Moikka moi and Merry Christmas! Today it's the third and final post in the series of Finnish Muses. In the previous two posts I've drawn inspiration from the 19th century Ellen Thesleff and 20th century Outi Heiskanen and today the muse of 21st century is Mirja Marsch. This is also probably the last Trio, at least for now as I have some new things coming in the new year.
But what are Trios? Trios are posts that I started while I was a member of the Seth Apter Creative Team. I enjoyed making a series of three posts so much, that I decided to continue them at least for a while. If you want to see the older Seth Trios, you can find them under this label (link). The Trio posts usually had a topic, or a product, to which I concentrated, like Izink ICE (link). Or I could challenge myself with limited supplies (link) or use one source of inspiration for three pieces, like I did with "Mothers of Kalevala" (link). In a way they are extended versions of the "Inspired By" posts we used to make together with Marsha Valk. You can explore those posts under this label (link).
While choosing the three Muses, I picked artists that I was intrigued by or wanted to know more of. Mirja Marsch on the other hand was an easy choice. I've been a fan since 2008 when I first learned about her art. We were co-workers then and I purchased my first pair of works by her then. They were "Medusa" and "Alice" - you can see the pieces here in her gallery (link). My latest purchase, from this year, I couldn't find from the gallery. I saw it in her Instgram video from a Christmas market, a beautiful canvas with a golden moon, black raven and teal background. I messaged her immediately if I could purchase the piece without attending the market! Now the piece is hanging in our living room.
Mirja Marsch combines traditional painting with textile art in her works. She paints the beautiful portraits using textile paints and then adds embroidery, beading and appliqueing to them. If you have been following me for some time, you might remember me referring to Mirja in my earlier projects. Like in this Seth Apter team post (link) with Sewing Box Treasures and another raven (link), which ended up framed on our living room wall.
As you can see from her website (link), Mirja is a masterful painter. Like Outi Heiskanen, she combines people with animals. While Outi combines them to the same character, Mirja adds them to the same piece. She uses self portraits as a way to explore a subject and transforms herself into different characters. I'm definitely not a painter and I haven't dared to try anything as challenging as a self portrait before. But in honor of this Trio and inspired by Mirja, I decided to give it a go! I'm happy I tried, but as you can see, I need more practice!
In the video I show you the process in steps. If you want to attempt a self portrait, too, I also share a trick how to ease the start and to use an actual photo as a means to sketch the features to the cloth. Of course you then still need to paint, but at least the dimensions are somewhat correct compared to the actual photo.
As you can see from the video, I decided to adhere the piece of cloth to my journal. I wanted each of these projects to have the same form even though they are completely different. Each of them have a collage of sorts, but yet they are very different. Adding them to the same journal gave them the same dimensions and combined the Trio a bit.
I hope you have liked this Trio and maybe found some new artists to look more into! Thank you again for stopping by! Wishing you peaceful Holidays and once again - Merry Christmas!
Materials: Prima Marketing, PaperArtsy, Sinelli, Derwent
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