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THE TABULALAND DRAWING
The Tabulaland art give away is over and the person who will win a print of Saara Salmi's artwork is Agnes! Check your email for info!
SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES AND A WHOLE LOT OF GLITTER
Here are some pictures on-and-off stage from our first night of SPECTAC-O-RAMA.
The second nigt was last Saturday and even though I was still flush and with a voice that would have made even Tom Waits jealous I made it trough the night; we all did it with a bang and the house was full again!
Spectac-O-Rama is a two hour show with rockabilly music and burlesque inspired by cabaret and vaudeville. Those who have seen our shows in the early years, and our mutual shows with Sweet Jeena from those times, got a lot of old school stuff as we performed our classics like the Western Revue and The Bikini number but with new, live music twists. Birdwatching gentlemen, mescaline cacti, cardboard horses, thirsty cowboys in despair, angry monkeys and so on. The usual. We also had Mr drag n'roll Mia Li Moon and our student troupe the Shangri-La Showgirls on stage - it's rather impressive actually that we managed to fit so many people onto that small space!
Btw. You can see more of our Showgirls and what we've been up to with them and with the rest of our students as well when we organise this year's Under the Mistle Tease - the Christmas show & party of our studio and burlesque school - next week! And here I have to mention that we also have an intern working for us (wooh, adulthood points!) who we so could not have managed without during these nights as she carried a lot of stuff around and did a lot of dressing us up and down during the two hours were we change clothes so many times that I don't even want to think about it now afterwards. We'll, this production is not totally over, new stages awaits later on!
Btw. You can see more of our Showgirls and what we've been up to with them and with the rest of our students as well when we organise this year's Under the Mistle Tease - the Christmas show & party of our studio and burlesque school - next week! And here I have to mention that we also have an intern working for us (wooh, adulthood points!) who we so could not have managed without during these nights as she carried a lot of stuff around and did a lot of dressing us up and down during the two hours were we change clothes so many times that I don't even want to think about it now afterwards. We'll, this production is not totally over, new stages awaits later on!
Photos by Janne Porkka and Tuomas Lairila
BLACK CATS EVERYWHERE
My youngest sister gave me a set of Polkka Jam pastel cat prints for my birthday (she has a history of giving me cat-tings) that I now put up in the kitchen. I've always liked Polkka Jam's prints and I had always thought of putting something on that wall so these came in handy.
The theme of the prints also serves as a nod to our other kitchen, the one in the farm house, with the rugs and wood stove and so on.
And to the cats of course. But that does not even need to be mentioned.
I SEE TALL, DARK ART! - TABULALAND
More art posts coming up!
-because we need more art in our lives, more art on our walls, and art should be easily accessible.
Those were the thoughts of two of my friends, comic artist, illustrator and gallerist Aiju Salminen and producer Saara Konttinen, who thus opened up their own gallery. Online. They wanted to make a gallery with art by contemporary artists, a gallery that would not be the kind that you might dread stepping into, but accessible by anyone anywhere and with art that could be described as strange and fun and easy to approach. So Tabulaland was born. I’ve said it before, I love it when I see talented people I know have a great idea and are able to make it happen just the way they want it!
So what to put on my wall then? Let's look at a few different works.
Ilkka Luttinen: Graveyeard, oil on canvas (300x197cm)
Sami Viljanto: What Would George Lazenby Do? Poster.
Suvi Aarnio: Brainwashed. Stichwork.
Katri Sipiläinen: Snall as Blood, water-colour on paper.
The store and gallery has been up and running for about two months now and an international version of the site (in English) will be available soon.
To enter the give away visit Tabulaland.com and leave me a comment on this post, telling me which piece from Tabulaland you would like to have on your wall. Or which piece is your favourite - when it comes to art I often find I like many pieces without necessarily being able to picture me having it on my own walls or in the house.
Note that if you do not have a site or account linked trough your signature you must be sure to leave me your contact details so I can readh you.
I will draw the winner randomly on the last of this month; November 30!
(On a side note, my skirt is made by me and the shiny heart shoes are by Frollein von Sofa).
STENCILED
Showgirl by Nadja Mikkilä 2014, 40x50cm, acrylic paint on canvas
My friend Nadja has once more honoured me as motif in her series of stencil paintings.
This one is inspired by images from my Chloris shoot with Asko, who also happens to be her fiancé (yes they are a true power duo!). I appeared in one of Nadja's earlier stencil work last year, which you can see here, for example.
THE ATTEMPTS OF PHOTOGRAPHING A SUN DRESS
I came back from some business in town. And as I for once because of that was somewhat dressed up -it's around +30C here now and I mostly walk around in some old tiny gym shorts and a floppy tie top here on the farm - I thought it was time for an outfit post.
Me: I’m wearing a fancy-schamncy sundress so maybe you could take some blogphotos?
Eddi: Ok sure, why not.
Me: but no no, keep the camera the other way, portrait!
Eddi: Ok
But then one of the cats desperately craved attention.
Me: take some pics anyway, cats equals blogpoints hehe
But then a big maddafakking spider appear along my hem
Eddi: I’m still taking pictures
Me: no, stop, stop!
(The actual photo of me freaking out when noticing it won’t make it here though, as I don’t want to flash my underwear to the whole internet.)
Then Dag dropped the watering can on my foot and I lost a chip of my toe nail at the root (more painful than you’d think).
Eddi: click click
Then Dag also wanted to pose for photos.
But in the end we kind of managed to get pictures of the dress as well.
Which is, if you wonder, an Ivana Helsinki dress.
(And which I, however bubblegum coloured and nice it may be, am thinking of perhaps selling next weekend at our Raspberry Fields second hand market -where YOU should come and shop!)
SHOOTING
Our dance studio sometimes also doubles as an impromptu photography studio.
Some days ago I had a long shoot with Asko Rantanen (who shot in our three a few weeks back :) in some of my stage costumes, the results to be seen at some point later!
Nadja Mikkilä took the backstage shots.
AT THE MOOMIN WORLD
Last week we went to the Moomin valley with Dag!
There are certain things you need to do with your kids as a parent and earlier I thought of some with horror . We took Eddi's older boys to Legoland in 2011 and I was a bit stressed at the thought of thousands of over-enthusiastic and screaming and whinging kids all around., plus endless amounts of holes to pour your money in. But it wasn't all that bad though, rather fun actually, although the thought of one day having to go there again as I would want my own children to experience it too did come with a sigh. But now, as a parent myself I was very much looking forward to our first little summer trip with Dag to go see the Moomins! Dag is such a huge fan and I knew he would be thrilled to go!
And he was thrilled indeed! So much to the extent he was overwhelmed and got extremely shy, almost horrified, to meet his favourite characters in person.
The Moomin valley, or The Moomin World as it is called, is in the little town of Naantali in the southwest of Finland, which is a mere hour and a half away from our farm.
Dag was trying to bathe everywhere and get undressed; we've had a heat wave here for some time and the temperature was around +30C; I don't think I've sweated that much outdoors in ages!
Luckily the place is on an island and there is a beach to head out to. The water has become really warm too so even I went in for a swim!
In the style of Moomin-mama I had packed a picnic with us, with home-made cherry cake. There has been so much cherries this year! I had made ice tea the night before with dried apple and fresh mint that I'd put in the freezer over night. It served as a cooler in the basket until our picnic.
Dag was totally digging the character's show, getting to hear the moomin song live.
(I have a student from Naantali and she told me almost every one has worked at the Moomins at some point of their late teens. On days like this I felt sorry for all of them in their thick suits... )
Most of all Dag wanted to go see Mårran (The Groke) though. Or, to be said like this: *gasping for air* -Mårran! So we scared him for life by actually visiting her. The first time he ran out from the cave screaming, but after some time he wanted to go again. This time safely in the lap of his father but it was apparently a very terrifying experience nonetheless, which he the following days proudly remembered.
Afterwards we took a walk around the town of Naantali. I haven't been there before and had no idea it was such a pretty place.
We had dinner at a restaurant by the sea.
Dag was happy with his new characters, as always organising them in very neat rows in different order, just before he fell asleep, exhausted and happy. He wanted to wear his entrance bracelet for the rest of the entire week.
(Nothing in this post has been sponsored or paid for.)
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