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 ;)

Spring portrait

Lately I've done a lot of stencil paintings for my stencil series I started to do this year. For a change I did something realistic again. This painting took me about a month to paint. I haven't painted this detailed in a while and I'm actually very pleased with the result :)

Spring( 40 x 50 cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013) model: Muse

The model for the painting is a professional model called Muse. Here are some links where you can see beautiful artistic photos of her:

www.imageofmuse.com
www.modelmayhem.com/justmuse
www.facebook.com/just.muse
 

Stencil painting 5

Here is another stencil painting. A bit dramatic, but I love drama (in art) ;)

I've done several paintings of model Brion Bonaventura before. Here is for example the first stencil of her: nadja-art.blogspot.fi/2013/01/stencil-painting.html 

60cm x 80cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013, model: Brion Bonaventura

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 :)

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance

I recently had a tribal fusion belly dance show with my sister and two other dancers. We got hair and make up done by professional stylist for the show. My look was like this :) once in a while it's fun to look totally different from your normal self :)

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. 

  

My look at the HBF'13

Here is a photo of me at the Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2013. The photo is by Atelieri O. Haapala. 
By the way... HERE is my blog entry about the festival., and HERE are some posters Asko did. 

 

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.

El Terror

El Terror ( 40 x 50 cm, acrylic paint on canvas, year created: 2013)

This is a portrait of my partner Asko. The name for the painting started out as a joke, but somehow the name got stuck to the painting, so "El Terror" it is.
I listened to a lot of "western" music while painting this. Songs like "Man with the Harmonica" and the whole soundtrack of the game "Red Dead Redemption" (haven't played the game myself, but I've watched "El Terror" here play it ;) ).I'm happy how this painting turned out...especially since painting men is not my strength. 

Ennio Morricone: Man with a harmonica: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM
Red Dead Redemption (Bill Elm & Woody Jackson): Horseplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yQjHkoDip0

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

Looking forward to HBF'13

It's the time of the year again for the Helsinki Burlesque Festival. Last year was the first time I attended the event, but it was so fun that I've visited several Burlesque events in Finland ever since.  I'll be going for the event on friday and saturday (so that I don't miss out anything!) and I'll also go to several workshops next week (among others the workshop of Dirty Martini!!!).

My hubby Asko had a photoshoot with a burlesque troupe that will perform at the festival. The girls are the "Savage Girls". They are part of the www.ittybittytease.com.

You might recognize some of the girls from my drawing and paintings :) 
Here is a drawing of Ver De Vil and there are OMG three paintings (!) of Brion Bonaventura 1 2 3. The girls have made the costumes themselves and those stunning head pieces are made by Tiisin'Design.

...and by the way, here is my entry of last years Helsinki Burlesque Festival :)
 all info on this years festival: www.helsinkiburlesque.com