Inspiring Women Winter 2017

acquired a small shop front in the city of Helsinki,
which I use as a gallery to show my work and
discuss commissions with clients.
The art of some American and British animal
painters whom I started to follow on the Internet
gave me inspiration and motivation to improve
my skills. I took workshops in the UK with some of
those artists, who further inspired and
encouraged me to continue to improve and
exhibit my work. I do, however, find the lack of
connection between artists and art buyers
surprising, particularly in Finland. Artists complain
about a lack of income from their art but do not
seem to do too much about improving their art
or promoting themselves.
I am most interested in those artists who, in my
opinion, are successful, and I have tried to learn
from them. To make a living as an artist it is
important to be prolific so that there are enough
paintings to sell. It is also important, to experiment
so that there is always something new to offer
collectors. The more you paint, the more ideas
“Darley Thoroughbred Horse Portrait”
you get for future paintings. It is therefore
important to paint every day. This not only means
you practice your craft, but you also continue to develop as an artist.
The most important thing I have created has been a portfolio of four paintings for a wildlife
exhibition in an art museum in the UK this year. The theme of the portfolio was the European
brown bear (or Finnish bear), and I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and took some risks
to create these paintings. These paintings have attracted a lot of attention and gave me the
motivation to push myself this year to provide paintings for two further exhibitions and to
create more abstract work.
I think my most
important artistic
achievement is the
fact that I have my
paintings in private
collections in more
than 15 countries
around the world. I
have also started to
make
good
connections with
people in the art world
in Finland, and have
had a request for one
of my paintings to be in
the “sales collection” in
the gallery at the
Kakslauttanen Arctic
Resort near Saariselkä
in Finnish Lapland.
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