About me

I moved to Trollhättan in Sweden in 1970 together with my parents and
sisters. Though it is not easy to change one's country and language I've
always felt that my extrovert nature helped me. At the beginning of the
70´s.
I had the opportunity of exhibiting some of my paintings in Trollhättan.
My first oil paintings had hardly dried before I sold them. I then arranged
exhibitions in Trollhättan together with the municipality and the local
Finnish association. I was very active in the Finnish association, both as a member of the board and co-worker at the youth centre.

When the 80´s rolled in I had started my own Art business and had become a member of the Swedish team in karate. Karate was a new interest for me and meant a lot of discipline and concentration. Training gave results and I became Swedish Champion in faiting, karate.

Performance in tamashiwari.

Förstora bilden	Förstora bilden	Förstora bilden
PIctures © Annika Nyström

I spent some 3 years in the Swedish team. Together with the karate I had my Art interests, and I then
started my own gallery of Art and Handicrafts. I painted and sold both my own and other people's artistic products. This was something I did for a couple of years, but I felt also as though travelling and the world itself was waiting for me, so it was always a case of there not being enough time for everything I wanted to do. At the same time my style of painting was quite melancholy and dark.

At the end of the 80´s I started to paint using water colours more often and I made sketches with brighter colours attempting a more harmonious finish.
In 1990 I got married and when I then had children my family took a lot of my time. It seemed that Art had to become my secondary interest for some years.
However, my yearning for painting and interest in Art did come back more, and more in my life, this led to a need to exhibit and to seek new ways. The exhibitions again started in Finland.

As I divorced in the mid 90´s, I felt as though a fuller freedom came to me with more space and time to continue my Art. I started painting in oil again, though it did not result in a full time interest at that point. I
made a couple of paintings and was happy with that.

The biggest change came at the end of the 90´s when I first got in touch with Spirituality. This set me on another long path in my life and resulted in both tangible and less tangible changes. For example, I am today Reiki Master in healing. Spirituality gave me the freedom to se my life and the world in a brighter and more optimistic way, and it was as though new colours came to me. This completely opened my way of painting, as if painting and colours simply exploded for me. My need and desire to seek new ways intensified. Again I started exhibiting in Finland. One gallery proprietor came and looked at my Art and he became both impressed and urged me: "there is no one in the world who knows you paint; you just have to go out there and show them", so I did. Today you can find my Art in the USA,Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Australia and some of the countries In Europe.

My Art and everything that goes with it is the most important thing in my life without which I should dry up and loose touch with reality. To create my thoughts and make them real in my paintings is just another contact with reality for me.

A frosty landscape nearby Maijas old surroundings.

A couple of good links:

Konstnärsalliansen.
... for artists and art interested people. This page presents the organisation, adresses, e-mail lists and more.
http://www.konstnarsalliansen.org


Galleri Fenix.
Artgallery in Gothenburg, Sweden
http://www.gallerifenix.com

Karateklubben BANZAI.
My old club.
http://www.banzai.o.se/

Turism och nöjen i Göteborg.
read about all the nice events the city of Gothenburg represents...
You can also find information about hotels, bars, and other activities.
http://www.goteborg.com

Artmate - Take a lookt! It´s for free and a lot of fun stuff happens all the time at this site!
!