Moomin and a groovin' on a sunny afternoon!

Most of you reading this blog may recognise the well-known character featured in the video above. His name is Moomintroll from the Moomin books and cartoons. The Moomins were created in the mid-1940's by Tove Jansson, a Finnish novelist and painter. Since then it has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Personally I never understood the attraction of the Moomins when I was young. Growing up as a child in Ireland, like many other Irish children I spent a lot of time reading comics, books and looking at the television. Back then in the 1970's Irish television consisted of two national channels and three British channels. Most of the cartoons shown were from the US or the UK. So we had a huge selection to choose from. I can remember cartoons such as Battle of the Planets, Scooby Doo, Hong Kong Phooey, Wacky Races and Spiderman from the US. And then we had the likes of Mr.Benn, Captain Pugwash and the Mr.Men from the UK. The Moomins cartoon may have been shown occasionally but I never noticed. Any cartoons about a small white hippo-like creature didn't stand a chance against the all-action american cartoons. Not on my television anyway! We also had a few european cartoons which I thought were a bit strange. They mainly came from old countries like Czechoslovakia and East Germany. I later found out that some of them may have contained some East German propaganda! 

While I ignored anything to do with the Moomins when I was young, I have educated myself a little on the characters and their creator since moving to Finland. I reckon that small white hippo-troll might be a good creation for kids after all. There's no shortage of colourful characters and imagination there, that's for sure!   

Last summer I discovered one place connected to Tove Janssons famous little characters. It was Moominworld of course, a small Moomin theme park based on an island at the town of Naantali or Nådendal in Swedish. While it costs to enter the Moomin park enclosure itself, anyone can simply walk over the bridge walkway and on to the island. There's a nice little Moomin cafe there to sit and enjoy a coffee and the sun. And after that it's only a short walk into the nice Naantali marina. Here there more cafes and restaurants, including a great little boardwalk along the marina where you can find some bars with cool outdoor seating areas. A nice place to enjoy a cold beer and hear the radio playing 'Groovin' on a sunny afternoon'.

Naantali Marina, Finland

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to hang around all these nice places as I had to get back to the Naantali Spa Hotel were I was staying with my better half, courtesy of a nice little gift token given to us by some Finnish friends. Such was the irresistable pull of a hot jacuzzi and a few beers in the residents bar. We just couldn't help ourselves, you know??? :)

Next time I go back to Naantali, I will try to stay somewhere closer to the town centre. Here's a little video clip I made from the photos of my stay in Naantali.  

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Slow but Sure!

This is a little design I made up for the regional library in Raseborg where I now live in Finland. The library arranged an art contest for young school-children during the holidays in Autumn 2009. This contest was to help towards inspiring and developing a new mascot for the children's library and website. Over 100 children took part in this contest, and 20 of those images entered can be viewed on the video clip below. All of the childrens drawings were excellent, and it proved quite difficult to pick out one from them all.

I was asked to choose just one of the entries which I felt could be used to become their new mascot. I developed this winning entry of a simple snail by Nelly Wallenius into a suitable mascot logo for the Raseborg Children's Library.

I chose the snail for several reasons.

Firstly, it's a very easy image for children to recognise.

Secondly, the snail is too often associated with being slow. But being slow doesn't necessarily mean coming last, as we know from Aesop's fable of 'The Tortoise and the Hare.' With a little more knowledge some things can be done quicker and more efficiently. Sometimes it can be worthwhile to do things at a 'snails-pace' instead of rushing into them and getting it all wrong. Realising and understanding the consequences of their actions is an important part in the development of children I reckon. It can be good practice for adults also. We all know the snail is a slow creature who certainly takes it's time. Reading books can also take a lot of time. But in the end the reward can be all the more worthwhile.

My third reason for choosing the snail was simply it's shape and suitabilty for integrating the colours of the Raseborg crest.

Here's a short video of how I created the new mascot for the Raseborg children's library.

This isn't the only time I have been involved with art relating to children.

While I made this snail design entirely on a computer, I have also hand-painted some children's characters before as part of a Christmas display back in Ireland.

Here are some old photos of those paintings I made for the walls leading to Santa's Grotto at The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin a few years ago.

......and here's a few groovey door signs I made for some kids in Finland.

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Please share it with your friends.

Alan.

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The Puppet Master's Farewell

I just heard sad news about one of Ireland's favorite characters Eugene Lambert who died suddenly at his home in Dublin last night aged 82.

As well as being a much-respected and well-liked person, Lambert played a part in the lives of many Irish people including myself who grew up and watched TV in Ireland during the 1970's and 80's.

He was a great puppeteer and ventriloquist who invented some well-loved children's TV puppet-characters.

Eugene Lambert and 'Judge' the dog.

I remember one particular character, a dog named 'Judge' who was part of a show called 'Wanderly Wagon'. He was a character most children of the time could relate to and trust.

It was no surprise that Lambert's wonderful canine character 'Judge' was also an important figure in public service campaigns for children's road safety throughout Ireland.

Eugene Lambert was also responsible for another very popular puppet in Ireland called 'Bosco', who lived in a box, only ever leaving it for an ice-cream or a visit to the Zoo!

Eugene Lambert was founder of the Lambert Puppet Theatre, which he established in 1972.

A sad day for 'grown-up' Irish children everywhere.

Read also:

RTE Television

Irish Independent Newspaper

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share with all your friends.

-Alan

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