Illustration or sketch: one, two, three: ready!

Barn illustration, art classes

Illustration or sketch of building

Illustration or sketch can be simplified in order to get it done outdoors or to complete indoors because sometimes the weather can be quite bothersome and not cooperating with our intentions. I would love to share some observations because they might inspire somebody to just get a pencil, a brush and paper and go ahead.

Do we need rules in art?

It might sound strange, but most people believe there are many strict rules when we draw or paint. Maybe the instruction on some sites makes one feel that if you do not follow these rules you cannot paint or draw. That is not true.  While there are lots of tricks, shortcuts and favorite ways to get things done faster and better, one should not try to stick to something which we call strict rules. Not with creativity. Not in art.

Learn freedom from children

That would mean the small kid who does not have an idea of rules and instructions should not be able to draw. But the small kid is able to draw. Every kid is able to draw and paint. As people grow up they find out that life wants us to comply with requirements, regulations, rules and certain instructions. It’s no surprise they want to apply rules to everything what we do. I know artists who would call every step of drawing or painting a rule.

No rules, but observe principles

I would love to encourage these who want to try art, to just go with their intention. I hear quite frequently: I don’t know anything about painting or drawing. Well, you don’t have to. You just have to start trusting your eyes and trying to draw or paint whatever you intend to. We discover all main principles of art along the way. These principles are composition, color theory and mixing, values, contrast, direction of light, shadows and perspective.

What to use for watercolor sketching?

You can use for sketching everything you can afford or like. If you do not know whether you will continue or not, why would you buy watercolor brush at $75? We always use the largest watercolor brush that still allows achieving what we want. It’s pretty much common sense. You could live with just one number 10 synthetic, soft watercolor brush if it has a good fine tip. 20-brush sets from Dollarama won’t do anything, don’t go for these.

Decent watercolor paper

If you are applying wet paint on your sketch, traditional sketching paper won’t allow that. It is too thin. That’s pretty much common sense, as well. It could tolerate dry pencil or some pen, but not washes, especially repeated washes or paint lifting. I would advise to always use watercolor paper for drawing, sketch, illustration, practice, color or flow practice because it is thicker and can be made wet. If you are a beginner, you can use just beginner’s watercolor paint set.

You can do illustration or sketch any way you like

If you are afraid to draw right away with pen, do the initial drawing in pencil and go over with pen afterwards. Keep the best lines and erase everything else, and there you have a nice, clean, attractive drawing. Why to use pen? It is simply easier. Pen makes the outline clearly visible, the entire image looks finished and elaborated even when the drawing is far from perfect, but watercolor washes will bring your artistic attempt to life.

There is no wrong or right way to sketch, to draw or to paint

All artists develop their own style over time. Should you expect the first attempts to be perfect? No, don’t do that. Always tell yourself: let us see what happens. Treat all of your first year’s art as practice, as experiment. Some will be god, some will fly into the wastebasket, and that is absolutely fine.

Artistic mistakes can be interesting

People call everything which did not come out perfect: a mistake. That does not always apply to art either. Some artistic mistakes and flaws can become the foundation of your personal style. Some experiments can set the tone for anything you do in the future. Therefore: experiment, experiment and experiment!

Use any style

Illustration or sketch can be carried out in any style you prefer. Illustration can be done easily. I am advising to use pen just for simplicity and speed. It really helps. I also love the accomplished look of such sketches which can be definitely used as completely finished art on the wall or for any other purpose.

A few steps

Barn illustration, step 1, pen drawing

First we draw with pencil the main lines. We draw lightly without using pressure. After that we repeat the best lines in pen.

Step 2, adding background color

Choose whatever colors you love and would want in your sketch. Activate with water. Test on testing paper how transparent the watered down mix is. Apply small amount of water onto the main image area. You can use spray bottle if it creates mist. Check against light: if the shine is about to disappear, that’s the best time for first washes.

Illustration is ready after adding more washes with less diluted paint

Adjust and correct

If you allow first layers to dry and then make your paper wet again, nothing will happen to the first dry layers. It is safe to go over with water. Don’t rub or scratch with the brush; that will definitely take off some paint. Corrections are done with paper towel when the painting is wet: pressing paper towel onto watercolor paper will take off most of wet paint. When paper is completely dry, apply washes and use damp brush or paper towel to lift color or remove paint. Repeat until you like it.

Large 18 x 24 in or 46 x 61 cm sketch, done in a few minutes for demo

Pen and paper

The thicker the watercolor paper, the more things you can do with it. Cheap watercolor paper is for tests and practice only. It is simply too thin to do something more. You can choose any pen you can afford or like. Your pen can be different color, too. Black simply fits any other color and makes it stand out more.

All watercolor illustrations and sketches look great. If you want them to be better, practice more and don’t expect immediate perfection.

Where would we be without the beauty?

Watercolor painting, apple blossoms

Beauty is the most universal, self-expressing phenomenon that does not require words or language knowledge. It is present in all walks of life, but it becomes something extremely perceivable due to art.

Watercolor painting, beauty of tulips

As we rush our daily schedules and spend most of the time running, we might not notice the moment when a bud opens. The magic moment when the fragile petals unfold and when the sun and rain pour life into it. It becomes a mediator of beauty. Every smallest vein and line, every nuance of color is so unique. Beauty which breathes and is alive.

Apple blossoms and rose painting

The biggest advantage of being able to create, draw and paint is the feeling of being a creator. We can do anything with the sheet of white paper in front of us. It’s our choice what goes on it. I choose the never-ending, personality enriching and mood uplifting divine features of the nature. It is a cheerful activity on its own. It is more than meditation, it is much more than immersion in oneself, it is the imperative life-continuing reveal of the underlying essence of life, and the essence of life is beauty.

Pen and watercolor illustration

Enjoy! Happy Mother’s Day! I know my mom will love these paintings.

How does it feel to become a rose?

Acrylic painting, wild pink roses

Rose is a wonderful subject for an acrylic painting. Especially, pink rose.

I always prefer and I always advice others to use real objects, real scenes and live models for their paintings. It’s not only because camera does not see things as a human eye does, but also because of immediate presence.

When somebody aims only for technically great achievements in arts, they certainly stick with photos because we quite cannot distinguish between tiny details when looking at something with just our eyes. I’m not painting or drawing anything I cannot see or which is too small to see. I prefer to go bolder and not to use any magnifying glass.

It can be tough painting flowers sometimes, especially in winter, and real flowers generally do not last as long as painting takes. Anyway, whenever possible using real things has its advantages. They have emotional impact, cause admiration, attraction. This is also something we are trying to implement in our paintings. Technical ability is great, but technically perfect and emotionally cold art isn’t speaking to me. I’m not saying that I always keep working until I have achieved absolutely everything. There is something great about unfinished paintings, too. For instance, a chance to add imaginative characteristics or continue with one’s thoughts. When painting is small, 16 x 20 inches (40.5 cm x 51 cm) inches or so, it doesn’t feel right to spend a year painting it. I sometimes return to a painting after 2-3 years.

Bright red rose, acrylic painting


Bright red rose, it was so beautiful that I sold it right after finishing this painting, 20 x 16 in

Therefore, it feels great becoming a rose. As we paint any petal, we build it and grow it to our liking. Although, it’s just a rose, it has it all: some hidden attraction, some mystery and some color combinations that do not always find reflection in a photo of the painting, but they do become visible when looking at the artwork in person.

Bright wild roses, sold This painting inspired to paint another one in lighter colors

There are lots and lots of objects which can be painted not even leaving our room. People sometimes say: I don’t want to paint still life, it’s boring. That’s totally wrong. That is the best exercise in painting there can be found. People who can paint or draw can paint anything and draw anything from apple to face. Still life is the shortest way to explore values, edges, color transitions and the ways we can create them. It’s the best tool to learn underpainting, sketching and blocking in the main shapes. It’s also the easiest way to learn about lines and their relationships, as well as all kinds of shadows. Therefore, we should never underestimate still life as subject, genre or way of expression.

Pink rose, elegance, acrylic painting

Pink rose, acrylic painting 20 x 16 in. The background colors work very well

Learn drawing and painting: Group art classes

Shop original acrylic paintings

How painting boosts mental health

Boost mental health painting

Mental health and creativity

Mental health is as important as physical fitness, but having flexible, fast acting and flawlessly performing brain is more important than anything else. Drawing and painting are some of the best things we can do in order to increase the brain activity, improve our memory and become more confident, self-aware and efficient with making decisions. It is needless to say that drawing and painting are calming, relaxing and rewarding.

Boosting brain performance and creating more

Every line and brushstroke we put down on paper or canvas comes from the brain impulses and activity of neurons in certain parts of the brain. Your hand doesn’t move on its own, it’s guided by your perception and the ability to transform visually and sensually perceived information into individualized personal experience. This experience is reflected on paper or canvas as you draw or paint. It is a very complex process, and we tend to think there are mysterious powers involved. I sort of want to remove the magic aspect from creativity, just to keep things simple. Inspiration will add the magic, but we have to start from the basics.

Seeing and being able to recreate what you see

Most people do not see the surrounding world as an artist does. So, the first task is learning to recognize all the multiple aspects of transforming a simple visual image into art that exhibits the artistically applicable features of this image. How do we do that? What do we need to see and notice in order to paint and draw?

Echo of image in the brain

Anything we draw or paint must find some echo in the storage space of our imagination. Such space of stored images is present within any memory and it is based on associative knowledge and acquired knowledge. Anything we create always relates to our fundamental knowledge of this world. Yet, the drawing or painting we are doing has specific subject, specific theme and atmosphere. It is a scene like no other because it always presents individual features. No two apples are exactly the same, no flower copies the other one exactly line by line, not to mention faces, landscapes or complex views.

For our mental health, acrylic painting,

Personal experience and personal decisions

Since most people, who learn painting or drawing, believe that getting all information from the outside and simply following somebody without making their own decision will do the job, the first artworks usually do not come out that great. While we are sketching or blocking in the basic shapes or lines, we should already try to decide why everything is where it is, and why composition evolves as it does. The reason we place the objects on our paper or canvas as we do, should be based on a decision. We should also decide early and plan for effects which we create later.

Decision making is as important as application of art tools

Adding paint or other elements is always based on decision-making. We decide about values, shapes, edges, washes, and we need to apply color if it is a color painting. Our brain has to make these decisions fast. Most mediums require using relevant timing. If we hesitate too much with watercolor layering, it simply will be too late to achieve flow of watercolor that makes such painting outstanding. If we are too slow, the acrylic layer we worked on, will be already dry or tacky and we will have to return to it later.

What is blocking our ability to paint?

There are two main things which are blocking our ability to proceed with painting or drawing when somebody attends or watches a class. We believe that instructor has made all decisions for us and our task is to blindly follow and to repeat what we see; and we are trying to do everything without any knowledge of why. There is no reasoning, no decisions which arise in our own brain.

Do you know what you do?

For instance, when I ask what a particular student is doing with some particular part of the painting, a very frequent answer is: “I don’t know”. How come? You have to know why you want one part dark and how to achieve that. You have to decide whether your subject is small or large, whether it has lost edges or sharp edges. Basically, we have to decide what exactly and why exactly we want to do.

No brushstroke without goal

The biggest issue is aimless brushing around, moving paint all over the canvas or paper until any distinction is lost and everything has become the same color. That is the result of not making a decision. When we decide that clouds are large and grey, we use paint to achieve this and so on. It’s obvious that only acting based on decision can contribute to implementation of our intentions.

Art instructor is not a magician

The art instructor or art teacher isn’t a magician; they cannot affect directly and immediately the way your brain works. They hope you pay attention to what they say and demonstrate and you will make your own decisions based on this advice. However, if you do not know the answer to why, what, when and how, the progress is noticeably delayed. Therefore, I also advice doing value sketches. This does not slow down, but helps tremendously with planning and deciding on what, where and how we paint.

Decision making for other areas of life

Eventually, the decision making we learn in the classroom allows us becoming more efficient with decisions in other areas of life. Everything we do should be based on decision, not impulse and lack of thinking. We should not have to admit: I don’t know why I am doing this. Unfortunately, nobody can provide you with a dose of understanding perspective, values, shapes, contrasts, layouts and other elements as a capsule or tablet to simply swallow and apply.

Fall still life based on drawing: Fall still life

More about drawing: Magic attraction of drawing

Red and gold for Christmas and holidays

Red and golden paintings

Red and gold

Red and gold is a fantastic color combination for the festive Christmas season! I thought it would be great to have a good show this year since the summer was slow. It feels the bad years are over, and I can start fresh. much better, at much higher level, much more efficient and more skillful. That is not hard to do when my health has returned.

Late with posting on blog

I have been very busy creating the show paintings, I promise to post articles and poems more often when I get over Christmas. The theme of this year is red and gold for Christmas as I mentioned. Red is such a warm and energizing color, we need it in winter. We need it especially when it’s cold and nasty outside. I was spending the day trying to get pictures for my show. The light was bad, but I tried, tried and tried until it worked.

Small bird paintings

Red cardinal and golden robin paintings make a very beautiful gift. I also invite everybody to join the art classes and paint some gifts on your own, red and golden birds or a festive holiday scene. That can be painted in a comparatively short time when using primed canvas. Primed canvas has a coat already on it, therefore, painting is easier.

Red and gold

Red and golden-red cardinals, silver-golden robin with beautiful decorations, they are sold now

Red and gold for Christmas

Red and gold colors increase the festive mood

Christmas Red poinsettia

Red and gold, and red is as in poinsettia, Poinsettia painting measures 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

Red and gold

Red and gold as in burning candles, this is Christmas still life, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

Red and gold Christmas art

Red and gold, and gold as in sparkling decorations

Red and gold Holiday season art

Red and golden colors make any space festive and elegant.

Christmas show

If you prefer to paint your own art, join the art classes.

Art classes at Inese Poga’s art studio

Keeping gifting in moderate range

I hope you are not overdoing with gifts, but choosing soul-warming, mood-lifting and energy-giving things, like a painting. Why not? If you would love to see what deals are on, please check out and follow my Facebook page which is about this art studio, my art, art sales and art classes:

https://www.facebook.com/InesePoga/