Narrow Path

A Path in a Forest, pastel on paper, 1978.

My grandmothers were my first sponsors. This pastel drawing was the beginning of my art business. It was bought by my mothers mother. My second customer was my fathers mother and little by little the ring of my supporters grew to constitute all my family and relatives. With backup by them I started to travel my rocky road of an artist. Firstly in my visions I walked on the golden paths and then I struggled in every day life. Some kind of war it was. The most difficult antagonist was my self. Under the terrible pressure of artistic creativity I had to take a couple of beers and after some bottles of wine I was diving through an endless wave of booze. You may imagine how lovely oxygen was after that diving period.

The path of an artist was not easy to go but it was the only chance to grow! 

Before those days I remember the time when I had not yet started as a professional artist. Even that time making pictures was essential. If I happened to have strange feelings, if I got lost in my emotions, and I certainly did as young men at that age do, I used to play music and draw. I had only a couple of records but they were my energy resource. The most important charger was the album To Our Children´s Children´s Children by The Moody Blues. You know, the Candle of Life and so on!

A marker drawing on the wallpaper, 1973.

Let´s get back to the year 1978. So, the first artwork has been sold. This has to be the sign from heaven! It really is possible to make a living as an artist! The second step was to hire an atelier!

"Well well, not so bad! But unfortunately I have to destroy it!"

After years I visited my dying grandma in a hospital. She was lying on a bed, suddenly she opened her eyes and said: "Pekka, have you been able to make art? Pekka, you are a fair boy but alcohol is not good for you. Pekka, this world is quite a bad place to live! Then she got to sleep again. It was the last time I met her in this world.

So, she passed away, but her death did not cut the connection. Asleep I have got many good advice from her. She still is my sponsor! A poet from Karelia.