Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences blogger

May 29, 2023October 10, 2024

Acrylic flower paintings in new settings – art never expires

Flower paintings in acrylic

As an artist, we always have some favorite paintings. Some of them we don’t sell at all, and some we give as gifts to dear people. Since many of my previous posts were about watercolor, I’d love to post this time a few acrylic flower paintings. This post has quite a few images of painted pink and white flowers. Unfortunately, as we get older, there seems to be less time for anything. That refers to painting, posting, sharing and so on. Somebody told me that we feel this way since we spend more time on any task.

Flower paintings, pink and white paintings

Quality over quantity

I suppose with experience, both life and art, we value quality over quantity. Anybody who’s spent decades creating art, can reflect of the process of discovery. Discovering subject, discovering new color palette, discovering adorable things we didn’t like before, discovering new dimensions of the same old story. I love pure and clean colors, and pink color offers so many shades.

My paintings with past

As the time goes by so swiftly, I sort of regret not painting exactly what I prefer. That’s as opposed to subjects I teach in art classes. I’ve mentioned before that an artwork for juried show, artwork for quick sale, commissioned artwork and paintings which I create as demonstrations – they are all very different by nature. Time has been always a factor, but also my health problems. So, you have to be ok when you cannot do anything at all also. I didn’t paint these flower paintings yesterday, but hopefully got better images of them.

Pink tulips, acrylic painting, flower paintings

Sunflowers, acrylic painting, flower paintings

Art is more than copy of reality

My taste doesn’t comply with generally preferred art which we see online. That is sunsets, waves, backlit shapes, too sweet nature scenes, as well as very close copies of photos. I always believed art is more than copy of reality. The latter anybody can manage with enough patience, tools and devices. Not everybody can paint spontaneously or draw without any printouts or edited images.

Relation to reality

On the other hand, I love that my paintings display things which are recognizable. People frequently tell me; they know that or this place in my painting. Well, such place doesn’t exist, but apparently the painting relates to somebody’s experience. Sometimes, the viewer can feel fragrance of flower. That’s why I avoid painting completely abstract art, but I still have a lot of abstracted paintings, especially, the extra textured ones. Also, my backgrounds are not definite.

Everything is art, but I disagree

While all artistic genres – music, singing, acting, writing, poetry – have moved on and aimed for higher goals and more mastery, internet has facilitated degradation of classic art. If you want to see what’s for sale and what’s taught on some skill-sharing sites, just google any term. It can be quite awful and total beginners art. I remember how my students 10 and more years ago were so self-critical. Nowadays, that’s a ready-for-sale art. I agree, it’s easier to hang an abstract on the wall, but it becomes a simple decoration, not always art. How long are you going to look at 2 lines or some big blob of one color?

Enjoy!

I always struggled with photos of my paintings because to my sharp artistic eye, the photos have never the exact colors and I usually have to crop off some crucial parts to make the image straight. Nevertheless, let me know if you like some flower or other painting. I don’t think original paintings have ever been so affordable. It’s been a while, and I wish everything was better, but enjoy! With better, I mean mostly the financial side. The creative side is fine, I never have any problem with that.

Rose painting, pansy painting, flower paintings for sale

Shop original acrylic paintings

Art collections by Inese Poga

April 26, 2023October 16, 2024

Creating art collections

Choosing artworks for collections

If you have been painting for a decade or longer as I am, it’s possible to see how all artworks fit into art collections. What are the criteria for creating art collections? There are many, and any large body of artworks can be sorted out by medium, style, certain color or particular subject. The best example is my Fine Art America art collections. I have put together art by medium, by subject, like floral art, still life, landscape and also by color. There will be black and white art collection available soon, as well. See link below or on Menu.

Spring landscape paintings, landscape watercolor

Painting from imagination

The spring as always is arriving slowly in Ontario. We see long periods of grey and earthy colors around us. The more grasses and trees wake up, the more patches of bright green are visible. Therefore, my grey and abstract watercolors were a good match for my surroundings. As I have mentioned many times, I prefer not to use any photos for my art. The spontaneous watercolors are simply watercolor washes at first, and I sort them out as I go and add definition. It is extremely easy to create art collections of abstracted art.

Getting composition right

Classic painting consists of background, middle ground and foreground. Plus, we need something to capture viewer’s attention with. It’s called a focal point in art. Everything including lines and colors of different values is organized in accordance with our composition. I believe that composition is difficult to implement when the artist doesn’t feel visual balance and natural flow of their image. I personally do not use any view finders or similar tools; I just adjust my composition as I feel it. Some of my art collections include highlights of compositional elements.

Simplicity versus complexity

Fragmented art can look better sometimes than very accomplished and compositionally perfect painting. Art collections can include simplicity or complexity of a particular subject, use of color and compositional elements. The blue period art collection displays exactly that – simplicity and strategically placed watercolor washes.

Abstract watercolor painting art collections

Art reflecting the season

Most of my art also goes by season, therefore, I have seasonal art collections, as well. Spring and summer landscapes, fall colors and snow paintings, they are all interesting on their own and placed in art collection. Floral art is a very big part of everything I have ever painted, I think it deserves a separate post. I know people who have painted a few artworks, some five or six paintings, and they try to immediately sell them and even teach painting. Well, it’s better to allow our skills to mature so that we are represented by what we do well, not by our first attempts at painting.

Buy original painting?

Original paintings have never been more affordable than they are now. I looked at my price charts from 2013, and my paintings sold for double the price I have listed now. That’s a horrible thing because everything has become at least 5 times more expensive. That includes watercolor paper, paints and I won’t even mention framing. There are inexpensive options, but I simply have too many paintings to frame each one. Therefore, I’m offering some framed art and some – unframed.

Available watercolor painting originals are posted on this page:

Original watercolor paintings for sale

All available art prints can be purchased here:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Want to learn watercolor painting? Check out this page:

Group art classes

March 29, 2023October 15, 2024

Techniques for spontaneous watercolor painting

Abstract watercolor painting, private art classes

The versatile watercolor

Watercolor is a medium we can use in hundreds of different ways. What we create and how it looks depends largely on technique we apply. While many of my watercolors look carefully worked out, I often start painting with just randomly washing some paint onto watercolor paper. I posted my spring palette colors in the previous article. For spring paintings, I am using a limited palette:

Color combinations for spontaneous watercolor

Payne’s grey

French ultramarine

Brilliant yellow

Burnt sienna

Burnt umber

Gold ochre

Leaf green

It’s possible, however, to create numerous color tones using these paints. They work well together and with decent application of water, there’s no mud. I will work on floral spontaneous watercolors next, and I am adding magenta and carmine for these.

Allowing paint and water to work

While the paint application is extremely loose, I still have some idea. Washes look great when painting treescapes and paintings with abstract water. This is a technique which perfectionists might not like. We simply allow colors to mix and flow as they please. It’s a myth that watercolor painting cannot be adjusted or changed. One just needs to know how to do that.

Lifting paint

I think many watercolor artists use too less of paint lifting technique. For paint lifting, large brush with pointy tip is very useful. My main brush is Luke number 14, round. Along with simple lifting, I implement one more step: lifting with very liquid other color. It’s a fantastic, but unpredictable process. It’s also fun, and I love this technique because it allows me adding definition to subject. Lifting paint is an essential technique for spontaneous watercolor my-style.

Non-cotton paper has its uses

Lifting automatically takes care of the negative space. When to lift and where to add paint depends on our personal preference and feel. For this technique, cotton paper is not the best option. Non-cotton watercolor paper makes lifting paint an easy step. In fact, it’s way easier to lift paint from some thick non-cotton papers than to add an extra layer. I am using for these paintings Strathmore 400 series paper. It requires flattening afterwards. All non-cotton watercolor papers must be weight-pressed after application of water and paint since they become uneven.

Watercolor painting, rocks, trees, water

Multi-step process

While people ask when I will have online art classes, I must say, I probably won’t. Things I am writing about most often cannot be shown online. One must see the actual process in order to understand how we create loose, spontaneous watercolor painting and add the touch of reality to it. The process involves drying paper and restarting wet-on-wet, then adding dry paint, then lifting more and so on. It takes about 6-8 hours to paint one artwork. I have spent about 3 days in average on each painting.

Abstract landscape watercolor, art classes for beginners

Testing paints

Spontaneous watercolor works great for people who just want to explore what their paper and paints can do. Check compatibility of colors before you start painting. Water takes care of lot of things with loose watercolor painting, but there are colors which will destroy the flow and cause unpleasant muddy shades. To avoid that, learn what your paints do. My paints are rich in pigments, all artist grade. I never use white or black colors, as well as, I don’t even have masking fluid. These paintings consist only of watercolor paint on paper.

Abstract watercolor, landscape and water

Give it a try

Want to try this approach? No better time than now. This means absolute freedom, you don’t need any photos to follow, but having an idea is helpful. I love using the earth colors togethers with blue and green. Burnt sienna adds a bit of red tint. Simplicity is beautiful; however, I’ve never been a minimalist in any regard. That goes for any of my paintings. Well, we can stop working whenever it feels right.

Group art classes

Private art lessons

March 14, 2023October 15, 2024

Spring color palette

Spring color palette with grey

I am impatiently waiting for spring, and while it is still cold, windy and cold with snow covering most of the soil outdoors, I paint spring. I paint spring using my spring color palette which is pretty much always the same. My spring color palette includes different grey tones, as well, but camera cannot keep up with my soft color transitions and frequently sees grey as blue. I hope, the spring color palette can be perceived as you look at my paintings on your device. As we well know, any device has its own settings, thus, impacting heavily what one sees.

Color palette also changes

I have had many favorite color stretches over many decades while painting. I have had totally grey phases, and very blue, very green and bright multicolor painting periods also. As an artist, I never stay the same because everything changes and our hate-love relationship with colors changes, as well. I love balanced color palette and use it whenever possible. Phone camera wasn’t designed to get things look real, but rather enhance everything. It also destroys correct perspective regardless of how you adjust it.

Color palette for spring road painting watercolor

Imagination at work

Spring color palette is vivid and rebirth-affirming. I’m very sure if you live in different climates, your color palette is quite distinctive from mine. I don’t paint mountains or oceans, just because I don’t see them here. I also don’t rely on photos, but rather on imagination and visual memory. That makes things easier for me. Simplicity which excites is a good term to describe these paintings.

Saturated colors

The old house was painted in 2018. Apparently, watercolor works much better on thick Arches watercolor paper. Layering colors is easier and the entire painting has more saturated values. Pictures which I took with iPhone back then, are rather dark and some look even blurry. I should get new pictures of all paintings which I still have, but that’s too much of work and too much of re-posting and editing. I did, however, take new pictures of the old rural house.

Old house watercolor painting in spring colors, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

Still grey and Road into distance paintings

Still grey with birch tree and the Road into distance are new watercolor paintings. They are created using the same color palette, but I couldn’t get a good image of the large one, the Road into distance painting, It’s a fantastic, large size watercolor with beautiful color transitions. I would say, it has gentle and soft spring colors and all values are simply perfect. If you ever happen to be in Ajax, Ontario, you could stop by and see with your own eyes how no picture can ever match the original painting.

Road into distance, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm watercolor painting

If you just started painting with watercolor

If you just started using watercolor, always test your colors. Nowadays, the color name alone doesn’t mean much. I have 3 Payne’s grey paints from different manufacturers, and they range from rather blue to very black color. The same goes for Sap green and Green gold. Burnt sienna and Raw sienna are very different colors from different manufacturers. All blue colors can be anything. Yellow is usually quite weak color from the student grade sets.

Still gre, spring landscape painting with birch, watercolor

What you can do on your watercolor paper

You should also test watercolor paper. It’s not advisable using anything lighter than 140 lb for watercolor painting. Non-cotton paper generally buckles, warps and doesn’t absorb neither water, nor pigment. Therefore, you cannot expect watercolor wash to be perfect, adjust it with paper towel. If there’s too much water on such paper, it settles down at the lowest point due to gravity and you see the “blooms” which look good in abstract art, but wrong in improper area. It’s very easy to lift paint from non-cotton paper. It’s easier for beginners because you can correct many aspects of your painting.

Don’t expect the same outcome

Cotton paper, like Arches allows achieving fantastic washes. It absorbs paint and pigment, therefore, one needs to plan painting. You can stretch and soak it before painting or use water on it before you start painting. I didn’t use Arches this time, but Strathmore 400 series paper. Getting paint on it is more difficult than lifting it. The number of layers is limited. If you use Arches (at least 140 lb. paper), number of layers is quite unlimited. Arches 300 lb. paper doesn’t buckle at all. It’s like wood, thick, firm and allows using and creating great effects. It’s very expensive at the moment, though.

Thanks, talk to you later in spring again! This post is different, thanks for reading!

Art classes, schedule and registration

Original watercolor paintings for sale

February 9, 2023October 15, 2024

Painting without restrictions, spring landscape

Painting in progress, Highland creek landscape

Being in spring landscape

What to do during the dull and dark February days? Probably, just keep painting. Acrylic painting is a bit more difficult with heating on, but it is also very rewarding. I pick myself up and place in the middle of spring. We used to go for walks along the Highland creek which offers attractive views and many varieties of trees, wild plants, chance to watch animals, jump over rocks and rushing water. Creek is wide in the middle part and water stays quite still in some spots. This is like mental transition in time and to another place. Thus, spring landscape is born.

Central part of spring landscape painting

Central part of Highland creek flood water painting

Imaginated reality

As you know, art has no restrictions. That includes the painting subject, colors we use, parts we paint and parts we don’t. I’m usually not that worried about how realistic something looks when painted. There must be some joy and fun put into every brushstroke. I usually paint as I see something in my head. When I look at empty canvas, I can easily visualize what is going to be there, in this spring landscape for instance. Similar to when we have a piece of fabric and we can imagine how the ready outfit will look. Imagination has no borders, too.

Top part of Highland creek flood water painting

Spring landscape as painting subject

This Highland creek flood water painting was done for the private art classes. I thought spring landscape was very fitting since we can paint much less of it or add much more to any part. We can leave the distant part completely abstract. Well, my student was impatient and here and there jumped over the gradual steps which processing an acrylic painting requires. My demo steps got jumpy, too, but, nevertheless, this painting was brought to completion just a few days ago. What you are seeing, however, is not the painting, but images of it. I straggled getting all parts of it onto pictures.

Spring landscape project, painting steps

See painting steps above

Getting correct colors in acrylic painting

What’s most important for me personally, is whether the mood in an artwork can move us, inspire us, make us want to be there, in that place which doesn’t actually exist in the real world. I am trying to also teach my students patience and correct use of acrylic paints. While any wet acrylic painting might look perfectly right, it will definitely dry darker. The weaker the paint we use, the darker our painting might become. I regret noticing how Liquitex heavy body professional grade paints have lost some of their quality over years. That refers to Titanium white and yellow shades.

Close-up of front part

The usual acrylic painting principles

Regardless of our artistic intention, we always work from dark to light in acrylic, always from underneath upwards, always from back to front. With heating on, acrylic paint can dry immediately, therefore, we glaze separate parts and work in small segments. The lore layers acrylic painting has, the better it will look. That especially refers to the moment when somebody sees the actual painting in person. I sometimes go over even the final layers if the paint has become too dull in some spots.

Highland creek flood water, acrylic painting 24 x 18″ or 61 x 46 cm

Place yourself in this spring landscape

I hope you love this spring landscape and its mood. I believe you’d hear birds singing and water rushing over wet rocks and grasses if you are able to forget the surroundings for a moment and be immersed in this painting. It’s in great size, not too huge, not too tiny, 24 x 18″ or 61 x 46 cm. The steep vertical format adds a good quality to this spring landscape and pushes compositionally important elements close to the viewer.

Just like always, thanks if you read my post! I intend to catch up with likes and comments.

Private art lessons

Group art classes

Art collections by Inese Poga

Author: Inesepaints

Acrylic flower paintings in new settings – art never expires

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Creating art collections

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Techniques for spontaneous watercolor painting

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Spring color palette

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Painting without restrictions, spring landscape

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