Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences blogger

March 31, 2022October 17, 2024

Inese’s Art Studio reopens in Pickering Village

It’s been an excruciating and exhausting stretch of time. These tough 5 weeks also seemed to last forever. I posted the previous article when I had started to pack, that was more than a month ago. My art studio wasn’t doing anything for quite a while. Now, after about 40 days of packing, moving, unpacking and sorting, I can say my art studio has started getting in shape, and I mean by that – in a great shape. Well, not everything has found its place yet, that is certainly a task for a few more months. The positive aspect of all these immense efforts is being able to set up my living and painting space finally.

I didn’t have internet for quite a while and my work station wasn’t set up either. Just yesterday, I got to my most important art supplies. They are lined up now and ready to use. It is painful not to paint for a long time. It really is. I hope picking up my brushes over the weekend already. That brings me to the issue of selling more art, or rather selling any art. I pretty much know where any particular painting is, therefore I will edit the sale pages.

Art classes are about to resume at full pace at my art studio, as well. I would like to keep the ages between 13 and any age adults. The type of instruction I provide with requires some life experience and some knowledge of basic matters. I intend to focus on three main directions in teaching.

The observational and realistic drawing I teach is suitable only for private classes. I’ve written many times how one can learn drawing, and that’s not done by copying or tracing a photo or mimicking a tutorial. Drawing is a very individual skill and it can be developed properly only in individual settings. Private classes can start as soon as April 6.

Private art lessons

Acrylic painting can be taught in groups and individually, but it is always best when the potential student has practiced brushing techniques. That’s the most important thing with any painting, but especially acrylic since it dries fast. Small group acrylic painting classes will start I believe on April 20. Initially all classes will be daytime.

Small group watercolor painting classes will start on April 19. Currently, only daytime also. I intend to stick to large size practice paintings, like 18 x 24 in. Using watercolor is amazing. Every wash creates art on its own, however, size really matters. The larger the watercolor application space, the better results can be achieved painting traditionally: leaving white of paper for white and using practically no masking medium. I personally dislike using it and prefer pure watercolor.

Group art classes

If you ever wanted to purchase a painting of mine or art print, now is the right time. As we all know moving is a costly, and the time spent on moving doesn’t involve any business activities or even website updates. Unfortunately, shipping is what Canada Post charges me. Art on paper and 12 x 12 in paintings are not heavy, therefore, the shipping is mostly for size.

I still have lots to do, numerous adjustments and figuring out the best was of making every aspect of art studio easily accessible. Art studio has specific requirements when it comes to space. Thankfully, natural light is very good here, that’s a huge plus, luxury even. My art studio is overloaded with plants at the moment, but many of them go outdoors for spring, summer and fall, and by the next winter, I will know better where and how I can accommodate my plants.

I am so satisfied; the move is over and the worst is past me. Such a relief.

Original watercolor paintings for sale

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Art collections by Inese Poga

I hope seeing some of you in my art classes, and I also hope there might be somebody who purchases at least an art print. I’m sorry, I was absent from blogging, but that is changing now. Thanks for reading! Enjoy pics of my not-yet-completely-set-up art studio. You are seeing just one end of it because it’s the mostly organized. Have a blessed spring!

February 21, 2022October 17, 2024

Spring edition, moving art studio

My art studio is moving again, indeed, it has happened so many times during the recent years. I’ve moved three times since 2018 and now I have to do that again. While it sounds quite simple, it actually isn’t. The toughest part is finding a place and qualify for it. That requires mountains of paperwork, numerous hours of printing, scanning, signing, sending documents and so forth. That is the reason I hardly looked at the internet, any social media or blog sites. There wasn’t enough time in a day to cope with all that, and nothing was left for painting, unfortunately.

Art studio, moving — The Amsterdam paint tubes are added for color balance in photos, I use Liquitex for painting.

Art studio, spring — The Amsterdam paint tubes are added for color balance in photos, I use Liquitex for painting.

I did try to catch up with the artistic side, I sure did. However, that mostly resulted in wasted paint and a bit of frustration. As soon as I squeezed out acrylic paint and got in the mood for painting, the phone rang or I received a message, we have to go: to see a place, to meet somebody, to do whatever, and there was no other way around it. As you know, acrylic paint dries very fast, and even when preserving some in a tight container, it doesn’t work quite well as the fresh one.

Art studio sale — The most recent painting: White trillium blooms in spring forest

I’m really hooked on the moment when nature awakes. The most fantastic view for me can be a tiny sprout breaking through the soil and greeting the sunshine. The first wild flowers are such a welcome sight! Strength to overcome the freeze and courage to break through impossible obstacles: that is what grasses and wild flowers have. I cannot resist, I return to wildflowers in spring settings every year.

White trillium blooms — Refreshed and updated photo of Trillium bloom hills

One of my most favorite color combinations involves earthy tones, many shades of green as in sprouts, young leaves and grasses, blue patches of sky, as well as bright white, blue and pink of the wildflowers. According to such palette, I paint some knew dreamscape which I most often have seen only in imagination or which is stored in my memory chambers.

Art studio, white anemones — Spring creek and white forest anemones, updated and refreshed

My art studio in this big house had to be adjusted and the actual painting space was sparse. As you might know from my previous posts, I usually paint only by daylight. There have been times when I have to add evenings, but I try to avoid painting at night when artificial light is required. It could be my eyesight which dictates that, but I am very sure that for true color match we need the daylight.

White anemones,art studio — White spring anemones, new photo

So, the art studio is on the move again, and I have started to pack up a few things. Very large and small paintings will be moved first, as well as part of my countless brushes and art supplies. I would love to sell a few more paintings, but I don’t have much time for advertising at the moment. We will be moving 9 large rooms into 5 rooms, only one of which is large. My art studio is going to be arranged there, in the largest room. Daylight will be much better in the new place, however. It’s an older building with large windows, lots of character and huge backyard. That is such a luxury nowadays!

Art studio colors — The paint tubes are added for color balance, iphone doesn’t get colors right

Art studio colors and paintings — The paint tubes are added for color balance, iphone doesn’t get colors right

My best guess is everything will be ready around April 15, and that’s when I can start with my own paintings and art classes. Until then, – I go through moving troubles, packing and unpackaging, sorting, cleaning and being busy with all kinds of things which are not necessarily art related. There will be moment when we won’t have internet yet, and when I am all set up, I will come up with my newest discoveries in painting. You can still scroll through my blog which documents all art studio moves, gives lots of advice for new and established artists and offers excellent quality art at great prices. Stay well! I’d love to hear from you!

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Art collections by Inese Poga

January 19, 2022October 17, 2024

The many functions of art

Most often, when somebody visits artist’s website or blog, they are simply curious what the artist has come up with. People look for something which would potentially suit their space, and the art students seek for inspiration and advice. Art has many more functions, though, and they depend also on who you are. If you are a creator and love to try painting or drawing, art is a full-scale adventure for you. And me. In my mind, time is not spent usefully when I haven’t painted anything for a while. The creativity-satisfying and mind-moving functions of art shouldn’t be underestimated.

The moment when a painting is signed and done, comes with feeling of achievement. This is a moment of complete satisfaction. We all set our own goals with any task, so this moment shows that I can whatever I wanted to achieve. I don’t stop working until every smallest brushstroke is where it must be, that’s according to me. Therefore, my works take quite a while from the idea to its implementation.

The ties with reality are interesting nowadays. On one side, we have this immense internet surfing space and it transitions more and more into unreality. Digital and virtual world is just that – the things which exist only where there’s internet. On the other hand, our life happens based on real terms, read conditions and in an actual environment. The difference between unreal and real can cause somebody true depression and dissatisfaction with life. I personally prefer the tangible reality which won’t go away if I accidentally click on a wrong keyboard key.

That explains why I paint what I paint. The subject doesn’t exclude fantasy and impossible landscapes, still life settings or colors. That is one more function of handmade art: to take you anywhere you’d like to be. I would love to skip winter altogether. Since I cannot sleep it away, I still need to do something. Anything. It would be so pleasant to have plus 13 Celsius tomorrow instead of minus. The best functions of art are the ability to transfer one with all senses into a pleasurable space and provide with the feeling of being there.

As always, I’m not very happy with the internet display of art on different devices and phone. Every single painting deserves to serve as the cover image, every one of them. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. The full-size image, although, distant out in the internet space, still gives one that feeling of closeness to the source. So, I’ve spent couple of weeks taking horizontal pictures. For example, when my painting is vertical, I cannot use it as a cover image. If my painting is horizontal, it looks small or even tiny when viewing images on the phone. Some photos are very good, some just satisfactory, but I wish for internet space where they’d be all visible in large format, full-width, full size and have colors that match the original.

That remains to be seen and tried again and again. I have my hopes up for the new Twenty twenty-two WordPress theme. Hopefully, it will be what it promises, both, regarding size and flexibility. Until switch, I will just edit what I have. Other than that, we are in extremely deep snow in Ontario. We were completely cut off of everything yesterday, but it’s sunny today. Thanks for reading if you did and wishing you, too, more sunny days!

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December 22, 2021October 15, 2024

Painting merry Christmas

Painting merry Christmas decreases the dread and fears of pandemic. During the last years, we’ve had everything: surprises and shocks, excitement and anxiety, elevated moods and bad times, fears and hope depending on where we tried to celebrate our merry Christmas. All the ups and downs have left us sometimes in doubt whether it’s worth going for a full-scale celebration. Well, restrictions are part of our life, too. That doesn’t affect my intentions since I am not going anywhere.

I used to paint many winter, snow and holiday-themed artworks. Partially that was because I gave numerous art classes and students wanted to create something specifically for this time. What better way to wish somebody merry Christmas than with a handmade artwork? Since I took new pictures of some watercolor paintings, I thought to post them.

Poinsettia and sunset creek paintings are from 2010, birches, snowman and small winter landscape: from 2017 and January of 2018. The largest creek painting is a huge one: 53.5 x 74 cm or 21.5 x 29 in. The smaller version of Sunset creek painting is 14 x 19 in or 36 x 48 cm . Back then, it usually took me from 2 weeks to about a month to get done one large painting. I didn’t use any masking fluid, therefore, I had to paint around any tiny white spots. I still don’t use masking fluid since I cannot stand the extra hard edges it leaves on cotton paper.

merry Christmas — The big painting is on the right side

merry Christmas art — The big painting is on the right side

The online display has always seemed problematic to me, especially since I can never show the actual size of painting and changes in color affect the look also. My current WordPress theme has lots of limitations, but until the new one in 2022 comes out, I don’t see any other good options. I wish the Shopify buttons looked better, not that tiny or not that large with the full-size view. The horizontal images look unreasonably small with my current theme, and the vertical ones become huge. All of that misleads the viewer, and it’s kind of silly to expect art would make as much impact as it does in real settings.

Merry Christmas art, winter birch painting — Birch trees from 2017

Birch painting, winter light, watercolor — Birch trees from 2017

My studio was doing comparatively great in Whitby up to August 2018, but the frequent moving, relocating to Ajax and years of pandemic are a bit of disaster. Internet environment has changed to a great extent, as well. There are abnormally many places to post art, but none really which can be used effectively. For me, posting on Facebook or similar places has not resulted in extra reach, I’ve got a bit more than 1,000 likes. I’m not on Instagram because I don’t use phone. We can post now from computer also, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. When I had a giveaway, Facebook wanted me to pay for the post in order somebody would see it. Does that make sense? Not for me.

Red poinsettia watercolor painting — Red poinsettia in rich red tones, snowman was simply fun to paint

Merry Christmas snowman — Red poinsettia in rich red tones, snowman was simply fun to paint

The winter solstice was yesterday, and now, we are very close to our merry Christmas of the second pandemic year. I suppose, many of us simply scale down and still have some good moments. We’ve got a smaller size, but very good-looking tree this year. The numerous room plants, as well my art on all surfaces around us, takes care of festive settings. I didn’t buy any gifts neither last year, nor this. I intend to paint one gift still. It won’t be season-related, but I should get to work.

Maybe you could paint some merry Christmas art, too? The snowman and blue snow landscape were painted just for fun. It makes most sense to create such art for yourself and to your liking. The good thing about art is: it doesn’t expire and it’s always in style as long as you like it. Art is also the most memorable gift we can get or give. Years will pass, but when you look at a particular painting, you’ll always recall when you got it, who gave it to you, or how you created it. Art visualizes our memories and they stay with us for a lifetime.

I’d like to wish merry Christmas to everybody who celebrates it, and a nice holiday season to these, who have other festivities planned! Stay healthy and safe!

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Art collections by Inese Poga

December 7, 2021October 16, 2024

A little bit of nostalgic beauty: snow and winter paintings

Snow and winter paintings are a great way to start painting since we can interpret the landscape or view in many ways. We can apply warm or cool glow to the snow and winter paintings, we can use shadows, different colors for sky and use distance or abstract background. We can stick to a photo or do what I’m doing: implement some visual ideas from memory or just look through the window and paint what is there. Out of my studio window, there’s plenty: all kinds of trees, buildings and so forth, including spruce, firs, pine and there’s a big sky, too. Quite enough for my snow and winter paintings.

Ontario weather takes care of the rest. Here and there, snow will be deep and bright white, capping every single branch and putting a warming snow scarf on every surface. It will have shadows in clear weather and it will show the branch shapes which puncture the clouds and sky. Altogether: it’s almost a finished landscape view, choose whatever angle suits better. Therefore, and because many of snow and winter paintings take origin as demos, I didn’t need or use any photos. The interpretation of these views is somewhat abstract. I will let the art speak more this time. It only has so many chances.

Snow landscape, country village — Enjoy the snow and winter paintings, they make such great mood for Christmas!

The collection of snow and winter paintings has grown quite big over years. It’s also a good selling feature before holidays. To be honest, winter and snow paintings usually sell only around this time and very rarely during other seasons. It’s a brief moment, and I believe I don’t really need more of snow and winter paintings at the moment. Until Christmas, we love snow and white wonderland landscapes. When it gets to February and March, oh my! We are totally tired of grey and white with spots of green which is also not the lively spring green. That certainly depends on the area where one lives. Ontario winter can be long.

I hope you’d love to make my Christmas and maybe purchase some art. There’s way more than I can publish just in one post. Enjoy!

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Author: Inesepaints

Inese’s Art Studio reopens in Pickering Village

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Spring edition, moving art studio

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The many functions of art

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Painting merry Christmas

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A little bit of nostalgic beauty: snow and winter paintings

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