Acrylic flower paintings in new settings – art never expires

Large flower paintings, art for sale

Flower paintings in acrylic

As an artist, we always have some favorite paintings. Some of them we don’t sell at all, and some we give as gifts to dear people. Since many of my previous posts were about watercolor, I’d love to post this time a few acrylic flower paintings. This post has quite a few images of painted pink and white flowers. Unfortunately, as we get older, there seems to be less time for anything. That refers to painting, posting, sharing and so on. Somebody told me that we feel this way since we spend more time on any task.

Flower paintings, pink and white paintings

Quality over quantity

I suppose with experience, both life and art, we value quality over quantity. Anybody who’s spent decades creating art, can reflect of the process of discovery. Discovering subject, discovering new color palette, discovering adorable things we didn’t like before, discovering new dimensions of the same old story. I love pure and clean colors, and pink color offers so many shades.

Flower paintings, rose painting

My paintings with past

As the time goes by so swiftly, I sort of regret not painting exactly what I prefer. That’s as opposed to subjects I teach in art classes. I’ve mentioned before that an artwork for juried show, artwork for quick sale, commissioned artwork and paintings which I create as demonstrations – they are all very different by nature. Time has been always a factor, but also my health problems. So, you have to be ok when you cannot do anything at all also. I didn’t paint these flower paintings yesterday, but hopefully got better images of them.

Art is more than copy of reality

My taste doesn’t comply with generally preferred art which we see online. That is sunsets, waves, backlit shapes, too sweet nature scenes, as well as very close copies of photos. I always believed art is more than copy of reality. The latter anybody can manage with enough patience, tools and devices. Not everybody can paint spontaneously or draw without any printouts or edited images.

Flower paintings, pink magnolia

Relation to reality

On the other hand, I love that my paintings display things which are recognizable. People frequently tell me; they know that or this place in my painting. Well, such place doesn’t exist, but apparently the painting relates to somebody’s experience. Sometimes, the viewer can feel fragrance of flower. That’s why I avoid painting completely abstract art, but I still have a lot of abstracted paintings, especially, the extra textured ones. Also, my backgrounds are not definite.

Amaryllis, flower paintings

Everything is art, but I disagree

While all artistic genres – music, singing, acting, writing, poetry – have moved on and aimed for higher goals and more mastery, internet has facilitated degradation of classic art. If you want to see what’s for sale and what’s taught on some skill-sharing sites, just google any term. It can be quite awful and total beginners art. I remember how my students 10 and more years ago were so self-critical. Nowadays, that’s a ready-for-sale art. I agree, it’s easier to hang an abstract on the wall, but it becomes a simple decoration, not always art. How long are you going to look at 2 lines or some big blob of one color?

Colorful, large flower paintings

Enjoy!

I always struggled with photos of my paintings because to my sharp artistic eye, the photos have never the exact colors and I usually have to crop off some crucial parts to make the image straight. Nevertheless, let me know if you like some flower or other painting. I don’t think original paintings have ever been so affordable. It’s been a while, and I wish everything was better, but enjoy! With better, I mean mostly the financial side. The creative side is fine, I never have any problem with that.

Rose painting, pansy painting, flower paintings for sale

Shop original acrylic paintings

Art collections by Inese Poga

Pure, transparent watercolor – rose geranium

Watercolor painting, pink geranium, floral watercolor

Geranium is a healing plant, my mom told me to have a geranium plant always at my workspace, window ledge or in living room. Its energy is simply uplifting, and it blocks out bad vibrations and cleans air. How can you not love the geranium blooms? I have two kinds of blooming geranium currently: the pink rose geranium and bright orange-red geranium; besides, the red is more present, altogether looking like one of my most favorite colors. Well, pink color is great for painting. It’s also easier to photograph than, for instance yellow or red.

I started this painting not only because I adore the fluffy, colorful blooms and well-shaped leaves of geranium plants, but also because I wanted to create support material for art classes. Most students who’d love to learn painting, cannot really draw. Therefore, they normally trace photos or print-outs. It must be tough, and, thanks to my early devotion to drawing, I can draw anything on the spot. I created outline drawing of a large bloom and added a few leaves. As it appears, the drawing paper (it was actually some kind of newsprint I think, large sheets) was a bit smaller than my watercolor paper.

My painting composition looked fine as outline sketch, but after a few first layers I could see that something is missing, so I got a reference leaf and drew it in the upper right part. I kept adding layers, and the flower which actually consists of numerous small blooms came more and more to life. Around layer 5 I think, I discovered that the bottom part needs something more, so I added half of a leaf and small corner of as if leaf.

While it is step 1, step 2 and so forth, each step took quite a few hours, and the entire painting – about 8 full days. I hadn’t counted on all parts requiring so many layers. The paper isn’t Arches again, it is Strathmore 400 series which comes in this size I like 24 x 18 inches (61 x 46 cm) and which I had available. You cannot create very attractive washes on this paper, therefore, I intentionally left the background white. Certainly, if you want washes in your painting, you have to use cotton paper. There is no comparison how wash looks on Strathmore paper which is still very thick and firm, and on Arches which is at least 140 lb.

I do most parts of painting with my number 14 brush. I’m so happy it has still the fine tip, but it has started to wear down. Well, I have 3 of the same brushes, and two are useable. Not only it is faster, it is a lot easier, too, to cover an area with paint and add some other color to it. I do not like a few things with watercolor – using masking fluid and using very dark colors. I never use black in watercolor. For that case, there’s Payne’s grey, we can use Sepia, purple, indigo and so on. That allows creating gradual transparent color which looks almost black, but shaded black.

I love the transparency of watercolor, and I do aim for flowing lines, as well as colors which do not hurt, but have a soothing quality. I didn’t have Opera pink color which is extra bright and can be used for such flower paintings, I simply couldn’t find it, therefore, I used what I had, many shades of dark red and Carmine, plus some purple and blue, although, it isn’t well visible on photos.

It’s beauty which always touches me, the elegant shape of leaves, the fragile softness of petals. If you paint, add some heart onto your painting. Don’t worry always about the technical aspects and perfection. Having heart in art is already enough and that feature makes it shine and stand out among others.

Pansies, click on image for article

Yellow pansies, watercolor

Garden rose, click on image for article

Painting rose in watercolor

Group art classes

Thanks for reading! I hope your September has started off on the right foot!

Summer garden for the soul

Painting rose in watercolor

Summer makes one a believer in better things ahead of us. The stage is set, nature unfolds all it has to offer. No doubt, we have to enjoy everything from short walks to distant trips, from simple garden chores to breathtaking adventures. My choices are not that many at the moment, but I make my garden a place where everything is as it should be in the real world: healthy, relaxing, soothing and rewarding.

I don’t mind having flowers between vegetables, roses next to zucchinis, green peas and marigolds friendly sharing their spot under the sun: they all make my place look more magic. I have to intentionally find time for painting because it’s always so much to do in the summer if you have a garden. July 1st is the first day of World watercolor month. I’m very sure I cannot get done a painting a day since my paintings usually take more like a week or two weeks each, but I will try to present more of my most recent watercolor paintings.

Value drawing for watercolor painting
Drawing for garden rose

The garden rose sort of asked to be painted. After rain, every bloom was covered with shiny water pearls and I cut a few small branches and took inside. As I was sitting there and looking at the well-defined and artistic shapes of petals, I started to draw what I saw. For watercolor painting, I actually would need only outlines, but pencil just kept moving and I got a value drawing on my transfer paper.

Drawing and watercolor painting of rose
I placed drawing and painting side by side

Next day, I transferred outline drawing onto watercolor paper which happened to be quite large in size: 24 x 18 inches, or 61 x 46 cm. If you have read my art blog, you probably know that whenever possible, I paint and draw large.

This painting organically developed itself while my model flower stayed fresh and lovely. It changed shape slightly, but for adjustment, I could use my drawing.

If you could ever see this watercolor painting of garden rose in person, you most likely would find that water drops feel like you can touch them and the size is such that the rose bloom literally takes one’s full attention not only with its colors, but also size and composition.

Watercolor, pink garden rose
My pretty garden rose with rain drops

As soon as get the second dose of vaccine and 2 weeks pass, I could restart the live art classes. However, for materials and demo paintings, I will create more garden paintings. Subjects are right here, and they are all kinds of! Summer days are long, but, nevertheless, they simply disappear. I can say my garden provides me with everything: models for my art, opportunity to recharge, colorful dreams and it also is a rewarding experience for my soul. Small place with everything which my universe consists of.

Watercolor, garden rose
Garden rose with rain drops, full size

For now, please, love, share and enjoy the pink garden rose painting! I wish you a happy and adventurous summer!!

For art prints, please, check out this page:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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.

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:

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

Seasons in art, seasons in life and nature

Acrylic painting, spring nature

Living by seasons

I live by seasons, and seasons make me do, want or pursue something specific just like people who lived thousand years ago. I live in expectations of spring during the winter months. I look at trees not that far away, just behind the window glass. Deep down the roots of a tree are alive, and the tree is just collecting and accumulating energy for the big blast of blossoms and buds when the time is right. It’s a very good time to keep refining my skills because we always must go forward. When we believe there is nothing more to learn, we stop moving ahead. The progress ends, and we become old. Who wants that? Nobody!

Acrylic painting, spring painting
White forest anemones is a square acrylic painting. This subject has been always very attractive to me.

Lovely green when it’s grey outside

Many artists are genuinely afraid of using green color because it makes painting look abusively green, because nobody likes green on their wall, it is a bad taste and because there are so many colors in the rainbow. Classy art is supposed to have lots of grey, earthy colors, blue shades and different white tones. No green, or at least green with purple neutralizing undertones, red or burnt sienna injections and aqua colors. When I got my first acrylic paints in 2007, I was very fond of them. I come from watercolor and pastel drawing, and I loved the extremely beneficial opportunity to effortlessly create volume with acrylic paints.

My personalized realism

Ever since that first time I got to use acrylic paints, I’ve been extremely happy that I can create anything which looks exactly as I like. People sometimes want to squeeze me in all kinds of categories, and none of them actually fits. I don’t paint realism if we think realism as art genre. The reason for that is I rarely use photographic reference as the base for my painting.  I check out parts of my nature views, but I usually have a certain color palette in my mind and I can picture it on the blank canvas. That takes me somewhere, to an imagined landscape or still life components which I visualize. Tackling memorized and imagined views is more difficult than tracing and copying a photo. However, I frequently receive comments in art groups how people can place themselves in my paintings, how they can recall some particular site or place, or feel they are surrounded by my painting.

Acrylic painting, forest anemones
Spring, forest anemones. This picture was taken with my old Canon camera, and it displays great colors.

Adjusting process

My painting process is simply longer. I go over some areas many times, and I try to achieve exactly what I feel should be there. The difference is, when repainting a photo, you know where what is. I don’t know that because I improvise. I’m usually happy with the result. Then there is picture taking. You have painted a great acrylic or watercolor, you take pictures in different settings with all kinds of backgrounds. Then, you download these hundreds of pictures and it can happen so that not even one is exactly as painting. We can edit pictures, sure, but the changes are global. If the device has added more strong contrast in dark areas and lightened more the light areas, there are just more abnormalities after such editing. Somebody said on their blog (I don’t think they were artist; they just teach artists) that pictures always look better than paintings and that is just not true. I have the opposite experience: paintings look better.

Acrylic painting, spring nature
Spring is very inspirational subject. I chose for these current paintings white forest anemones at tree trunk and along a creek.

Playing on emotions

So, here you have it: I don’t paint reality except for watercolor still life and some watercolor floral paintings. It isn’t abstract art also because I like my subject to be recognizable, yet, I introduce abstract areas in any painting a lot. I love color and art to impress, but it isn’t impressionism. I love precision of a few details and let go undefined other parts. I stop painting when there is nothing more to say because my art isn’t a demo of technicalities. I always want it to work on the emotional level. Therefore, I cannot say what color I have used on any part, but I can name a few colors which started the painting. I mix these few colors in all possible ways and that unites the painting in one organic bundle. Harmony and balance matter to me a lot, and I do everything in order the view had flowing lines and smooth color transitions.

Spring creek, acrylic painting

Artistic spring starts in January

Continuing my long-time tradition, I always paint spring and flowers in winter. These images were supposed to be presented in two posts, but I run out of time, and it’s one post now. I decided to show steps and reveal small painting secrets in PDFs for download. They will come, I’m just a bit too busy at the moment.

Healing art

Creativity and necessity to create something new never stop, never go away or cease. 3 things stronger than pain for my own conditions have been drawing and painting, taking care of garden, plants and room plants, as well as reading. It’s been a year we have been struggling with COVID-19, and we have the second complete lockdown here in Ontario. I don’t feel like painting masks on faces or injection needles. There’s already too much of that. The main healer for me is creating something at my own pace. Stay safe! Thanks for reading!

Art prints are available here: Many choices of my paintings