Floral art Archives - Page 2 of 6

April 23, 2021August 3, 2024

Life as art, creation as lifestyle, part 2

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.

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!

January 8, 2021October 17, 2024

Good addition to my watercolor flower collection

Watercolor flower collection, flower paintings

My watercolor flower collection grew noticeably

Previous year, while it was not good in many health- and business-related aspects, was a very good year for creating art. I added to my watercolor flower collection quite many paintings. I cannot share all in just one post. I also painted quite a few watercolor roses and still life art. Some of these painting have been published in previous posts, and some I will publish when time is right. I have a habit of painting flowers and spring landscapes from January to approximately end of May. Then, I move to still life, and I get to fall paintings in July and August. Painting flowers and spring in winter is a good habit because it shortens cold and chilly winter days during the dark months.

Addition to my watercolor flower collection: white trillium blossoms on dark background

Missing giving art classes

I was missing the live art classes and interaction with my students. While everything is available online, I think live art classes are the most beneficial. Just ask school kids and teachers, -everybody will tell you that serious and decent learning happens only in person. Art is an easy subject to put online, but there are very many things which you need to touch, to see close-up, to check with your own eyes. I don’t want to make large investments in equipment at the moment, but that’s what I would need to teach online. Space is one more issue. It might be so that I like the live classes too much.

These are spring flower watercolor paintings, fantastic addition to my watercolor flower collection! Magnolia, trillium, wild anemone and daffodils

Daffodils are a fantastic subject for spring flower painting. This is the close-up version.

Not abstract, not photo-realism

Very many artists paint abstracts nowadays, really many. Therefore, I’m glad I’m doing something different. Sometimes I’ve told, I should make my art more realistic, but I don’t intend to. I’m mostly painting what I can see. What I can see is not what camera captures and one can enlarge until every ant on a grass stem is visible. It’s just my opinion, but I don’t want to go into tiny photographic detail and use computer. My art is done by simply using sketch or real flower, or real still life as reference most often. As you know, I can draw anything and do it fast. I would sometimes add a little bit of extras from imagination, like water drops on pansy. So, it’s my own realism with touch of imagination.

Watercolor paintings, fmagnolia painting, pansy painting

Magnolia, pansy Purple variety apples. and trillium and the fantastic purple pansy.

Watercolor painting, purple pansy watercolor

Personalized use of color

White is a good background for flowers, and dark background colors make white flowers pop. I personally do not like black with watercolor, that suits oils or acrylic more, I believe, and makes watercolor too heavy, but that’s just my personal preference. When I was very young and at school, my art teacher told I should never use black watercolor paint. I have followed her advice. I never use black watercolor paint. I took one more advice to never premix watercolor paint, but add color as I go and use it as I see fit. I actually do the same with acrylic: I use paint without previously mixing it, unless it’s for extra-large area or under-painting.

Watercolor painting, pansy, trillium and petunia painting

Decided to leave my website as is

I spent about 3 or even more previous weeks trying to figure out how I could change my website. I tried different things, considered new themes and tested them, asked advice from very well-established artists, who have excellent online presence and whom I know personally. They all told their websites were done by web designers or specifically created for their needs. Most of them have also social media and online representation specialists, video editors and filming teams, etc. Therefore, I decided to leave my website as is. I’m the only one for every single task and I’m doing anything that comes my way. However, I cannot spend all time just editing social media posts and website. I want to paint, draw and create also. Therefore, I prioritized creativity over online perfection. That’s just what works for me right now. I hope you like my flower collection and it inspires you to create flower paintings, too.

Stay safe, healthy and thanks for reading!

Original watercolor paintings for sale

July 29, 2020October 16, 2024

Summer poetry in colors and lines

The poetic medium – watercolor

Watercolor is a very poetic medium. That’s not only because of its flow and easy transition of colors, it is also because nothing else captures our mood, idea, concept or scene as impressive and as fast as watercolor does. Managing classic watercolor painting takes mastery. We can apply it very abstractly allowing water and pigment to create the initial shapes and values, or we can use watercolor in many layers making it opaque and creating strong dimension and volume.

World watercolor month

World watercolor month is getting close to its end. I usually do not devote or create specific paintings during July, but keep using it as I normally would since it is one of my preferred mediums. I like applying watercolor in many different ways: from very abstract to very detailed and from almost animated to very realistic. Our painting style is usually a summary of our personal objectives and intentions. Generally, I do not aim for a very lifelike look, but rather impression my artwork makes. I participate in shows and exhibitions and I want my art to be visible and standing out among hundreds of other paintings. It quite often does thanks to style, colors and large size.

Good energy

Please enjoy the gallery, and you might like to purchase some art or art print which comes in numerous options for frames, mats and printing surfaces. Print is not original, but in specific spaces it definitely serves the purpose: it gives a space complete look and never stops inspiring and being beautiful. There is never too much beauty in our surroundings. Good art is valuable because of energy it sends out. Energy presence is almost touchable in my art.

African violet, watercolor, 20 x 14 in or 51 x 36 cm

I used to have numerous African violet plants. A few survived, and these are the ones I have been painting.

Garden roses on fence were painted in winter of 2019.

Probably the saddest time ever. since my mom passed away in February. All paintings of this time are so uplifting, light and cheerful. For balance.

Purple pansies, 20 x 14 in or 51 x 36 cm

Pansies belong to my favorite painting models. Purple fits them well because of all variations. Purple pansies are somewhat abstracted and painted using watercolor wash and a few strong edges.

The summer still life paintings have been in creation for a long time. I started them probably in 2016, but they got their finishing touches only now. They both have very vibrant colors, just as summer vegetables do, and everything which has great shape worth capturing, suits my still life well. Enjoy!

Summer still life, 20.5 x 16 in or 52 x 41 cm and Kitchen still life, 18 x 24 in or 46 x 61 cm, both watercolor

Please, visit my Fine Art America site for all kinds of artistic products:

Art collections by Inese Poga

July 5, 2020October 17, 2024

Pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps

Morning pansy, pansy watercolor painting

Summer flowers

When else to use live flowers as a model if not in summer when everything is in full bloom and getting more beautiful by hour? Although, we’ve been hit by a heat wave, there’s plenty to paint outdoors and indoors. I won’t write a long text this time because pictures will display the painting steps I use and also probably inspire somebody to get a brush, pencil and watercolor paper. There you have it: I’m presenting pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps.

Petunias

Petunias are usually in every garden. The pink and purple petunia painting is more abstract. I do usually create a drawing on a separate paper for reference and not to damage the watercolor paper with erasing anything. I transfer my drawing onto watercolor paper using daylight on a glass door and how it perfectly shines through even thick watercolor paper.

Summer flowers, watercolor painting steps

Watercolor paper

Watercolor paper is one of the most important aspects of watercolor painting. I started Bright petunias believing that I was using Arches watercolor paper. After a while, I realized it didn’t work like Arches. If you have painting experience, you know that Arches facilitates beautiful washes and easy flow of paint. It is possible to lift paint also. I discovered that this sheet came from leftover Saunders-Waterford paper. Some 10 years ago, it used to be a good paper, but it gradually became worse and worse, and the last batch they sent me was so bad, that I will simply never buy any Saunders-Waterford paper again.

Washes with big brushes

I always start with basic washes which I am applying to wet paper. Any cotton paper needs to be wet in areas which you intend to work on, except for fine details which we add at the end. Then I gradually build the shadows and shapes using multiple layers of paint. My pictures show how unsuitable the paper actually is. The only plus is it doesn’t buckle; therefore, I don’t have to tape it down as with cheap watercolor papers.

Paints and brush

I always use round brush with fine tip, size 14. I always use large brushes as long as possible for they hold a lot of water and pigment, yet allow getting extra fine edges and lines, too. I switch to number 6 round brush with fine tip only at the end when I need some tiny elements painted. I always use St. Petersburg original and authentic watercolor paints. I’ve never had better paints so far and I have tried very many. I’d give the second place Da Vinci paints, but they don’t sell them any longer at my art store. St. Petersburg paints have all the best qualities of watercolor paint thanks to the manufacturing process and raw materials.

Bright petunias

The result could be smoother, but for an abstracted painting, it works. I use colors intuitively and carelessly actually and lots of water. For color testing, I am making use of extra sheet of cheaper watercolor paper because it shows the exact color I will have.

Morning pansy

For Morning pansy, I followed exactly the same steps. I’m creating drawing, transferring drawing to paper, making paper wet around the central flowers, starting with applying paint around the main part and allowing it to dry before I move on and start putting paint on flower. Then, I create leaves. The entire painting requires going over and over some parts. At the end I’m adding water drops. In the base of every single painting are the same principles: want impact, create values. Color to me is always secondary and I use that color which I prefer at the moment.

Result

Morning pansy, watercolor painting by Inese Poga — While I didn’t try to paint reality since I never do, colors and shapes work extremely well in this painting.

Inspiration

I think that could inspire you to paint your own summer flowers, but I will sell later drawing templates on this website. My art is always based on drawings and I like it that way. Such art reveals progress and refinement of my personal style. I’ve done abstract watercolors, too, but they seem to be way too simple and never a real challenge. I love tricky things and exploration of effects and somewhat realistic art allows me doing that.

Note: Please, respect my copyrights, and since these particular painting steps are not intended for copying, use your own drawing, but apply process and advice.

Art prints, all my paintings which I have uploaded to Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

June 10, 2020October 17, 2024

Living with flowers, painting flowers, staying stress-free

Living among flowers

Somebody commented on my Facebook page that I live among flowers, grow flowers and paint them also. It’s a very floral life, indeed. While I do paint many other subjects also, flowers were always big part of live art classes and some solo exhibitions, as well. This post has very many pictures, enjoy!

Variety and choice

There is extreme variety of any kind of flowers, and they are available as a model all year round. They come in all possible colors and shades and shapes. They are of different sizes and allow for creating any type of art: from completely abstract, modern, to traditional, classic, botanical and photorealistic. The choice is endless. I’m always enjoying this subject and have drawn and painted many hundreds of flowers. I would not know the exact number, there are so many of such paintings.

Trying to be relaxed

I’m using this time period of COVID-19 pandemic as a vacation from many duties which I otherwise would have. It can feel sometimes lonely or not right, and I won’t have my annual trip to Europe to meet my closest family this year. However, I take things the easy and relaxed way: there is no point in rushing out and catching some virus-related problems or going mad about things which we didn’t ask for.

Paint flowers, stay stress-free, acrylic flower paintings of tulips, magnolia, rose and poppies

Upcoming changes

I am working on online materials, and I will definitely update the sale pages. For me personally, the toughest issue is to choose some plugin or sale app which suits me best. I have spent a few weeks already doing just that. I definitely don’t want to turn my website in a store, and I don’t want people to feel that the only way to enjoy art is by purchasing it. On the other hand, it’s been months since the last art sale and the last live art class which ensured a tiny, but nice income.

Beauty of floral paintings, sunflower, magnolia, rose, poppy painting

5 floral paintings

This post includes many flowers: I finished the sunflower, poppy and tulip paintings. The rose and magnolia were done a while ago, in March, I believe. iPhone 11 Max Pro is the best so far which I have had from smartphones. Still, the contrast is very strong, and it tends to turn any image bluer. For every post, like this one, I take about 100 to 300 pictures. Then I resize, straighten and crop them, add watermark the most suitable ones, and that takes me about 3 days in average. I would like to post more often, but I also don’t want the pictures and articles to be sloppy and esthetically unacceptable. I’m old school in that regard. I hate half-done unconvincing things and that goes for art also.

Conceptual no-skill art

By nowadays standards, everybody can be and is an artist. In fact, the newest contemporary art means, the best of it is created without any skill, without knowing anything about technique, drawing, painting or medium. One can use anything. Your kid or even your dog could create it, and it would possibly sell at more than $1,000 if you know how to market it. It can be 2 spots of some paint or even 2 pen lines, or a few words that are scribbled on some surface, anything goes as long as you can attach a concept for which it is best to be familiar with writing to invent the concept. Don’t believe me? Check out Artsy.

Enjoy the art

3 of these flower paintings are semi-realistic: poppies, sunflower and rose, and traditionally realistic: magnolia and tulips. I grouped them together because of their size and canvas shape which is square for 4 paintings. Only sunflower painting is vertical, but one dimension is the same: 12 inches or 30.5 cm. For North American population, that means the size is a square foot. I always paint around edge because that way the sides become continuation of painting, and it looks great without a frame.

New floral art by Inese Poga, poppy painting

I’d be happy to sell some of floral paintings, you’ll find them soon on art sale pages. It will take more work, however, and I haven’t uploaded them even onto print sale sites yet. They are coming soon.

Category: Floral art

Life as art, creation as lifestyle, part 2

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Good addition to my watercolor flower collection

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Summer poetry in colors and lines

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Pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps

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Living with flowers, painting flowers, staying stress-free

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