Date with the Saami people!

Renée Zellweger chews her finger 
in the title role of Bridget Jones’s Diary.

From Universal/Neal Peters Collection

Living in Finland for over two years now I am still amazed at just how large the country is. Finland has a similar population size to my home country Ireland, but is actually four times larger in area coverage.

Of course a large area of northern Finland is open to severe weather conditions in the winter months and therefore considered uninhabitable by some. Add to this the lack of daylight and it paints a grim picture of how anyone could survive winters in this northern region of Finland where temperatures can drop to between -45°C and -50°C.

I live in the most southerly area of Finland and winter here can be hard enough to bear. I honestly cannot understand how anybody can live in the north of Finland.

However this northern area of Finland we all know as Lapland has a large community with busy towns and modern infrastructure. And with a population of about 184,000 it seems that long cold winters hasn't deterred anyone from living there.

Of this quite large population living in Finnish Lapland around 7,000 belong to the Saami community. These are the people who most of us are used to seeing in photos and on TV wearing traditional red, blue and yellow lined clothing and usually occupied by reindeer herding and age-old crafts like carpentry and sowing.

However, nowadays you are more likely to see a Saami rushing around after reindeer on a turbo-quad vehicle with an iphone gps attached. And why not? These are people who welcome the use of modern devices where needed, yet they still maintain and respect old traditions.

I don't know much more about the Saami people and I'm not qualified to write any detailed information, but since moving to Finland I have discovered that they are very much a part of a detached culture to most Finnish people. They have their own language, they even have there own TV broadcasts I believe. You can read more about the Saami here.

Homeland of the Saami people

The Saami Flag

This leads me on to Hollywood star Renée Zellweger.

What???....... What has she got to do with Finland you may ask?

Well, nothing really.

But I was a little surprised to see her photo on Wikipedia's page about some of Finland's most northerly inhabitants, the Saami. Well actually the Saami people live in the nordic area more commonly known as Lapland, which encompasses parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

It appears that Renée Zellweger's mother, Kjellfried Irene (née Andreassen), is Norwegian-born and of Saami origin.

And today, February 6th marks the Saami National Day.

I wonder if the Hollywood star has this date written in her diary, definately a day to toast a proud part of her heritage.

And finally a little bit of modern Sami music. I'm not familar too much with the Sami culture, I think it would be great to head up to Lapland one day and say hello to all the gang. Here's some music I found on YouTube which appealed to me.

You can find out more about the Saami people and Finnish weather at these interesting links.

http://saamiblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/runes-and-serpent-worship-among-sami.html

http://baiki.tripod.com/glossary.htm

http://www.finnguide.fi/calendar/calendarevents.asp?month=2&p=8

http://www.fmi.fi/weather/climate_4.html

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- Alan

'Mount Errigal'

Mount Errigal

2009, acrylic on canvas (70cm x 50cm)

This is a painting I made in 2009. It features a well-known landmark in Ireland called Mount Errigal. It was painted on stretched-canvas using a mixture of 'Daler-Rowney System 3' and 'Winsor & Newton' acrylic paints. It's difficult to describe the style I painted it in. It's a style which I started back in 2005. I suppose the closest description I can relate to it is Neo-Pointillism.

This beautiful mountain is located near the small town of Gweedore, in a mainly Irish-speaking area of County Donegal. Of course most people can speak English there also.

I can speak and understand some Irish myself, but I still have a little trouble figuring out the Irish language spolen in the north-west of Ireland. This is so because of the three main Irish dialect areas in Ireland. Ulster in the North, Connaught in the West and Munster in the South. These are known as the Gaeltacht regions. I learned my piece of Irish in the West, or Connemara as it is better known. It sounds totally different! I didn't enjoy learning the Irish language, but in a way I'm glad I did. It was the teaching methods which I could dispute. I was thought by the Christian Brothers, who were thorough in their teachings to say the least.

My painting of Mount Errigal was a special commission for a woman in Scotland. Her parents were originally from this area of Ireland.

Here's a short video clip of how the painting was constructed. I painted it at my home in Finland from a photograph.

'Mount Errigal' was a picture I really enjoyed painting and I was totally satisfied with the result! It was hard to see the painting leave, but I know it's in caring hands now on a wall in Scotland.

This painting was recently voted

Favorite Landscape of 2009

on art website Fine Art America.

Click here for more details

Prints of the painting are available from here

I received this photo of my painting from it's owner, who had it nicely double-framed recently. It must be about one metre wide with 

this new frame. Excellent!

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- Alan 

                     

An early Christmas in Dublin, 2009.

My first ‘refreshed’ blog-post is all about my recent pre-Christmas 2009 trip back to Dublin, Ireland. My last visit to Dublin’s Fair City was Christmas 2008, so I was interested to see if things had changed at all.

As there are no direct flights from Finland to Ireland available during the winter months, I needed to look around for other ways to get to Dublin. I found that taking a direct flight from Sweden was a good value option, and I could avail of some well-needed duty-free Christmas shopping on the ferry back to Finland. It meant a long trip by boat and plane, but I made it all part of my little holiday.

Ferry accommodation was quite good, and the entertainment on the boat from Finland to Sweden was excellent.

I had the pleasure of watching Finnish star Markku Aro on the trip to Stockholm,(for any Irish reading this, he’s like a Finnish Joe Dolan). Markku began his set with Hyvännäköinen, the Finnish version of ‘You're Such a Good Looking Woman’. Good stuff!

Here's a little clip I made of the man in action!

On arrival at Stockholm I was now ready to find my way to the Ryanair airport. It took me over an hour to get there by bus from the city centre, but I finally boarded my flight to Ireland. Time for a little sleep.

Touchdown Dublin!
And what was that outside the airport building? There has been a few new developments happening here since my last visit. A very modern looking building stood before me, a new terminal I think. I only hope the economy picks up so they can fill it with business. Although judging from all the new layouts in the present building, which I was very happy to see, I don’t think the new building will have any problems. Now if the airlines could just run a better service from Dublin to Finland I’ll be happy.

Most of my visit involved visiting my parents and my brother. The highlight was seeing my brother's new baby girl for the first time. Most of the baggage I brought with me contained presents from Finland for her. Needless to say there was the odd Moomin item in there, as well as a ragdoll which I was told was called a ‘Molla-Maja’. So happy faces all round!

After a few days in the suburbs it was time to meet up with my brother for a few pints in Dublin city. I had planned on having a long afternoon walk around Dublin, just to see a few of the old sights and such, but the weather was a little chilly. That may sound a little strange with me travelling from Finland, but Ireland has a damp chill-factor that could freeze the head off your pint of Guinness. And if there’s a wind in the air, watch out!

Statue of

Phil Lynott

Phil Lynott - Old Town

I did manage to take a few photos of some special places in Dublin city which I put together in this short video clip here. Sorry for the shortage of famous landmarks. No Trinity College or Halfpenny Bridge, it was very cold and I was parched for a pint of Guinness, so a warm pub seemed all too tempting.

I did manage to get a shot of the GPO (General Post Office)
which is probably the most historical building in Dublin and Ireland's history.

I also got a nice photo of a family visiting the Nativity Crib on O'Connell Street and another one featuring the statue of Dublin rocker Phil Lynott, who was the lead singer/songwriter of Thin Lizzy before dying at the young age of 36 back in 1986.
I threw a few drawings of mine into this clip aswell.

Unfortunately I wasn’t around for all the snow which arrived a little later in Dublin. But I did have plenty of it waiting for me back at my new home in Finland.

I also had the pleasure of being greeted by Jack Frost on arriving back in Turku Harbour, Finland. And it was a freezing -20 Jack Frost! Brrrr….!!

I had planned on spending a few hours walking around in Turku, which is traditionally known as the Christmas town in Finland. But it was way too cold for that. I couldn't feel my fingers at this stage. So a quick walk down to Turku Cathedral was all that was on the program. It always looks well there at Christmas-time. Here’s a photo I couldn't resist taking.

Thanks for reading this blog.

Don't forget to visit my website at The Art Garage

My Blog - The Restart.

This blog actually started a long time ago but I just lost interest. I reckon I was just unfamiliar and not aware of how a blog actually works and what it’s purpose is. This was before I had set up any website or even put my art for sale online. I reckon it was a time when the average digital camera had a picture quality of 3 megapixels. It was also around the time I was introduced to Facebook. My knowledge of anything relating to computers and internet media was limited.

My old blog was merely an extension of my CV. I never spend much time on my computer when I first started this blog, in fact some of the letters on my keyboard are stuck due to possible paint spillage, or was it orange juice, I can't remember! I would spend most of my time painting nearby, sometimes forgetting to wash the paint off my hands before using my computer.

But why restart this blog now you may ask.
Well, having spent some time in recent months working my own website and keeping my other weblinks up-to-date, and not forgetting the odd few minutes on Facebook, I thought it might be a good idea to restart my blog as a kind of topical diary. It might give an insight into the way my brain thinks and perhaps show you those little things which inspire me to paint the way I do. Or it may on the other hand confuse you completely. But either way I hope this blog will contain something of interest for you to read or look at.

The Snow Tree on Fine Art America