Can I withhold pay if my studio assistant refuses to social-distance himself?
Greetings from the atelier floor – I’ve got something to show to you and I swear it is more than just adorable photos of my dog. The rainbow-hued mixed media piece that cropped up on this blog last week is finally finished. Now named “Pumpuli Enkeli”, it started out as a simple test in blending, on a slightly defective canvas panel. It is quite rare that I have time to experiment beyond doodling on the pages of my sketchbook, so this has been a real treat.
Work in progress Rainbow painting
work in progress
Work in progress rainbow painting
work in progress by Tiina Lilja
“Pumpuli Enkeli” by Tiina Lilja
Long story short: I wanted to see if it would be possible to use acrylic paint markers on top of an oil painting. Usually you’d expect some rejection, but it has turned out much better than first predicted. I used spray-on picture varnish as a blocker between the oil-painted basecoat before adding the line work using acrylic paint markers. A few days later, further two coats of picture varnish were added to protect the finished surface and give this artwork an even sheen.
Only time will tell how it will age, but so far so good.
I have been drawing a lot of floral patterns lately, inspired by one of my favourite books: Owen Jones’ the Grammar of Ornament as well as his the Grammar of Chinese Ornament. Yet it wasn’t Mr. Jones who turned me into a connoisseur of printed cottons. I grew up in a historic textile town of Forssa, in the South West of Finland, so you could say the love of pattern is in my blood. The name Pumpuli Enkeli translates as the Cotton Angel – a nickname of the factory girls of Forssa who worked in the Finlayson textile mills. This is the official version anyway, sanitised by the passage of time. Some old beards who worked down at the mill as lads in the beginning of the 20th century, however, recalled a cruder alternative in a documentary I saw years ago: Cotton C*nts.
Fair enough.
Angels or not, this painting is my tribute to those largely nameless girls and women who shaped Forssa into The City of Colourful Cloth.
The history of my hometown has inspired me to a great extent and I cannot deny the influence Finnish design has had on my work. There are many artists and designers I feel indebted to, with special thanks given to Aini Vaari, who drew patterns for Finlayson in the 1950’s and 60’s. My painting “1958”, featuring her Coronna-design as a background motif, continues to be one of my own favourites.
At the time I was obsessed about mid-century Americana in Scandinavian graphic design, such as the Boston cigarettes pack featured in my painting. It is modelled on a real pack of fags given to me by my builder dad, who had found it under a floor on one of his job sites. Either left behind by accident in the late 50’s or placed there to amuse renovators of the future, the dinky cigarette case was all crinkled up, but as vibrant in colour as on the day it was printed.
Oddly enough, the other paintings I am currently working on, too, remind me of home. Most of these pocket sized portraits feature my immediate family back in Finland. Although I have lived overseas for ten years and a bit, it is this pandemic that makes me feel light years away from them. Tracing the likeness of my dad or my wee sister makes me feel that little bit closer to them when the world seems to be going down the toilet.
Work in progress Portrait of my sister as a kid by Tiina Lilja
Juha – work in progress
But enough of that negativity already. I should be back at my 9-5 in a few weeks’ time, fingers crossed, and in the meantime I have a studio full of paintings to finish.
So happy painting!
Tx
tiina lilja 