From a soviet block of flats neighborhood, through shopping area, to central Rīga with a park and a bookshop. It follows a real life route, and real life events.

Each page starts with a guidance for the reader on how to read and view the pages, borrowed from musical notation.

Text is written in english, with some Latvian words, street names and some cyrillic letters. Some objects are written, others are drawn. The more background we share, the more “easter eggs” you can find. :)

RISO printed on A2 recycled paper. The paper will fade and change colour when exposed to light. A soft hint to the analogue ad and notice boards, prevalent on the entrances to the neighborhood buildings in the 90’s and 00’s.

The zine is made as part of course Design as Writing while on exchange at Aalto University part of MA in Visual Communication February 2025

Let’s go?

You have arrived!

The end.

Details from the zine:

Houses are silent Zine

Ink Painting Course, self paced for a price of coffee.

Talk to you soon!

When I came back after the trip I already had quite a few pencil sketches. I should make a zine, right?… How hard can it be? WELL…. :)

Let’s name it Belleville!

It was fantastic fun making this zine. Chaotic but fantastic, I learned so much. I also had a deadline: Oslo Zine Fair. All the ingredients for a successful completion: delusion, deadline and an access to a RISO machine.

The metal fences and balconies of Parisian buildings really inspired me. As a tourist I have these ideas in my head about the place, they are very superficial and definitely romanticized stereotypes. These metal shapes echoed my outsider idea of Paris and the shape of croissants and the shape of the sound of French language.

One of the streets which served a diverse collection of metal window guards was named after Gregory of Tours. He wrote excessively about the time he lived in. Including about my favorite queen - Fredegund, born 543. And somehow through thousand years Fredegund also has these twirly metal shapes in my head. Certainly not because of her sweetness or delicacy but because of her schemes, sharp intellect, innovations and complex strategic actions she took.

The drawings are based on somewhat real events and people. It’s a time capsule for the moment through my eyes in a particular place and time. Documenting quiet mundane life and little joys.

What colour is Belleville? And what colours can I do with RISO? It had to be limited palette. I set on orchid and after some experimentation on yellow.

It’s an ode to these two colours and the moody mauve they make.

Most pictures are A5 size, with little notes on the back of the drawings, to create an atmosphere and add a little sound and nice page turning rhythm to the zine.

Two of the pages are A6.

There is a couple on a bridge, and there is a collection of street signs, a poetic depiction of few days in Belleville (ish).

Little dust cover is a folded and wiggly yellow, with orchid ink. Only 33 copies made.

Bound with removable staples, take them apart and you have a collection of mini prints. Keep them together and you have a zine.

The delivery is free worldwide! You can find the zine here.

Talk to you soon!

Viktorija

I love a yearly round up, do you? Maybe not the best of type of roundup, but to sit a little and to think about a year. To make conclusions or just appreciate the year, you know.. be grateful and all. See what to take into the next year. This time in between of Christmas and New Year always feels so special. A moment to realign, to settle, to be a bit ambitious (or not at all) for the next year. To take out that new diary… to dream and imagine.

My look back at 2025 through the secret personal sketchbooks. :)

B SIDE type of sketches. In small notebooks, scraps of paper, making marks while talking on the phone or for the sake of making marks. They somehow are the most honest, immediate and vulnerable. Not for work, not for any particular purpose, just because there is a need for them to come out.

Let’s start!

Beginning of the year was so chaotic and busy and inspiring, I drew all December and January, it was incredible. I moved to Helsinki on the 2nd of January. I’m am doing my MA now and was able to go on an exchange to Aalto School of Art for a semester. It was quite cold when I arrived and very beautiful. I spent my time visiting cafes, museums, going for short runs and admiring the pines and snow.

Studies started and it turned out to be extremely intense until the end of the semester. I sneaked in personal drawing, so I could remember the place. Whenever I make even the smallest drawing it has a power of bringing me back to the place and time it was made, the smells, the thoughts, the atmosphere.

Helsinki is a spectacular city. By this time in March I figured out my favourite places to be, things to do when I had time on the weekends. I would just walk and walk for hours, looking at buildings, be drawing places and then buying new pencils and trying to find a colour to explain the day.

March is also my birthday month. My parents and sister visited. Then my partner came to visit. It was so wonderful. Showing my new and temporary home town was so fun, seeing all the best parts again and again.

Erika took me on a coffee and vintage marimekko shopping trip.

March is a good month.

I would run to Lautasaari, or take a city bike. The path took me through the small islands, with small bridges, through pines and overlooking the Baltic Sea. It was still pretty cold. It was my favorite path, small islands connected by bridges and at the end there were two great coffee shops in Lautasaari. One in an old building with a beautiful garden. I often would cycle past into the city, more Baltic Sea, more beautiful views.

I finally finished reading All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami, the first spread is the quote from that book. I think I was also dreaming about things then, but now I can’t remember my dreams.

May was a delight. Spring, bike rides, yoga, drawing outside, second hand shopping, school work, terraces, coffees outside, saunas. Ron has visited me. We were cycling the whole weekend, going from one bun place to another, sampling and trying to find the best pastry in Helsinki. And spotting dogs. I was wrapping up my time in Helsinki. I was exhausted, I have never produced so much diverse work, I was so SO inspired. I mean.. I can’t explain how grateful I am for this opportunity, as a person and as a creative. It was truly special. The air was like a creative fertilizer for me, this place, the people <3 just love love love for it all.

TIME was so slow and suddenly I blinked and it was time to go home again! I packed up and went to see my parents in Riga before moving back to Norway. We took a road trip to see my sister, I was like a teenager in the back of the car, getting time to draw and overlay different colours.

And then, suddenly I was home! Back with my partner in our cute apartment. It was like I have never left but I was kind of a different person. I missed our life together. I also missed nature and mountains. The next day after I came back I went up Ulriken, our closest mountain. It was incomprehensibly hard to hike up after half a year of flatness. And all for what? A fog, all consuming. I was standing there, looking into the distance as a bird appeared from nowhere, flew around and disappeared into the fog again. So happy to be home. :)

July was long, hot, rainy, busy with work (my product side with prints sold locally) and pencil sketches. Erika and Ella came to visit, I met them both in Helsinki, both connected to a surface pattern class. We thrift shopped in Bergen, ate local fish cakes and went for hikes. They loved the city so much, it also reignited spark for Bergen in me too.

Meeting friends, drawing in the sun, going for hikes, restarting on my Norwegian learning journey again. Happy to be back. :)

My partner and I went to Greece for the first time ever, it was magical. A week of ocean, museums, delicious food. We had a wonderful time, looking at little fish in the ocean and warming up our bones and souls before Norwegian winter.

And I was back at school, last year of my masters!

Back to MA, feels incredible, each new day, something new, a new world and a new opportunity. Growth is quick and steep. Myriam and Suse and I went to Paris and then Lyon for a few days. Yearly trip to recharge creative batteries, soak up design inspiration.

Only pencil sketches from this trip, I then made them into a RISO zine.

These months I don’t have much energy to sketch. But I have made a lot of side projects and publications. Studies get busier and busier with each day.

My parents are visiting and we are doing a lot of things together, like getting almost stuck on top of a mountain and going thrift shopping. At some point as part of my masters project I talked to them about their idea of belonging, heritage etc. I take some notes, I also drew my grandparents summer house near Homiel, Belarus. Built by my grandparents and great grandad. I spent each summer there as a kid. And my mum tells me about her grandmother and her memories of the time with her in the village. My masters project theme is all about belonging and heritage and of course illustration.

Bergens best still life illustrator and a pisces girl Sia, kindly took me along on a little trip to collect seaweed. I made a couple of sketches. It is a busy month work wise and school too. I pickled the seaweed, it is delicious and funky.

December flies by. With deadlines and darkness it feels that days stick together.

It’s my name day on the 23rd and my partner and I have ice cream for dinner. I went for Earl Grey, it’s perfect. We have just turned a corner and days are getting longer.

Now I am sitting at home, it has snowed and it is spectacular outside.

And I hope you enjoyed this post. I hope you had a nice year. I hope you feel light and inspired and hopeful. And I wish you the most wonderful year ahead, my friends.

What kind of flower are you?

I think am I a cornflower, sometimes I am a forget me not. Others I am giant hydrangea, but never a carnation.

❀𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹❀

When painting these flowers I was thinking about all the flower motives in folk art, still lives, patterns, decorations, often considered to be deeply unserious and feminine, I love them even more for that. Last week at Oslo Zine Fest an artist saw this zine and she said she could sense some rage in the flowers. I think she is somehow right. I also thought of my grandmothers and great grandmothers and my Mum, planting flowers, talking to them. These drawings are all of these thoughts and also just sweet flowers. Because everything seems to be better with some flowers.

I made these ink paintings based on the photos of flowers in my phone and memories. Drawn in A6, and put together into a zine, scale 1:1 on pink and yellow paper. I am really excited to be making zines, this one doesn’t have a clear narrative but for me it somehow does, on a feeling level. It’s so enjoyable to be making zines, it’s so playful and feeds into the aspects of creative practice I enjoy the most. Especially the material and tactile part! I am so excited to share these zines also here on substack, I hope to find a fun way to do it. I love how other fantastic designers and artists are exploring this space. :) What do you think? And most importantly…

What kind of flower are you?

coral colour scissors made in the 70’s, blue honey jar with dark blue pattern, peach shaped sugar jar, ceramic jug in baby baby pink (for brushes), paper guillotine (it’s 17 cm on the longest side), butter yellow paper, kid’s scissors which cut paper into a wave.

When I needed to do some observation for my master study (few weeks ago), I went to a local second hand shop. Combining pleasure with pleasure, and taking some notes.

I go to second hand shops whenever I have a chance, I love finding discarded treasures. I am also obsessed with why some people are obsessed with second hand shops. So why do you think it is? The thrill? The hunt? Nostalgia? The only way to have nice things in this economy? Sustainability?

For me it is the surprise element, you never know what you will find. Also how unusual and quirky things are. And how well made they are. Hand painted locally produced porcelain coffee set + a sugar bowl and a teapot + plates, for the price of a coffee and a cinnamon bun? Yes please! Same with clothes, books, furniture.

What was the last thing you bought in a second hand shop?

How does it work with sense of time? January felt forever, February went by quicker than I could blink, March was so long and lasted for half a year, while simultaneously blended into April and I have no idea which is which now.

Erika was showing me around cool second hand shops and we stumbled upon this kiosk selling exclusively Laskiaispulla / Semla / Fastelavensboller sweet buns filled with cream. They also had croissants and candles. Magical place. Winter kiosks so far win over summer kiosks.

March was often sunny, blue skies. My family came to visit, it was my birthday and I also got a cold which kept lingering until late April.

Every night before I go to sleep I open my thrifted marimekko flowered curtains, so I can watch the pines in the morning when I wake up. Instead of reaching for the phone and scrolling.

I made a lot of repeat patterns for school work in February and March. I’m thinking about pines a lot, and other trees, so naturally they made their way into all these forest patterns. Forest patterns in Finland? Groundbreaking. :) But who can resist?

I really enjoyed making surface patterns. Especially if they start analogue, the process is so satisfying. Also somewhat brain chemistry altering, I see patterns everywhere now.

Some of the beautiful trees I saw and now want to show you.

I walk a lot here, and think a lot, when I am not listening to podcasts and just soaking in the environment. I found myself falling into this inner dialog, where a writer alter ego has emerged. Narrating a written novel as I walk, about this walk. Something like that, do you know what I mean? Anyway, I digress.

One of the times I kept thinking about these details on Tove Jansson’s paintings and wondered if I was to make an icon of sorts for my time here, what would it be?

It turned out it will be a butterfly. Why? Because apparently on the 6th of January 2025, I, human adult woman, old enough to feel embarrassed to admit this comparison, that I felt like a one. I will spare you the details of that blanked note between all the butterflies.

But not like a butterfly out of cocoon, not at all, not like shining bright like a diamond and spreading wings. That’s for sure. More of like, flapping, wandering streets of snowy Helsinki.

Maybe I shouldn’t do the butterfly and maybe it should be something else. And then I made a small sculpture. Painted with watercolours. It broke the next day and I have forgotten about it.

Few weeks later one day in February, I needed to make a little collection of patterns. Winter had pines, autumn had birches and summer had butterflies. I’m very pleased with this pattern. One butterfly is wearing glasses and shoes. As always, I quickly forget about it, because the next thing came along.

Then was a relief test print, pressed for time I had to go back to familiar motif. I carved a butterfly with glasses and snazzy boots. The result was fuzzy, silly and not yet scanned so I can’t show you.

Kathleen Kelly in film You’ve Got Mail wrote: “Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one! It got on at 42nd and off at 59th, where, I assume, it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake, as almost all hats are.”

This is the butterfly I am drawing, I think. Butterfly hasn’t bought the hat yet.

Blue butterflies drawn sometime in April while listening to someone talk, the pen kept leaking into the paper, leaving these fun dots. This is the butterfly I thought, this is the butterfly for my yearly logo, with cute wings and blotted antennas. And then the lecture finished, I closed my sketchbook and forgot about it.

I also drew this other butterfly for school work, which unfortunately I can’t share until June but it was the cutest butterfly with these holes and polka dots and it was SO SILLY and so FUN. It is a pattern and it’s adooooorable, I hope it will be bought and made into a product because it’s just too cute.

I forgot about the logo, but I remember about this hole punch idea. Then I go see a friend we hit second hand shops and we buy matching hole punches. They had two.

Then the weekend arrives, I am high on coffee, I spend some time making collages.

It’s spring, it’s flowers, it’s butterflies. And worms in butter yellow. It’s holes.

I have forgotten about that logo idea, also about these delicate butterfly drawn in a line. I can not out butterfly this situation. We have arrived. I have drawn everything I have to draw about butterflies.

P.S. Unless I need to do something quickly and suddenly the only thing which appears is a butterfly.

Also how peculiar is the english word for butterfly?

Talk to you soon,

Viktorija

Has spring arrived where you are?

It’s been a slow slow slow start here in the north. But Helsinki is very beautiful in the sunshine.

Even with temperatures hovering just around 5 degrees on most days all I want to do is be outside. Outside lunch, outside coffee, outside reading a book, outside drawing!!!

I’m so thrilled that my new book launch date is perfectly aligned with a change in nature. Inspiration to take our creativity outside, notice and document all our surroundings!

Drawing Nature has just landed in the shops all over the woooooorld!!! It’s my second book in the series, a follow up to Drawing People. In this new interactive journal, we will be drawing nature, all things plants, flowers, landscapes, as well as looking at some animals and larger themes like perspective and general aspects of making pictures.

The book is a perfect size to take with you to a park, cafe, beach, picnic, walk and more! Full of a diverse selection of prompts and different inspiration. Some with a lot of guidance, others encouraging you to let your creativity shineeeee!

I packed the book with prompts, inspiration, as well as 3 step by step projects. One quite minimal and abstract landscape, one all about mark making and one drawing black and white pets, very graphic. The book has rounded corners and thick paper, you can confidently paint with wet materials like gouache and watercolors (I would be a little bit on a stingy side with the water, do some tests beforehand! :).

Thank you to my publishers and editor for all the hard work, I’m so so excited for this new book Drawing Nature and I can’t wait to see what you will think about it!!!

I’m so curious where my new book will end up. Each time people message me with specific locations they bought the book in or spotted, it just makes my day!

I compiled a list (thanks to some friends, also just searching the interwebzzz).

Of course there is always large online retailers. But if you are anything like me (and I think we share a lot of things in common), ANY excuse for a wonderful stroll to a bookshop for a browse, possibly a little coffee treat on a weekend, maybe a pastryyyy is always welcome!

Either way, no judgment!

Some shops where I know for sure book is available in person, I’m adding a note, others it’s online and you have to check! :)

And if you want your local shop to stock my new book Drawing People, just drop them an email or ask next time you are there.

Finland online and Helsinki in person

Norway online and Bergen, Strandgaten in person

Sweden online

William Dam Boghandel, online, Denmark

Online in Estonia

Smith and Son, Paris, France

Online in Poland

Online in the Netherlands and Bruna, also online

Casa de Libra, Spain *BUT the book will be translated in Spanish, and available in Spanish in the summertime! :)

Wintersmoon, Chichester, UK

Salt Art Supply, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK

Gloucester Road Books, Bristol, UK

Maldon Books, Maldon, UK

Also at Waterstones, WHSmith, Foyles

Pre order in CANADA, Australia, USA and one online shop in Korea.

The book will be available on the April, 1! In some cases it’s already on the bookshelves!

Indigo, Canada, online

Readings online and at Carlton, Doncaster, Malvern, Australia

Fullers bookshop, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Boffins books, Perth, Australia

Farrels, Mornington, Australia

The Book Cow, Kingston, Australia

Kyobo Books, Korea

Online in Taiwan

First Light Austin, TX, USA

Murder by the book, Houston, TX, USA

Online in the US, Strand, New York City, USA

The Bookloft, Massachusetts, USA

Have a great dayyyyyyy!

Best,

“I like to start my notes to you as if we were already in a middle of a conversation. I pretend that we are the oldest and dearest friends as oppose to what we actually are..” Kathleen Kelly from You’ve Got Mail. And I feel exactly the same about this newsletter and you. :)

Hello from Helsinki, if I was making a film the shot would go something like this… I would look you in the eyes and ask:”how did I end up here? “ and then the video would play in reverse until we reach a point were I am in Bergen on a sunny August ‘24 day, starting my Masters degree in Design.

I reached a point in my work, where doing an MA was a logical next step. The time felt right too. With life in this absolutely dystopian political landscape, climate change, wars, as well as the change in our industry I needed to take time to reflect on my practice and let it develop in a way that felt true to myself and my values. This first semester I spent at University of Bergen, KMD (art and design faculty). I love the school, teachers, and my classmates. It’s a very inspiring place. I won’t be sharing my progress and process from my program here, to let the thoughts, experiments and work develop in an unobserved way. I think naturally a lot of the things will still trickle down to this newsletter and be on my instagram and my work.

I applied for an exchange and was lucky to have a chance to join Aalto University Visual Communication program. I’m here in Helsinki all spring.

There is also something fantastic about having done my BA going to Franz Ferdinand concerts and now seeing my classmates singing Franz Ferdinand songs at karaoke as a cute vintage band. :)) FULL CIRCLE.

From one cold nordic country with great design and travels which often involve a train, a bus and a boat I moved to another nordic country with great design with pines and water (less mountains but it’s a welcome change for now). I enjoy it here, fantastic university, great teachers, pines, sea, saunas. Big city, I am walking around and trying to make sense of things and navigate the change, politics, world news and how to get from A to B.

What to expect from this newsletter? I will share drawings of my day to day here, kind of like a diary in Helsinki. Twice a month, or monthly Helsinki dispatch of sorts.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I arrived late on 2nd of January 2025. To an almost empty neighborhood, snow and pines. From a whirlwind of spending Christmas with my sister and parents, to being back home and greeting new year with friends, to hosting dinner for family. And then packing up and moving to Helsinki.

From complete chaos to complete quiet.

I am so proud it took me only one day to pack my art supplies. Choosing colors and materials to take with me was like trying to predict future (as good as a random guess).

I heard people say it was possible to see Venus next to the moon that week, I’m not sure I saw them but I think I did. I definitely drew them.

It was so so so calm in the air. And slippery on the ground.

I love pines and I love being by the sea. Finland is incredibly beautiful in the winter. And it also reminds me of Latvia (the sea, and the pines). I managed to go for a few runs, since it’s much flatter than Norway, so I could actually enjoy running (that’s still a process I am not sure where I am with this whole running thing).

I remember some years ago standing at the National Gallery in London looking at Lake Keitele by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. I was so so moved, I stood there for a very long time trying to absorb it all. I have carried this painting in my mind (or heart?) since. It was some exhibition where the curators paired paintings with musical compositions. And each time I see any Finnish landscape, some water, some pines, I get hit with the same wave of emotions. The place I live at now, has pines outside, and a snippet of a water in the distance at one angle. Some mornings and some nights I lie there in my bed, with curtains to one side, watching pines move with the wind.

First week when I arrived, the whole country was still in festive mode with some bank holidays over the weekend.

I walked around finding a few book and coffee shops in between, which were open.

It was very charming to see the city so still. It was my intention/goal for this year, more quiet, more considerate, more mellow. It’s a direction and definitely not day to day reality.

What have you been doing these months? How did your 2025 started? Did you set some sort of goal? Resolution?

Talk to you soon!

My relationship with my work, with drawing, with instagram, with how I share my work online, how I make money, where I want to go with it all has been changing and shifting so much in the last 5 years I can barely keep up. If I was to share it all I would probably bore you, as most likely all of you are going through the similar mental hoops.

I have finished a huge project early July. As always with all those big projects, I will share about it early next year. Can’t wait to share!

A lot of the time all I could think of (it’s kind of very loosely maybe like 1% is related to the project) is tree shapes, trees, tree branches, tree structures.

A kind of obsession in my mind, a game I play. I cycle and look up, the size of the tree crown, the proportion, the shape of the branches, it expands and arches over the road. I sit in the bus, the bush bursting out and exploding, swallowing signs and bins, the lonely branch sneaking into a path. I walk down the mountain into a field, the grasses are marching, reaching for the sun, taller, taller, higher, they are almost my height as I walk between them.

Remember, remember, remember, take note, next time you draw. Remember, store it somewhere, come back, make a drawing. Excited brain in a middle of a busy project always wants to plan for the time there is time.

There was a week where I could experiment in my sketchbook, all those exploding bushes made their way in. Now both of these drawings are cute cards I sell locally.

One of the things I wanted to share is that, I’ve closed my shop temporarily and rethinking the little the format. Limited edition updates? Only zines and books? Originals? Let’s see!

Bergen in the spring/summer is something else. Such dreamy place. Old wooden houses, smell of the ocean and mountains. Tourists taking pictures of cats, plants, houses, people. Cats staring back.

I collected wild amount of books and reading materials over this summer. And I read a little.

Now I’m reading:

The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World

and I’m really enjoying it.

I haven’t watched much this summer but then I watched Practical Magic (obsessed with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and that midnight margarita scene!) and Death Becomes her (now A WARNING??!?!?!?!) back to back. What a joy!

Talk to you soon!

What kind of explorer did you want to be? My idea was a mix of an archaeologist and an ocean explorer, half Indiana Jones, half Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Swimming with fish and going to find Mesopotamian artefacts. And something involving a beautiful library (with movable staircase).

So far the closest I got to being an archeologist is my colour combination collecting, thrift shop findings of 80’s artefacts, a collection of vintage silk shirts and norwegian tourist association books from mid century. And when it comes to ocean exploration, well, I live by the ocean and I’m ˚.⋆✶ Pisces ✶⋆.˚

The tourist books are enchanting. I’ve collected around 10 of them now. They range from description of national parks to trips advice, to informational books. They are wholesome, cohesive, feature great photography, fantastic illustration, have really playful format, exquisite covers and typography.

And they all poses that special something, that ability to ignite the spark in your imagination and lure you into the adventure.

I’ve used the photos from the books to teach a workshop for teenagers in an art college here in Bergen. We made long format zines (can’t recommend enough). Teens did great, diverse work. I sketched along, showing different options of making the fold out zine.

Two day workshop was part of the free summer school. Kids divided in different age groups, drawing, making, painting. Super good vibe, fantastic building in very center of Bergen (imminently will become an office or flats of course).

Days filled with sun, teacher like levels of coffee consumption and long long long zines.

And such contrast to my day to day, working away. To being surrounded with children, putting together the workshop, to make it inspiring, inviting, kids asking questions, getting materials, oh no they are annoyed it’s too much going on, oh no, now they are bored it’s way too much freedom. So much respect for all teachers, what a job!

After the first day, me and my assistant (also my studio mate and excellent artist) went out to the pier to enjoy the sunshine.

Bliss.

Talk to you soon.

No umbrella and a quick walk around to see this magnificent city. I had an agenda though.

Since 2012 I had this book called Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts). I bought it because of the exposed spine and beautiful graphic design. Photography in the book is so inviting you can almost taste the food. It’s more of a love letter to author’s period in life, to food, produce and the city and people of Venice. I would flip through it looking for inspiration, sometimes for food, sometimes for life.

I had this book for 12 years, and it lived through many moments with me. At the end of the book author (who then went on to open Polpo, where as a young adult in London I loved treating myself to fanc tiny plates) lists recommended places for food, including some places for cicchetti. Tiny sandwiches I stared at for 12 years in this book, with glasses of wine looking so perfectly capable of quenching thirst, healing hearts and give direction in life. One of the places on the list was open, we made our way, completely soaked, hungry, cold… and I am so grateful for this charming place and that we managed to get there within our short stop.

It sold wine mostly, and also cicchetti. The counter offered over 20 different types, with the sandwiches being replenished now and then. We gobbled down an insane amount of delicious cicchetti, with some wine to accompany. Just standing there at the bar, honestly, it was as good as I imagined.

Venice left a really complicated impression on me (I have been here some 16 years ago for a few days).

But here is what I thought the moment we got on the train and wrote it down, so here it is, almost unfiltered.

I felt relaxed (maybe that’s just what I knew from the book, that one ought to feel relaxed in Venice) and wanted to enjoy the moment & just be, walk, observe, soak it in.

It is so iconic, so many times reproduced, and it made me think of Sasek and Steinberg (some of my favourite illustrators), this place is unreal. No surprise it has such a grip on us. What a beautiful, magical, magnetic place. Cheap and fun food, such a good social vibe. Of course, Peggy Guggenheim wanted to have her own palazzo here.

P.S. It’s also vile, overcrowded, completely insane, full of shit, crap food and disposable items for sale.

But thank you for lunch.

The long train trips ended there, and I also went to visit a friend of mine who is studying in Bologna now, I didn’t draw much. Because I was too busy eating, walking and enjoying the sunshine. Also because Italy was such an overload on all my senses I could barely hear my thoughts.

So this March me and my bf started our train trip in Riga, Latvija and went all the way down to Italy! I got to draw a little, read a little, think, nap, and look outside a bit more.

We glided through each city with great speed and greed to soak up as much as possible. In a few places we went for city runs, soaking up the atmosphere and doing a really shallow tour of the place.

Some colours kept jumping at me everywhere we went.

In some places like Rīga and Vilnius, and Warsaw, the trees didn’t even start to have leaves, no blossom, just striking shapes, deep sky, spectacular light. So colours of buildings and environment jumped out more.

Vienna was the first place with bursts of blossoms, leaves and real sense of awakening. And more of that lime green colour, almost yellow, combined with a blue with a hint of lilac.

This time of the year, early spring, the difference between Northern Europe and Southern Europe was especially noticeable.

Each city left a strong colour palette as we passed through. And on one of the long trips I tried to match the colours to places we visited on this trip. And this is my perception!

Do you agree? What colour is your city?

This march my bf and me visited my parents in Riga, Latvija and then made our way all the way to Italy by trains. I love trains and looking outside of the window and the passing scenery. Draw a little, read a little, think, nap, look a bit more.

Sketchbook page from a train from Warsaw Poland to Vienna Austria, it was some seriously glorious sunset outside. Before complete and utter darkness set in.

It was pink, orange, absolutely violent colours, so saturated it was almost offensive. I could see so obviously I was far from home or any familiar sunset. This was different.

Some big older guy in the same train carriage, smelling of cigarettes and extreme boredom 🚬 kept staring at me drawing. He had no entertainment for the whole 7h trip, no newspaper, no headphones, happy to have provided some. :)

It got dark soon. Out of the window I could see just gentle hints of houses, trees, churches, hills. And a light here and there. A lamp or a window, so bright, contrasting that vast and all consuming darkness, it felt very cinematic.

When I came back home to Bergen I drew some more based on these sketches.

Little business card sized sketches below. Tiny paintings with tiny people and trees.

I’m sure I will come back to this motif again and again but that’s all for now!

Have a good week

Welcome to the flipthrough of my holiday sketchbook. I thought it would be fun to share it unfiltered, unedited. :) Hope you find it entertaining!

Visiting the exhibition by Aija Jurjāne, I mention it and I really love her work.

Art Supplies:

Blackwing pencils

Carandache colour pencils, Holbein colour pencils and polychromos, just lots of different colour pencils.

Moleskin A5 set of 3 sketchbooks my friend Femme uses, she is an accomplished illustrator and prolific sketchbook keeper. She uses them to get a sense of satisfaction from finishing a sketchbook. They are also easily accessible here in Norway. I tried and really loved the format and completely agree, the small size of sketchbooks makes me finish them much faster and be less precious!

Talk to you soon!

Aija Jurjāne was born in Latvija in 1944, lived under the soviet regime, witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain, and saw Latvija becoming independent again in 1991.

She was an incredibly prolific artist, producing a huge amount of paintings, porcelain glaze paintings, sketchbooks, and exhibitions, while raising 3 children, being married to another artist, and teaching at Janis Rozentāls Riga Art High School for thirty years.

Aija Jurjāne could be called one of the first, quiet voices in the field of feminism in Latvian art. The overarching theme of Aija’s painting was her family and the everyday experiences associated with family life. In an interview for the magazine Sieviete (Woman) in the 1990s artist admitted that, to her mind, “not advancing any further than the subject of family in her painting was something abnormal”. This testifies to the fact that the theme of family, children and “women” in Latvian art was automatically considered as frivolous, un-important, non-major. We can only imagine what pressure Aija endured, tenaciously continuing this “abnormal” theme throughout her career.

The exhibition is called “The Queens Kitchens” and consists of several different spaces, featuring her work spanning decades. A play on her choice of subject “kitchens” to reflect a working artist and a woman's life and the stigma around the less talked parts of it. From bold, colourful portraits, and still lives, to playful and witty commentary on daily life, finishing in a dome space, filled with bright spring light and her endless sketchbooks and experiments.

She gave plenty of visual commentary on political and social issues. Her art is loaded with meaning and profound revelations, the moments of the mundane life are so relatable and recognisable. They are so considerately observed and reflected. And yet so rarely seen in celebrated art even now, and she was painting them decades ago!

The kitchen of a woman’s life is not just a physical space – historically, many and various hidden rooms have existed, in which women perform their “ignoble” tasks. Aija Jurjāne carefully observed commonplace things such as the central heating boiler or gas stove, a snapdragon in the garden or onions stored in a waste paper basket. By recording the seemingly humble daily life and approaching the kitchen as a worthy carrier of form and content, Jurjāne became one of the first artists who could prove that a woman’s space is very different to a man’s space. She stopped pretending that there are no kitchens in the lives of female painters, or that a “real artist” had to gain the skill of ignoring these kitchens.

Her work to me comes across as joyful, colourful, and witty, it’s so easy to get completely absorbed into her world. It’s so playful, so lighthearted, so passionate, so unapologetic and honest yet carries the emotional weight of times, responsibility and awareness of all the power dynamics in the family, the art world and society. But such a reminder and reflection of the mundane, no matter what happens outside, the dinner needs to be made, the clothes washed, the tv is still on, and sometimes we have health issues. And through all that what happens and does - art.

Aija Jurjāne taught for 30 years alongside all of other things, published two methodical books about teaching art, sketched her friends, and family, gave paintings generously to her sitters, cherished friendships, and family and broke more than one barrier.

What a creative powerhouse! Thank you Aija Jurjāne <3

If you are in Rīga, the exhibition is on until 19.05.24 and you can also read the full article about her there (in many languages including English).

Neptuns published a book with her work, it’s in Latvian but Google Translate is an excellent tool and if you really liked her work, I can not recommend it enough!

There are months when I am so productive, switched on, and produce so much work, I am motivated. And there are others where I don’t draw at all, other things take over, like market season and working on the product side. Writing proposals, fixing websites, and frankly some less productive things. I’d like to say that I use that season to learn, or get inspired (I try) but more often than not I just get into a negative self talk and stress spiral, wanting to create but finding excuses not to. It’s not that I think that we should be productive at all times but not drawing while being an illustrator makes me feel like the biggest fraud. These feelings became bigger since I moved away from London. Possibly it’s just a coincidence because in the last 3 years I worked on two book projects and it took me time to recover after each. Or that away from London I hear my thoughts more clearly.

Best way to shake off the cobwebs is to work with your hands. Well, at least for me. Prior to taking my own advice, when I felt creatively drained this time around, I have tried the following (not full list): watching all the tv shows, knitting, eating impressive amount of potatoes, trying to recreate a vegan tom yum soup recipe I ate in a local cafe, learning how to make sourdough, scrolling on social media and seeing all the amazing work people create, despairing a bit more, buying art supplies in hope of inspo, building a tiny floor shelf for a vase and two books, questioning life decisions, watching Derry Girls, make miso paste from scratch. And then panic and remember that what I really want to do is screen printing, it was one of the main reasons for me to switch studio spaces last summer.

SO I DID!!!! 

And you know that feeling when you do everything correctly when there are people around you to help and then doing EVERYTHING wrong when you are doing it by yourself? And then when you figure out it feels like an incredible success??? Even what you have achieved is simply not a terrible disaster (like figuring out emultion). YESSSSS!!! THAT! It felt magical!!! 

I made an extra long print based on the sketches I had from before. Two colours, beige/orange and blue line work.  Lots of girls, textures and lines. I had to print in 4 goes because of the format.

Each time I came to print it snowed so much. Which made the whole experience extra cosy and sweet. And somewhat adventurous.  It’s a funny memory but the last time I screen printed, was 2018 in London and it also snowed heavy that day. Did I mention I used to live in London? Heheh, joking, but yes… I think about it a lot recently.

With printing you have to be patient, precise and plan in advance. None of these things are my favourite. So I put a podcast on, shot out to Vulgar History, my fave podcast and I got on! It was a disaster at times, great success at others but overall, the process of putting the paper, registering it, pulling a print, repeat… setting the screens and washing them after, cutting the prints was so soothing. Seeing the results was glorious.

I started  the process feeling like a shrivelled soggy abandoned cucumber at the bottom of the fridge and came out of it as glorious zingy crunchy dilly pickle! Working with my hands brought back the sparkle in my soul!

And I’m so pleased with result. I’m saying it so boldly because I can’t take that much credit. Marks and textures decided to happen and I just had to accept it! But the beautiful blue colour and beige/orange textures really stand out and make for a very unique print.

This print now hangs in my kitchen, I see it whenever I cook or make coffee. I stacked it on top of a beautiful old frame temporarily but it’s been there for a month now. It draws my eye all the time. It’s extra long and really breaks the rhythm of the pictures on the wall, window next to it and even objects in that room. The ink has interesting texture and sits on top of the paper, human touch is visible in charming imperfections. 

P.S. I started writing this post in February and today 5th of March sun was shining and spring has finally arrived and I wondered….. that maybe just MAYBE… that Norwegian winters are tough and probably hit you a bit differently. I came to this conclusion today when the sun was shining onto my face, bees flying around crocuses, flies awake and alert hitting windows. My studio mate and I had coffee in the sun just outside of our studio, which is impossible 6 months of the year. And I felt healed, happy, content, zen, positive, optimistic, exhilarated, inspired, anyway.. you get it! So maybe it’s just that, northern winter. We survived this one! What a joy to enter spring!!! :) 

Second one was something I never heard before but the cover was SO beautiful and inviting, I could literally hear lo-fi music and taste the coffee, as if I was inside the cover in the bookshop. Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum

It took me a while to make a connection, both books are about SHOPS! I worked for years in retail. And I caught myself relating to a certain behind the scenes of the shops, things one or the other heroine have to do or think about, like them I sometimes adapted to strict rules and processes of the big machine, and other times day dreamed what makes an excellent shop. And how would it feel to run a little art shop, with workshops, great stationery and art supplies, and excellent coffee. My idea of a perfect shop is The shop around the corner in You’ve Got Mail. And Meg Ryan is a perfect shop girl. What would be your perfect shop? What would you sell?

Back to the books, both written by women, one Korean and one Japanese author. About shops in places which are unfamiliar for me. But I think that’s where similarities end.

I first read the Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. Which was a perfect warm hug. I read it by the fire during xmas break. And I think it should be read like that, really enjoyed, it was such a beautiful warming sweet book. Some reviews of it online were really harsh but absolutely undeserved. It’s a safe space, a secret island and I am sure I will reread it when I need to hide from the world.

The second book I read was Convenience Store Woman and it was weird and disturbing in the most wonderful way! Really enchanting heroine (but like…not likeable maybe?) which stayed with me.

Both books are super fun to read, I would just swap the order. If you decide to read them start with the Convenience Store Woman and then go to Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop.

And if you like weird, playful, surreal books then Life Ceremony also by Sayaka Murata is super wonderful. I red it last year and I’m still thinking about some twists and turns!

But a few weeks ago it REALLY snowed. It was the most the city had in years.

And it was ADORABLE. Everything functioned, people adjusted and some absolutely thr…

Read more

There is 25% SALE in my shop until end of January, so no better time to buy something from me. So let me tell you a bit more about the things I offer.

I hope it will be of interest to everyone who draws, buys art or is curious about the process of printing and making products.

When I moved to Norway I closed my shop for some time and had to do a lot of rethinking about how I sell and make things. To be honest partly because of ethical reasons and also practical, like being outside of the EU and not being able to outsource as easily.

After taking a break I decided to outsource prints and cards as locally as possible. My digital prints are made here in Bergen at a small indie shop with a high-quality printer, only a 10-minute walk away from my studio. My greeting cards are printed in a local koppibutikk, run by women and literally 3 blocks away.

INK

All the prints in my shop (except Bergen Rooftops, Looking for Spring & Lille Lungegårdsvannet) are printed with pigment inks. Why does it matter and what’s the difference?

This type of high-quality digital printing is called giclee. Standard digital printers use dye inks, they can produce high-quality digital prints with great colour representation. The only place where they are lacking is blue’s. But performs well with pinks and bright yellows, that’s why I chose to print some of my motifs with dye inks on bright white archival matt paper.

Those prints are printed at my studio on archival matt paper.

Blue is one of the trickiest colours to reproduce. Did you know blue pigment is very rare in nature? A lot of birds and butterflies we see as blue use optical illusion to appear blue. I tend to use a lot of blue in my work, so having a good blue representation in a print really makes a huge difference. So your print has beautiful colour representation and is a step closer to an original painting. The pigments sit gently on top of the paper, without being absorbed as much (depending on the paper) and often they do look exactly like an original.

PAPER

The paper I use is Hahnemühle William Turner

Hahnemühle William Turner is a traditional mould-made watercolour paper. The fine yet highly pronounced felt structure of the genuine mould-made paper gives art reproductions a striking depth and three-dimensional effect. The premium matt inkjet coating guarantees excellent print results with outstanding reproduction of colour and detail, impressive contrasts and deep blacks. William Turner is acid- and lignin-free and meets the most exacting requirements in terms of age resistance. The characteristic feel and structure guarantees extraordinary Fine Art prints and art reproductions with artistic flair.

I am just quoting from the paper manufacturer, and I must add that the paper is truly exquisite.

So pigment inks combined with textured cotton paper and the final result is as good as it can get and as close to an original. Some prints are limited edition and others are open edition, but both come with a certificate of authenticity. Limited edition prints are numbered and both prints are signed and dated.

The paper manufacturers guarantee lightfastness for up to 200 years.

All of my mini prints are also printed on the same paper and with the same inks.

My process is that I scan my original paintings, which include some shadows created by the layers of paint, and textures of pastels. And once they are printed on this beautiful textured paper they really do look like originals.

CARDS

My greeting cards are printed locally on environmentally friendly paper. They come with matching envelopes. I am having so much fun finding cute envelope colours and making fun combinations with designs. Do you pay attention to envelopes or is it just about the cards?

Will you pay customs? What about shipping?

It depends on where you are ordering from. All orders are shipped by me from Bergen once a week. If you are in the Nordics you don’t have to pay customs.

The rest depends on the customs in your country. Each country has a price limit, for example, UK is £39. So it means that with a 25% discount in my shop, you can buy an A4 print or an A5 print, or A5 + some cards without paying TAX.

A3 size print and you will be charged. You will have to calculate and investigate it depending on where you are, but that’s it, small A5 prints + mini prints and cards are a safe bet and you won’t be charged.

However, I try to split the parcels in two, if the parcel goes over a certain money limit.

Norweigan Kroner is doing quite poorly, my shop is set to NOK and that means you are buying things at a little advantage.

I also offer FREE shipping on all print and postcard orders (except books, I would recommend buying them locally).

All orders are gift-wrapped in cute tissue, with fun stickers. The parcel includes a thank you note and a cute concertina business card. Each print is backed with cardboard and wrapped in plastic in case it happens to be in some wet conditions upon arrival.

I hope this was interesting for some of you who are really into this kind of details! :) I am, from choosing paper to matching envelopes to cards. And getting the cutest stickers for packing orders is my addiction. :)

The 25% SALE is on until end of January!