BUY ART and TAKE ART CLASSES from ARTIST INESE POGA
Author: Inesepaints
Artist, art instructor: fine art, watercolor, acrylic, drawing; medical writer and researcher, specializing in life sciences, brain function, memory and psychology
I’ve been working on many things, including painting, sketching, drawing, teaching art classes, but most of all, I had to deal with planting the garden. That left me not much time for posting anything anywhere. “Blue sky over summer meadows” painting was started in class. Therefore, it’s really not my personal choice of subject.
This post is just simple and short update since I already skipped April. April was quite nice, but then May brought bad and extremely cold weather, and I had no motivation to paint a lot. I have finished sketches and watercolor paintings, but they’ll have to wait for another time. “Blue sky over summer meadows” is a fairly acceptable acrylic painting, except I struggled abnormally to get realistic pictures.
Every art class also takes preparation; the biggest problem is what to paint. Teaching art classes nowadays is extremely difficult. Most people watch tutorials and speed paintings, and that causes one to believe that any painting is done within an hour or less, even if one is a complete beginner. That also makes one believe that there’s no need to know anything about painting, particular medium or brushstroke.
Anyway, I tried my best getting some images, and I must admit none of them is like the actual painting. I mostly can get very yellow or very blue images and resulting green is also either very blue-green or very yellow-green. The device I have always hated most is the iPhone. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I can currently use, and it is very upsetting and frustrating to never have a good and decent image.
Therefore, I like very much the black and white version which shows only values and none of the wrong colors.
Regardless of how the “Blue sky over summer meadows” painting looks online, it’s a very uplifting and memorable artwork, and it’s available. The size is 20 x 24” or 51 x 61 cm. I just saw some really bad paintings in size 5 x 5” selling on Etsy at $89. Really? Well, my art is priced very moderately at the moment, but I cannot include free shipping, that’s for the huge companies. So, somebody might like it and keep the memories of summer on their wall.
I intend to completely conclude the green spring and summer paintings, and do instead close-up garden, flower, early fall, fences, mist images and some abstracted landscapes. I don’t have water in my backyard, but I have attractive old trees, even my own house looks very interesting since it has so much character. Painting and sketching plein-air is more rewarding and interesting which is what I am going to do.
This post about painting blooming grasses and trees has been waiting to be published for more than a month. I love painting, taking it slowly, going over layers. I definitely love it when I see something emerging from the blocked in color spots and fairly abstract shapes. It’s interesting to see where the painting takes me. I have little motivation for posting my art and showing it off on the internet.
The painting process is beautiful, it’s so rewarding, calming and uplifting. It’s also therapeutic and soothing, very beneficial to our brain flexibility and memory. Why do I believe that painting attractive landscapes, floral and still life paintings can cure us from daily troubles and upset moods? I have seen that happening thousands of times. AI painting can get you many likes, but the only type of art which benefits our brain is the one we create from scratch.
This particular painting was started in March 2024. I took it to some stage of completeness, but it wasn’t finished for the most part. The previous year was a bad one, therefore, I hardly did anything apart from reading in bed. I picked it up this February from where I had left it. There is actually nothing wrong with letting a painting or drawing rest. The only risk is we might not ne interested in it after a year.
Since I believed it had potential, I kept working. A beautiful landscape emerged, and it was sparkling with light. I doubt I’ve gotten this all on photos. I can get the picture yellow, blue or green, but not what the actual painting is. It still looks great. The size of this painting is 24 x 18” or 61 x 46 cm. The composition works well for this size and trees shadow the juicy front grasses.
Enjoy the mood of this painting while it’s still grey outside!
Art prints in numerous sizes and with huge selection of frames and surfaces
Why do I paint what I paint? Why this landscape? I have done commissions when somebody else orders the painting subject and colors. However, when I choose the subject, I look for something which feels like me, and I go for it. I pay no regard to all classic or whatever painting rules. Instead, I usually guide myself with what feels right and suitable to me. That includes deciding when the painting is done.
This particular painting was started last year, around this same time. I did the first layers and left it since other things came up and I had to deal with them. As I have mentioned before, I have quite a lot of paintings which are in their initial stages. I don’t push myself – if I don’t feel like completing some painting, I leave it alone.
Recently, I decided to add some layers and see what I could do with this landscape. It looks good and has lots of appeal in the final version. Each painting undergoes numerous transitions, from the first blocked in layers to final details. I regret that colors are both, more yellow and bluer, and the red tones are sort of missing on photo.
I paint what’s around me and what I know well. That is would be – forests, parks, backyards, creeks, trees, plants, flowers and garden. These subjects are applied in different combinations from still life to landscape and everything in the middle. I am not close to large water, and I absolutely do not have any mountains here. However, nature provides me with endless inspiration, especially trees and plants.
Just like always, I love checking out how the black and white version of this landscape looks. I think it is quite impressive, with all values in correct places, and certainly, it’s possible to see the landscape, barn and daffodils clearly. One can tell it’s spring even without colors.
The situation with art materials and paints is very tough here. I have run out of most good quality paints; there’s no white paint left. I just use what I have, but I will definitely need to get some new art supplies from somewhere soon. I dislike internet shopping a lot, and I always preferred to see in person what exactly I was buying. No such option here right now.
Enjoy my new spring barn landscape with white daffodils and weathered fence. It looks sunny on the wall, indeed. Also, this view takes us to a beautiful day when blooms are out and leaves are opening. Let’s hope we get into the nice spring weather sooner!
All black and white version art prints, as well different size and format art prints are available from Fine Art America
We in Ontario are having all kinds of whether these days – from bitter cold and raging winds to melting snow and weak, but encouraging sunshine. White switches to dirty grey and to bright brilliant blue in the sky. While we are impatiently waiting for spring, more sunshine and green color covering the boring grey, it’s fantastic to engage in painting spring landscape. I do it every year now. I used to paint some snow scenes also, but not any longer. Many reasons for that.
The colors of awakening
As I mentioned in the previous post, green color symbolizes harmony and balance, just as it appears in nature, therefore, increasing inner calm. Spring landscape on the wall makes us feel better while it is still dark and cold outdoors. Everybody who uses colors has experienced the uplifting effect of sunny shades and satisfaction with life. Those, who are not sticklers for the result only, can enjoy the meditative process of using colors in many ways.
Memory and imagination instead of photos
This particular spring landscape was started about a year ago. So, it sat with other unfinished paintings and patiently waited for the final touches and paint layers. The good thing is, we can restart acrylic painting at any time, change things around, adjust colors or repaint the areas which don’t fit. I recently don’t use photos; I rather go for the scenes which are stored in my memory. Over the years, the memory grows and grows, and it is easy to recall anything what I would like to implement in a painting.
Painting trees from observation
I love painting trees and using them in my landscapes. In fact, my huge backyard has numerous trees and I watch them consciously and subconsciously any time when I am outside. I teach painting trees in my art classes also because there are so many bad paintings and wrong landscapes with trees. We have to remember that there are always spaces between tree branches and leaves don’t appear in cloud-like formations and lollipop shapes. The best thing to do is observe and then paint.
Paint quality or lack of it
Since the art store in our area closed down, it was the only art store, I am usually running out of paints and other supplies. I am happy that brushes last quite long time. This spring landscape required using white in different combinations. Unfortunately, Liquitex professional Titanium white paint is bad, it lacks in pigment saturation and, thus, causes problems when mixed with other colors. I find that paint quality has gone down big time since the beginning of this century. Apparently, also in this area, profit comes first.
Positive aspects of painting
I hope you enjoyed looking at my spring landscape. I have 4 more I am working on. Last year was not in count because I spent the biggest part of it recovering from injuries. I have big hopes that this year is going to be much better. Nevertheless, painting is always calming, improving mood, taking away from any problems one might have. Stick with manual painting even though, there will be people who will use the stealing AI to come up as if with their own art. Manual painting does good for you and your brain. What counts is the human mastery, not the AI application.
Go big and be certain
I hope I have inspired you to also paint something in nice colors. Such as spring flowers, spring landscape, creeks, lakesides and awakening of the nature. We have to always remember that the art we create becomes us. There’s no point in copying, tracing and trying to recreate somebody else’s artwork. With every brushstroke our artistic ability grows. With every new painting, our hand-brain cooperation becomes more effective. And, please, go big. The teeny-tiny paintings make no sense, and no way you can learn painting like that.
Harmony and balance – main goal of creation as art therapy
To regain harmony, balance and self-fulfillment, many people are trying to find simple ways to cure their stresses and change the rushed lifestyle in nowadays unforgiving world. The most healing, as well as most accessible path is using creation as art therapy. You don’t have to be an artist to find huge satisfaction, calmness and feeling whole again since creation of art, painting, drawing, sketch is already art therapy. If you never tried, maybe you should do that right now while it’s cold and not that great outdoors.
The healing potential of creation as art therapy
The healing aspect of creation is based on the idea that it involves mind, soul, emotions, feelings, activation of memory pathways, harmonizing movements of hand with brush or pencil, thus, stimulating self-expression, intuition and getting in contact with person’s inner self. All of that gives us a chance to free ourselves from never ending stresses, being in competition with everybody else, and getting rid of emotional blocks. The other aspects of creation of art are ability to focus, improvement of memory and decision making.
Relaxing creativity
Creation as art therapy involves fantastic relaxing potential. Especially, if you prefer using color as the main feature in art. The colors we feel as ours, disclose the subconscious state of our mind and lead to transforming experience. Creation of art involves all of our brain processes, and that manifests as a healing effect and feeling of inner balance. Participation in art classes is one way to facilitate the creativity and learn how to implement it in our life.
Power of colors
Each color possesses unique energy which affects us. Working with colors releases different energies. For painting, we usually go either with color of our subject and reference, or choose it intuitively which is what I do most often. Choice of color can be frequently subconscious – we feel attracted to some colors and avoid using others. The same goes for subjects which we feel are ours.
Blue and green – colors of life and harmony
Blue color calms and facilitates peacefulness decreasing stress and anxiety. Look at the blue sky, which represents endless calm. We surely can paint sky and water as blue as we want. Green color symbolizes the energy of nature, harmony and balance, healing and increasing the feeling of the inner calm. Green color means life and renewal, just like in spring everything comes back to life. Green is dominant in nature during spring and summer, it’s the most healing color, the best art therapy.
Orange and red for passion
Orange color is the color of enthusiasm, living energy and creative intentions, it gives us vitality, helping to open our mind to new ideas. Red color activates our energy, power and passion, especially passion to live and create. Red color also can be a manifestation of subdued emotions and inner restlessness. I have rarely used only red, orange or yellow, but these colors are very essential for fall landscapes where they are represented in abundance.
Yellow for joy, purple for magic
Yellow color is associated with joy, self-awareness, mental clarity, it facilitates positive attitude and perception. Yellow brightens our space and sparkles up feeling of pleasure in our mind. Having different shades of good quality yellow paint is absolutely crucial for any painting. Purple is color of spirituality, intuition and depth of soul. Color of mystery and magic. I have rarely used purple as a dominant color, but it’s useful for softening green. Purple has its place in art therapy.
White and black
White means clarity and purity, new beginnings. White is unavoidable in art. We need to brighten and lighten other colors, and pure white is very important for watercolor and acrylic painting. Black color represents completeness and strongly indicates value, shape and form in art. I don’t use black color in watercolor at all, but as a mixing component in acrylic. Strong indication of values is important in any painting.
Painting, creating and using colors
When we create a painting, we rarely use paint straight from the tube. It’s important our painting has light and dark values and warm and cold colors. Therefore, most often it is a mix of colors and different shades. Yet, the overall impression usually shows a tendency towards some particular color palette, like I love combining all kinds of green with blue, white and yellow. Fresh and uplifting, at the same time, emotionally loaded and peaceful. Fall paintings have numerous red, orange, yellow and mixed shades. Saturated colors, warm, bright and vibrant.
Different preferences
I have written before about my grey and subdued color periods, as well as blue, green and red. Over time, the perception of color becomes very refined. The color choice usually reflects the mood of that time. Grey looks fantastic in art. Sometimes less color makes painting much better. However, there are seasons when I feel I need the brightness, the strong, bold colors. Nobody says we have to stick to something one. In art, we experiment, explore and test. Time spent painting becomes meditation and art therapy.
