A little over a year ago Riikka and I were What’s App-ing each other about Paris*, watching films and seeking inspiration… It led us to doing a challenge and because the process and outcome turned out so inspiring and fun, this first challenge continued into a series of challenges we call Inspired by.

I can’t believe it’s already been a year! And I can’t even begin to tell you what Inspired by means to me… Just have a look at all the projects I would never have created without it:

And that’s not all… I saw films I wouldn’t have seen if I wasn’t challenged, I connected dots that only I could connect, I worked on stuff out of my comfort zone, I dealt with personal turmoil in the process, I was reminded of stuff I had forgotten about, I used supplies I had forgotten about, I also experimented with new supplies… I learned more about Finland and Finnish culture… For heaven’s sake: it even led me to sew something from a pattern!!!

* I just happen to read this in the first Inspired by-post. I had totally forgotten about that! The weirdest, funny thing is that Paris seems to be a reoccurring theme for me in this series… Seriously: Riikka and I already know next month’s subject and I’m 99,9% sure Paris plays a role there too! Sooooo… maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something?!! I don’t know…

What I do know, is that the perfect opportunity to celebrate our one year Inspired by-anniversary revealed itself when Riikka came over from Helsinki to attend Nathalie’s and Birgit’s Art Fusion. We got to spent a day in Amsterdam prior to the event and we paid a visit to the Rijksmuseum together with Elina and Minna.

(Photos by Riikka)

For this month’s Inspired by we agreed that we would each choose one ‘favourite’ work of art from the Rijksmuseum that day and let that inspire us to create ‘something’.

I chose this mesmerizing 18th century pastel on vellum (!) portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard:

It really stood out to me and I love just about everything about it… The softness and the lightness, the colours, the materials, the motives, the Turkish attire, the look of the fabric, the braided hair… the folded bit in the top part of the art piece… Do you see those teeny tiny Chinese figures on the vase of pink carnations?!

It was wonderful to find out that Riikka had photographed it as well! Fortunately for you, you don’t have to settle for our crappy phone pictures: You can get a far better idea of the true beauty of this portrait at the Rijksmuseum website and if you want, you can also see some additional works of art that caught my eye during this visit to the museum here.

And here’s what I came up with:

I had a strong urge to start all over again once the page was almost finished (and I might have actually done it if I had remembered that I was staring at an image of PASTEL ON VELLUM the whole time!!!). But instead I figured I could always do another take on it some other time, just like I did last time!

Now… I desperately want to see which museum piece my partner in crime has chosen for this Inspired by and more importantly what she’s created with that work of art in mind!

Click here to see it for yourself: Riikka’s Inspired by: Rijksmuseum