

This test painting is done with acrylics and cosmetic mica. I tested castings with angles (wings) and painting between layers (legs). Latter I have sanded edges down and polished the piece. Next works will be larger and more complex.