Author: Inesepaints

Artist, art instructor: fine art, watercolor, acrylic, drawing; medical writer and researcher, specializing in life sciences, brain function, memory and psychology
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Sunny still life

Sunny still life by Inese Poga

Sunny still life on watercolor canvas

Sunny still life is a painting which I started on January 1, 2013. I got busy, and this canvas was collecting dust (literally, it was hard to get rid of it) until now. The other day, I was going through different pictures and thought: why not to finish up this still life? “Sunny still life” was intended to be painted in pastel. I had painted two smaller pastels on canvas from the same set-up in my studio, and everybody liked them and later bought. I used watercolor for the base layer. However, this isn’t a watercolor paper. It is watercolor canvas.

Creation process of Sunny still life

What is watercolor canvas?

Watercolor canvas is supposed to be a surface which accepts watercolor paint. In reality, it doesn’t. Paint comes off extremely easily, and it doesn’t stay on. I can lift paint, but to get more of it on, is not going to happen using regular technique. I bought this watercolor canvas exactly 8 years ago. My hope was I could use it for watercolor and then hang without a frame. Frames are always a problem, and they become an issue when one has very many paintings.

Original art by Inese Poga

Getting realistic image on watercolor canvas

Watercolor canvas is very difficult with somewhat realistic image since we get only one attempt in covering an area. I think it would work when pouring on very thick watercolor paint, but there is nothing much of a thin layer. I still decided to complete this painting. The truth is, I feel obligated to finish all paintings I have started. I don’t know if they still sell watercolor canvas, but this was the only one I ever bought. Thick watercolor paper is so much better for realistic paintings, but it needs a frame, unfortunately.

Sunny still life, Inese Poga

Excellent quality paints

After lots of attempts cheating paint onto canvas, I got somewhat saturated colors.  This painting is 24 x 20 inches or  61 x 51 cm. I always paint around edges, just like with any painting on canvas. I could accomplish this because I use pigment-rich watercolor paints. I use St. Petersburg watercolor paints, and I’m absolutely happy with them. Over years, I have tried most brands, and I must admit, nothing on the market compares to St. Petersburg paints.

Watercolor canvas, painting

I think the mood is really sunny, and therefore, the title of this painting is also “Sunny still life”. This is how the painting process and experiments started: Experimenting with surface and medium

Other than that, I am preparing materials for online art classes and my watercolor painting book. It is a very lengthy and time-consuming process. At least for me. I am a bit slow because there is so much to do in the garden.

Art collections by Inese Poga

Stay healthy, purchase some art. Many people are doing really well during these COVID-19 times.

 

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Living with flowers, painting flowers, staying stress-free

Floral art by Inese Poga

Living among flowers

Somebody commented on my Facebook page that I live among flowers, grow flowers and paint them also. It’s a very floral life, indeed. While I do paint many other subjects also, flowers were always big part of live art classes and some solo exhibitions, as well. This post has very many pictures, enjoy!

Living among flowers

Variety and choice

There is extreme variety of any kind of flowers, and they are available as a model all year round. They come in all possible colors and shades and shapes. They are of different sizes and allow for creating any type of art: from completely abstract, modern, to traditional, classic, botanical and photorealistic. The choice is endless. I’m always enjoying this subject and have drawn and painted many hundreds of flowers. I would not know the exact number, there are so many of such paintings.

How to stay stress-free

Trying to be relaxed

I’m using this time period of COVID-19 pandemic as a vacation from many duties which I otherwise would have. It can feel sometimes lonely or not right, and I won’t have my annual trip to Europe to meet my closest family this year. However, I take things the easy and relaxed way: there is no point in rushing out and catching some virus-related problems or going mad about things which we didn’t ask for.

Paint flowers, stay stress-free, acrylic flower paintings of tulips, magnolia, rose and poppies

Upcoming changes

I am working on online materials, and I will definitely update the sale pages. For me personally, the toughest issue is to choose some plugin or sale app which suits me best. I have spent a few weeks already doing just that. I definitely don’t want to turn my website in a store, and I don’t want people to feel that the only way to enjoy art is by purchasing it. On the other hand, it’s been months since the last art sale and the last live art class which ensured a tiny, but nice income.

Beauty of floral paintings, sunflower, magnolia, rose, poppy painting

5 floral paintings

This post includes many flowers: I finished the sunflower, poppy and tulip paintings. The rose and magnolia were done a while ago, in March, I believe. iPhone 11 Max Pro is the best so far which I have had from smartphones. Still, the contrast is very strong, and it tends to turn any image bluer. For every post, like this one, I take about 100 to 300 pictures. Then I resize, straighten and crop them, add watermark the most suitable ones, and that takes me about 3 days in average. I would like to post more often, but I also don’t want the pictures and articles to be sloppy and esthetically unacceptable. I’m old school in that regard. I hate half-done unconvincing things and that goes for art also.

Conceptual no-skill art

By nowadays standards, everybody can be and is an artist. In fact, the newest contemporary art means, the best of it is created without any skill, without knowing anything about technique, drawing, painting or medium. One can use anything. Your kid or even your dog could create it, and it would possibly sell at more than $1,000 if you know how to market it. It can be 2 spots of some paint or even 2 pen lines, or a few words that are scribbled on some surface, anything goes as long as you can attach a concept for which it is best to be familiar with writing to invent the concept. Don’t believe me? Check out Artsy.

Enjoy the art

3 of these flower paintings are semi-realistic: poppies, sunflower and rose, and traditionally realistic: magnolia and tulips. I grouped them together because of their size and canvas shape which is square for 4 paintings. Only sunflower painting is vertical, but one dimension is the same: 12 inches or 30.5 cm. For North American population, that means the size is a square foot. I always paint around edge because that way the sides become continuation of painting, and it looks great without a frame.

New floral art by Inese Poga, poppy painting
Tulips, floral painting by Inese Poga
Painted flowers, best wall art
Flower paintings by Inese Poga, sunflower painting

I’d be happy to sell some of floral paintings, you’ll find them soon on art sale pages. It will take more work, however, and I haven’t uploaded them even onto print sale sites yet. They are coming soon.

Other posts about my floral art:

Blossoming

Sunflowers in watercolor

White and pink

FAA prints:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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Virtual marketplace and my art in room settings

Virtual art marketplace paintings

It’s amazing that I had no idea my art had been added to a local virtual marketplace. It was somewhat encouraging to see that my art was appreciated.

If I knew about that, I’d had kept working on new paintings instead of spending the last week in the backyard. I had intended to post images of the previously unpublished paintings also at least a week ago, but life just sometimes demands dealing with other things.

These are images of paintings which were sold, but I hadn’t actually gotten a chance to publish them anywhere.

Positive energy art

I painted at least 4 versions of “Nostalgia, gardens of dreams”. This painting was sold about 10 years ago. It’s size was 22 x 28 inches or 56 x 71 cm, acrylic on canvas.  I actually do commissions also which means one can order any size of my painting and in any colors they prefer. Variation of my own art certainly works the best.

Spring orchard, sold, Virtual arts market

The Spring orchard (20 x 16 in) was sold in 2016. One of my art students bought it. Since the pictures of paintings were taken briefly before their sale, I cannot get any better photos. This particular painting had a very nice play of colors in textures since trees and grasses are very suitable for that.

Pears and daisies, Virtual arts market

The still life I still have. It was hiding in the storage room. Pears and daisies, 12 x 16 inches or 30.5 x 41 cm; sunny still life in acrylic.

Virtual arts market

At that time which might be about 8-10 years ago, this painting was named “Flower hill”. We did it in acrylic painting classes and my painting was a demo. Its size was 16 x 20 inches or 41 x 51 cm acrylic on canvas.

Fits any style actually

A few weeks ago, I was simply playing around with placing pictures of my art in room settings. While many people would dare using only abstract art with their light, white or minimalist style, I think my paintings make each one of these rooms look great.

  • Inese Poga's art in different rooms
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings
  • Inese's art in room settings

My art prints on Fine Art America:

Stay in touch and stay safe! I will have something new soon, especially for art students; now, that gardenworks are almost done.

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Great art for great occasion

Mother’s Day flowers, great art for this special day

It doesn’t feel like it in Ontario, but it’s Mother’s Day. We have February weather, but we are keeping our hearts warm and we celebrate Mother’s Day. I do not celebrate in particular, however, my daughter sent me be-well-have-a-happy-Mother’s-Day card early in the morning. We have to admit, whatever the situation, our mother always deserves the best, respect, love and recognition. I assume it’s a fantastic occasion to post great floral art.

Late with posting, happy with outcome

I am a bit late with publishing the brand-new floral paintings because they certainly suit the occasion and the purpose. I might sell them next year or next season. I am happy how these paintings came out. I love white color and strong contrast, too. Floral paintings allow implementing exactly that, especially when painting white flowers.

Original floral paintings by Inese Poga
Original floral paintings by Inese Poga
White magnolia painting by Inese Poga
White magnolia, 12 x 12 in
Daffodil charm, white magnolia elegance, art by Inese Poga
Daffodil charm, white magnolia elegance, art by Inese Poga

Mothers love floral art

If my mom were still around, she’d definitely love these paintings. I do know that acrylic paint isn’t oil paint, and every step which takes a few minutes in oils, can take hours painting with acrylic. Daffodil charm painting took 4 full workdays and the White magnolia elegance took almost 3 full days. That is because of layers and need to allow painting to dry naturally between layers.

Enjoy, paint your own or purchase

I noticed that my paintings work really well together. It’s almost as if any painting goes with any other painting. That refers to many years ago painted art and the new art which was painted just recently. I have step-by-step images for daffodils and magnolia. I intend to post them later on project’s page which is in progress. Please, let me know, if you would be interested.

Enjoy and purchase if you love flower paintings.

Shop original acrylic paintings

Prints on FAA:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Please, observe copyright and do not pin any of my images.

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First painting of Summer place series and more daisies

Summer place 1, acrylic painting by Inese Poga

This time, I’m presenting Summer place 1 which actually started the series. This painting should have been posted right after the Summer place 2 which is shown in the previous post, but I got done very little these days. That is especially true about posting pictures, but not creating paintings.

Summer place 1, original acrylic painting by Inese Poga

I wish I had some clear vision about all this situation and where it is heading, but it is quite difficult at the moment. I’ve run out of acrylic paints. I ordered some, and the waiting has been about a month so far. In normal conditions, I do not ever prefer online shopping, but it is the only option right now. I’m also waiting for some other things which are essential for me because the previous computer died and I lost good software which I cannot get back. The realization that I have left not that much good watercolor paper and I will be still missing some acrylic paints because I simply forgot to order them the first time, makes me feel not good.

To create good art, I use high quality art supplies, often the best available. I do not want to waste these good canvases and papers and paint on them with leftover paint. The shipping might be faster when ordering online in other countries, but it is quite slow in Ontario.

There is one more important aspect to all of this: I love giving live art classes. They ended by the second half of February. I had to take off my art show halfway through, and without any physical showings, I just haven’t managed to sell anything either. I took off the “Buy now” buttons for a moment because I just would not be able to handle and cover the shipping right now, in particular, for large paintings which many of them are. In fact, I do not have tiny paintings. To somewhat facilitate my presence online, I intend to widen the social media circle and I updated my website nicely, too. More work will be done, but I’m not rushing it.

Daisies and summer place, acrylic nature paintings

Springtime is usually spent in the garden; therefore, I can devote less hours to art. I always appreciate interest in art and people, who have bought it. This time is stressful for many people and bloggers. I would be probably wrong to expect somebody trying to buy art at the moment. Meanwhile, there is so much of it that lack of space is becoming a serious issue. We have moved almost every year for a while, and carrying around large numbers of sensitive paintings is very difficult. Sometimes art gets damaged, sometimes I’m struggling.

Summer cottage, summer house, Summer place 1, acrylic painting by Inese Poga

The Summer place 1 is an updated canvas. I had painted the fence during previous year, and it just never looked as a completed painting. I added more trees and drew in the building, and it came to life immediately. I do frequently travel in my thoughts and imagination, that includes time traveling. Summer place 1 looks like that adorable place where I spent my youth.

Acrylic painting, daisy painting

The white daisies were updated, too, because the previous version needed a facelift. I find that it is much easier to paint on textured or previously painted canvas. Acrylic is such paint: the more we add, the more layers we build, the better it looks. Any of my paintings take about a few days to a few weeks to paint. Photography unfortunately cannot capture the transparent layers or halftones, and that annoys me slightly.

Art collections by Inese Poga

I have numerous Mother’s Day cards and paintings, from which the most viewed was Rose for my mom.

Enjoy!