Artist Residency at Kultuuri Kauppila Art Center – Ii, Finland

Landscape Paintings of Finland

At the beginning of March 2020, I left San Francisco for my residency at the Kultuuri Kauppila Art Center in Finland. I arrived in the town of Ii (pronounced long E as in We) on March 2 and was immediately struck by the bright blue sky and crisp winter light reflecting off the snow.

Feeling energized by the sights around me, I started painting right away. I was drawn to sparkling ice of the frozen river just steps away from the residency. Every morning I would take inspiration gathering walks on the path along the river, loop through streets of the neighborhood or go on the icy paths to the bridge that crossed the river to explore the island in the middle of the river. The winter shadows cast by the trees along the banks of the frozen river captivated my attention. In many of my paintings you can see the bold blue shadows stretching long on the ice.