Creating a calendar has been my dream for several years. When I was thinking about how to illustrate specific months, I started to think about how I felt then. What are February and September about for me? And what do those feelings look like?

January is about looking for new things, new beginnings. About that first, somewhat magical New Year’s night and the following days of astonishment that another year had come. Symbolically.

February is a little more calm, full of cold and mud. The days are still short and the sun is so much desired. Then I remember “Moomin Winter” and sometimes I feel like a troll who woke up too early, too. Then I buy too many seeds and dream about flowers and try to believe they will bloom one day.

March means paleness, fatigue – so visible in this new, intense light. The sun, still at a low angle, shines brightly through the windows and illuminates the post-winter dust. Every year I read or watch “The Secret Garden”.

April is full of  joy that it’s here already – now it’s spring finally! Longer walks, birds, spring cleaning. You can feel that the earth smells differently, smells with life again.

May – a moment of breath and delight. Conker and lilac trees are blooming. Dry puddles covered in bright pine pollen and the overall greenness and intensity.

June – joy and relief, freedom, the smell of blooming privet* hedges, swifts over the block and grey, square sidewalk tiles on the last day of the school year. (*Ligustrum vulgare)

July – freedom, fullness, abundance, basking in the sun. I’m thinking of warm sand and a strawberry smoothie with a straw.

August – for me it’s about the end of something, loss. Grain is cut from the fields. The city is tired of the heat. Birds begin to fly away for the winter – you can hear geese calling in the sky. But it is also a delight, capturing beauty in reserve, and all these bright, warm nights.

September – the air smells differently, you can feel the wind and new energy – there will be changes. The smell of apples gives me the feeling of being in the right place. For me, the year really begins in autumn.

October – for me it’s about balancing and finding rhythms. About collecting and building. And about conker figures.

November – a time of slowdown, nostalgia and being shrouded in fog. Thoughtfulness. Leaves soaked in the rain.

December – Closing things, returning borrowed books, planning and pleasant waiting. The smell of spruce, lights, magic. Equinox. Looking forward to another year with hope for a new beginning.

What will the coming months be about for you?

I wish you that there will be many small delights and moments to stop for a while.

My new 2024 calendar is available in my shop section already!