Just like birds, I will take off tomorrow. I won’t go south; however, I will go east, to Latvia. Whether we like it or not, September is soon over, and October will come with its gold to soothe and comfort our aching souls because, oh well, we are heading towards the winter. Eventually, snow silver will cover the rusty golden sparkles, and our feet will be walking the icy and cold sidewalks of freezing town and city roads. I love the colors of autumn, just like we all do! It is such an injustice that this beauty disappears so fast. Nevertheless, it is a great time to capture and enjoy the fantastic colors. Regardless of personal preferences, nature’s cycles are inevitable.
Fall art projects
I kept working on some projects and I also tried to bring to finish the class project: the distant blue background and the lonely tree. Pumpkins are going to be uploaded to Fine Art America; maybe somebody will like them as greeting cards or other products: there are so many now that I cannot even list them all.
Looking forward to my time in Latvia
I will try to report about my adventures in Latvia since I have a new laptop. Laptop is fine, I would not say I’m very excited about Windows 10, it came with so much abusive stuff which I never intend to use that it takes me hours and hours to adjust my settings for my personal needs.
Alone: lonely tree; 20 x 24 in acrylic painting, it was sold to Brenda. Thanks, Brenda!
Pumpkin and apples for Thanksgiving, 20 x 24, in acrylic painting
High above, acrylic painting, 20 x 24 in by Inese Poga, sold
House under the big sky, it’s a very large acrylic painting, 30 x 40″
Painting tip for students
If you would like to paint some fall scenery, put the color you want to use exactly on a spot where you want it. Do not keep brushing the paint around for so long that everything becomes the same color. This is easy using a feather-like, light brushstroke. It is like running on a spot: you just use the flat and wide side of the brush with light motion, so that it mostly is parallel to canvas surface.
Enjoy the sunny fall days and survive patiently the dullness of rains and chills of winds!
Everybody can draw. And everybody should draw; if not at artistic level, so, for pure pleasure and healthy brain. I hope you are not one of those parents who make remarks like this: stop playing around with pencils, do your math assignment! While we all need literacy skills and math, there is something unique about drawing. We can draw before we can even speak or write, or count.
Path to artistic freedom
We can actually do it successfully without any regard to any rules which people have imposed on creative expressions and art. We can very well express ourselves until somebody says: that doesn’t look like a cat! That’s when the kid who loved to draw starts to wonder: really? Am I doing something wrong? That’s where the artistic freedom ends and rules start. Art is categorized as not that important compared to coding, IT, math, chemistry, physics, history and essay writing.
Drawing and painting for brain fitness
We have so much evidence nowadays that drawing and painting actually has the power to activate our brain to a huge extent and keep it flexible. Focus, memory, attention to detail, decision-making, imagination: these features are so important for anything we do in our life, and they are developed and perfected while we are just drawing and painting. In addition, this activity means a lot of pleasure, it is also rewarding.
Requirements for brain flexibility boosting tasks
In order a task or activity would boost brain flexibility and our memory, it should be:
challenging task;
new task every time;
task that involves decision-making, observation, focus and attention;
task that prompts to come up with solution;
pleasurable task and activity;
rewarding task and activity;
activity or task which enables socializing and exchange of opinions.
If you can write, you can draw
People, who think they cannot draw, have been simply using a wrong approach or have convinced themselves that drawing is something they’d never manage. They might believe drawing is something they don’t like or would never need. They might be addicted to devices and screens and they might see no point in using their brain and hand. However, fine motor movements are extremely important. Everybody, who is able to manually write, can also draw.
Manual drawing is not that common
I am obviously checking out what other instructors and classes offer, and I must say there’s not that much. First of all, if instruction starts with: take a picture, that is not going to be a lesson how to learn drawing. That instruction will tell you how to reproduce photography and sometimes advice to just trace the image and take credits for a great drawing. Why do we always need to focus on the final product? The process of creation is very exciting, and this process is well worth experiencing.
Seeing is the key to drawing
Drawing is not about copying or measuring. Drawing is about seeing, activating the brain-hand communication and creating an image of an object, person or view on a flat surface, at the same time trying to show the emotional impact we are experiencing. Before we can draw, we have to learn seeing. Most people are convinced they see everything, in fact, they see just a non-specific image, and they don’t pay attention to any details.
Practical advice for these who start drawing
When I’m watching people drawing, I have noticed the following: they rarely look at the object they are drawing or painting, hardly ever. Some follow my drawing, some look at the paper all the time and erase everything and start from new quite a few times and erase again.
Practical drawing
In fact, we have to focus on the subject we are drawing and just rarely take a look at how lines and shapes are forming on our paper. We have to draw the subject 2, 3, 4 times bigger than in reality. Also, memorize the subject for 3-5 seconds; explore the shape and values, look at paper for 1 second. That happens on its own after a while.
Forget eraser
I would like to take away the eraser, too. Eraser just disturbs during the initial drawing stages. Therefore, try not to erase everything. Focus on outlines and shapes, as well as size, scale and proportions with the first attempt. Start with light approximate lines, define them as you go.
The starting point and reference area
We have to visually perceive the subject or scene, find the reference area or spot and start out with very light general lines. With every next line, we are building up the subject or anything within the drawing. We should also stick to what there is and what we can see not converting it into an animated, simplified shape of what we know this object might be like. We should not omit and take away all specific features our subject has in reality.
The purpose of these outline drawings is to serve as a base for watercolor painting because some plants, vegetables or flowers don’t last long enough
Leaving only good lines and going over with black pen
Good subject for starting out
All apples are not the same; all cups are not the same, not to mention trees and flowers or faces. Still life is a very good starting point, and I’d usually pile up more simple things in order we could observe their relationships. Therefore, learn seeing, develop visual perception and visual memory.
We add now watercolor to lines and get a nice painting!
The positive impacts of drawing occur especially when we are employing the entire brain which is as in observational drawing. It also makes us completely independent from computers, cameras, phones, printers and other devices because all we need to start out is paper and pencil or pen. Good luck!
Positive energy is a big part of my art. We all probably used to have sense of energy and its vibrations, just like animals and birds still do. There are energy-sensitive people, people who do not feel or recognize any energy flow, but experience it subconsciously, and people, who are unable to perceive any energy at all, even though, they are just like everybody else affected by it.
With good thoughts
I paint implementing lots of positive energy in my creations, it’s not only because I cannot make myself draw or paint gruesome, terrifying or evil subjects and scenes, but mainly because that is who I am: a medium for converting the great energy from the impressive nature scenes, flowers, still life subjects into the sensitively perceivable feeling of good vibrations. I doubt this could be felt through the internet images or prints since these are copies of copies. I know that people, who look physically at my paintings in person can experience such strong, good impact.
Red as energy carrier
I have painted numerous red flowers as commissions – poppies, wild roses and similar floral paintings on request of people, who can sense energy and are able to recognize it. Some of them have placed my paintings in the entrance hall to prevent bad luck and bad energy from entering their personal living space. I know a couple, who hang a flower painting of mine at the upper staircase overlooking the entire stair, and they told everything became much better and better in their life since that.
Take it from subject
Some people wanted red flowers for their living rooms and some for bedrooms as an energy carrier for passion and love. I believe any appropriate place is good, and these paintings work well because I have puts lots of positive energy into them. I take it from the beauty of objects to be painted, and these paintings become a shield to stop the flow of disturbing energy.
Let energy flow
When it comes to positive energy, its flow in a room or in any space matters a lot. Color matters and the subject is important also. Therefore, I’d advise to use for personal space only such paintings, art and items that enable the flow of positive energy, not block it.
There’s nothing which makes a room look more cozy than good art. If you want to take the easy path, certainly you can go with color splash and abstract art or no color at all. However, since I always have many paintings in just one room, I can tell that the colors do not disturb and art which displays recognizable subject looks fantastic. It might take more time to decide what exactly to hang on your walls, but there’s no limitation of choices.
Art which releases positive energy and good vibes is usually sold. My art sells the best when people can experience its impact in person. Many of paintings which you see in this post are sold. It makes me happy that somebody else find my art so appealing that they wish to have it in their homes.
Finally, a very large painting from 2014: the Nostalgia gardens. It was sold also. There are definitely more and new paintings to enjoy, to purchase and have the positive energy always with you.
I hope you enjoyed! I would appreciate a lot if you stopped by at the art studio in downtown Whitby, Ontario to have a look at original paintings and at FFA online site to check out all art products.
I’ve noticed that too much preparation can result in never getting started with anything. That is especially true when trying to know everything will prevent one from ever getting started, for instance, with painting. That will cause insecurity and feeling of always missing something. Many people mention also fear, the fact that they are scared to draw on white paper or paint on blank canvas.
Children do it right
Children usually are very successful with new things. They don’t try to prepare for everything which might or might not happen. They also don’t try to collect all possible and imaginable tools and references in order to get started. That is an issue I have observed during my very long teaching career. It was the same when I was teaching German language and literature, English or Latvian, design, drawing and art.
Rose and apple blossoms, spring is here
Information flood can affect our readiness to get started
We are flooded with huge amounts of information. When we turn on TV, when we are scrolling through computer screen, and when we are checking out our phone, there is huge amount of information. This information can be related or totally unrelated, true or false, meaningless or crucial to whatever we are doing, and we are normally absorbing at least some of it. Should we? To some extent, we obviously should be aware of what’s going on and do research when we are exploring matters that are important for us, However, with so many sources and with such infinite amounts of advice, we most likely will feel rather lost.
We don’t ever know everything
This refers very directly to drawing, painting and any other creative activity. I know people who would not start drawing or painting because they assume they don’t know everything about it. They are trying to get ready for this activity by exploring techniques, mediums, tools, paint characteristics, types of brushes and features of colors and any other related matters. Many of them never get to any drawing or painting because they don’t feel they know enough and they don’t believe they have all necessary art supplies.
Choose smartly
There are millions of different techniques, styles and ways to create art. Since internet has controversial advice and sometimes even misleading suggestions, it is very hard to distinct between true help and silly recommendations. How is it possible to find out whether painting is what you want to do? It is extremely simple: just give it a try. Nobody knows everything about everything. We can follow hundreds of websites, we can watch thousands of “how to” videos and read endless articles or books about painting. There’s plenty of advice out there, and some of that is useful for us, but most of it will not help one starting out in art. Why not? We have to start doing things before we can decide if we like them or not. Only these, who dare to try, can hope to get something done.
Jumping on it without any fear
Other good thing about students who don’t have too much knowledge is that they have no fear. They are not afraid to damage paper or canvas, and they fearlessly apply courageous brushstrokes or put down lines on paper. That results in a good or satisfactory first painting. They do not think it is some kind of superb masterpiece, but realistically evaluate it. Therefore, they can keep improving their abilities when doing the next painting. The knowledge comes through doing, and that is the only way to gain experience.
Experience is an excellent building block of mastery
This is how hands-on activities are contributing to fast development of any skill: you see it happening and you try it immediately. If something went wrong, try it again. Watching other people can give us an idea about how we should proceed, but until we haven’t tried it out for ourselves, we will never know how exactly it is done. We can learn all kinds of compositions and color theories, but when the paint dries out fast and when the brush is moving quickly, there’s no time to recall all of it.
Our personal color theory
The way we can create our own color theory is to mix colors, to use color swatches, to test multiple colors in a mix and to apply paint accordingly to how we feel about it. This might take some time until the brain remembers what hands were doing and how this was suiting our creative intentions. Eventually, we will have our own color and painting theory. That will become the base of your personal style.
Never stop at the first failure
The first steps are the most difficult. These, who are afraid to get wet, won’t ever learn swimming. It is interesting to compare the first art you ever created with the most recent drawings or paintings. There is always a progress. Improvement is visible immediately. Every piece of art we create allows seeing better where we want to go with our creations and what we eventually want to achieve.
This is the time of giving, forgiving and showing our love and gratitude to people, who are in our lives, to people who we know and to everybody who we don’t even know, but believe they need some Christmas mood lift.
The Latvian proverb goes like this: Dear God! Help us be so well that we could give others generously and not beg them kindly. Giving generously involves giving gracefully, with pleasure and beautifully.
Have golden heart
The ancient Latvian proverbs, folk songs and fairy tales were given verbally from one generation to the next one for many thousands of years, and they carry the Latvian moral and ethical code. They always emphasize that it is not a big deal to have much of golden money because much bigger deal is to have a golden heart. Well, we know how it is in reality: we need both, and yet, we need the latter one way more.
Traditions
Many centuries have passed by and life is not the same, obviously. The Latvian Christmas was initially mixed with the celebration of winter solstice, and we have so many superstitions and traditions regarding this time of the year! Thousands! Did you know that it is not a coincidence the Christmas or Advent wreath is round? This shape symbolizes the year and the human lifetime: the end meets the beginning, so our children pick it up where we left things.
Advent and Christmas wreath
The circular shape of the wreath also represents God, with no beginning and no end. Circle means completeness and abundance; and it is also related to the eternity. The evergreens in a Christmas wreath are used to share the message of the eternal life. The tips of a spruce tree branch remind a shape of a cross, which means this wreath is going to protect us from everything evil.
The Western world got its first wreath around 16th century, in Germany. Latvians were using wreath and circle shaped ornaments and decorations ever since they existed. The solstice is the time to call the sun back, and it needs to know the place where to return. Latvian wreaths and ornaments initially symbolized the eternity, the divine and the Sun. Whatever its meaning and whatever it means to us, the Christmas wreath is a beautiful thing. So are all the decorated gifts. Adding greens from the backyard adds so much freshness. We love the green color because it symbolizes the life and everything what is alive.
Be generous
It is important to be generous, not only at Christmas time, but always. We think giving a gift is a small gesture of kindness, but in fact, it’s much more. It is how we interact with the rest of the world. The more we give, the more we receive back. Small or large gifts, they all have to be wrapped up nicely because that shows we care about the person who is receiving our gift.
How to wrap up your gift
I kept my gifts in the traditional colors: heart red, evergreen green and added a bit of gold, silver and green-blue.
An idea wrapping up round objects: make it look like a vase with blooms of ornaments and pine cones.
Roll up a tube of a firm paper. It has to extend the length of the gift item. Tape one edge of paper to the back of the gift object. Wrap around the wrapping paper. Tape one edge on the back. Fold in the bottom nicely and secure with tape. Fold in the upper edges. If needed, secure with tape from the inside. Wrap ribbon or gift string around the object. Add a bow or leave loose ends. Fill the upper part with tissue paper or some other light paper in any suitable color. Add some branches, pine cones and some small ornaments at the top.
It looks like winter vase with Christmas flowers! This takes practically 5 minutes when we have some materials and greens.
How to wrap up flat or large gifts
Flat and square objects are easy to wrap.
Sets of gifts look nice and they also speak to recipient with enhanced beauty.
Traditional and very attractive colors warm up our hearts.
We start with the base and place the gift facedown. Tape with transparent tape or tape in a matching color. Use some ribbon or colorful strings; once again we start with placing the face side of the gift downwards. Add some bow or roll up the ends with the blade of scissors. They become curly and look very artistic. I like splitting up large surfaces, just as with painting, so I’d use everything what’s around. Gifts are wrapped for a short time, so we don’t need to worry about the durability of our construction. Its main purpose is to say “Merry Christmas, I love you!”
Santa was helping me, as well. I also listened to beautiful music, and gift wrapping is a huge pleasure for me, in fact, always has been!
