Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition

Today I saw a film about Spanish inquisition and thought that have my king commit also in such crimes?
The screams of the innocest souls are still echoing in those empty chambers of the Tower of London.
Those poor souls who finally confessed themselfs as witches, heretics or something even worse, just to make the pain stop. 
If my memory serves me right I remember that Sharon Kay Penman wrote something about this issue in her novel "The Sunne in Splendour". 


She had made the powerful lords to say that confession which is given by a tortured person is not trusty one.
I hope some of them in the middle ages was so smart that he did realise that. I also wrote a scene where 
king Richard is chastening his men for using torture as a hearing method.
I really hope that he didn't allow torturing or any other kind of bullying.


Thank goodness the times have changed! What are you saying? They are not!
The mankind is still the same as it was then, only the methods of hearings have become more fanciful...

Who would comfort the king?

Have you evet thought about those people who will always support you and encourage you when you need it? They seem to have endless amout of energy and power which keeps them going but what will happen when their energy runs out?

"Who will save me when I need help? I'm so tired of being strong all the time and saving everybody's skins before I concern my own safety!" 

That is what he once said to me. Who indeed will take care of him when he is weak and powerless? For all this time I have known him he have always been the strongest one of us. A mountain which will never bend but everything have it's braking point. I see it now. He is old and sad but he refuses to show it to anyone even to his dearest friends because in the end he must be the mountain which will never bend.


"Who am I?"

"You are our king, sire"

"Do you trust on your king?"

"Till the very end"

Burning ice

"The sun caught in his raven hair is blazing in me out of all control" ,said the powerful Icequeen when her eyes fixed on King Richard. 


Obsession it can be healthy one or hellish one. The Queen whose heart was made from ice suddenly felt burning desire towards the King of Ghosts. She observed him from her palace and waited patiently for her time.
I'm sure each one of us have felt the same feeling and the same frustration.You are hiding in the shadows 
and obseve your target. You'll wait and wait and wait for what? One look, one word, one smile, I'm sure it was worth of waiting...


I can see in my mind's eye those burning eyes of the Icequeen. After long time of waiting she finally got her chanse but Richard turned her down. The Queen became very upset and she unleashed her freezing stroms.
The snow and ice covered everything like a melt lava freezing all the living...


"If I can't have you then nobody will!" she screamed over the storm.

To speak or not to speak?

What comes to the communucations of an artist the internet is an exellent tool for that. Everyone knows how to make a blog and today's easy programs even an idiot can create a blog. Every time when you face a new artist or famous name you'll go to your PC and type his/hers name and google it. Internet allowes me to give my art to the global audience and it's up to them if they'll like it or not. 


The other options are the newspapers and radio but they are so much more limited than the internet.
There is just one part of the nation which will read for example a paper called: "Pohjalainen" or "Ilkka" and Finland's market is quite small. All the people are at the web so it doesn't need a rocket scientist to guess where is all the big chash...

Cold winds

When you are thinking about the living situations of an artist I'm sure you'll see in your mind's eye a youth who is freezing in his small cabin. Well you get it quite close although we live in 22nd century art students are still freezing in their small flats around the globe. Now we have faced some awful frosts and I'm sure it's getting worse week after week. 


All the blankets, scarfs, gloves, hats and socks are on and it's still cold. Although there is nothing ridiculous in this but still it makes me laugh. I was thinking one movie which I have seen. There is a old man who is out from his house because his wife kicked him out and he goes to his neighbour. The neighbour gives him a box of matches and says: "Set yourself in a fire."

Observation

When you are thinking about the process which every artist must face during every masterpiece I'm sure you'll think the creative pain. Well it's not that painful if you know what you are doing but if you don't then the "pain" can be unbearable. The huge numer of different possibilities and options are something which can confuse you even more. The colours, positions everything can be put in different order so many times that in the end the result is compleatly different that the original plan. 


Sometimes the confusion can be so total that you must think something else for change before you'll lose your mind. Starting over the whole process is annoying but in the end the result can be quite satisfying and all the useless preparations did help. 

Evacuee

Evacuee, what that word means to you? To me it means something permanent which never ends. The emotions which are connected to it are mostly negative and it also means never ending sadness. When I walked to school on this morning I thought that someday I'll bring Richard back to northern England where he belongs.
All this time which I have known him he has been here with me far away from his real home. His real home 
Middleham castle which is now nothing more than a ruin. 


I once wrote about his feelings when he saw his home after 500 years later and there was not enough of words to describe his sorrow. It's horrible to realise that something which you thought to be ethernal have become just a pile of rubble. I have seen that castle as it's best and today only it's skeleton remains. Those broken and bare walls do wake fear and respect in me. And somehow I feel that this old castle have shut itself into it's shell like a person who never wants to reveal his face again. All the warmth, music and laughter have gone and only the silence remains...

When I'm looking at my king I feel that he is as much broken and ragged as his dear home. 

Little big man

Today I thought what it would be like to be as small as a mouse or a rat? Small animal and great problems
on every day how to survive. I liked to play with this idea but Richard said: "Please don't".
Quite pity because it would have been a great story and after a while he finally agreed. So I shrunk him and
started to plan this huge survival story which he must go through. 


In the deep woods of "The Light Highland" is plenty of dangers for such small man. Such dangers as
snakes, owls, magic folk etc. It's a miracle on every time when he survies from my sagas but on the other hand
his afterlife would be boring without of little adventures. Don't you agree?

The beginning

What shall I tell you? The daily routines in this town go as smoothly as they did go yesterday.
People walk in to different directions taking care of their daily chores and I'm among them. Well maybe physically but my mind was somewhere beyond the moon. 


When I walked to my student flat after the hevy day I thought one old story from my childhood. 
The hero was surrounded by the enemies and escaping from the trap was quite impossible.
I thought about my beloved king and what he would have done in that same situation? As the King of Ghosts
he would have transformed himself from material to immaterial.


I have never seen a real ghost but I can clearly imagine one if I want to. It was impossible to estimate his hight
or anything else. His black clothes had turned to white and light blue shimmer radiated everywhere. 
He was lighter than air and his every movement was as smooth as the dance of wind.
If you look at  snowblanket when it's windy you'll see what I mean. His forms did change all the time but
somehow he managed to keep himself as one. I would really like to capture that kind of movement to the
canvas and perhaps one day I'll succeed..