Violin

When we think alter we think Riikka. Our talented team member is about to show you some extraordinary work of art!

I love to alter items! Even though I still consider myself a scrapbooker more than anything I enjoy making dimensional projects maybe even more than the pages. Because the dimension creates a new challenge to me and pushes me to think a bit differently. It’s outside of the 12x12” box I usually do when scrapbooking.

This particular piece has once again the starting point in music and in Turisas more over. One of the instruments in this folk or Viking metal bad is a violin. Olli Vänskä is the master of the instrument in the bad. So when I was thinking about a new piece inspired by the band a funny thought popped into my mind. To use a back piece of the violin as the base instead of a canvas. I happened to ask from my husband that where I would find such a piece and the next day a whole violin was waiting for me at home. Yes, he’s a total keeper!

Then came the hard part to decide if I should take the instrument into pieces or not. I quite quickly decided against it fearing that I would ruin the whole thing if I would start sawing the backing away. Then I needed to decide which side to use. Even though my first idea was to go with the back piece I really liked the shape and curves of the F holes on the front.

The current poster of the band is done in an iconography way and the violinist is depicted as a winged angel in the poster. I transformed the halo and the wing to my piece using mixed media. At first I thought to paint the face of Olli in the disc, kind of the way the ancient painters used to depict winds or angels – just the head and the wings, but after failing to make the painting to please my eye four times I realized that the balance would then be off and painted the whole disc into a huge golden halo.

My first thought was to give this piece away to the band now while they tour in Finland but I liked it a little bit too much myself to part with it just yet. Maybe next time when they play in Helsinki I will be able to give that to the source of the inspiration but until then it’ll have a place in our living room.

Materials from Mixed Media Place: