Works | Helsinki 2016

During my birthday week of 2016, in April, I travelled to Helsinki, Finland, to spend two weeks painting and drawing. I also visited my friend whom I used to go to art school with. I spend most of my days walking on the streets and observe people walking under the sun. Similar to New York City, the sun light in Finland in crispy, bright, even hurting to human eyes.

Helsinki also has a long history in sauna culture. I visited the first sauna ever built in the country, and took sauna almost everyday in Helsinki. I refrained from taking any alcohol during the trip, I'd walk long hours and take sauna, and paint for a few hours, and had very little social interactions, and I ate very healthy, just some very basic vegetable, bread, and fish.

Each day I felt a "cleaner and cleaner" person, which results in my works excluding pretty much all "dark colours", including any painted areas in the shadows.

I also learnt one thing at the end of the trip: Birds are free, because they carry nothing.

The same approach, I adapted into my following painting tip to New York City in 2017.