finland

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The domestic tourist, Helsinki 1991



Sketchbook_Helsinki_1991_131, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

I kept drawing almost everyday, recording everything around me. I was living part of the year in Paris, so I felt like a traveler in both countries.



Sketchbook_Helsinki_1991_129, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.


Sketchbook_Helsinki_1991_128, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

Rosanne painting ceramic sculptures.



Sketchbook_Helsinki_1991_140, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.
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Weather studies, Helsinki 1989-90

When I moved back to Finland after ten years abroad, I found myself a stranger in my own country. I started exploring it, keeping a travel journal. I recorded the changes in light and weather, studied once familiar landmarks that had become exotic.

These watercolour sketches were done from the seaside at the southernmost tip of Helsinki, and show the 18th century fortress island of Suomenlinna, often called Gibraltar of the North. It is a just a ferry ride away from downtown, but in many ways remains a small village. In the summer it is overrun by tourists and picnickers, but when the last ferry has left, it returns to a slower rhythm. I lived on the island as a child, and came to school by ferry. In the winter, when the sea froze, I walked to school over the ice. Yes, it was safe, they even ran a road for cars over the sea, and there was a wooden sidewalk running alongside it.

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Watercolour Sketchbook, Äkäslompolo, 1989 September 06

I started carrying a small watercolour kit with me when hiking.
I’m fascinated by mountains, by the way they keep changing colour. Even though they are immobile, they seem alive, like giant waves of stone.