Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari

I paint in watercolour, acrylics and oil, inspired by nature, what-ifs and computational systems.

When I paint, I look around me and paint what I see. Sometimes I use reference images: either my own photos; google-image searches for random obsessions; or I look at pictures by ‘old masters’. I keep the books by Tove Jansson (the creator of Moomin) close, and occasionally make ink drawings in her style on top of watercolour washes. Often, mid-process, a what-if enters the painting. What if there was a castle on that cloud, towing the forrest on that other cloud?

In painting I am self-taught - my formal education is in computing science and mathematics. In my work-life I teach and do research in the intersection of game design and artificial intelligence.

How I began painting

In the summer of 2012 I found an old box of watercolour pans in a moving crate.That summer, I made some painting exercises and was captivated. Soon, I was carrying a tin box with colours and a water brush with me everywhere I went. Come autumn was I taking notes in watercolour and making research presentation slides as paintings. Suddenly, the main reason to rise in the morning was the knowledge that I would get to paint - even if it was only a few snatched minutes on a bench on my way to work, or to dabble notes at a faculty meeting. I have kept d...