Art by Marianne Monto

I get my inspiration from nature, books and from people around me. Also things that at first glance I see differently, for example one piece was inspired by crumbled shopping bag. I paint portraits of my children’s imaginary friends, real people around me and things that would be so cool if those were around. I try to depict how it feels to jump in puddles and move the beauty I see in the world to canvas

I am born and raised in Finland with loud, colourful and flamboyant Karelian family. I have taken together my ebullient heritage, paired it with Finnish grumpiness and distilled it to my own unique expression. At least I like to think so.