Creating is learning and living more intense

Creativity is personal

Any creation involves saying something about ourselves. That is how we are telling others what our point of view is. True creativity is never copying and reproducing, but taking an idea that lives or is just born in our imagination and bringing it to life.

The use of color and technique

The use of color is also a very personal feature. To mix up a color which we find unique and love, we have to learn the process of color mixing. It is important not to stick with paint colors out of tube. Composition can be explained as good layout of the painted subject on a particular size paper, canvas or other surface material. There are generally applicable principles, and we should know them. Specific take on composition is a personal feature of an artist, and we should rather develop our own preferred compositions.

Choice of painting subject

Choice of painting subject is always important, and it is also a very personal feature. We should remember that it is much more useful to learn principles of drawing or painting without reproducing subjects somebody else is already painting in a very specific manner. You like it because they are painting it great. Nevertheless, we should not copy this style and painting subject.

Choice of technique and style

How and what we draw and paint always depends on us. As we progress, we study the many ways of achieving the desired result. Learning is an ongoing activity, and it’s erroneous to assume somebody knows everything. Experiment is the best teacher of all. Try for yourself and you will see whether it works or not.

Experiment and error

Learning process always involves mistakes and errors. Only people who do nothing never make mistakes. Try not being a perfectionist, at least at early stages of learning how to draw and paint. Perfectionism lives inside many minds, but it is restrictive and limiting. Art which is less than perfect is still art and provides you with improvement value.

Take the path of discovery

I personally always think: let’s see what happens. Everybody who is painting or drawing has thrown out lots of paper and damaged quite a lot of canvas. There is nothing bad about that. I had a girl who once said: I do not want to throw away this expensive paper just because I started the painting wrong. Don’t do that! When something cannot be corrected, throw it out without any regret.

Start over

It is much more difficult to correct wrong lines and colors than start a fresh using the new knowledge you just discovered. I believe that every task adds something to our knowledge and skills.

Sunflower drawing
Sunflower drawing
Sunflower watercolor
Sunflower watercolor

Creating on the go

I am not at home at the moment, but visiting my closest family in Latvia. I had a few sheets of paper and student grade paints in  too few colors. Such paints don’t have the transparency or flow ability of good quality paints. However, I could not resist when I saw this bloom and these apples, because I do not have these painting subjects in Canada. I always prefer drawing from real subject. It was more difficult because I didn’t have the right tools and brushes, but I did not allow that stopping me. I can reuse the same drawings with decent paints and better size paper or canvas at home.

Apples in apple tree drawing
Drawing for apple watercolor
Apples watercolor, unfinished
First layers of watercolor
Apples, Purple variety, watercolor painting
I finished the painting after I returned home, Purple variety

More about drawing: Drawing and watercolor

Inspiration to take art classes: Get started

My art prints:

Art collections by Inese Poga

My life school blog

My life school blog deals with GREEN LIVING and importance of changing our perception in order the Earth was living and livable longer. Links to 3 recent posts which continue the same conversation about green living.

 

46 Replies to “Creating is learning and living more intense”

    1. Thanks so much Jo-Anne! The weather is just really bad, very little sun, very windy and rainy so far. I have no desire to spend much time outdoors. The first week was a bit better. Mom is very happy.

    1. Thanks Deb! Paints were not that great, I wish I had some good blue shade, but there wasn’t any. Green initiative comes from the European impact. They all try to save water and use much less electricity and plastic. Food choices are much better. I’m writing about all that in my second blog.

  1. I hope you are feeling somewhat better these days.. though I know it will still take some time to get your strength back totally.

    I love your paintings Inese.. I still fight against trying to be exact in painting. I will be glad when I can get comfortable not doing so. I’m so glad to hear about throwing out canvasses when things just don’t turn out the way we hope they would… Anyway… take care and safe trip home! Diane

    1. Thanks Diane! I am feeling better. It is different since home is home and visiting abroad has its challenges.
      It’s nice you liked these watercolors. I do not ever think whether something should be very close to reality or not. As somebody who loves line and drawing I end up quite often with somewhat realistic painting. That doesn’t worry me at all. There are people who like very abstract creations, and then there are those who not that much. I do not try to be or look as somebody else because creation takes its origin within us and within the way we are seeing the world around us.
      I find it weird when lots of instruction says: paint like X or learn to draw like Y. We have to paint and draw as us, not somebody else, and there is no point in trying to reproduce somebody else’s style and manner whether it is excellent or not. When we do things our way based on our personal discoveries, experience and advice how to achieve some effect easier, everything happens.

  2. Your artwork is brilliant… And I completely agree with your statements, dear Inese… The first paragraph let me thinking and kind of reminded me of Oscar Wilde´s “Portrait of Dorian Gray”… there is always a personal element in any artistic creation… to the point that even in Fiction books I tend to believe that the characters might have traits related to the author himself… A great reading. Thank you!. Love & best wishes. Aquileana 😀

    1. Thanks Aquileana! What a fantastic comment! I will visit your blog tomorrow and respond more appropriately! It’s 2 am in Latvia, late, and I am so sleepy, but I certainly highly appreciate this very touching comment!

    1. Thanks Lorrie! I am always also slightly nervous before any of these long trips. It’s because there is not that much time to switch flights. In Helsinki, I knew everything, this time is Warsaw, and their procedures are a bit different. I hope, it’s going to be fine.

    1. Thanks Inese! Most often, people who walk into the gallery say the same: they feel surrounded by a very steady flow of good, uplifting energy. I was recently at numerologist, and she told the way my aura is completely intact and unaffected is most likely due to art and the protection such painted pieces filling up the ambient space provide with. So, it’s amazing you felt it through the internet which at some point is a dead medium to carry live energy particles. I actually finished the sunflower once I got given as a gift much better quality paints, and the sunflower has found a new home.

    2. Big progress, I hope it continues. I am just 2 days home after trip, and some pictures are on lifeschool blog. Well, it’s my 12th wedding anniversary, just getting ready to celebrate. We have no guests, just the 2 of us, exactly like at our wedding, but it’s nice.

    1. Thanks Christy! Somebody enjoys sunflower even though I didn’t have the right paints and table or desk to paint on. I have new stuff, just no time to post because totally tied up with medical writing.

    1. Thanks! I was in Europe at that moment, and I hadn’t bought good paints yet, but I had a chance to use nice real blooms and apples were growing straight there. I always paint from reality whenever there is something around, camera doesn’t see things the same way we do, and I can say immediately which work is painted from reality and which from photography because of slightly distorted, or as with reflection, a lot distorted proportions.

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