The Story Behind Every Illustration
Where each drawing comes from ... the real places, seasons and moments behind the art.
The story behind
Every illustration I create is inspired by a real place and a real moment. For example, I drew a birch tree by a frozen river in a small village above the Arctic Circle where I stayed for a month. Or I captured a special play of light just before the polar night, because it was so magical. The color of the sky above the Norwegian coast evolved into my “Lofoten & Beyond” collection. And I drew the eight seasons of Lapland because I experienced them firsthand, winter after winter.
I’m in love with the Far North and call myself a Nordic Art artist. You can read about what that exactly means and how it differs from Scandinavian art in my article: Nordic vs. Scandinavian Art.
Behind every finished piece lies a longer story: how I ended up there, why it became such a special work of art, and what drove me when I decided it had to be drawn. I’ve lived in some of these places; to others I’ve traveled, or I long to return. There are always personal stories behind the illustration or the collection.
The stories
Why do I want to share these stories with you?
Behind every drawing is a reason why that particular one exists. The winter I spent in a small village, year after year. The neighbor who taught us an indispensable winter trick when our brakes froze. These are the stories that set a hand-drawn illustration apart from a mass-produced print, and they are, quite simply, the stories I love to tell the most.
The first story is now online; the rest will follow soon. I’m adding them one by one, so that each place gets the attention it deserves. Check back regularly, or follow us on Instagram and via the newsletter to find out when a new story is published.
1. Small Village
● ONLINE
A month above the Arctic Circle in the village of Tepasto: a birch tree on the banks of the frozen Ounasjoki River, and the drawing that emerged from it.
2. Every month, a different aurora
● ONLINE
People always ask me which month is best for the northern lights. After six winters of watching from the same corner of Finnish Lapland, my answer surprised even me. Here's the story behind the aurora illustrations, and what all those nights under the sky taught me.
3. The Lofoten & Beyond Collection
● COMING SOON
Where the Norwegian coast found its way into my work: jagged mountain peaks, fishermen’s huts, and light that behaves like nowhere else.
4. My Northern Lights, Through the Years
● COMING SOON
Winters spent chasing the Northern Lights, and how my drawing style changed as I got to know them better.
5. How the BLACK Collection Came to Be
● COMING SOON
How do you draw the Northern Lights in black and white? That question is where my darkest, most graphic series began, and it grew far beyond the aurora: a Highland castle, a moonlit bridge, cherry blossom against a Norwegian stave church. Always with one deliberate touch of colour. Who knows what's next.
6. Surrounded by the Northern Lights: Leppäniemi
● COMING SOON
One place, one night, the Northern Lights all around me. The setting that inspired a very special illustration.
7. Why My Illustrations Remain Handmade
● COMING SOON
In an era of AI art at the click of a mouse: why every line I draw still passes through a human hand, and why that matters.
8. Six Years Living in Lapland
● COMING SOON
The bigger story behind all the other stories: what it’s really like to make the far north your home, season after season.
9. The story behind the Lapland 8 Seasons collection
● COMING SOON
How one year in the north grew into eight seasons and an entire body of work.
10. Santa’s Home: Levi
● COMING SOON
The hills, the resort, the legend, and the illustration born from Finland’s most famous winter destination.
11. Forth Bridge by Moonlight
● COMING SOON
A landmark much closer to home, sketched by moonlight. Proof that not every story begins above the Arctic Circle.
12. Stave Church & Cherry Blossoms: BLACK
● COMING SOON
An unlikely combination of centuries-old Norwegian wood and spring blossoms, and how it found its place in the BLACK series.
13. Reindeer
● COMING SOON
The animal that is intertwined with everything in the North. The story behind drawing it, and what it means here.
STORY BEHIND
While the stories grow
You don’t have to wait for the stories that haven’t been published yet. Every illustration mentioned here, and many more, is available as an art print, metal print or acrylic glass piece in the shop.