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Ulla Simonen

@ullaaino

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Valkosipulien kasvatus on mahtavaa, etenkin kun onnistuu. Tänä vuonna onnistui: 78 istutettua kynttä, 78 sipulia. Omavaraisuusasteeseen on riittänyt vähempikin.
Mun kuivatustelinekeksintö viime vuodelta on edelleen aivan mahtava, vaatteet roikkuu joitain viikkoja tuolin selkänojalla.

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#growyourownfood #ikeahack #valakolöökituoksuunaapuriinasti by @ullaaino

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2 months ago

My last ten days of #dothe100dayproject went into this one flower. I should have taken geranium silvaticum first instead geanum pratense, as i could not find a good reference pictures of the plant and the whole project got halted for no good reason. The silvaticum (mesäkurjenpolvi) is blooming right now, plenty of species to be studied.
Therefore my end date is also off, and images did not grow into a hundered in the end.
This herbarium project is however far more interesting and will keep up with that. Am picking flowers I suspect the young student in 1949 also picked, to collect samples and references, before i find them from the fragile pages.
If I were to begin with the 100 days now, I would choose a format of paper and a subject, at least for a week at a time. Yet - this has been fun, I’ve learnt heaps.
Any favorites from the pictures? by @ullaaino

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4 months ago

#dothe100dayproject my days between 84 to 89
Managed to do the next plant in the herbarium.
Field forget-me-not. Rather approriate as this is the herbarium from a friend’s relative, and the flower was picked 1949.
The plants are so fragile, i can’t go back and forth, so will keep a tab on the dates as I go. I did some rehearsing (last pic), which helped nada as i try to draw the plants in their real size and forget-me-nots are in their field size very very small.

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Edit: Ystävä, jolta kasvio saatu on Jukka Lehtinen. Piti tägätä, tein hänestä vahingossa rinnakkaistekijän, eli tämä selitykseksi niille, jotka eivät minua tunne. Edellisessä postauksessa selitystä lisää.
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@jukkalehtinen
@dothe100dayproject
#forgetmenot
#myosotisarvensis
#herbarium by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Days 81-83 in the #dothe100dayproject
I’ve began working with another project, that’ll take much more than the given 100 days. Since childhood I’ve wanted to do a herbarium, not to collect but draw one. Never really knew how to go on about it though, but have thought about it throughout the years. Around the time this challenge began, I recieved an amazing gift from artist @jukkalehtinen a herbarium collected by his relative, Iikka Lehtinen.
Such a treasure! What I will do, as shown here, is that I’ll study the plants from Iikka’s herbarium to draw and paint them back to their colours.
Went back to my schooldays and picked ink and blade to write.
Am still undecided if I should write the latin names too, so far only the Finnish. Also - with or without the background and wheter I should draw them with ink too or just use watercolour?
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Musiikki tietysti Sirkka Lautamies ❤️
@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Between days 77 and 80 I worked on my sketch book, one colour at the time. Learning and failing, but still showing up and showing it to you. I need to find a new cool red, the one here is cadmium deep from the Rosa watercolurs. It mixes well (the oranges yellows are cadmium lemon and cadmium yellow) but alone it does not speak to me. (Also the drawing sucks, but hey - I did show up)

The last 20 days of #dothe100dayproject I will actually begin a whole new project, pretty excited and have no idea how this will pan out, am not even sure if I can produce an image a day.
Images of the new project coming up in the next post!

Musiikki on ihan algoritmin suosittelemaa 😂
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@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Days 74-76 of #dothe100dayproject where I went digital on the day 76. The analog evolution in the images after. I did the pattern manually, messed something as you can see in the image three, it is a quick test with phone. I took the image to photoshop, where the work is still unfinished, the first image here is finalized with procreate. Am learning how to use it. Last two images are tests with watercoulours.
The paper is for sketching and it does not handle water too well. I wanted to do a golden backround but it was not so nice, so tried other colours and mixing the gold with yellow ochre.

When I was young I thought I could never learn how to work with watercolours. I used to use similar type of paper as this one, or even of poorer quality, no wonder I did not get the results I aimed for. Paper is way more important with watercolour than the colours themselves or brushes.

Tomorrow on day 77 will move on to someting else, will continue with the photoshop version of the pattern later.

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Music because it’s eurovision time. #tipitiitipitipitipitiikevätonvallaton
#pattern #birds #watercolourpaper
@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Midweek post - whoop whoop!
I did last week a bookmark and could not get the post to show it fully, therefore days 71-73 I’ve worked on this trio, and post them all together. Originally I planned drawing on top of the watercolour, but I quite like the look this way. My first time working on Hahnemüle paper and I get why so many like it. Does bring the best out of just one layer of colour.
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#dothe100dayproject
@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Today marks the day 70 in the #dothe100dayproject
First one of the images is day 70, iteration from day 69, swipe to see. Images again in backwards order, until day 64. Did more drawing this week, the first three of Physalis alkekengi aka Chinese latern were inspired from the actual plant in my garden, looking like this after the winter. Earlier in the week I wanted to do some fineliner drawings and used old watercolour images as bases.
Looking forward to see what will next week bring?
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@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Days 57-63 of #the100dayproject
It’s all about the birds! Managed to fit some of these into lengthier meetings as a way to stay focused.
Images in reversed order, the last two pics were something I did last fall, now came back to them. I had done them to learn about washes, idea was to do something plain but they turned blunt, so now wanted to do something to the birds.
Then I wanted to mix colours and that’s where the parrots came in. I had the patience to make two colour wheels, warm and cold, and parrots are the left over colours from the mixing. I had somekind of rules there, but forgot and went with a flow.
Which then lead into a need to work with more realistic birds (pic 2) and the first image of a blackbird is again one that I used as a swatch to check the colours and then just did a wash with any leftovers. Quite like it.

Also got out of the anxiety of reporting and showing when I found @kevinjamesthornton page, who, while painting, talked about the idea of giving yourself a permission (also of many other lovely and funny things, but this especially stayed with me).
I realized that’s what this painting/drawing is for me in it’s core, I’ve (finally) given myself a permission to draw, to paint and while doing I am learning perhaps of drawing/painting but mainly of myself.
Thanks to Kevin giving me words.
Off I go for the next week. Possibly less birds, more people?
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@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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5 months ago

Here are the days 50 to 56 of #the100dayproject from me.
Mainly something that was a work in progress all week. First picture is of where I ended, and one process pic after that. I began working with the colours, mixing different colours with english rose from ROSA and that’s the grid. Then I did not know what I would do, so I began making flowers with white, I thought I had a guache, but turns out, this white works like a watercolour and it mainly vanished.
Anyhow, it felt extreamly unsatisfying. Instead of doing something that sparks my creativity and brings me joy, I was doing a task. Lately, I’ve had a lot of tasks and I really did not want one more.
So I actually did not do anything for a two or three days. Friday I passed by an arts supply shop, popped in - and ran into our former president Tarja Halonen. Chitchatted about the shop and drawing with her, what a lovely moment!
I left the shop with a new flat brush(pic 3), did a page of washes, then took a stick and continued with scratches and just drops of colour. Very meditative and it got me out of that frustration.
And then the rooster appeared on top of that grid, enjoyed drawing it a lot.
Next week I will work on some unfinished images and prepare a completely new project.
Have a lovely week!
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@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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6 months ago

Days 44-49 of #dothe100dayproject
More images than days as a result of sketching and finishing of some WIP’s. For sketches I used my small travel primary colour set, with the exception of the gate image finished at home.
Sketching in the public and then posting it, are both super scary and humbling experiences, especially as I tried out a new method to me, using brush with a water container. Bad brush, but easy to carry water and mix.
Little bit easier both mentally and working wise are the older ones I managed to finish, the ginko leaves and Neomarica northianas. A lot to learn about light and shadows.
Challenge is half way, am tempted to try out a format of some sorts at least for a while.
Added here music, as the algorithm suggested me @thisispattismith Dream of Life. A great choice from AI, this is an album that was very important for me while I did my art studies decades ago and was so scared of everything and really brave at the same time. Also the time I discovered Patti Smith, first the music, later the photos and books. So the song is very approriate here too. Will go now gardening, more of this next Sunday.
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@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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6 months ago

Back reporting #dothe100dayproject
Days 36 to 43. After the drawings I wanted to use water colours, but it was difficult to begin, so I did some colour splashes, turning them into chickens and people.

Then into detail work with Neomarica northiana, the two of them, both still work in progress, as is the ginko leaves I drew some time back.
Almost half way of the challenge, if I would begin now, I would take papers of the same sizes and decide a weekly subject or a theme. Maybe to the latter half?
Next week will go into a sketchbook.

@dothe100dayproject by @ullaaino

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6 months ago