Kickstarter

INTRO

We are Ville Mehtonen and Evan Lovejoy, two young artists who are about to embark on a thrilling extended artistic journey through Europe. We want to compile our experiences into a beautiful book, which would document our travels through the lesser-known art scenes and places that cannot be found in any normal tour guide.

ABOUT US

Evan Lovejoy is an oil painter, printmaker, and drawer from the United Kingdom who has been residing in South Florida since 2001. Creating art is his obsession and is pretty much all he does. Animals are the main subject matter of his artwork, and he is fascinated not only by the natural existence of the animals he depicts, but also by the way in which human beings perceive them. Evan also finds it bizarre to write about himself in the third person.

Ville Mehtonen is a painter and drawer from Finland, who has been residing in the United States on and off for the past 15 years. His interest in art began at a young age and eventually progressed into a liking for oil painting, particularly portrait painting. More recently he has become fascinated with the concept of memory and draws and paints figurative work that is tied to this interest. Ville always refers to himself in the third person.

ABOUT THE JOURNEY

We will be leaving the United States in September, flying from Tampa to London. From there we will be traveling all over Europe finding the most unique, strange, exciting and/or off the wall art events and locations. Initially we hope to hit London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Helsinki, but we hope to add in more locations if the time and money permit. We will go beyond the famous art museums, and will hone our knack for sniffing out the local art scene in all of its strangeness and finery. While we are there we will explore the possibilities of showing at galleries across the continent, discover amazing new artists, meet incredible new people, and take YOU along for the ride from the comfort of your computer desk! We aim to update a travel blog almost every day during the trip.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The idea for the book came about while we were looking through travel guides of Europe in order to start planning our trip. We found them laborious and relatively dull, but most importantly they seemed to only focus on the classical tourist spots. We could not find a fun and exciting guide that helped artists and people interested in the arts to find all of the most electrifying artistic spots around Europe. So we decided that we ought to write one ourselves, and bring it to as many people as possible!

The book will essentially be a complete document of the art adventure. It will be part travel guide, part artist guide, part photo journal, and part commentary. It will include tons of photographs, maps, sketches, postcards, and running observations about the art scene all across Europe. It will also include images of the paintings and drawings we make that are inspired by the excursion.

REWARDS FROM US TO YOU

In return for your generous and kind contributions we have a bunch of exciting original things to give to you! These include:

* Postcards we get on our trip around Europe with a handwritten thank you message on the back!

* eBooks that feature our original artwork!

* Bound book and eBook of the final travel guide!

* Original drawings or commissioned drawings (think portrait of you or a loved one, or a picture of your favorite animal or pet) by either artist, ranging in size from 5”x7” to 8”x10”!

* Original oil paintings or commissioned paintings (think portrait of you or a loved one, or a picture of your favorite animal or pet) by either artist, ranging in size from 8”x10” to 30”x40”!

* A day of travel with us in Europe!

This is your chance to not only help support two emerging artists, but also an exclusive opportunity to get your hands on a truly unique travel guide and original or personalized artwork that you can cherish forever!

NOTE: If you would like to pledge money for any of our original artwork from our websites don't hesitate to contact us for availability and pricing, we will give you a special Kickstarter discount. :)

HOW WE WILL USE THE MONEY

Part of the money that we are asking for will go towards travel expenses for two people (plane tickets, train tickets, lodging costs, food costs, event costs) in order for our research for the book to be as extensive as possible. The other part will go towards completing and printing a beautiful high quality book, along with shipping costs and promotional costs (if all goes well, we hope to find an official publisher). Printing costs are very high, especially for the immaculate and colorful product we hope to create, and travel costs are even higher! Without Kickstarter we would not have the opportunity to pursue this dream project.

If we (by some miracle) raise more than the goal amount, we will be able to travel to more destinations and make the book even longer, more extensive, and more interesting!

MORE INFO

Evan Lovejoy’s artwork and information can be seen here:

EvanLovejoyArt.com

Ville Mehtonen’s artwork can be seen here:

VilleMehtonen.carbonmade.com

Thank you so much for your support!!