On the Street. Lady With Golden Bag, Aleksanterinkatu, Helsinki

Where is the sun? For many days this has been an essential question here in Helsinki Finland. Grey days are the norm at the beginning of the year. Therefor, when this lady walked toward me on one of these grey days, I thought she was carrying the blue sky that was caught in her jacket, and she carried the sun in her golden bag. Oh, the bag was glittering!

It’s up to her, when she decides to release the the two, sunshine and blue sky. I’m just waiting.

Finnhits. Sauna, Marimekko And Hai Rubber Boots.

Healing Holiday
For many Finns after Midsummer begins finally summer holiday time.  A typical Finnish spend their holidays at the cottage by the lake in the middle of nowhere. A cottage is a place where you can breathe a sigh and leave stress and hassle. The daily dose of healing green woods energy starts to affect right away when you step outside the cottage. Sauna belongs to Finnish cottage life all right. It’s best if you can take a dip into the lake from the heat of sauna.

What to do at the cottage
What else besides going to sauna people do in summer cottages? Simple things that are rare to do in city, like angling from the pier, rowing a boat, picking blueberries and mushroom, chopping wood, carrying water from the well, wash dishes by hand, making food with grill and eat outdoors (literally), throw darts, reading books under the tree, stare the life of ants, walk on wooden legs, read old magazines on the attic, carve wooden boats, laze on the dock watching the clouds passing by.

Favorite things
Marimekko is the clothing brand that has a strong pond to Finnish emotion. Like sauna is Finnish so is Marimekko. Therefor I decided to take something from Marimekko SS 2015 -collection to this illustration. This simple shirt dress made of linen would be my favorite summer dress. The beginning of this summer has been filled with rain showers so yellow HAI rubber boots completes the outfit. The umbrella I borrowed from Totoro, the anime charcter of my favorite animated movie.

Visit the Sauna in Helsinki
Frankly it’s not everybody running exited countryside when holidays dawn. Alone the idea of stinging bugs is too much for some. In that case in Helsinki it is possible to enjoy the pleasure of urban sauna in the city. Some with the possibility to swim on the sea. Website Visit Helsinki offers a good list of all the possibilities.

Personally I would like to try Kulttuurisauna. (Culturesauna) The website is a bit rough but I’m sure Kulttuurisauna is worth a visit.

On the Street. Trench Coat With Umbrella, Kamppi, Helsinki.

Like Don Quixote de la Mancha was armed against windmills, was this lady armed against sudden rain showers with long black umbrella.

On the street. Yellow higlight in a rainy day, Kamppi, Helsinki.

Rainy days are here again. Every day it's better to accessorize with an umbrella or a proper raining coat. Days are getting darker. Then it's very refreshing to see a dose of bright color passing by.
How about you? Could you add some color spot to your autumn outfit?

Catwalk. Louis Vuitton, Summer 2012.

I found a box of pastels from my workroom. Ideal target to try them was Luis Vuitton's eternal flower girls from SS 2012 collection. Experience was like drawing with colored dust. Totally something else.

On the street. Mary Poppins goes Che, Kamppi, Helsinki.

I wouldn't have been surprised, if she had opened her umbrella and flied away, instead of just waiting the bus as usual.

On the street. Color mix, Kamppi, Helsinki.

For the first place my attention was drawn to his green bag made of narrow leather laces like basket. When I asked, he told me that he had seen the bag in Milan, but he had matured to buy it not until the next time he saw it in Rome. 

One day. Walking a dog, Kamppi, Helsinki.

Last week I was watching the wet city from a bus window. I got my eye on this funny white dog against all grey of the moment. Huge bright green umbrella followed this fellow. With this picture I could also make happy my six-year daughter. She has constantly asked me: Why don't you draw somebody with a dog?