Category: Acrylic painting

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Stick to your plan and pay attention to reference

Acrylic painting, flowers

Having a plan, sticking to it

Sticking to a plan is a key also in painting. Whatever we are doing, we need some kind of a draft in our head or some plan which we keep in mind. However, it is easier said than done. That especially refers to beginners in art. I have noticed that most people want to draw or paint without any plan and without any thinking.

Elements of a painting

Perhaps, when starting out, it is hard to know what parts or matters we should pay most attention to. There are lots of simple things which make the subject look multi-dimensional. By far, those are not only darker and stronger values. Strongly emphasized edges or absence thereof, strong dark areas behind the lighter ones also contribute significantly to the spatial perception, not to mention color if it is used.

Things to do and not to do

I was told that the darkest dark should meet the lightest light when I started painting about 50 years ago. It can be tough to implement, especially without real reference, when we have only a photography or a sketch. I am personally not excited about patterns which repeat in a regular rhythm such as petals or trees along the path, blooms on a branch and similar things which we unintentionally place on our canvas when there is no firm plan or sketch.

Acrylic painting, spring magnolia
Pink spring magnolia blossoms is an acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm canvas, Spring mood, light colors and feeling.

Reference is a guide

Why am I saying: pay attention to reference? Because most people don’t do that. When we are just beginning the painting, they would have a look at the reference image or set-up. After a while, I notice nobody looks any more at the reference. You have to! The only exception is when it is a completely abstract work which has been drafted in one’s imagination or when we paint from memory.

Painting or drawing from memory

Painting from memory takes practice, and beginning artists cannot handle that too well. Reference or value drawing (if you have created such) has all the answers: where to use dark color, where to make strong edge, where to wash out edges to lose them, where to place highlights and what exactly the shape of something is.

Preferred brushes

Knowing what values go where is extremely important, much more important than what brush to use. However, talking about brushes: always use the ones which you feel comfortable with and which suit the size of the area you are working on. Very simple. We can use no brush at all, but sponge or palette knife, that is a matter of preference and choice.

Try no rules, but use principles

I know how some art instructors want to make rules about everything. There are no rules in the use of tools. It is very obvious that using a very wide brush for tiny spot is simply difficult and vice versa. I know a lot of artists who create the entire painting with just one brush. I do that sometimes, too.

Acrylic painting, pink rose
Pink rose, acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm, this painting is also a demonstration artwork for art class.

Real versus photo

So, the conclusion is: do not change things around dramatically or completely when the work is halfway through and always keep an eye on the reference. If something does not work at all, it is better to start over again. That’s why it is so rewarding to paint from real subjects, live is live and photo is just a photo. Live comes with smell, touch, very visible shape and very noticeable values.

Purple pansies, acrylic painting
Lovely purple pansy faces, acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in canvas. Bold color, large flowers

No pressure

Do not put pressure on yourself and painting: there are moments when we need to stop and make a decision about the next step. Paintings and drawings really hate when they are not treated with due respect. It is much better to allow everything to develop in a natural way. For illustration, I have attached the recent flower paintings. There are many more, but they just need finalizing touches. You know: painting is never done, right?

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Want to create something beautiful? Start painting

Acrylic painting, Spring tulips,art for sale

You always wanted to draw or paint, it’s time to start painting

Sometimes, this idea might seem too complex to pursue, but, in fact, all it takes is starting to draw or paint.  Simply get your art and – start painting. Learn as you go. You will need patience, courage, willingness to experiment and accept your mistakes. You should be ready also to put efforts, work and time into your learning process.  Nothing happens on its own and without actually doing it. Any drawing and painting starts with being able to see and use our senses. It does not start with knowledge of techniques and all kinds of tools and mediums. We acquire this knowledge gradually as we gain experience.

Experience and lack thereof

I have given countless classes and workshops over many years. It actually feels like I have been teaching arts all my life. It is obvious that all people, who would love to start painting or drawing, do not get past the first problems.  They give up this fantastic activity before they familiarize themselves with easy fixes. We can fix anything in painting or drawing along the way when it comes to creation. It sometimes only takes a few brushstrokes with dark or light color.

First we learn seeing

The important aspect of engaging in visual arts is the ability to see and to understand what one is looking for. Most people are sure that they have good enough eyesight and that they can see everything. That is not true at all. While we are seeing things around us, we are not seeing them in an artistic way because for drawing or painting we need to sometimes abstract the view or define the detail. I suppose the inability to perceive values, shapes, colors, lines and their relationship, as well as correct scale, depends on whether one is aware that these things exist.

Don’t trace, don’t copy

It’s not rare that artists simply copy an image or photo and then transfer this copy onto paper or canvas. Many artists do a lot of image editing with special software so that the image is ready to copy and to apply paint on it. That supposedly saves time and efforts and makes painting process easier. If you want to ever draw and paint without fear and with confidence and know why you are using a particular technique or step, go with freehand drawing and observation straight from the beginning. It will pay off in longer time, usually not in the first hour.

Drawing takes time, but it’s worth it

A complex drawing might take me between 30 minutes and 2-3 hours. When the drawing, value or tonal sketch is done, I have everything what I need to proceed to painting: values, contrast, highlights, composition and correct correct scale. I’m usually doing drawings in size of actual paintings as opposed to thumbnail sketches. I can do whatever I want with my sketch afterwards: use it for watercolor, pastel or acrylic and more. I can even flip it or use just some part for my next painting. I don’t need editing, adjusting, copying or enlarging. Therefore, if you want to be ever free from computers, screens, measuring devices, grids, start learning to see.

Poppies, acrylic painting art for sale
White magnolia, acrylic painting

Pay attention to reference

I have noticed this many times: students do not see the reference photo or picture in an artistic way. They see a flower, a tree or fence, but that’s not the most important aspect. I am using frequently real objects: fruit, vegetables, flowers, flower pots, leaves, cups, bowls, glasses and similar things  for still life, and that can be a problem also. Until you start paying attention to shadows, values, correct size and scale, potential composition, contrast and layout, drawing doesn’t happen. Everybody can draw and paint anything as soon as they understand what they have to see in the subject.

Calla lilies, flower painting, art for sale

Draw any subject

There are countless tutorials. They usually show how to paint one single subject.  If you first learn to draw, meaning draw anything, you can choose any subject without limitations. You just need to know what is important about the subject and look for it. That means paying attention to things which other people don’t even know about.  Start with placing your subject in front of you and look at it. Look carefully at dark and light spots, visible lines and shadows, direction and size and notice how light makes a difference. Starting with very light and general outlines try to get the exact form. We go from very general shapes and lines and move towards details. Repeat until the drawing becomes three dimensional, not flat.

Acrylic painting, Spring tulips,art for sale

My approach to creating acrylic flower paintings

I have elaborated a new approach to acrylic flower painting since many students want to learn painting with acrylic, but their results are quite often disappointing and don’t make them happy. We use the large-scale drawing, transfer it onto canvas and then follow with paint. This new approach uses the specific features of acrylic paints: short drying time, ability to work over dry layers; and turns them into the biggest advantage. Results are quite stunning. However:  results are great as long as one follows all steps and uses multiple layers of paint.

Lilies, drawing for acrylic painting
White Easter lilies, acrylic painting, art for sale

Everything matters

So far, I have given only live art classes because they make a lot of sense. Explanation and even watching somebody else painting do not always lead to good results. It matters how much water or how much paint, or what medium on what surface one uses. It matters how fast the previous steps are done and it matters how you move the brush and mix the paint. Everything matters, and we can correct mistakes right there  as they happen. It is great that somebody can explain why some things work and why some others don’t by doing it in the classroom.

Red poppies, acrylic painting, art for sale
Purple pansies, acrylic painting

Group art classes

Private art classes

Original acrylic paintings

View my floral art collections here:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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Giving up is not a solution, acrylic painting tips

Tips for acrylic painting

I’d love to share some acrylic painting tips. I hope these painting tips allow to achieve more and paint better.

Giving up before seeing potential

I feel sad when some students discontinue classes just after one month. I can see the potential in attempts, but people with little experience in drawing and art usually don’t.  All it takes is usually adding a few dark and light spots, adjustment of edges and straightening out a few shapes. In fact, any acrylic painting can be whatever the artist expects it to be if we keep working on it and don’t stop prematurely.

If you know how to, you can improve anything

I’ve said that before: nobody becomes master within a few hours. Nobody. I also do not want students comparing their first attempts in art: this makes absolutely no sense. There was a reason artists used to cover up their art with a cloth and show it to nobody until the artwork was considered ready and finished. There are easy adjustments which can change the painted image to a great extent. We add tiny bit of sparkling light, sharp edge of very deep dark area, and everything improves.

Patience and ability to take risks

Patience and ability to take risks are two very necessary features for anybody who’d like to enjoy creating visual art. I have told this before: time-lapse demos make people believe that this is exactly the way one paints: one, two, three and here we go. In reality, we sometimes need to go over and over one spot for many times. With acrylic paint, there are no limitations of adding layers. We need to apply many layers to achieve volume and visually attractive effect.

Painting tips for acrylic painting
Once you know what principles are applied to creating a painting, just follow the steps and use layers and painting comes to life.

Applying color versus building it up

Smearing on paint in one color is not the same as building it up. I have quite often seen transparent trees and flat buildings, not to mention flowers without any volume. That means, there was no dark color blocked in underneath and the light color was used only in 2 tones. That cannot make a structure or subject look like it is having dimensions.

Think layers

Many people have difficulties thinking in layers: the most distant, underneath it all layer, the middle value layer, the defining layer and the highlighting and detailing layer. It is in the human nature to try getting it right away. I’ve observed how students sometimes start with details which should be implemented at the end. This approach is fairly essential in acrylic painting because we have to work from dark to light and from distant to close: that’s how the image evolves.

Painting tips, Garden, demo painting
Demo painting for garden landscape, basic layers

Keep the color on 

The other problematic issue is holding color on the spot we need it to be. We are practicing painting on a spot techniques. Quite often artist gets carried away and keeps blending and moving paint around until it results in everything being the same color. It is very important to learn using brush for painting on a spot which is like running on a spot: brush it on, but don’t move all around the canvas.

Brush must be clean

Finally, as I’m washing brushes after classes, I can immediately tell which brushes were used by me and which by students. My brushes are almost clean or have the last color in it. Students’ brushes are usually full of many colors, quite often dark colors which we applied at the beginning of the class. That means, the brush wasn’t cleaned during painting. That results in muddy and dirty colors which don’t shine and lack brilliance. We must clean our brushes frequently!

Tips for acrylic painting
We go layer by layer until the painting takes shape

Painting is easy and extremely rewarding

We must have patience and allow for some time to get where we want to be. It depends also on what our goal is. Any painting is nice and great if we do not expect it to become a top art just after a few classes or painting attempts. We can notice fear and indecisiveness in brush strokes which lack confidence. Therefore, taking risks and experimenting is very important, especially,  in visual art. We have to be persistent and even stubborn. I hope my painting tips help you!

Inspiration:

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Artistic freedom and risks taking to a higher level of ourselves

Artistic freedom

Making time

How to make time slow down and stop for a moment? I have the answer, but unfortunately, this doesn’t help me getting done everything. We can capture a moment in a painting, and we can capture the scene we are drawing or painting, thus, registering our feelings, emotions and impressions of time. I believe doing our best can be not enough sometimes, but that is the only result we are able to keep.

Well-organized workspace

My classroom just got a face-lift. There are so many flaws with easels which are sold at the art store that I had to finally get to the issue and design my own easels for classroom. They are extremely light and perfectly stable; nothing dances around, falls off or turns over. They allow painting when sitting and when standing. That took a while, and thanks to my husband and his skills, we have these easels working well now. I had to make also some smaller things like cardboard trays to organize the workspace better. Workspace has to be easily approachable and clean.

Art studio

Limited art supplies

We shouldn’t try using the entire art store. I counted last night; we need 10 paint tubes at most. We can paint very well with just 8 or even 5 colors. That means we learn mixing up colors. We normally won’t be using 6 or more brushes during a few hours. Most often, we can perfectly paint acrylic with just one medium size flat brush. Watercolor requires 2 brushes, but not 10 either. I can understand why somebody tries to take everything to the class: it’s called just in case. The negative aspect of too many tools and supplies is that it causes confusion. Especially when somebody is starting out, they won’t even know what each brush does.

Art studio

Practice, practice, practice 

We had a fantastic group painting today. I have 3 hour painting sessions on Saturdays. We start on blank canvas and at the end of these 3 hours we usually have something to show for. I loved that nobody was disappointed because sometimes people imagine they can go within 3 hours from never painted before to mastering painting That does not happen, so, I am very happy with people who have reasonable expectations.

No fear and relaxed state of mind

Creation of art has to be fun and relaxing activity. When I hear people saying I am afraid, I am really wondering how so? I can imagine how one is afraid from a surgery, even dentist, test or a job interview which can change the entire life. What is the worst that can happen when we paint something not as we think we should? With acrylic, nothing at all. We will need a bit more paint and possibly time to start that particular spot from new.  Most likely, that is why people who love taking risks have very good results. Once we get over the barrier we placed in front of ourselves, we are fine. I wouldn’t even call this courage. I’d rather call this: pleasure to experiment, take plunges into unknown and experience freedom.

Artistic freedom

Abstracted painting in acrylic, red flowers

Artistic freedom

Artistic freedom is like no other freedom and it is the most uplifting one. When somebody tells me there are very many rules in art, I’d like to disagree. There is no other person who can see and experience the reality in the same way we do. Why our imagination and creative potential should be then squeezed in some kind of frame of regulations? It shouldn’t. Any other freedom comes paired with duties and obligations. Artistic freedom of creative self-expression is a completely alone standing freedom. There are tips and tricks, and common sense how to get painting done faster, better, more efficiently. Art and creativity allow creating a new world every single time we take the brush or pencil in our hand.

Artistic freedom

Painting poppies, acrylic painting workshop

My popular art classes

I believe, many people like my approach, so my art groups have grown a lot. My space is limited to 12 participants, but I prefer not more than 10 artists for acrylic class. Everybody starting out in art should not take it too seriously, but enjoy and have fun. You’ll find out over time how nicely everything falls in place. The above does not refer to people who make their living with art. That is a hard work, one of the hardest I know.

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Snow paintings for Christmas delight

Snow paintings, village and countryside

Bright snow paintings for Christmas

Shadows in my tea-cup, darkness behind the window and soft warmth from the small outdoor lights. That is the calming scene which surrounds me at the moment. The scent of a live fir-tree is absent, but I can certainly imagine that, too.  As the year is fast approaching its end, my hopes and expectations get smaller and smaller until they will fade away completely. I paint bright snow paintings to lift my mood.

Feeling better after cold

What a terrible thing that is to get sick straight before Christmas! I did exactly that, I worked very hard for about a month and then my body told: that’s it, I need to shut down for a while and get some rest. Well, I missed all the potential sales opportunities since I couldn’t even move my arm, not to mention do show preparations, final touches on art or crafts, and I did not post any ads. I even did not turn on the “Open” sign.  It’s the first day now when I am a bit better. I can see the computer screen at least. What a relief!

Snow paintings, acrylic

Large snow landscape painting in acrylic, 24 x 30 inches or 61 x 76 cm

Why not spend something on art?

When I hear the big numbers about what people are spending during Christmas and holidays, I get even sicker. Is that even possible? Most likely it is. I wish some of that would come my way, too. I think, this is the right time to buy art, and it doesn’t have to be even winter art since prices are set to sell. I know many people, who would really love receiving artistic gifts. I usually give something free with every purchase. as a sign of appreciation. It can be a box of watercolor paints or a framed sketch.

Snow paintings in acrylic

Winter creek, 24 x 18 inches or 61 x 46 cm, snow art at its best

Taking art photos, adding light

I took some pictures of the recent works with my phone. It’s so dark, that trying to take a picture with my camera is out of question. Oh, and like all people who are born under the Leo sign, I love warmth, sun and light. I have actually painted so much art which brings more light into any space. The current weather isn’t good news for me so far. My potential sales aren’t either because nobody even knows I worked a lot to make this pre-holiday sale happen, but broke down straight before the finishing line.

Snow paintings in acrylic, sunset

Winter creek sunset, 20 x 16 inches or 51 x 41 cm

Christmas traditions

I don’t put up a Christmas tree or decorations in November. I do not do the Christmas shopping until the last-minute also. Therefore, I am only catching up when others are way ahead of me. My Christmas means to put up the tree in the morning, decorate it around lunch time, and then cook a nice meal to have it at night. That’s how it always was since I can remember. My dad and I went even to the forest to get a tree early on the Christmas morning sometimes. If I have everything ready month before this day, I am losing all the Christmas spirit. Songs, flavors, candle lights and sparkles on the Christmas tree is all I need.

Fir cones, snow paintings

Fir cones under guarding snow, 20 x 20 in or 51 x 51 cm

Hopes, hopes, hopes

Since there is still a full week until Christmas, I hope that my bank account will miraculously turn from red into black. That might be also the only occasion when black is a nice color. I could supply myself completely with all the medications before the pharmacy’s shut-down period. I sincerely hope there might be a person who wishes to see some of my original paintings on their wall or believes my art is the right thing to be presented as a gift. Despite the poor odds, I won’t panic just yet. Everything goes on with or without fireworks.

Snow paintings, village and countryside

Village sunset painting, acrylic 24 x 20 in or 61 51 cm

Art  class was painting this winter scene along with me. We are doing some winter painting every December. Snow paintings allow creating stunning paintings with using all shades of white. That might be not always easy in acrylic, but if you use artist grade paint, it will be less problematic. Good luck!

The Life school blog talks about memories which are beautiful, but can be painful, as well:  http://inesepogalifeschool.com/2015/12/18/christmas-memories-that-can-make-us-cry/

For art prints and other art products, please, go to:

Art collections by Inese Poga