Since the days are getting so short and the dark and colorless outdoors clearly indicate Christmas is not that far away, I decided to feature the original art and art prints which are definitely my best sellers again this year.
I believe that some subjects, themes and genres never lose their appeal and originality. When the festive season comes around, we want something cozy and something warm not only in the physical surroundings, but also in our heart. The soft snow scenes and the attractive Christmas florals have been always loved a lot.
I know that no print or printed art product can ever resemble the impact of the original art, but still: there are many occasions when one would go with lovely art print either on their notebook, mug, tote bag, wall tapestry and similar things. I do not make my own prints because Fine Art America does it better. The selection of products is also huge: from greeting cards to all kinds of framed and unframed art prints on different surfaces, even would, metal and silver, from apparel to bath towels and bags and tote bags.
After I posted a few feature posts last year I was very lucky to also sell one original art piece: the spruce creek. It looked excellent in the black frame, and the lady who purchased it said it made look gorgeous the entire room . Who knows, I hope to sell some more original paintings, especially taking into account that the number of original paintings I have created is large. I would gladly ship some art, too, especially watercolor paintings. They are light, just the weight of paper, so shipping is way less..
Looks beautiful and completeThe lonely tree looks cozyBig textureThis gallery displays a few of my bestselling art prints.
Some bloggers purchased a few original paintings in previous years. It is just so, that the bigger the painting is, the more expensive the shipping becomes, and it isn’t up to me, but the shipping companies. I would love to say a big thank you to all people who have purchased my art over years and who enjoy it every day in their homes and offices.
When I look at my art as if from a distance before moving it, I can see that I have reached a place in art where I want to be. Every painting is a story. Every piece of art offers something beyond the directly visible lines and brushstrokes. I am at the point now when I can agree that my art has become impressive and interesting, worth looking at, worth experiencing and loving.
I had huge intentions for this summer. Then I received the news that I have to move. That was a very sudden and unexpected notice.
The best part of summer flew by unnoticed. It was a lot of paperwork and endless packing and sorting things.
I was so much looking forward to posting watercolor art (which I have in abundance) during the world watercolor month. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. One person can only do that much. Packing took me 3 weeks every single day so far. It is the last day of packing, and we move tomorrow.
It felt somewhat sad to take off paintings from all walls, and there were so many walls. I discovered that many paintings on a wall make the room look much bigger. Once I took off art, it felt the room shrank in size. Interesting. When we see regular residential houses, there are just 1 or 2 paintings on a wall. Why so few? There is no excuse for that. Art ads huge flavor to any room. Many paintings make any particular room look much larger and create big impact. I’d say the strongest impact. Fake leather sofas do not come close to that.
It does not feel sad leaving this neighborhood. I have spent more than 8 years here, and I do not feel I am going to miss this place. This location seemed to be perfect at first, but it turned out to be not that great. Most people in residential medium class areas are not much interested in arts, simply this part of town was somewhat unsuitable for an art gallery or art school. Most people who attended my art classes or bought my art found me on the internet, so, it is worth to continue pursuing this avenue.
Schedule for fall art classes is published and registration is open.
The new location is South Ajax. I believe the location is great. I will be next door to Southwood Park Public School. That might be a disaster or a plus.
I am turning 60 this weekend. It’s not a big deal, I would say. I haven’t changed my size since I was 21, I still look fine and younger tan the age number suggests, and there are no huge health concerns or problems. The only problem is getting my products out there, but I’m managing it to some extent.
What else can I say?
As soon as I publish this article and a short post on my lifeschool blog, I will turn off my computer, and I am not sure when we will have internet in the new place. After a few days, I am flying over to Latvia to meet my family and friends. I will be there for a while. Therefore, do not be angry if I cannot check all comments and return likes. I will deal with that maybe in Latvia if I get some time or after I return home in September.
I recorded a few small videos in rush just to remember how great everything looked at my gallery.
I also received numerous great comments in Facebook groups, and one man said he believes he had never seen better art. That was great.
See you when I am done with messes of moving and enjoying the new beginning!
My art gallery is on the move: paintings are traveling to Ajax soon. There are numerous paintings, endless sheets of drawings, sketches, frames, framed and unframed paintings of all sizes.. Due to that, I am offering nice deals on my art at the moment. While I can give discounts to art that is purchased online, the expensive Canadian shipping services make it difficult. The winners are definitely art lovers and art collectors who can come to the gallery in person before the moving date. That is the end of July or close to it. I would like to have a well-organized move. You could help me move, you certainly could by purchasing some art.
Selling my art: getting people to see it
Due to oversupply which is based on art print sales, it is very tricky to make people aware that this is original art and you can touch and feel the brushstrokes and textures. You can feel the energy literally floating around the place. Original art of good quality actually sells quite well, especially in person, especially when price point is intentionally made very attractive. When people get to see it, many love my art and are very willing to spend their money for something that beautiful. My problem has always been to get people in here. The location is fine; however, it is a corner lot. Parking becomes confusing, and there is practically no foot traffic.
Good original art sells
I sold 5 paintings before the surgery. Well, way too less to make this gallery move lighter, but it’s still great. I work passionately and methodically completing a painting. I have paintings which took me more than a year to bring to a condition which I was satisfied with. Watercolors can take up to 3 or 4 weeks, full sheet watercolors. I have been painting mostly large and medium size art. If I could, I would only paint large and very large art because that gives me so much more freedom. I am naturally interested in large-scale paintings. Even when I started out as a kid, my drawings and paintings were large. In average, every acrylic painting has taken me between 2 weeks and a month, and for watercolors that would be 2-3 weeks.
Value and uniqueness
Lucky artists who get remunerated for their input in creation of art! Taking into account the numerous hours which go into my paintings, the selling price is a tiny fraction of the art value. Watercolors are very difficult to repeat, if at all possible, therefore, each painting is genuinely unique. Acrylic is a very slow medium. It takes layers and layers to take the painting where I want it to go. I will not sell sketches and drawings, I will use them on the learning page of my website which is getting developed.
Website’s facelift and new learning page
I intend to restructure and reorganize completely my website; however, it will have to wait for a while with all the intense packing and unpacking. Sooner or later, there will be videos available too, but the current hectic situation does not allow for that. That is the future: presentations, traceable drawings, video suggestions, and I will link this with a Facebook community page where everybody who wants to try the particular subject will be able to post their creations and ask questions. Live classes will also take place at the new location; however, the number of participants will be limited.
I will still have plants and garden
Plants will come with me, and I have a great deal of them. I intend to dig out my herbs and peonies, irises and similar, the small lilac I planted last year and even lily of the valley. This place is a very amazing one: I have numerous plant species all around. I will really miss some of them, especially apple tree.
Enjoy the gallery, share blog link or pictures if you can
These are the recent images of my art gallery. A few walls and a few displays are visible. These are mostly acrylic paintings, watercolors did not make into this photo session. It feels a bit sad because I had a great art gallery here. It is not easy to find buildings which suit this purpose. Well, just keep in touch! Much more to come!
My iPhone takes quite dark pictures, although, I have adjusted settings. The light was not perfect, as well. I find that iPhone tries to totally dramatize any picture, so regarding a painting, it becomes very sharp and it lacks the value balance which is present in my real art. While I’m not 100% happy with these pictures, I would love you to still enjoy them. I believe it is an excellent gallery. Well, my art will be displayed online for the most part in the future, but I will arrange a showroom.
Copyright notice: Copyrights of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. The use of painting and drawing images is prohibited if I have not issued a written permission.
How to use sketching and drawing to improve our brain fitness
Manually created sketches and drawings can really help. I will try to explain how and why we should use this approach to improve the brain fitness and cognitive abilities.
Manual sketching, drawing or painting when done from real scenes and subjects use our brain efficiently, create new neurons and signal pathways since these activities are challenging, interesting, new every time, rewarding and pleasurable. When done in a group, it also gives one chance to communicate, learn new skills and achieve real meditative state of mind which in turn relaxes and calms.
I am somebody who always reminds: use your brain, keep it flexible, well-functioning and young. Therefore, I am always inviting people to join our drawing, sketching and pen and watercolor classes. There is nothing to lose, plenty to gain.
Artificial intelligence and human brain capacity
The artificial intelligence progresses very fast. It feels there is some new gadget, device or app every day. Artificial intelligence is supposed to make our life easier and more comfortable. We are required to memorize less, to decide less, to search our personal brain storage less because everything is on the internet. We do not have any need to remember or write down things that are important, and we are actually losing the specific ability and muscle groups to use our hand for manual writing or drawing. Fine and extremely accurate movements still matter, so does our ability to perform them. However, the performance of our brain is the factor that matters most.
What happens to our own intelligence?
As somebody who works with people and teaches, I can see that the human intelligence suffers actually a lot. Just in the last 5 years while everybody has been actively using mobile devices, I have noticed significant decrease in attention span, focusing ability, memory and ability to make decisions. All these features are significant brain and cognitive function markers. It feels that AI has a huge boost, but the human intelligence cannot keep up with it. People are getting forgetful, losing focus and their decision-making skills.
Manual drawing and sketching as prevention of memory loss
One of things we still can do, do easily and everywhere is drawing and painting manually by using our own visual perception. We should try no to depend on any devices while engaging in this activity. That is recognized as one of the best ways of keeping our brain sharp and flexible and cognitive function well performing.
Potential benefits
One to two times a week drawing outdoors is beneficial in all possible ways. Who knows that better than me? Time flies and I have created something to show for while being outside and enjoying nature. Small backyard birds are also an excellent subject: lovely, friendly and always around. It might be not that easy to always catch the right view of a bird, but still, – nobody is going to judge. If it comes out great, share it, if it requires more practicing, keep it as a learning experience. And enjoy your memory boost!
It is not that everybody is going to get involved in serious and time-consuming research or high difficulty grade studies which certainly are memory boost, brain flexibility and power. Language learning is a fantastic way of making brain younger again, but it is a very lengthy process before one can really see good results. I know that, too, because I speak at a native level 4 languages. Each one requires a lot of additional work and studies. That is a life-long process.
Overcoming fear of getting involved with a new activity
Much faster and simpler, as well as much easier memory boost is drawing and sketching. Some people start keeping an art journal if they prefer small forms, and that is such an adventure on its own. That, too, will be your memory boost.
Some people worry that they need to do a lot of preparation work before they engage in either drawing or sketching. That is not true. One has to start somewhere, and that is an excellent starting point – from zero. It means actually that there is a whole lot to explore, find out and enjoy. The only thing one should be not hoping for is to become a master within a few hours or days. Years might sound just about right, but who says one has to be a master or professional in order to draw, sketch and paint? I know fellow bloggers who do it for their own pleasure or to have good time.
Some of my pen and watercolor paintings that deal with perspective lines and involve man-made structures
Buildings make a superb subject!
We start with drawing, and I intend to publish guiding materials for drawing and sketching.
Here: making the drawing more visible with washes
This pen and watercolor painting is ready!
The pencil helplines are erased, but using them makes creation of black pen drawing easy.
More watercolor washes, here and there, and the painting is ready
My advice is: just do it! Along with creating art, it will serve as memory boost. After a while, you might have a new attitude towards many things, as well as see how well this is working for you. Good luck!
