Category: Creativity

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Life as art, creation as lifestyle, part 2

Light corner of art studio

Good life comes from good things

I have drawn and painted numerous flowers so far not only in pen lines and watercolor, transparent watercolor, but also in acrylic, and less known are my pastel paintings just because I don’t have any photos of them. Among them are roses, magnolias, orchids, daffodils, tulips, lilies, calla lilies, daisies, peonies, pansies, poppies, sunflowers, lilac, trillium, wildflowers, forest flowers and flower fields. I probably forgot to mention some. Flowers are convenient for painting since they are always around. Something is always available and that suits me and my personalized realism. Being in the middle of so much beauty, real and painted, feels extremely good.

Garden rose, watercolor painting

My opportunity

As I explained in Part 1, my background is very different from Canada-born artists. I am purely expressing my personal vision about the subject because nothing stands between me and my idea which I am putting on canvas or paper, not even a photo, and no devices are involved. I could say it’s the purest form of creation, going from what you see to what you create. I love most turning white paper and blank canvas into something where you can walk in or are able to almost touch the drawn or painted subject.

Pink geranium, floral watercolor painting

Technique versus idea and emotional aspect

While it’s possible to get carried away by the technical side of painting or drawing, I’d love to remind that there’s also a concept, an idea and a hidden meaning within such art. The concept isn’t the subject itself, it’s what it can tell the viewer and how deep emotional impact it can make. That’s my opportunity to stand out. Drawing for me is pure pleasure because I don’t have to struggle with it, I usually do not need any eraser. Pencil dances on paper, the subject takes shape and it will definitely have more meaning than simply trying to be lifelike.

Summer pansies in purple, watercolor painting for sale

Complexity or simplicity of subject and display on the internet

I wrote in part 1 that the driving force for me is the subject, especially the challenging aspects of it, ability to create more complex and deeper paintings. I love complex paintings more. Also, it isn’t important whether my subject looks exactly like the real thing. I want the viewer to get my message, the idea behind the visible lines and colors. On the internet, you can only see a fairly small image of my art, often, the size does not reflect the actual size. On this blog, all vertical images look much larger than the horizontal ones, except the featured image must be horizontal. On Fine Art America print site,  vertical paintings look much smaller than the horizontal ones and so on. Therefore, display doesn’t make a correct impression.

Still life with apples
Drawing based still life

Drawing as base for watercolor painting

Realistic watercolor painting most often uses drawing before paint application. We can avoid that and create everything with brush only, and I have done that, too. However, when it comes to complex still life, floral or landscape painting, it’s best to plan values and know where to use what. I transfer such drawing onto watercolor paper using extra light and hardly visible lines. Watercolor paper doesn’t like eraser, and strong pencil lines disturb the image, at least I like only transparency of watercolor paint to be visible. This all refers to watercolor done traditionally: leaving white of paper for white and layering different value colors where they belong.

Red apples, watercolor
As seen in my sister’s garden, purple apples

Solo shows and juried art shows

I started out very well in 2011 in Ontario with showing my large watercolors and fewer acrylic paintings in a gallery near Toronto Beaches. I couldn’t find this gallery on a map now, it has probably changed hands and has a different name. I also took part in art fairs, juried art shows, gave classes and workshops at my own gallery, everything was working really well. Recently, a few art students from back then shared their memories on Facebook and told how much they had learned in my art classes and how much they appreciated them. It was a different time. Being in a commercially zoned property definitely helped. Then health problems caused me to slow down between 2016 and 2019, plus, we had to move 2 times after 2018.

Moving an art studio

Moving just a house is difficult and stressful, but moving an entire large art studio with all kinds of art supplies, extra furniture, easels and numerous paintings of my own together with house, was a hassle. It’s inevitable that some art gets damaged, I had that happen even when moving art around to shows. It seems everything is packed up safely, but such move normally involves many people and not everyone of them knows how to handle a huge painting, for instance. That’s why I feel reluctant showing very large framed watercolors now. Glass sometimes breaks, it’s not only the high price for museum grade glass that worries me. Painting can get scratches, too, and the entire thing needs re-framing.

Fall landscape, watercolor by artist Inese Poga

My painting method and technique

When I paint in color, I definitely need daylight. Regardless how good the artificial light is, it causes changes in color. Therefore, some parts of painting require extra work, that can be a lot of extra work. With watercolor especially, there might be parts which I cannot undo. Whenever possible, I paint only by daylight. The usable portion of my current place isn’t that big, maybe spacious enough, but I could utilize easily double this size for an art studio. When there’s a lot of heating in winter, it’s very difficult to paint with acrylic paints. They dry on touch. For watercolor, it doesn’t matter because I can always make the paper wet again. Colors or shapes are not affected when re-wetting watercolor paper.

Beautiful sunflower painting, floral watercolor

Art is my full-time job

It is a huge risk to take on art as one’s entire lifestyle and full-time job. There are only a few fields where competition is as fierce as in art and teaching art. I had strong support when I engaged in art in Canada, but during the pandemic everything went downhill real fast. I don’t teach art as entertainment because my definition of learning is not the same as social drinking and using art as extra feature. I take painting seriously and I teach aspects I have discovered during many decades to those who want to master medium or observational drawing. That requires focus, interest in learning as a process, not only in a quick result. My students, who displayed the most willingness to learn, have become excellent artists.

Still life with nuts and berries
Very much drawing based pen and watercolor painting

I will share my acrylic painting creation process and my thoughts about teaching observations in Part 3.

Watercolor painting, peppers
Realistic painting of Bell peppers on white background

Also, please, have a look at my art collections: Art collections by Inese Poga

All online show pieces will be listed soon, currently acrylic art page is still getting done:

Special art offers

Original watercolor paintings for sale

More acrylic paintings will be added: Shop original acrylic paintings

Thanks for reading!

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Isolation or not, life goes on, art gets created

How to paint apple blossoms in watercolor

Creativity drives life in isolation

I think I’ve seen thousands of articles by now where somebody says how bad they feel about isolation and how they have lost the sparkle of creativity and inspiration. Well, maybe they didn’t have any creative ideas already before the pandemic because as I see it, creativity keeps flowing and life goes on no matter what. Especially during isolation, we are more creative with everything, aren’t we? There is also so much advice what to do. Sometimes, I feel like everybody wants to give me some advice. The truth is our situations are so different that what works for that particular person, is often meaningless for me. We are all smart now, and we should be aware what works best for us. I personally prefer reading more about experiences.

Switching tasks

Generally speaking, I’ll do what I have intended anyway, or I won’t engage in what I believe is a pointless action. I don’t really need encouragement or push: when the time is right, everything will happen. I’ve been painting here and there, just as I always do. The weather has turned very spring-like, therefore, I’ve been busy with garden works: digging soil, removing waste. I didn’t have the right mood to publish anything, – heavy physical work can be very tiring. My idea was to continue with the series I just started and share drawings, but I ended up working on a few watercolors which were started probably 4 or 5 years ago. I had reference drawings, but none of them seemed to be exactly of these paintings, therefore, I just worked from imagination.

Isolation art, apple blossoms
Watercolor painting of apple blossoms, I am trying to show the size in my studio corner.

Painting progress with steps

I found this painting with light washes on the background and just one watercolor paint layer on apple blossoms and buds. Normally, the first step means to transfer the drawing onto watercolor painting, adjust it and make sure there are no strong pencil lines. After that, we start adding watercolor paint as we see fit. I usually add the first layer of paint on areas with the potentially strongest values.

How to paint apple blossoms in watercolor
How to paint apple blossoms in watercolor
How to paint apple blossoms in watercolor
How to paint apple blossoms in watercolor

Supply shortages

The first months of spring season always feel like a new beginning, a fresh breath. Except this year, we are again in a complete lockdown in Ontario, just like the year before. That doesn’t affect what I do too much, but there is a shortage of supplies. When I was at the art store last time, shelves were very empty. My favorite brands were pretty much absent, that included colors which are used more frequently for acrylic painting: artist grade Titanium white, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Golden Ochre, Carmine Red, different shades of yellow were not available. I use preferably Lamp black, that wasn’t available either. I ordered paints online once and the waiting was 6 weeks, therefore, I’m not doing that again.

Apple blossoms, watercolor painting
This is the ready watercolor painting of apple blossoms. Its size is 15.5 x 20.5 in or 39 x 51 cm I hope your device shows correct colors and contrast because they differ from device to device.

Accepted into spring art show “Roots of art”

I just received an email notification that my paintings have been accepted into a virtual annual art show. Before pandemic, this was a live, real, very busy and well-attended art show. The show is local and that fits me well. Since I hope more traffic will come toward my website, I’ll need to spend more hours updating everything. It’s a time-consuming task and requires attention, therefore, that is my priority for a while. Including portfolio would be difficult because of all media options I use and various subjects. There is so much art in each category! I have currently 3 pages which display my available art. Acrylic paintings need the quickest update, however.

Inese’s original watercolor paintings

Inese’s original acrylic paintings

Special featured art, originals

You are very welcome to check out and see the progress of these pages.

As always, have a look at greeting cards, puzzles, coffee mugs, notebooks and  art prints with numerous  framing options:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Thanks for reading, stopping by and leaving a comment if you have time! Have great springtime!

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Landscapes which live in my memory

Spring painting, spring creek

Places where I have spent most part of my life, do not stand out with spectacular landscapes. I don’t usually paint mountains, oceans, seaside or waves. I’ve seen them, but I have hard times recalling such views in detail which is necessary for creation of painting from memory. Many of these paintings were also started a long time ago just as a demo for my live art classes. That means, I’ve spent very limited time painting them during the class. My main focus was what students learned from each process and less an attempt to create a masterpiece.

Therefore, I had to change some parts, add finishing touches, increase strong values, add strong highlights, refine some details and mask out some other parts. These landscapes are views from my memory and imagination, they might or might not exist, but I usually want the subject to be recognizable without long explanations. I suppose, I’ve said it quite a few times that I’m not thrilled about small size, like 16 x 20 in or 41 x 51 cm paintings of complex views and detailed subject. For me personally, the most comfortable size for acrylic is approximately 30 x 24 in or 76 x 61 cm and for watercolor: full sheet which is most often 30 x 22 in or 76 x 56 cm. Such size allows implementing aspects which are very important in painting: decent values, decent size subject, powerful color switches and a few outstanding details.

Acrylic painting, country barn with daffodils
Country barn with daffodils is an acrylic painting on 20 x 16 or 51 x 41 cm canvas

The current trend of displaying paintings in clusters is a great one. Even when painting is large, it takes a lot of design skill to make it rather become a part of space than dominate it or disappear in it. Clusters of paintings suit any taste and allow using paintings of small and medium size, too. They do change the mood in room, they can take you to any season or make feel happier in your space. I am not allowed to hang much on walls in my rented space. We tried strips and some of bigger paintings fell down. I didn’t even attempt hanging the huge and large watercolor paintings that way.

Spring creek, acrylic painting
Spring at creek, acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm canvas

The history and story behind these paintings is the same, but some are pretty much painted from new. You can do that in acrylic, no problem. In fact, I think acrylic looks better with numerous layers, – the more, the better. Colors become intense and also change in different light settings, the most dramatic parts become textured and that looks really adorable. These paintings have taken weeks to accomplish letting dry between layers. I know how little of that is visible in an online image, but the presence is still there.

Acrylic painting, spring creek
Along the spring creek is a multilayer acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm canvas
Painting spring in acrylic
I use fairly limited number of paints, black, white, burnt umber, warm and cold yellow and blue

Since I spent 46 years in Latvia and it’s not even twenty in Canada yet, the subject of my painted landscapes is associated most often with Latvian countryside, Latvian country roads, gardens and plants, as well as with nature in Latvia. The area around Ajax where I live now is similar, but I would never paint the local box-like boring buildings which really offend one’s esthetic principles. That’s why we have imagination and can travel back in memories to any season, any place and any emotion that provoked.

Acrylic painting techniques, creating a book
The image contains painting detail and some color reference for along the spring creek painting

Other than that, I’m finally working on compiling a book of acrylic painting techniques for landscapes, still life and floral art. It is a slow process, and it probably will take numerous hours for creating more pictures, describing tools and efficient process steps, as well as basic principles of painting in any medium since most of them are the same. Creating art should never be struggle, that’s why I will also keep teaching live art classes when we reopen. That might be in July, or August, or September.

Thanks for reading, enjoy!

My art store is not coming along swiftly as I hoped, so for prints, please, go to Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory

Pen and watercolor nature paintings by Inese Poga

Sketching and drawing boosts brain flexibility

If you draw manually, you don’t need to purchase any brain flexibility and memory boosting supplements and medications. Manual drawing as an activity is far more superior to writing, reading, solving crosswords or simply memorizing words. Lots of research has been done in this area to date, and it’s important to point people in this direction, but I didn’t need any research to be sure about how much manual drawing increases memory, focus, decision making and any type of activity where engagement of the brain is required.

Just get started

From the first days at school, I couldn’t help but notice how easy it was for me to recall and remember things without any effort. I had only excellent and the best grades in all school subjects from elementary school, to high school to University, especially in math, chemistry, history, biology, geography and foreign languages (Russian and German), although I spent very little time studying. I lived in a very different environment back then. We had no nursery schools, kindergartens or similar available in early 1960 in Soviet Latvia. Both parents worked, my grandmother was always busy, I was practically on my own. I started to draw very early. I was drawing anything which was around and since I didn’t have a special drawing paper I was using wrapping paper or any paper which had space for my potential drawing.

Practice is the mother of skill

During all school years, including high school, I drew every single day and read a book a day. We didn’t have internet, computers or even TV back then. Photos were taken on exceptional occasions, like wedding or big anniversary. My drawing was always based on my own visual perception and ability to recreate what I saw. Nobody ever taught me or explained how to draw, but I experienced almost daily discoveries in recreating volume, dimension, getting good shadows and so forth. I studied available books going systematically through art history from ancient Egyptians to French impressionists, to Russian and West European classic art and Latvian artists. I illustrated every single book I read. I drew death masks of Egyptian princesses, Nefertiti’s head, Roman citizens, renaissance buildings, book characters. Nobody paints in my family  and never did, so, it was a complete self-development.

I was right

After I started teaching, I noticed very quickly that my German language groups which also did drawing course with me, succeeded much faster than the others in languages also. Later in life, I paid special attention to how well somebody’s memory was depending on whether they loved drawing or not. When internet became available, I could see that my guess was 100% correct. Other people had also noticed the mental and memory advantages which were apparent in people who loved drawing just about anything.

Research backs me up

Research has proven the superiority of manual drawing over other similar activities. You can check out Canadian University of Waterloo research pages which show why manual drawing works so well in boosting memory. Nowadays, people do not have to write or draw a lot because devices can do all of that. It works best when you do not focus on the result, but on the drawing process. Research also finds that improvement of brain activity and brain cell longevity does not depend on quality of drawing. It’s the process and the way we handle the image mentally and recreate it using vision and manual drawing. Even when you’d describe the drawing as bad or poor, it still has done so much good for the brain. Result matters if you are entering an art competition, but it doesn’t if you are doing exercises for the brain and your memory.

No need for perfection

People also want everything to be perfect nowadays, and to get that result immediately, therefore, they’d trace or project photos, print off outlines or the entire image and so forth. Well, that is the part of drawing which won’t give the necessary boost to the brain because, like I mentioned before, the key is the image processing and active recreation of it. You will still learn new things, and that is always advantageous, but to a lesser level.

Engage in manual drawing, develop a habit

I had to write this because I’m seeing how many ads ask you to purchase all kinds of supplements, medications and use treatments to improve memory and brain flexibility. Why not to enjoy a wonderful meditation-like state of mind and achieve a great memory naturally? Drawing also doesn’t require many art supplies, just decent paper and sharp pencil. Try using no eraser and that will allow you advancing much faster. Once somebody has gotten started with drawing, they’ll soon feel that it turns into habit, as you might know developing a habit takes approximately 90 days. You will get blocks of drawing paper, possibly a sketchbook and carry them around wherever you go because it is simply fantastic.

My new art classes

Please, enjoy the beautiful watercolor wash and black pen line art. I decided to share the overview since pen and watercolor art will be the subject of my first online downloadable art instruction classes.

Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory
Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory
Watercolor and pen drawings by Inese Poga
Pen and watercolor nature paintings by Inese Poga
Pen and watercolor nature paintings by Inese Poga
Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory
Pen and watercolor paintings by Inese Poga

Drawing and sketching with pen and watercolor wash is an excellent way to familiarize with painting techniques, color mixing, composition and watercolor as such.

For my art prints, please check out FAA:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Have a wonderful weekend!

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The golden view of early fall

Acrylic paintings by Inese Poga

August is here, and it’s about time to create some fall landscape and treescape. The colors are not here yet, but they’ll be everywhere before we know. Just as I wrote before, I get tired of green and I need something completely different. This post shows my most recent acrylic painting ” Golden view of early fall” on lots of textures in the background, or underneath the multiple layers of paint.

I started creating very textured paintings many years ago. Before modeling paste was available, I used plaster and plaster cloth, then cured it and, thus, got amazing textures. It’s hard to say which one is easier to use. Plaster takes more layers of primer before paint application, but modeling paste sometimes dries too quick. Nowadays, textured art is common, but it wasn’t when I started creating it some 15 years ago.

I asked my husband to take a few pictures with me working on this painting in order to present the size of it. Everything I post just as a cropped image of painting alone doesn’t allow seeing it in space and with dimensions. For a textured art and in order textures were more or less visible on a photo, it is important to get some angled views.

Artist Inese Poga painting The Golden view of realy fall

Just adding more layers to Golden eternity painting. The perspective of iPhone is quite terrible, but one can see the size at least

Painting The Golden View of early fall

Golden eternity painting on the easel. It took me about 3 weeks to get it painted going over layer by layer and so for many times.

Textures and color
Textures and color

Textures and color, close-up and I hope you can see how textures push through the paint layers

Autumn trees and creek, large acrylic painting of autumn trees on textured background

The “Golden eternity” is 81 x 66 cm or 32 x 28 inches in size.

Textured paintings are very special, especially when you can see them in person. Colors slightly change with different light conditions. I usually have to ask not to touch such paintings. Well, they draw attention of a viewer and it’s hard to resist not to trace the visible lines of textured trees and leaves.

Have a great August and fun enjoying nature! Nature is an endless source of the best things on our Earth.

Shop original acrylic paintings

Purchase art prints here:

Art collections by Inese Poga