Etsy Update: Spring Flowers

This print tended to be quite popular, so I decided to go ahead and make a few greeting cards out of it! Sail into the season and send a couple of spring-y greetings. Your friends will thank you for it :) These are available for $4.50 each or you can order 4 of any card for $16. Head over to the shop to purchase. 

Also added are the original watercolor paintings of a few of my prints and cards. I won't be re-printing most of the originals added so this is your last chance to get them :) See them in the widget below or in my shop.

Wildflowers

 in the fields, she stopped and took a deep breath of the flower-scented air. it was dearer to her than her kin, better than a lover, wiser than a book. and for a moment she rediscovered the purpose of her life. she was here on earth to absorb its wild enchantment. ~ boris pasternak 

painting doesn't always come easy for me. in fact, this painting took a lot of effort and toil to push past the doubts and dislikes in my mind. but sometimes, in those rare moments, once you reach the top of mountain, all it takes is a little push over the top and something beautiful starts to form, quickly and suddenly. this is what came of my afternoon the other day and i ended up working an hour later than I was supposed to just to reach the finish line. i have to say, i am quite pleased. though, i have yet to decide what to use it for. ideas are gratefully accepted.

My Bedroom Studio

 One of my business goals this year is to blog at least once per week. The goal hasn't felt all that daunting, except when it actually comes down to putting a post together. Especially on a day like today, when I have no energy and blogging is the last thing I feel like doing. But I do have something to share, nonetheless. My week last week was spent working hard on a commission and on my Etsy shop. I'm planning a few new things for the shop this year. And I already did add a special one-of-a-kind item, but you may have missed it because it sold within hours! I'll be adding more, though, so keep your eyes peeled! 

The week before, I was able to organize my work space to actually get some work done on my desk (which had been previously acting as the catch-all table). Because of our limited income and lack of apartment space, we had to get creative with my "studio". So here's a little peek into where I work. M rescued the table before it was thrown in the trash from his work this summer and redid it to make it a beautiful treasure of a desk. We carved out an area in our bedroom where I can work without the hassle of cleaning everything up when guests come over ;). I'm still working on filling the blank space on the wall, but so far, I'm loving my little studio. Some day, I'll need something bigger, but for now, it is the perfect space to work. Oh and what was I working on? Well, here's a teaser...

A New Home

You may have seen this floating around if you follow me on Facebook, but I was working hard last week to get this little something ready for launch. I am so excited over my brand new website! I've been wanting this for over a year now, but it's taken quite a bit of work to get things in order and start to build a portfolio. I'm thrilled to say that after many hours of toil and a bit of investment, it's finally ready.  I don't have everything up on the site yet, but there is a small amount of work to look at. I feel so professional- my own domain! I don't know if I ever dreamed that I would have a website so quickly. 

As of right now, I still plan on keeping this blog space for a while longer. Eventually, I want to have everything under the site umbrella, but I surprised myself with how attached I am to this particular blog! Tales from Bottomley Cottage has been through so much already since I started it in 2009 and I'm hesitant to abandon it. It kind of feels like a part of me...an extension of who I am and how far I've come. Maybe I'm making it into more than it is, but either way, for now I'll continue to blog here. 

But please, head on over to the site: www.jennihaikonen.com to check it out! I'd be honoured to have you look around. And if you have questions or comments, I'd also love to hear them. You can comment under this post or send me a line at my email. 

A Wintery Cottage

And here's my second instalment of my Christmas card paintings. I was very focused and motivated and finished this one within a day! I received the idea for this image from my dear friend, Bethany. We both have an affinity for the still and peaceful things at Christmas and somehow being at home (wherever that may be) often brings about those peaceful feelings. This particular cottage is also inspired by the Scandinavian roots of my husband. That little paintbrush in the last picture sure does a lot of work in a day. Good job, little paintbrush, good job.

Look for the finished products in my etsy shop soon! Also, if you missed the winner from my giveaway on social media, congratulations to Tiffany (another dear friend) on your new piece of art! 

A Deer in the Snow

You may have seen this little guy poking around instagram in his unfinished state, but I managed to finish this off yesterday morning and snapped a few more shots to show for it. I'm thinking ahead this year. I don't usually do that- generally, I'm a present or past thinker. I like memories and nostalgia so I often dwell on those, but this year I forced myself to think ahead when I was asked if I was going to do Christmas cards again. Upon a very small amount of thinking, I decided I was going to! I may be selling last year's designs, but it's time to expand beyond those, as well. So here it is: the first finished illustration for the Christmas season! All I need now is for a greeting to adorn the front of the card. Any suggestions? 

Behind the Scenes

This is what my art life has looked like lately. Everything started, nothing finished. Well that's not completely true- I did finish the butterfly painting, but it was a gift and I completely forgot to snap a finished product shot! My sketchbook is finally getting filled again, though. I've got lots of ideas and I'm attempting to remember to sketch them down rather than leaving them jumbled about in my head! You may have seen this last shot on Instagram, but that was the cropped version. As you can see, I pushed a whole lot of clutter out of the way to make a cleaner final shot. I especially like my foot poking out on this one ;) Oh the things we do to alter reality! 

Although I don't have much to show for the work that I'm doing, all of this behind the scenes stuff tends to take up a fair amount of time so I feel like I've been working hard! I'm thinking ahead for once in my life and planning projects months in advance. Including...Christmas cards! I know, it sounds a little early, especially when Thanksgiving hasn't even passed yet, but in order to get them ready to sell in November for all of the eager beavers, I'm taking action now. Keep an eye out in the weeks ahead for more on that. 

And one more thing, be on the lookout for a small announcement to be published very soon...ah the suspense!

Commission #4: A Dog Portrait

 I love new challenges- I think that's part of why I love being an artist...there are always a variety of ideas being thrown my way and so many new beginnings to different projects. I was asked recently if I would consider doing a dog portrait. I actually had never considered this idea before, but after pondering it for a while, I started to get excited about the possibilities! She didn't give me many boundaries in design which is always my favourite kind of project. :)

 This specific pet portrait was to commemorate Felix, her dog, who passed away suddenly. From the pictures I saw, he seemed like such a sweet little thing. I got the sense that he was playful and fun. She told me that he loved playing outdoors with sticks, so I wanted to include elements of nature in the design.

 Halfway into painting, I was feeling so frustrated with how Felix was turning out. I was even considering just starting over. I just felt a bit of pressure to represent him well and wasn't sure that it was going to happen. And with watercolour, once it's painted, there's not much you can do to change things. Luckily, I pushed through and kept at it...and before I knew it, I was thrilled with how he was coming together. So, just goes to show, if you work hard at it, you never know what can happen! There. Cliche inspirational quotes are always a good way to end a post.

The World Was Made For Me

I'm really feeling excited over my most recent painting project! I've began to look to words for my muse. Although I studied plenty of poetry in high school, I only started to really become interested in it a few years ago after watching the historical film, Bright Star, based on the life of John Keats. I've always had a love of words, but I began to discover the beauty and imagery that can be created using words. And recently, I've found poetry to be the perfect platform for illustration- bringing that imagery to life through visual representation. Readers of poetry will most likely have many different images that come to mind when reading, but this painting represents the image in my mind of a poem by A.A. Milne from his book, When We Were Very Young. It's a simple representation, but I love the mood it creates and I hope that it does the poem justice. This poem, The Island, follows below:

The Island

A.A. Milne

If I had a ship,

I'd sail my ship,

I'd sail my ship

Through Eastern seas;

Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder-

The green curls over and the white falls under-

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the sun-bright sand.

Then I'd leave my ship and I'd land,

And climb the steep white sand. 

And climb to the trees,

The six dark trees,

The coco-nut trees on the cliff's green crown-

Hands and knees

To the coco-nut trees,

Face to the cliff as the stones patter down,

Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling,

Round the corner where the rock is crumbling,

Round this shoulder,

Over this boulder,

Up to the top where the six trees stand....

And there would I rest, and lie,

My chin in my hands, and gaze

At the dazzle of the sand below,

And the green waves curling slow,

And the grey-blue distant haze

Where the sea goes up to the sky....

And I'd say to myself as I looked so lazily down at

the sea:

"There's nobody else in the world, and the world was

made for me."

Expect to see this one in print form very soon...

The Start of Something New

I'm inspired today by the smells of spring blooms, poems by A.A. Milne, and the sounds of Chopin dancing through the apartment. My Red Velvet tea from David's isn't so bad either. And so begins a work in progress. A ship headed for unknown places where land meets sky and slow waves thunder. Maybe I'm losing myself in the image, longing to travel to vast and wild spaces... sometimes it's easier to lose yourself in a picture than face the urban world surrounding. This is what dreamers do I suppose. And maybe once this painting's done, you'll lose yourself in it, too. 

Flower Illustrations & Shop Update

The beauty of spring is more than upon us and I am delighted by blooms, flowers, and the smell of awakened earth. I haven't been updating this blog as much as I'd like, but I'm spending my days painting and creating. (More on that subject in this post I wrote for The Common Creative). I'm inspired by what I'm seeing around me and by other artists' creativity. 

These particular flowers are being painted for my sister's high school graduation invite. She wanted something unique and I am honoured that she asked me to design one for her. More on that to come in the future, but these are little snippets of illustration for the design. The invite will be filled with splashes of coral and gold and I'm excited to see it come together!

In other news...I've added prints to my shop! I was so excited when they came in yesterday- they look so great (if I do say so, myself...). Head on over to my Etsy Shop to take a look! I'll be adding more in the coming weeks so keep an eye out for more updates. 

Sketching Day

It's been a little bit quiet around this blog lately. I've been working hard on a whole bunch of things and haven't had a whole lot of time to update. Including a few fun things over at The Common Creative. And we're hosting a contest today for a lovely necklace. Enter to win here! But I've been plugging away at a few art related things as well. I've been receiving commissions and they are taking priority over any other paintings of my own. Here's a sneak peek at some of the sketches for these projects. The drawing with the deer will be a customized woodland wall illustration piece and I'm also working on designs for my sister's graduation invite. Such fun!

Are these tulips not the prettiest things you ever did see? I am in love with the colour! They remind me of poppies and poppies are one of my very favourite. 

If you are looking to have illustration work done, whether it be a wall piece, invite design or custom blog details, I would love to help! You can contact me at jenni.haikonen8@gmail.com.

A Fox in Flowers

 You may have seen glimpses of this piece as I've been posting the progress on Instagram and Facebook (Oh what? You didn't know I joined Instagram? Well, you can now follow me here!), but here's the finished piece. This content little fox makes me happy. She embodies how I hope to feel once spring weather rolls around and the sunshine reappears!  

I hope to soon have a small print of this painting available along with greeting card prints in my Etsy shop. Anyone else feeling ready to embrace spring?

The Common Creative

I am so very excited to share with you the launch of a new project I have been working on for the past few months with my sister, Kristen. We have decided to collaborate and create a space for us to connect in the form of a new lifestyle blog! It will be filled with fun adventures and crafty endeavours. The focus on my personal blog has evolved into a space to share the art that I work on, but this new blog will allow me to share other aspects of creativity as well! So, if you follow Tales from Bottomley Cottage, come follow along in this new journey at The Common Creative! 

The Common Creative:

Site

Instagram

Pinterest

Bloglovin'

Wildflower Deer

In case you missed it on Facebook, here's a shot of the project of the week!

Painting Poppies

Sometimes when it's rainy outside, flowers are all you can dream of.

On Feeling Homesick.

Sometimes when you feel like you can't do anything else, it's best to just paint. Today is one of those days...I woke up and immediately, life felt grey and I was homesick. I had a list of things to get done but have crossed nothing off the list. I feel stuck... yet somehow I feel inspired to paint valentines. Maybe it was the result of watching the latest episode of The Bachelor, or maybe it's because Valentine's Day reminds me of home. Either way, picking up the paintbrush again after a few weeks feels pretty good. Hand painted valentines are coming your way (after a few more romantic movie indulgences).

Holiday Art Market

It's -2 (celsius) here today. Some people find this cold here. But it also means it's -28 in Saskatchewan. I'm terribly sorry to my fellow prairie people. I think cold weather gets me thinking more and more about Christmasy things and Christmas gifts. And I'm excited to announce that I will be taking part in an art market, which just happens to be a fantastic place to get a Christmas gift! If you are in the Vancouver area (or want to travel a distance for a great show...) come on out to the China Cloud Gallery on Saturday, December 14 for a fantastic holiday event featuring some great local artists (including myself!). And with free entry, door prizes, hot chai & cookies, you really can't go wrong!

Bottomley Cottage: An Etsy Shop

I have exciting news! I have now officially joined the realm of Etsy sellers...I have my own shop! This is something I have been dreaming of doing for a very long time and it's finally happening! And I am incredibly thrilled. I love painting and I love paper so I've combined the two in my little art shop. I've named it Bottomley Cottage as an extension of this blog and will hopefully be selling many of the pieces that I'm working on that are shown here. Right now, my featured items are a few Christmas themed cards that I think are the perfect way to send a holiday greeting (hint, hint...). So, please head on over here to take a peek at what I'm selling (soon there will also be a link on the side of the page) and I would love it if you would share it with those you know :). 

Paint Day: Candlelight

Today, I'm lighting candles all over the apartment and attempting to recreate them in paint. Fun little fact about me: I used to have a fear of candles/fire, but since marrying my husband who loves candles, I have slowly been overcoming it. I can now proclaim that I even LIKE lighting them. Wild stuff, I know. Today, I had 5 candles lit and I do declare, they were pretty!