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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I always paint around edges of canvas, thus, extending the image. This allows using painting without a frame.
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!
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.
Magnolia, pansy Purple variety apples. and trillium and the fantastic purple pansy.
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.
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.
We can learn painting and create better art using many tools and sources nowadays. Internet is huge and numerous sites offer tutorials, art classes and online and live workshops. I would like to share a few observations which stood out after talking to students and seeing how they learn. I’m convinced also that successful painting is a combination of many aspects. The other notable matter is that anything we want to be of high quality and value takes time, efforts and practice, and there is no other way to master a skill. I have listed below assumptions and factors which do not result in good art.
Copying colors and image will do it
Lots of people use color charts or try to recreate the exact colors of a photo. With current numerous brands and very wide range in art supply quality, the most important part is not what the photo has, but what works for your painting. Photography has different tools to create impressive image. Drawing, watercolor, pastel, acrylic and oil painting use completely different tools. Only copying colors and image won’t result in great art because that is the input of artist which makes art great. Outline drawing is important, but artist makes it alive with the use of artistic tools and paints.
Using exactly the same colors and drawing will create the same image
Using exactly the same colors and drawing won’t result in the same painting because it is usually not possible to repeat original artwork even by the artist who painted it. Ambient temperature, flow of paint, sloppy or targeted brushstroke, light conditions, air humidity in room or outdoors, inspiration, mood of artist, surge of energy or tiredness are all significant factors. It’s also not important what colors somebody else used because the differences between the same name colors can be huge with different brands. Therefore, the most important part is to test what you have and to see what your paints can do.
Color is secondary, value is primary or otherwise black and white paintings or monochromatic paintings would not make sense. They do, so, value is the aspect that provides image and subject with volume and dimension. If in doubt, you can always create a tonal or value sketch. I do that for complex paintings in watercolor going large scale or exactly the same size what my painting is.
I can paint knowing nothing about color mixing and paint features
You can paint knowing nothing about color mixing and paint features. Most likely, it will take time and many experiments to get to where you want to be. Eventually, you will arrive at all creation-related discoveries, it just might be a time-consuming process. I am talking about years, not hours. Simply, there will be good, mediocre or not satisfying result at first. Initially, all good results come from happy painting accidents, and we get what we get as opposed to what we intend to.
I will learn painting just watching others paint
No, that is not true. Art instructors or people, who demonstrate painting, know what they are doing or at least they should. Quite frequently people, who watch it, have no idea what, where and why is applied. The personal features and ability to apply paint and correct color matter, too. If the art is somewhat realistic, it is very important to be able to draw. We sketch with brush at first, and then we follow with brushstrokes to create volume, shadows, negative spaces and so on. If you can draw, you know better where to apply paint.
What, where and why
In the painting process, we have to answer these questions at any point of painting process. It is very useful to know why you are doing something. Why do you want the background dark or light? Why do you want to place some accent in the middle or in front? Why do you want distant parts cool and the front part warm? Why do you want to use black, purple or blue for grey color? Why do you paint the focal point in the most striking color? And so on. All of these answers impact your painting, later series of paintings, and they eventually create your style.
Paint night or sipping and painting
Many believe that paint night or sipping and painting will teach how to paint. These are entertaining events with a brush and paint, not art classes. The goal of such events isn’t teaching you composition, color theory, values or brush stroke. The goal is to entertain and painting is just an addition to mood, drink or food. I have mentioned many times before how important focus and decision making is for creation of art. Paint night or sipping and painting do not contain the most important learning aspects, such as reasoning, decision making or using your personalized approach.
Everything is art
Everything isn’t art and it shouldn’t be. While many people might refer to a canvas covered with some paint as art, it isn’t always art. You can hang it on the wall and it becomes wall filler. However, you can also look at it after it has dried and canvas fabric has become visible (too less paint coverage!) and try to create something decent on top of it. I wrote in my previous article that calling framed wallpaper art does not make it art. It is a decorative piece, just as an empty frame is.
Aimless splashing with paint
The reality of nowadays is such that we want everything right away, right this moment and even better yet, without much or any effort. Art has never been just brushing around or aimlessly splashing with paint. Art always involves thinking, concept, idea and the execution thereof with adequate artistic tools. Aimless splashing and brushing of paint results in nothing really. One uses a lot of paint and time with no result. I have seen over years people, who picked up art effortlessly, and I have also seen people, who had to spend years to learn. An art class is no different from a regular school class: some students learn fast, some are perfectionists, some are free-spirited, some are not that interested and some simply do not focus or pay attention.
Perfectionism and perfect skill
Perfectionism is disturbing and limiting when it comes to learning. Why? It is disturbing since there is no such thing as a perfect attempt, a perfect error or a perfect search for a new technique and skill. Perfectionism is the opposite of artistic freedom and it has nothing to do with the quality of result in learning process. I hear this often: I am a perfectionist. That is fine, but it does not apply to learning new things. One cannot be perfect with what they cannot do or do not know. Developing perfect skills is more like it, but perfect skill is a result while learning is a process. Learning process involves making errors and being mistaken. Learning process involves searching for the best or most suitable solution in the current situation.
Preparing my solo show
I am working on preparation of my solo art show next month. It opens on February 13. I just finished a few watercolor paintings which I started for November and December classes. Pink color is not a coincidence. It is a very attractive, soothing color which has also big impact and is gentle at the same time. Less people attend shows or art events nowadays since everything is on the internet. I would like to still emphasize that nothing compares to seeing art in person. There are so many devices between the real painting and its image on the internet! Any of these devices totally change the look of painting, so some things get lost along the way. Anyway, enjoy the new paintings!
The elegant pink rose, watercolor on 20 x 16 inches or 51 x 41 cm watercolor paper, the white background enhances the softness and attraction of color in the rose flower
Pink winter orchids,, watercolor on paper, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm
Magnolia blooms on white, watercolor, 18 x 14 inches or 46 x 36 cm
Copyright notice: Copyright of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. Use of painting and drawing images is prohibited on any website or otherwise if I have not issued a written permission. No pinning on Pinterest!
There is never too much beauty. There is never too much art. I’ve been to many houses and seen many designer home improvement ideas. A home without art on its walls looks somewhat deserted and empty. That applies even to classy furnished homes. One can have very basic furniture, a few textiles, a few great plants and lots of art and the whole space will look gorgeous.
When I was moving recently and had to take off walls all numerous paintings in the gallery, I could see that many paintings on a wall make the space look much larger. I was convinced about the opposite before.
Crowded versus minimalist
Many paintings do not create a crowded look if they are chosen carefully and art is tasteful and these are originals, not prints. Prints actually add feeling of cheapness to any space which is ok for an office, but not that much for a living space. However, it always depends. Even minimalist spaces look much warmer and much more livable by adding a matching and suitable art.
Flower paintings
Flower paintings are such an enhancement anywhere. Depending on style, floral art can add luxurious and elegant feel or very rustic and homey feel.
Floral art might add more feminine feel to a space that just does not make us feel cozy and well-taken care of.
Why not to create on your own?
Therefore, I would suggest: paint, create or buy beautiful original floral art. Once we have a few tubes of paint and some frames and paper or canvasses, we can create quite a few paintings. The added bonus will be your energy which goes into art and makes your space shine.
Energy of art in our space
Energy in our space is matters. While print will decorate the wall, it will have hardly any energy which circulates around that room. Energy of a printer and paint? That is why we have to choose carefully inherited or antique pieces of art. They come with their energy. We have to make sure this energy is not going to harm us. If we want to have not much impact on our personality, we can choose neutral art or art which displays nice and clam scenes. Floral paintings are definitely carrying good energy and they also have a nice appeal.
Choose beauty
It is as simple as that: there is never too much beauty and coziness!
Large floral painting classes start soon. Sign up from the website.
Original paintings are available for shipping or for purchase in person.
Choose beauty and coziness, especially in the cold season.
Copyright notice: Copyrights of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. Please, do not use painting and drawing images unless I have given you a written permission. That includes no pinning on Pinterest.
