Cranes

Gouache and watercolor.

The sun is whispering of spring...

...even though this fluffy little pony was all frosty from the cold, -19 celcius.

Curiously it ran to check out the car when it stopped.

Frosty the white nosed pony.

The horse wasn't too impressed by Niuniu's shepherding woofs from the car.

He calmly contemplated the noices and decided to pay no attention to the fluff that thought he is related to reindeer.

Of course photographed pup also on sea ice.

This is an area, where there are lots and lots of birds in the spring, summer and fall. Now there was just sparkling snow as far as the eyes could see.

Reindeer Feria - Poroferia

We have this annual Reindeer Feria event in Oulu, where the southern and northern cultures meet. Basically the events of the Feria reflect Sami and Spanish culture, mostly concentrating the reindeer and flamenco traditions.

Last year I was there with Niuniu, this year she couldn't come because of her season, would've driven all the male dogs there nuts. This year a friend asked me along. The beginning of the event I photographed in color, but while photographing a flamenco performance, switched to black and white. The color photos are posted in Niuniu's blog (sort of dog oriented post). Black and white ones are in this post.

The performance of the freelance flamenco dancer, Aylin Bayaz, was beautiful to watch.








Lapponian herder.

Fluffy. (Bichon frise, havanais, bolognese...?)


Food!


He thought he was on the wrong side of the fence.


Rudolphina, the frosty nosed reindeer.


The amateur reindeer races - 2 people from the audience always racing against each other.

"I won?!"

I really admired the confidence with which the "reindeermen" handled the animals.


"Just wait and see, one of them is gonna crash right at where we're standing."

Uh oh.

UH OH!

Hey there, reindeer.

A happy couple that raced against each other. They had a bet. She lost and has to cook a meal for him.






The racers were having loads of fun.



Lapphund! And we were cold. And Niuniu was waiting. Time to go home. It was a fun day.

Kingfishers

Watercolor and Albrecht Dürer water color pencils.

I got a painting assignment to paint a Christmas present. Eventually out of the favorite birds of the person receiving the present I chose the Common Kingfisher.

Since I'd never seen kingfishers in real life, I got to know the bird better from pictures and videos. I did some sketching from the videos - the best substitute available to sketching from live birds (and I love the pause button!). After that I did the first sketch of the birds without reference, then with pictures got the details and patterns in place.

After which I spent a couple of nights just painting.

I really enjoyed getting to know these little birds better. Hopefully it won't be long before I get to see some live.

Christmas card to a friend

I said I didn't send any Christmas cards this year...but I did send one. Albrecht Dürer Watercolor pencils on cardboard.

Some photos of Niuniu

Some photos of Niuniu over the Christmas holidays.