A photo story

February 22, 2010 - 11:23 am No Comments

lepardi

I circle around my own bellybutton (as we say in Finland) and will now present you my photo of the day, quite randomly selected.

The story behind this photo: I had to visit the zoo three times to see the leopard babies (endangered species, by the way) coming out with their mama. One night, 10 minutes before the closing… time, I FINALLY spotted them. I’m sure the mom waits for the zoo to quiet down, and even knows the time of the day when that will happen. I’ve witnessed at least horses and swans to learn the daily feeding times of the day, almost by the minute.

I also had to go through pretty violent feelings, spotted a couple of idiots banging on the glass wall & growling & yelling at the mama leopard. She got really upset and aggressive, and tried to get to them trough the glass (wish she did).

They were Russians, who apparently didn’t understand English at all.. I hope they at least got the “YOU IDIOT” part.

There. Rant rant rant & again with the love for the animals :)



Instead of bringing you the Rant of All Times..

February 15, 2010 - 6:19 pm No Comments

..I’ll give you THESE GUYS!

xD



Animal rights in China

February 12, 2010 - 3:34 pm 3 Comments

Fun greetings from China! Just a few things I’ve been reading lately about that mighty lovely country, suitable for hosting the Olympics, for example!

“When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals’ hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.”

“Bear farms prevent any of the natural behaviour seen in wild bears. Bears are caged for many hours per day in tiny cages, and many have been witnessed to suffer permanent confinement in cages. The size of these cages vary by country but many bears suffer confinement in cages equivalent to the size of a telephone booth turned on its side. The bears can not stand or turn around in these conditions.

Farmed bears show extremely high levels of stereotypic (repetitive) behaviour such as bar biting, tongue flicking, weaving, rocking, rearing, rubbing and route tracing. They have also been witnessed to have sores, injuries, diseases and other health problems related to confinement. ”

” As I arrived two dogs were fighting in the ring. Let loose by their trainers, they would bite and scratch until eventually pulled away from each other. Their barks resonated around the amphitheater.”

“Then a single goat was pushed into the ring, bleating with fear. To get it moving around the cage its mate was led around on the outside of the cage. The goat inside the enclosure was so desperate to get out of the cage it jumped up at the 10 foot high wire fence.
The atmosphere was electric when the door to the lion’s cage was opened, but the lion had to be prodded with sticks to come out.”

“The dog had been hung up, while alive i might add, by a hook through it’s chin. Legs tied together. In one swift motion a man stabbed the dog in the neck and proceeded to slice the dog open all the way down. An ocean of blood is the only way I could describe it. I had to turn away, and tried to leave as fast as i could, but the sounds the dog was making, the screaming, not a wail or a whimper, but screams, almost human, definately unnatural, were audible down the street, even as i tried to escape the sight, i was haunted by the sound. It was truly one of the most inhumane things I’ve ever seen, and one of the most traumatic.”

“China has become the world’s largest exporter of fur, largely due to the country’s ABSENCE OF ANIMAL WELFARE PROTECTION and surplus of cheap labor.”

“The South China tiger is one of the smaller and it is the most critically endangered of any of the living tiger subspecies. Experts maintain that there are fewer than 20 of these tigers left in the world, and warn that it might become extinct within the next decade. Becoming widely persecuted, their wild population of the South China tiger fell from more than 4,000 to less than 200 by 1982.”

The crowd look on as another dog is beaten to death

“Whilst I was researching some additional information, for my Helium zone, I came across some worrying details relating to the animal Olympics that China had held in 2006. (…)
To get the horses to fight those involved will present a mare that is in season so that the stallions are aroused. The mare will then be removed. Added to this the horses are whipped until they are in a frenzy, so that they will put on a good show. Usually the horses do not fight to the death but there are always casualties. Often these injuries will result in a horse having to be destroyed.
The Animal Olympics in China obviously are cruel to the animals. Many of these animals are muzzled, frightened, taunted and more, in order to make them “perform”.”

“China has an appalling record regarding human and animal rights. Among the cruelty to animals in China there is:-
- The slaughter of cats, dogs and other animals by skinning them alive.
- The use and export of this fur to countries such as ours.
- Dogs beaten to death on the streets of China on a regular basis.
- A population that still seems to enjoy the cruel spectacle of animal suffering.”

PICTURES you can’t unsee.

China. Die.

Fun greetings from China! Just a few things I’ve been reading lately about that mighty lovely country, suitable for hosting the Olympics, for example <3

“When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals’ hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.”

“Bear farms prevent any of the natural behaviour seen in wild bears. Bears are caged for many hours per day in tiny cages, and many have been witnessed to suffer permanent confinement in cages. The size of these cages vary by country but many bears suffer confinement in cages equivalent to the size of a telephone booth turned on its side. The bears can not stand or turn around in these conditions.

Farmed bears show extremely high levels of stereotypic (repetitive) behaviour such as bar biting, tongue flicking, weaving, rocking, rearing, rubbing and route tracing. They have also been witnessed to have sores, injuries, diseases and other health problems related to confinement. ”

” As I arrived two dogs were fighting in the ring. Let loose by their trainers, they would bite and scratch until eventually pulled away from each other. Their barks resonated around the amphitheater.”

“Then a single goat was pushed into the ring, bleating with fear. To get it moving around the cage its mate was led around on the outside of the cage. The goat inside the enclosure was so desperate to get out of the cage it jumped up at the 10 foot high wire fence.
The atmosphere was electric when the door to the lion’s cage was opened, but the lion had to be prodded with sticks to come out.”

“The dog had been hung up, while alive i might add, by a hook through it’s chin. Legs tied together. In one swift motion a man stabbed the dog in the neck and proceeded to slice the dog open all the way down. An ocean of blood is the only way I could describe it. I had to turn away, and tried to leave as fast as i could, but the sounds the dog was making, the screaming, not a wail or a whimper, but screams, almost human, definately unnatural, were audible down the street, even as i tried to escape the sight, i was haunted by the sound. It was truly one of the most inhumane things I’ve ever seen, and one of the most traumatic.”

“China has become the world’s largest exporter of fur, largely due to the country’s ABSENCE OF ANIMAL WELFARE PROTECTION and surplus of cheap labor.”

“The South China tiger is one of the smaller and it is the most critically endangered of any of the living tiger subspecies. Experts maintain that there are fewer than 20 of these tigers left in the world, and warn that it might become extinct within the next decade. Becoming widely persecuted, their wild population of the South China tiger fell from more than 4,000 to less than 200 by 1982.”

” The crowd look on as another dog is beaten to death ”

“Whilst I was researching some additional information, for my Helium zone, I came across some worrying details relating to the animal Olympics that China had held in 2006. (…)
To get the horses to fight those involved will present a mare that is in season so that the stallions are aroused. The mare will then be removed. Added to this the horses are whipped until they are in a frenzy, so that they will put on a good show. Usually the horses do not fight to the death but there are always casualties. Often these injuries will result in a horse having to be destroyed.
The Animal Olympics in China obviously are cruel to the animals. Many of these animals are muzzled, frightened, taunted and more, in order to make them “perform”.”

“China has an appalling record regarding human and animal rights. Among the cruelty to animals in China there is:-
- The slaughter of cats, dogs and other animals by skinning them alive.
- The use and export of this fur to countries such as ours.
- Dogs beaten to death on the streets of China on a regular basis.
- A population that still seems to enjoy the cruel spectacle of animal suffering.”

China. Die.



I made some cake

February 8, 2010 - 8:48 pm 1 Comment

Chocolate cake (with dark thick creamy chocolate icing & apricot jam) and some vanilla ice cream. Happy Valentine’s everyone, a week early, but still!

kaaku



Repeating myself

January 26, 2010 - 4:44 pm 1 Comment

I’m a broken record – I just wanted to remind you of our beautiful second hand shop! Cmon everyone! Come and visit – Harakan Taivas is just lovely, and very dear to me :)



Busy

January 5, 2010 - 4:27 am 2 Comments

..with a project. I’m suddenly so involved with this fun thing called Harakan Taivas, which would translate into Magpie’s Heaven beautifully. It’s a retro / second hand clothing store my friend decided to start, and wanted me to join the project…

So, for the last week or more, I’ve been painting the walls, planning the interior & doing all kinds of things related to the store itself and of course, the promotion of it. We have a blog too [click!], but it’s in Finnish – I’ll translate some of it to English at some point, but at least there are a lot of pictures of what we’re doing. In case you’re interested :)

Also, some nice news about my photography. I took part in this fun competition put up by an awesome nature photographer called Chris Weston, and ended up in the top three! But the best part of the whole thing was his commentary on my swan photo. Here’s a quote:

“In this image by Tiia Ohman, the photographer has made great use of the elements of design in order to capture a striking, graphic image of a relatively common subject. A perfect exposure has brought out in vivid detail the varying textures of the swan’s feathers, creating an almost 3-dimensional appearance to the photograph.”

“Seeing the detail, as in the Swan, is a perfect example of learning to see. A brilliant effort.”

-Chris Weston [see his website here.]

Imagine that! I think these comments are something I’ll cherish for the next few months – that is, if National Geography doesn’t call me up and ask if they can publish my photos. Ha ha ha. Maybe in a few more years… (what a dream!)

So, that’s that, all is well here, inspiration & long days..  Hope you’re all happy & well! Leave a comment before you leave!



1000 Awesome Things

December 21, 2009 - 1:47 am 1 Comment

Sometimes you just find these gems among all the crappy basic websites around. 1000 Awesome Things is an inspiring site that instantly gave me a lot of inspiration to love the small things in my life. And since they list so many (can you guess how many?), I am pretty sure everyone will find at least one they also consider awe… WAIT FOR IT! .. some.

So, check the site out over here. I only had a few minutes for it now, but I’ll be returning very soon, just to pick a few of my own favourites. But here’s the first one:

#615 When your friend makes sure you got into the house safe after dropping you off at the end of the night

My good friend Satu always does this and it never occured to me to thank her for it. So, here goes Satu: thank you, you are one of the sweetest people I know. Partially for doing small things like this for your friends.



A few new things

December 17, 2009 - 3:44 pm 1 Comment

5162

Winter photos. Some of you might know how I feel about this time of the year, so you can imagine how much courage it took to spend 30minutes outside just to get these pictures.

5057_640

The Gannet. She’s protecting to girl on her back, but the rest of the story.. you’ll just have to figure it out. This one’s for sale, too.

Me and a friend of mine are working on this big project, that will actually give me some more REAL work to do. We’re gonna start a blog about that later on, and you’ve been warned: I will promote that thing a LOT in the upcoming months! So excited!!! Wish us luck, we really need it.



Paintings for sale

December 10, 2009 - 2:37 pm No Comments

Hello reader! Just a quick update – a couple of paintings I’ve been working on. They’re all for sale! If you’re interested, send me an e-mail or leave your e-address in the comments!

huggertree_640px myvoice_600px
lattialla kroko_01

“Hugger Tree” & “My Voice” – Acrylic on deep edge canvas, 20cm x 20cm.

“The Crocodile Ride”: Width 90cm, height 32cm (with frame). Original china ink drawing with wooden frame, passepartout and glass.



Catnap Creations on Facebook

December 8, 2009 - 1:37 pm 1 Comment

I created a so called business page on Facebook. Now you can all show your support and become fans! The group can be found HERE.

Also, I added some items that are for sale, I’ll list them here since unikissa.com is – yes, you know the words – under construction for a while. I’m trying to come up with a new layout and translate everything to English at some point. But, here’s a few pictures of the items. If you like them and want to own them, or have someone special in mind who’d like to receive such things as christmas presents, contact me via e-mail!

Krokotiilitaulu lasinaluset
pipoja_ja_tossut Pipoja

So there we go. The painting’s measures and info: width 90cm, height 32cm (with frame). Original china ink drawing with wooden frame, passepartout and glass. Here’s a couple of details from it:

Croc detail Croc detail Croc detail

This winter and darkness is really making me tired. I slept for 9 hours last night, but I’m just about to fall asleep on the keyboard and get a random collection of letters pressed on my forehead. I don’t get it. I’ve tried coffee, a bit of moving around every once in a while, kept all the lights on, music loud, all that.. and still.

I think I’m a bear. I should hibernate all winter.

Or just simply fly over to California for a couple of months every winter, which I’m dreaming about every day and wondering how to do it.