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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Floral watercolors: the softness that soothes

Summer petunias, floral watercolor painting for sale

Touch of flowers

Floral watercolors are amazing. It is easy to get carried away by soft colors and gentle shapes of petals. It usually depends on season, weather and what I feel like doing, but I go for the opposites. When it is cold and dark, I love something sunny and full of light. We have been painting soft and lovely floral images also in classroom most often in December and January. These paintings and process of creation provide with the much needed contrast between the upsetting darkness outdoors and the light and brightness of such artworks.

Pink orchid painting, floral watercolor
Pink rose painting, watercolor painting

Pink color

Pink color is easy to grade from dark and cold to soft and warm. It doesn’t take much adding some purples or washes of light red and ocher. Mainly, somewhat realistic watercolors are closely associated with quality of drawing. Therefore, I have decided for the remaining classes to offer my drawing templates for use. Sometimes, drawing is more than 50% of watercolor painting. If you do not understand values, you do not know where to apply paint.

2020 sets of art classes

It is hard to say when everything about art classes and painting lessons shifted towards only end result. The most important part is actually the process of creation and the journey of getting to the completed painting. We are recently facing the following: people want everything right away and immediately. That is a very limiting approach for those who start from zero skills and want to learn. That simply cannot happen. Nobody paints like a master in a few hours. Therefore, the next sets of art classes will start with basics of drawing and painting and progress toward more accomplished skills.

Garden roses, floral watercolor

Roses on fence, 24 x 18″ or 61 x 46 cm watercolor

Summer petunias, floral watercolor painting for sale
Watercolor painting, pink petunias

Pink floral watercolor, petunias

Pink amaryllis painting in watercolor

Watercolor painting of amaryllis

Enjoy the gallery, purchase art

I took new photos recently, and I hope these images will look better and more balanced. I am working on a new reference booklet which will facilitate start-ups in watercolor painting. It will be available for download everywhere. I’d love to invite the art lovers and art collectors from Greater Toronto Area, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa to simply stop by at my November 23 and December 14 art shows. I am selling original art at my studio. Prints are available from Fine Art America site.

Pink roses, watercolor painting, art for sale
Beautiful rose painting, watercolor paintings for sale

We will be painting orchids and roses, large size. Link to floral painting class:

Art lessons and painting classes

Copyright notice: Copyrights of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga.

Fine Art America, my art prints and artistic products with my painting images:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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November needs more color and sunflowers

Sunflower painting, watercolor by artist Inese Poga

Sunflowers, the sunny flowers

Sun plus flowers equals sunflowers. It is also an excellent painting subject when it gets darker in October and November. We switched from bright fall colors to rainy and snowy start of November. Warmth of sunflower color fills up the entire studio. Gentle, soft flow of light yellow and burnt sienna tones among the strong earthy greens and burnt umber is a very attractive color combination. I am a good example of how artist’s taste and feel for the subject changes over time during a few decades. I was painting a similar image years ago, and my color choices were completely different then.

Large watercolor sunflower

My painting style

Specifics of my painting style include spontaneous and intuitive use of color and improvisation on the spot. I don’t use masking fluid much, especially, for paintings which are done as a demo for an art class. There’s simply no time for that. Ability to improvise helps with demonstration. Many unexpected  and interesting things can happen painting intuitively! Since I have been painting and teaching for many years, I can act and react very promptly, including change of subject if necessary. I love freedom in my own art. I do teach others to treat their painting like that, too. This particular sunflower painting is 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm.

Beautiful sunflower painting, floral watercolor

Red barn in fall

Subject of the following painting is a red country barn which I also painted in acrylic. My watercolor painting is larger than the acrylic one. Its size is 18 x 14 in (46 x 36 cm). Size means a lot in live presentation, but unfortunately not online. This painting relies on combination of saturated fall colors, tree shape and barn. Barn is placed strategically to increase the perspective and feeling of depth. I am trying to take pictures of my art with background in order size of paintings would be more visible. However, it’s not always possible. I love bold colors as much as simple grey and saturated brown tones. This particular image shines because of colors and diagonal use of composition elements.

Barn and golden maple tree

This is a barn which was painted a while ago. I love painting buildings, because of organized and completed lines and perspective. My mom had saved some drawings which were done when I was 12 and 13. That’s like half a century ago. These were my drawings of buildings and plants which I had done looking at the actual subject. We didn’t have internet or cameras then. I always loved drawing what’s around me. This painting is also quite big, it shows a country barn and side building as I saw them. Oranges and reds are also super energizing colors. The same goes for painting: vivid colors help.

Old country barn landscape

I hope you love my sunflowers and other paintings! It was great pleasure to paint the recent sunflowers, and this painting is the newest addition to my watercolor collection also.

Sunflower painting

Enjoy, be inspired and paint! I do appreciate visitors to my sale pages, here is Original watercolors page, it gets updated quite frequently:

Original watercolor paintings for sale

I was also chosen to be a Spotlight Artist in Fine Art America’s traditional still life group with the pumpkin still life which I published before. That is nice!

All prints from Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Copyright notice: Copyright of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. Please, respect my copyright. The use of my images is prohibited if I have not issued a written permission. That includes no pinning on Pinterest.

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Artworks, brushworks, paintworks

Golden sidewalk, fall painting in acrylic

Essential aspects of artworks

Painting isn’t just brushing around. Many different things go into a single painting. That’s why nobody can learn painting within a few hours.

Painting process includes idea, concept and composition, choosing and mixing colors or deciding on palette, paint application using different tools and brushes of all types, brushstroke, blending and creation of values, contrast and adding highlights. The painting process also includes understanding of abstracted parts and backgrounds, ability to see and understand what is more important and what should be left out of painting. Each one of these aspects involves continuous work and ongoing elaboration.

Loose isn’t sloppy

I sometimes get the impression that by liking loose painting style, it is understood that we can apply sloppy, coincidental and not targeted brushstroke (when there is a brushstroke). In fact, any part of putting paint on canvas must be targeted and have some intention behind it. Moving paint around is probably the worst habit one can have or develop. The first step is always to learn practical use of brushes and tools. That refers to painting in any medium.

Flat brush for acrylic painting

Flat brush is magic in that regard that it can carry out numerous functions. Flat brush has a few surfaces and edges. We can make it work fast and create smooth color and values transitions. We can use two different colors or shades of them on each side of the brush. We can draw thin lines using the edge of flat brush and holding it so that it is perpendicular to canvas. We can use it for easy blending with clean water and as a dump brush. We can use any edge or side of it to paint small parts. I assume a decent flat brush an essential tool for acrylic painting,

Fan brush, sponge and paper towel

Any of these tools can be used for textured prints and also for quick cover of large areas. It makes sense to learn using fan brush in a sensitive way. Most people won’t rotate fan brush and won’t use just a part or corner of it, We use in classroom fan brushes which I have specifically cut out with scissors to create more impressive prints. Such brush also controls amount of paint better. Paper towel is our best friend with any medium. It is very important to have many sheets of paper towel around the painting surface as soon as you start working.

Understanding values, contrast and direction of light

If somebody has done a lot of drawing and sketching to establish the composition, focal point and also value pattern in a painting, they will understand these aspects much easier. I find that a value sketch is probably the most useful. Once we have done a value sketch, we do not need even a photo reference. Value sketch will identify all areas which are of great importance. I know that most beginners assume ability to draw and creating value sketches in color a waste of time. Yet, I can honestly say that nothing else helps more than such sketch.

Fall sunset, acrylic painting
This painting which we did in art classes, uses contrasting colors with distinctive temperature, as well as extra simple composition.

The most important part of painting

The most important part of painting is decision making. When somebody has plenty of experience, they apply paint in an automated manner. It is predictable what each color combination, each type of paint application and each element of composition will do for our painting. Until we have gained sufficient experience, it is mostly guessing whether something will work well in your painting or not.

Acrylic painting, red country barn in fall
Red barn, maple gold, acrylic painting on canvas
Red barn, acrylic painting
Red barn, maple gold painting with small bit of background

Layer it on

Acrylic is a friendly medium. Acrylic paint can be applied (in fact, should be applied) in many layers. Each layer will bring out more or neutralize colors and values appearing underneath. If canvas fabric is visible in the final version of painting, it is clear that one has used too less paint and too few layers. That is a common beginners’ mistake: to believe that one layer of paint will do. One layer of paint is not sufficient, especially, because acrylic paint becomes flatter as it dries. We have to go over and over some part of painting for a few times until we have established the correct proportion of colors and values.

Golden sidewalk, fall acrylic painting
Golden sidewalk, acrylic on canvas. We were painting Golden sidewalk during adult acrylic painting classes. This is my demo painting, I always add more layers after class.
Golden sidewalk, fall painting with acrylic
Golden sidewalk painting got lots of attention on Facebook. I must admit it looks very good also in reality.

More about recent acrylic painting: Paintings in progress

Sign up for art classes: Art classes, schedule and registration

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

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New fall paintings and art in progress

Art show, fall painting

New art, new fall paintings, new vision

I have painted recently and completed quite many new paintings, especially fall art and three-dimensional textured paintings. Colors are so bright and uplifting outdoors, and it is difficult to resist not capturing one or another landscape. I have to still work more on making my art visible on the internet. It is not enough to be present on  Facebook and a few print sites, like Fine Art America and ArtPal. Just as I am writing this, somebody ordered a print from Fine Art America, my bright pine cones under snow.

Managing single person business

Realistically, I get to paint a lot, and I create new art and paintings almost every second day. It’s completely different story with putting this art out there and letting somebody know it is available for purchase. I am only one person doing everything. Sites like Facebook don’t get that. They tell me that Walmart started to use Workplace app and their sales grew big time. Well, just think about that. How does one single person’s tiny business compare with insanely huge company, such as Walmart? It doesn’t. I have no employees; therefore, I cannot connect them to my workplace. I find that funny how they apply to everything one-size-fits-all.

Your interest would be greatly appreciated

Regardless of anything, I keep painting. I certainly would love to sell something before Christmas, so that I also can enjoy the fruit of my difficult, time-consuming and labor-intensive work. I usually sell at least 1 painting around this time. I should sell 100  times more paintings this season to make a space for new art, that would be terrific. I sell quite a lot of prints on different sites, but the profit from print and art product sale is like $1-$5. It is very little, yet, it means somebody loved my work so much that they were willing to spend some money on it.

New art and paintings in progress

I have brought to completion two very textured paintings: the “Rocky stream” which is more abstracted and impressionistic, and “Birch light” which was totally done during art classes. I had placed the textures using modeling paste before, since it takes quite a few hours to dry.

Birch light, acrylic painting 20 x 16 inches

Birch light, acrylic painting, 20 x 16 inches

Rocky stream, acrylic on textured background

Rocky stream on heavily textured background, 20 x 16 inches; in fact, all recent paintings are created on textured background. It looks excellent in reality, and texture is still visible on a photo, too.

Autumn path, acrylic painting on textured background

Fall path,  20 x 24 inches acrylic painting on highly textured background

Some work will be still done on the “Fall path”. Yellow color is tricky with acrylic, and it takes numerous glazes. I think the color combination works extremely well, and it will fit very nicely the late fall mood.

My next art show will be on November 23. I hope local people will attend. I have many pieces of art in different sizes and done with different mediums. There is so much to choose from!

All art products, including many kinds of art prints can be purchased from FAA:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Ajax, Ontario, art classes and winter workshops

As the weather gets cooler and less pleasant, it is great to be part of our student groups. It can be your “me-time”, it can be your stress relief, it can be the best event in the entire week as my students told me. We have created numerous paintings during my art lessons. Some are more finished, some are less done. That always depends on group. Whatever you learn, stays with you forever. Whatever you draw or paint, will always delight your eyes.

Link to art classes and masterclass: Sign up for art lessons

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My magic watercolor brush

Fall leaves, watercolor

Every paint brush becomes magic once we learn how to use it properly.

It’s how you use the brush

It matters how much pressure we put on the brush and what part of it we use. It matters that you use specifically watercolor brush for watercolor. Watercolor brushes are soft and able to hold plenty of water and paint. While the shape of brush matters, too, the most important part is still how one handles the brush. If you just try to aimlessly move some paint around the magic brush loses its ability to create something great. I usually use only a few brushes for every medium, most often just one or two.

My preferences for watercolor brushes

For watercolor, I use number 14 round, soft watercolor brush with a very fine tip mostly. Therefore, it performs quite a few functions. When we hold it perpendicular at a 90° angle, we can draw very thin lines. Since this brush holds a lot of water and pigment which is important for watercolor, we can use the side of brush parallel to paper and cover large areas fast with either water or paint.

Time it right

Timing is also important for watercolor. We can use just part of a large brush and move paint around. We can use full body of a big-size round brush and cover large areas of paper fast. We have to time everything accurately; if you want fine details, you will do them on dry paper. If you want smooth washes and color transitions, you most likely will wet paper first. Wet paper is also safer for those who are slow with paint application. That will allow avoiding streaks and patchy paint spots.

Fall colors

We have beautiful fall weather at the moment in Southern Canada. Leaves are turning golden, red, orange and purple. It is a good time to practice color mixing and color application since inspiration is everywhere. Bright, sunny and golden colors shine on grey and blue backgrounds. Use that in your favor when creating fall paintings. I started the painting of fall leaves a few years ago for watercolor painting class and finished just yesterday.

Fall leaves, watercolor
Fall leaves, watercolor
Fall leaves, watercolor
Fall leaves, watercolor

The most recent watercolor painting class image

This a quick watercolor painting without drawing and applying rather washes. Mine was done on not that great watercolor paper, but it still makes a lot of sense. Not to mention, that real painting always have more balanced colors and look way smoother than extra sharp iPhone pictures.

Watercolor brush

I hope you enjoy these paintings.

Fall, watercolor painting, large size

To sign up for art classes, please go to page:

Art classes, schedule and registration

All my art prints and artistic products:

Art collections by Inese Poga