At the Saturday market

Had a nice morning by the lakeside summer market at Vuolenkoski.

Johns Cellpic Sunday



Such good bread she had on sale

Folks from their summer homes came to the market on boats, the marina was so full some people had to wait for open spots on the docks

Happy Toes

The Weekend in Black and White – happy toes relaxing in a hammock

Posted as part of Weekend B&W

Busy doors

For Thursday Doors

Busy doors, sitting and watching people come in and out while waiting for my husband to come from his football match

Waiting

Shared moment

Heading home

Team members

“Magnified Elegance”

I have often expressed that I have a hard time naming photos or artworks. Today, I spent hours playing with some of my images that I posted on my other site ART BY RITVA. It feels like I spent the same amount of time naming it. I had options like Menopause and Hot Flash, but I ended up with “Magnified Elegance”. This is the final version at this time.

Naming means an extra layer of meaning and context to the piece. The title can give the viewer insight into the intention or create a different emotional response. All in all, naming artworks is an art in itself and can be just as fulfilling as creating the piece, but it is not for me, it is a pain in the butt.

If interested, check the post and see my other color versions of it. It’s truly a delightful process to work color schemers of my artworks that is what I really enjoy.

Summer is a state of mind

As stated summer is a state of mind and age is just a number.

Usually we are somewhere in warmer weather at this time of the year, away from the cold and dark winter, we usually fly to catch some sun, D- vitamins and new places to be refreshed and relaxed. And when we come you can already notice the increased light that is more visible in February.

Well you need the catch the rays where every you can. 😂

Cellpic Sunday

essential factors in a joyous life

Ann-Christine has tasked us with illustrating a favorite quote or poem. I also did this, and in the end decided to enter my other take as an entry to Lens-Artists Challenge, but since I had already done this I decided to post it separately

I selected this quote to convey positivity. We all need a little bit of that in our lives. I added few more smiles than requested, but it is a smile ☺ of joy.

“Laughter and smiles are essential factors in a joyous life”
~Maya Angelou

Happy faces and lovely smiles are like rays of sunshine on a cloudy day, illuminating the world with their warmth and brightness. The simple act of smiling has the power to uplift spirits, spread joy, and create a ripple of positivity. When we encounter a genuine smile, it’s as if a little piece of happiness has been shared with us, making the day feel a little brighter and the heart a little lighter.

it’s just me

Trying to keep up with appearances. For a challenge I took a different kind of selfie with my mobile and now chose it for John’s Cellpic Sunday


Street photography – traditional

I have shared this image before, but now edited the tone of the shot and also made a monochrome copy of it. What I like about this is the father’s traditional shoes – his whole style of dressing compared the the children walking with him.

I took this shot several years ago in Paris, but something in it appeals to me. I think the leading lines, depth of field and composition works. Too much analyzing 🙂 ?

Behind

He presses his finger against the glass
And marvels at the colors that swim past
He wonders what they think and feel
And if they know he’s watching them
He wants to join them in their underwater realm
He is happy with joy

Debbies One Word Sunday: Behind

They can’t take that away from me

They can’t take that away from me…

The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The memory of all that
No no they can’t take that away from me

Six words in a the title and photo to match – linked to Six Word Saturday at Debbie’s

Friends

My grandson made a new friend and is so proud that he can walk without adults back and forth between the two houses here at the country house.

Friends


April 1st

It’s April and it still looks like winter, feels like winter even though next to a wall where the wind doesn’t blow you can feel the lovely warmth of the sun.

My grandson said to me, I will never forget the mountain next to your home 😀 ( it is a hill ) he always wants to climb it no matter what season it is. Today he conquered it with his father and grandpa

Up the hill I go
Follow me
Made it to the top

Mid-week Monochrome #127

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

Not finding the book you want? I had just done my civil duty at the library, voted. I sat waiting for my husband to lend some books.

I liked the line of the windows and the shelves making a leading line. So I set the camera -phone to the floor level and took this photo of three people, they seemed to be nicely situated in also in this lowpoint photo. I also got a shot of the person sitting by the desk reading.

“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.” ~ Gregory Maguire

two men and books

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A boy

“There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.” 

Compare to edit, color versus black and white version. But I also with the shadows.

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome 

Mid-week Monochrome #125

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

This is my week choice – light from above

“The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.” ~ Gregory Maguire

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.” 

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

Strike a pose

We went toenjoy a day at the beach. There we also saw these girls posing on the beach, slightly different kind of photos they were aiming for. They were well aware of lots of people taking photos of them. I even got direct looks and smiles 🙂 I took few and had fun editing them in different styles.

Getting ready for the shoot.

Beautiful in Black and White 15

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.

There’s so much grey to every story – nothing is so black and white.

Lisa Ling

A man eating ice-cream
A man with a white beard

The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

How to Survive November 2022 – 27

k.d. lang & Roy Orbison – Crying

This time instead of my photos I added two of my artworks here. If interested seeing more of my art check out myy blog

ART BY RITVA

Roy’s solo rendition of “Crying” that night was flawless. Lang pours even more emotion into that song than he did in her subsequent solo performances of it, and her voice is unbelievably clear and strong. Two spectacular talents.

ArtByRitva – Crying

I was alright for a while
I could smile for a while
But I saw you last night, you held my hand so tight
As you stopped to say, “Hello”
Oh, you wished me well, you couldn’t tell

That I’d been crying over you
Crying over you
Then you said, “So long”
Left me standing all alone
Alone and crying

Roy Orbison  was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic. Many of Orbison’s songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project machismo. He performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses, which he wore to counter his shyness and stage fright.

k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter A mezzo-soprano,Lang has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has collaborated with many musicians. I love her voice.

ArtByRitva- alone

Alone and crying…

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 25

This is a song from a Finnish rock band called Kolmas Nainen (Third Woman)

The Lyric translation of the few lines that I included in this post is certainly not the best translation available, but it brings out the coffee…

coffee break

I surprised myself by missing

my boyhood friends

especially that equally crazy one

the only one I fought with

who repeatedly told every coffee break

that he saw feline predators in the meadow

From this moment on I have

a few bushels of mammon

coffee and cigarettes to your heart’s content

At this moment on

heart only half-full, but

coffee and cigarettes to your heart’s content

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 24

I am getting desperate, but I am crabbing to straws….Melanie or Melanie Safka, is an American singer-songwriter.

With her sweet, captivating voice, quirky yet insightful songwriting and bubbly, upbeat, free-spirited hippie persona, pop and folk singer/songwriter Melanie totally epitomized the whole “flower power” counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s.


Oh, I wish that I could find a good book to live in
Oh, I wish that I could find a good book
Well, if I could find a real good book
I’d never have to come out and look at
What they’ve done to my song

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 23

Today I am taking an easy way out AGAIN , I have spent so much time listening to music I like and find a song to go with it, and it is hard. I like wine, and I Like UB40 Red Red Wine!

I actually thought I’d have tons of pictures of wine, but surprisingly I didn’t. Have to drink some more to get few photos 🙂

The song in my opinion says what we need today – Red Wine

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 22

Today I am taking an easy way out, I have spent so much time listening to music I like and find a song to go with it, today well I have photos and will find easily a song to go with them. Viva Las Vegas! Song for my old hometown

So if I assume we all know Elvis Presley 🙂 Iwon’t be wrong

Downtown Las Vegas

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 21

HIM (sometimes stylized as H.I.M.) was a Finnish gothic rock band from Helsinki. Music critics have referred to the music of HIM as gothic rock, gothic metal, alternative rock, alternative metal.

Oh girl we are the same
We are young and lost and so afraid
There’s no cure for the pain
No shelter from the rain
All our prayers seem to fail

In joy and sorrow my home’s in your arms


In world so hollow
It is breaking my heart
In joy and sorrow my home’s in your arms
In world so hollow
It is breaking my heart

The band has referred to its music as “love metal”, the title of the group’s fourth studio album. According to Ville Valo, the term “love metal” was coined as a response to people having difficulties categorizing HIM’s music. Regarding HIM’s reputation as a “goth band”, Valo stated: “We can’t do anything about that [label], but I think we are a special shade of goth, more tender than others. In Finnish tradition, our music is very melancholic.”Valo has also described HIM’s sound as “sentimental, hard-hitting rock music”. The band’s intent has always been to combine more melodic and melancholic elements, with its heavier influences.

Lyrically the songs of HIM largely deal with themes of love. According to Valo: “I feel like there is no subject more important for a song than relationships. It’s the only thing that moves me.”Valo also takes inspiration from literature, but only certain aspects of it, explaining: “As a guy who writes songs, I get excited about an idea, or a book, or a sentence. I don’t necessarily get excited about the whole of Tolkien, I just get excited about Uruk-hai. Just a little detail that just makes my mind work overdrive.” Valo’s lyrics have been described as “oozing with blood-dripping hearts and gothic melodrama”.

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 20

Thinkin’ about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating?
Why can’t we live in bliss?

Yusuf/Cat Stevens wrote “Peace Train” as a call for unity and understanding on his storied Teaser and the Firecat album of 1971.

Now I’ve been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun
Oh, I’ve been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Someday it’s going to come

Now I’ve been crying lately
Thinkin’ about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating?
Why can’t we live in bliss?

‘Cause out on the edge of darkness
There rides a peace train
Oh, peace train take this country
Come take me home again

Oh, peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!