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Happy 100th Birthday Finland!

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olavi_eronen_2007We are celebrating our great loving home country’s 100th independence birthday today! On this occasion I want to share my personal enormous thank you to all the Finnish war veterans and women of Lotta Svärd who saved us and kept our independence in World War ][.

I will specially send my gratitude and loving thanks to my dear grandfather and veteran Tarmo Kaarlo Olavi Eronen (1922–2017) who passed away this Fall, and to my dear late grandmother Tellervo Eronen. I miss you and dedicate this day to You. The oil painting to the right is from 2007. It was a gift to my grandpa for his 85th birthday.

In honoring and celebrating this special day, here is a classical symphony Anima Dea featuring our national instrument kantele.

  • Avalkis: Anima Dea – Soulweaver Symphony (2013) [download or play the mp3, if the player above doesn’t show up] (3:31)

Whooper swan is our national bird. In the above etching-aquatint (2008) the bird also has a wing of kantele.

Here, here Finland for another 100 years – and a thousand more! kieli_suomi

Etching: Kantele Swan (2008-09)

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An etching aquatint: Kantele Swan | Kantelejoutsen | Aurinkojoutsen (2008-09). 14×11 cm. Below is the pencil sketch.

I made this as a Finnish national-romantic theme with our national bird Whooper Swan (“laulujoutsen”) having our national instrument, kantele, as a wing. There is also a stamp with this motif I designed for a competition.

Character: Sprite of Spring (2002-11)

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Sprite of Spring or the Springbringer or Calÿaja (in fictional language) represents life and rebirth in the world of Springbringer. It fell from space as a seed and landed on a pond of swans one ancient evening “3000 suns ago” and began to sprout.

I saw the Sprite in my dream on December 2002 (the comic book image where the sprite and the swan meet).

Here are various manifestations of this fragile flower-like being of light:

  • an etching aquatint: A Garden of Stars (2009), 11×25 cm
  • a digital work made from a water color painting (2009), used as a poster for the Springbringer film
  • a color pencil drawing (2011), 10×15 cm
  • a clay statue (2007), 21x17x15 cm
  • comic book pages where the Sprite meets Qwaidun the swan (2002-09)

Graphic Art: Swan Mirror (2008)

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The final A4 illustration and original 2008 pencil sketch, which was finally to be an etching aquatint graphic work (2009). It is 21×31 cm and there are about 10 prints with slightly different tones.

This scene depicts a story set in the Springbringer fantasy world.

The layout construction was inspired by the legendary Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress (1982) role-playing game box’s panoramic artwork (the game was released by Sierra On-Line Inc. / SierraVenture).

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Another graphic print of Swan Mirror (Proof Series ][) on a more reddish tone than the one above which is more yellow.

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Above is a deleted scene from the post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi film Soulweaver: Requiem for Earth (2017).

Lithograph: A Land of Shadows (2009)

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Pencil sketch 21x29cm, Varjojen maa in Finnish. Final sketch above right and below the lithograph proof. The original drawing has a psychedelic concept of a giant swan creature with legs and huge sharp nails. The final fantasy scene has a curious flower-like deer-faced giant meeting a black swan on a dried-out sea bottom.

This is part of the Springbringer fantasy world.

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