Lady Mosquito Makes Me GaGa!

Forget about your bats, vampires or other blood-sucking stereotypes, when it comes to getting down to the business of sucking blood there's no finer diner than the much-loved mosquito!

While I pause to let that little bit of sarcasm melt, yet another one of the little feckers has bitten me. Little ba$*@rd!!!

And it’s the lady or female mosquito who does all the biting on us humans.

Of course, here in Finland they have been telling me that it's way too early for mosquitos.

But just last evening while enjoying a barbeque at home guess who dropped by for a bite.

Yes, they're here again!

I reckon it's because of the unusually good weather we've been having here recently. I read that Finland has been one of the warmest places in Europe for the last week or so, so it's no surprise that the mosquito eggs have hatched early.

Today I am counting 9 mosquito bites on my arms, legs and ankles. And that's not many for me. I usually get a lot more.

Before moving from Ireland to Finland my experience of mosquitos was zero.

We are not accustomed to dangers from any of nature's little creatures. The only creature I ever feared while living in Ireland was the wasp, who will only ever attack if provoked. So basically, if you get stung by a wasp, you most likely upset him in some way and deserved his sting. On occasion however, you will just meet a wasp with a bad attitude. We have a few of them back in Ireland. So if you happen to have a jam sandwich in your mouth, be alert!.

I have not forgotten my first summer visit to Finland, I still suffer from the trauma of my first Finnish mosquito encounter.

Wonderful weather gave me an excuse to throw on my shorts and enjoy a Finnish summer evening by the sea with friends. Finnish sausages, barbeque, sauna, beer and chilling-out was the order of the day. The food tasted great and the beer was going down quickly. So much so that I neglected to put on some long trousers, advice given by friends but ignored by me of course. We Irish can be a stubborn lot after a few drinks. Afraid of nothing! .....What's that?...Mosquitos?.... No problem! ....Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!

Well, next morning just as my friends had predicted, my pale white Irish skin was looking more like a raspberry cheesecake with the constant irritation us Irish normally get from politicians just before a general election. I reckon the mosquitos decision to focus all their attention to my brightly coloured legs was not caused by accident. It was definately not an act of gaining a more comfortable environment to start drilling for blood. Unlike most Finnish people, I happen to have a lot a hair on my legs, so unless the mosquitos can grab onto those hairs as means of support I don't see why they wouldn't share their attention elsewhere. I do have a notion as to their concentration on me however. I reckon it has something to do with my Irish blood. Maybe I'm just talking rubbish, but perhaps this old celtic blood flavoured with the hint of Guinness and all things Irish over many years appeals to the Finnish mosquito. Maybe those mosquito connoisseurs judge Irish blood like a fine Beaujolais wine. A Château Margaux perhaps? And it's not like they can bottle it and keep it in a cellar. No, I reckon if they get the opportunity to wine and dine on Irish blood they'll take it. In fact they'll most likely invite the whole family over too.

Anyway, I won't linger with my 'memories', I don't want to discourage anyone from visiting Finland. It's a great place and you do get used to the mosquitos no matter how much of a nuisance they can be.

I am presently trying to concoct a low-cost recipe with household items for a mosquito-deterrant spray. The sprays they have in shops can be quite expensive and they don't last very long. If anyone has a suggestion or advice let me know.

Have you read my most recent mosquito blogpost called

 'First Blood: No Man, No Law, No War can stop him!'

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

You are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button here.

Please leave your reaction to this blogpost by ticking one of the boxes below.

......

First sale on Softpixels! Woo-hoo!!

I recently joined a new Helsinki-based company called Softpixels who sell canvas prints. They have a small selection of my artwork for sale in canvas print. These paintings are exclusively available from Softpixels.
It's always good news for any artist when they make there first sale with an associate. And I'm no exception.
So I was very happy when I told that a customer bought a print of my painting 'Consume, Consume, Consume'.
It's one of my personal favourites, inspired by the world we live in today and painted from my own imagination.
I was especially happy that the customer ordered the largest print size available as it is best viewed on a large scale. I still have the original rolled up in a tube at my studio. It was painted with a mix of acrylic paints, wax crayons and chalk pastels and is too large for me to fit into a frame at this present moment. I would really like to frame it some day.

'Consume! Consume! Consume!'

A large hand-painted acrylic on paper artwork. This symbolic painting features the strong image of a human biting into the sun, the source of all life on earth. Using purple, the colour of power and rugged, man-made shapes to symbolise mankind, against the colours or red and green representing the earth, life and all the things we need to survive.


Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to subscribe or follow. Details can be found on the side column.


Alan.

Oldies but goldies!

I just agreed to allow a new Finnish company sell some of my artwork. Based in Espoo, the company is called Softpixels, a brand new company selling canvas art prints online.

For this project the people at Softpixels chose a selection of my work that appealed to them. Surprisingly to me, they picked out some of my older pieces, and now they have set up a cool new page for me on their website. I'm very happy that they chose some of my old work as it represents an important time for me when I was only developing an art portfolio, and it's really nice to receive some acknowledgement for this work. Yes, oldies but goldies!

Here's some of my paintings from Softpixels in this video clip here.

While the internet becomes saturated with paintings and all sorts of other artistic mediums, it is important for me to spread my work through as many channels as possible. This is the only way of been noticed on the world wide web these days. And such companies like Softpixels deserve full credit for promoting artists like myself. It is also good for my work to be seen through a Finnish site as it can be difficult for me to be found by Finnish internet users, due to the lack of the Finnish language on my own website.

Thanks for reading my blog and you are welcome to look at my art at The Art Garage and at Softpixels

Alan Hogan

Barbeque Time!

A typical small portion at a Finnish barbeque.

Finnish pork sausage and potato salad.

I can't believe there's still some snow lying about over here.

I know it's Finland, but it's almost May!

Nevermind, it's not going to stop this years barbeque kick-off! I'm looking forward to my first barbeque of the 2010 season this weekend.

Well, I tell a lie, it's actually my second.

My first BBQ took place last February, but it was a snow barbeque, so it doesn't really count.

Believe me it's a totally different experience.

Here's some photos to prove it.

I remember it being -13 degrees celsius that afternoon, apparently warm enough for some Finns to go outside for a barbeque!

Honestly, they're crazy!!

As it was just too cold for me to take my gloves off, I left all the grilling to my friends.

I found a fun and easy way to warm myself up while checking out the nearby slopes. Extreme sports here I come!!

(If the owner of the sledge in this photo is reading this, I'm very sorry!)

Well, hopefully that troublesome volcano in Iceland will calm down a bit and our weather can get back to some normality. I'm hoping that the sun will burst out this weekend with a massive heatwave here in Finland.

I'm going to get my Kabanossi sausages out and have a few cold cans of beer in the blistering sunshine. I might even put my shorts on!

'Got to be optimistic!!

And I got a nice surprise last week at the shops when I saw that my favorite Finnish beer is now available in a one litre can. (I'd love to see 'em shotgun this baby!)

Madeby Me!

Some of my paintings are now on sale at this Finnish website called Madeby.

I hope to put some more paintings on this site in the near future, as well as some low-priced quality prints.

Click here to take a quick look.

Facebook Funnies!

The Shamrock Experiment: 20 Days too late!

The Great Finnish Shamrock Experiment:

6 April 2010, - The Survivors!

Well, I finally got around to my final blogpost on my now infamous Shamrock Experiment. It's been 20 days since Saint Patrick's Day, the date I was expecting my little green friends to be ready.

They were badly treated in the beginning by myself not having the correct soil for them to grow in.

But they persevered through thick and thin like proper Irish soldiers. They battled through unsteady and often very cold temperatures. And then there was the presence of my menacing Finnish cat. Some of the shamrocks suffered badly at the paws of my curious feline friend. Call it growing pains, or even casualties of war.

........... They will not be forgotten!

The snow has finally started to melt here now in Finland. Spring is knocking at our door. And we are all looking forward to some warm sunshine and hopefully a great summer. These little shamrocks have brought a little bit of colour to a house surrounded by a lot of snow over the past few days. I hope they keep growing for as long as they can. Here's a few photos of those brave shamrocks who survived the experiment.

And finally a song in honour of those who didn't make it.

Here's 'Danny Boy' from The Leprechaun Brothers!

Beckham set for Turku move after Posh gets her drinks mixed up!!

We all know about footballer David Beckham's recent visit to Turku in Finland for surgery on a tendon injury.

And we have found out that the operation tended by top Finnish surgeon Sakari Orava was a complete success.

We also know that he has been invited back to Turku next year when the city celebrates being European Capital of Culture. More of which you can read here.

But what we don't know is that David has been spending more time than expected back here in Finland.

And here's the reason why.....

It appears that Victoria Beckham recently signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with the Turku football team TPS to advertise their jerseys.

Yes, it's true!

Apparently there was a misunderstanding during an important phonecall before completing the contracts. Instead of signing a deal with softdrink giants Pepsi, 'Posh Spice' actually signed up to Tepsi (TPS football club’s nickname). Lawyers present are expecting her to keep to the arrangement as signed.

Meanwhile, after hearing of this little mix-up, David Beckham has shown that he may very well stay in Turku for a short period of time while his wife fulfills her 2-year contract. He laughed at the soft drink company's involvement, remembering a funny tv commercial he made for them a while back. He said there was another football club with black and white stripes involved on that occasion too. Here's the advert he was talking about.

Having seen the funny side of the situation, Becks has shown a fresh interest in Posh's new employers. So much was his interest, that he was captured yesterday in this photo here by some local tabloid newspaper at Tepsi’s training ground in Turku.

Will we see Becks swap his Milan stripes for the new Tepsi stripes?

Only time can tell!

And just how much money did Tepsi football club tempt Posh Spice with?

To find out just click here!!!

August Art Round-up 2010!!

I just found out that 'The Finnish Cat' will be on public view at this year's Konstrundan Art event in Finland.

Konstrundan is a special annual event where artists open their studio doors to the public. This large group of artists, craftsmen and designers live mainly in the Swedish speaking areas in Finland (Svenskfinland).

For this event I intend to have my 'Finnish Cat'-'Finsk Katt'-'Suomalainen Kissa' on display along with several new paintings which I hope to have ready for this event later this summer.

It all happens on 30 July-1 August 2010.

And I now have my own profile on the Konstrundan site here.

A big thank you to the people at Konstrundan!!

There's a full list of all this year's participants here.

The list represents five areas, Västra Nyland/Helsinki, Turku area, Österbotnia, Åland and Östra Nyland (areas shown in yellow on map)

This event promises to be an excellent presentation of the wide variety of artists and craftspeople in Svenskfinland and I'm very proud to be taking part!

Thanks for reading my blog.

Alan

Click here and join our Facebook group!

Please leave your reaction to this blogpost by ticking one of the boxes below.

Irish Rockin' in Russia!

I'll be 'drowning the shamrock' quietly here in Finland tomorrow. But if there's anybody from a certain part of Russia reading this blog, I can recommend a good night out for you. I have a cousin from Dublin who's heading over to Belgorod to play two concerts with his band The Spikes soon. He only joined this band quite recently but I hear he's fitting into their sound very well and it looks like they're heading for better things pretty soon. 

The band will be releasing a new album shortly, which can only fuel the fire of their much appraised live shows. I believe 'live' music is the way to go for new bands today, and I reckon The Spikes have enough enthusiasm and charisma to do the job properly.

The Spikes will playing at Hamilton's Pub in Belgorod, Russia on St.Patrick's Night March 17th and also on Friday March 19th, 2010.

Here's a video from The Spikes. The song is called Monster.

If you're lucky enough to be at their gig in Russia, have a great night!

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

You are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button here.

Don't forget to leave your reaction to this blogpost by ticking one of the boxes below.

The Shamrock Experiment: Day ???

The Not-so-great Finnish Shamrock Experiment: Day ???

Well, it's the day before St.Patrick's Day and my attempt to grow some shamrock in time for the green festivities has proven slightly unsuccessful. I feel I must hold up my hands as I feel guilty for not giving them the proper soil to grow in and also for underestimating their growth period. I do feel that the temperature changes have also had a slight effect on the growth rate. I reckon the shamrocks will look better in another few days however.

Nevermind. I'll be posting one or two more photos when the shamrock is fully evident. I've given our Finnish Leprechaun friend 'Matti' the day off today. He wanted to practice some Irish dancing before he starts partying tomorrow. But he did leave me with a clip of his favourite TV star on a visit to Ireland. Apparently this guy is quite popular in Finland. It's Conan O'Brien!

Click Here to read The Shamrock Experiment: 20 Days too late!

Share