Enhance your personal space with positive energy

Use art for your personal space

Personal space is our most important place

Art can be a miracle that turns your life into positive, rewarding direction. Keep this source of positive energy always close to you, always in your personal space. The birth of a miracle may be not always easy, but there is undeniably some magic in it. How can doing art and painting make one’s life better, more balanced, more enhanced and richer?

The hidden benefits

Along with time-well spent and new skills at every step along the way, there is one more advantage: any artwork can become a beautiful decorative element. It could be just the missing final touch for the room, it could be the accent piece; or it could be the part tying the entire space together and making it complete. This artwork radiates clean, uplifting and positive energy in our personal space or workplace.

Positive energy

The story is actually about the energy: energetic interaction, consumption and release of energy, good, bad and neutral energy. Since energy is present anywhere and in anything, and not even the simplest thought could be made without consuming some of it; the question is as follows. Do we pay enough attention to our nearest surroundings, our closest environment and the dominant energetic features within that space? We really don’t, and we are most often between two ditches: following punctually every newest design trend, or completely disregarding any design  and common sense.

Good color

There are lots of reviews about impact of color, lots of advice how to create a cozy, welcoming space, but what matters most is energy in that space. I do believe we’ve seen this all: museum-like houses or sterile living rooms, living rooms which are collections of one’s past, and top-modern minimalistic spaces.

Update your personal space with art

In my opinion, the best and the fastest way to update and adjust a space to our needs is using color, art, textiles and plants. Furniture becomes secondary, and all these previously mentioned things also take care about a great energetic flow and preserve the positive energy. Provided, they have such. It matters what hangs on your walls. I’m not talking about the purely esthetic aspects. Walmart print will have at the best some neutral energy of printer, cheap canvas and paint.

Careful with inherited and old items

Inherited art or an antique item may have both: very positive and extremely negative energy. So can an original painting. Painting during its creation process absorbs our thoughts, emotional vibrations, delight and excitement, or hate, misery and anger; anything. That way, the energy of a painting is equal to the energy artists put in their creation. Most people naturally give their art the best part of themselves by visualizing all these places they are re-creating on canvas: light, wind, flowers and leaves, waves, streams and the atmospheric vibrations in the air.

Use art for your personal space
Always bright, always attractive, always enhancing mood

Painting retains the ambient atmosphere

One thing I can say for sure: the atmosphere during our painting sessions is extremely positive. It’s such a pleasure to grab the shiny paint and just put it on canvas. The classroom itself contains plenty of art in all completion stages: just started, half-done and finished. This contributes to the relaxing state we most often find ourselves in. I mean, it’s very unlikely, these beautiful works could have some bad energy. We challenge ourselves, and the results are more than satisfying.

Monetary value does not affect energy

One more amazing thing is that the monetary value actually does not affect the true energy which some item possesses. That means we should stick with things which make us feel good, not only to the ones which cost a lot and are supposed to be “value”. The monetary value only shows one’s financial power while the energetic value has something much more important and substantial: it possesses the ability to ensure the well-being of our soul.


Beautiful art from its creator could go straight to you!

Try something different: painting with sponge

sponge painting

Have you tried painting watercolor with sponge? I decided that adding some new technique wouldn’t disturb. Let’s give it a try.

This time it was application of watercolor using a sea grass sponge. It worked well with acrylic (I will post these pictures separately), it seemed it could work nicely with watercolor, as well.

I could see after the first attempts that it is advisable to test colors first. There are lots of brands, many types of paints, it’s hard to know whether the chosen colors will or won’t mix well. The big fear was not to overdo right at the beginning. Sponging sort of takes away easily, and it takes no time to lose focus and to forget where exactly was I intending to place any particular paint. I did not plan for these paintings, I just got straight to sponging. I would advise anybody who is trying this technique to plan a small bit ahead. Sponge allows to create beautiful watercolor backgrounds, like distant trees or forests, it is amazing how quickly some spots get textures, and it is a fantastic for layering watercolor paints. Simply don’t forget to test your colors.

It seemed that Hooker’s green light and dark in combination with French ultramarine, Cobalt blue, Payne’s grey, Lemon yellow and Burnt sienna or Burnt umber worked better than Sap green in any combination unless I mixed only 2 or 3 colors in all layers.

Seagrass sponges are inexpensive and available at any art store, that’s at least where I got them. Every sponge is slightly different, so will be textures created using these sponges. I cut my sponge in smaller parts, and used every time that part which seemed to be the most fitting. Sponge has to be made wet at first, and we should squeeze out all excess water before picking up the paint with it.

Sponge works on wet paper well (wet in wet application), and we can paint nice distant backgrounds this way. It creates thicker layers and attractive irregular shapes when applied on dry paper. It is possible to create the entire painting this way, and it looks especially great when we combine different techniques.

Generally speaking, application of a sponge helps loosen up, and sponge is a good tool to vary paint application techniques.

sponge painting
Sponge with watercolor
sponge backgrounds
Small creek, we used sponge for background

Layering quite a few colors with sponge is interesting: we never know how it will look at the end!

sponge painting
Spring forest: watercolor painting using sponge, it is quite large, 18 x 24 inches

Painting classes: becoming more confident and artistic

Art clases for adults

Create something great from nothing

To create  something from nothing takes creativity, knowledge and commitment. We were doing some negative painting exercises, and after that we were getting ready for the next painting which will be seaside with some birds.

Big things start with small accomplishments

Psychologists are certain that everything is based on confidence and high level of self-esteem. Art tremendously helps achieving these goals. We also become aware that we can create, we can pursue our goals. It is a new stepping stone when walking through the life. Step by step, brushstroke by brushstroke: big things start with small accomplishments.

big things start with small accomplishments.
Students paint

Only benefits

Everybody benefits from engaging in arts, and it is something valuable for our entire life. Some artists of adult acrylic painting group completed their first painting, some – their third paintings.

Art clases for adults
Friendly company
Big things start with small accomplishments.
Painting is ready, very good for the first one!

No more fear, just pleasure

We are overcoming the fear from blank canvas and learning to apply paint with confidence, and results speak for themselves. It is never too early or too late to engage in creation of something artistic. We sometimes need 30 or 40 years to realize that art is what we want to learn. It is a pleasure to watch this happen as we progress more and more with every single painting.

 

This summer in local media

Inese Poga at Silverstone gallery

Sundays on the Porch with SilverStone gallery

I participated in Sundays on the Porch with SilverStone gallery in Pickering. My husband Don was playing guitar and singing. Mary Cook helped us setting up paintings on the porch, so the look was lovely and welcoming. SilverStone art gallery is a small cozy art gallery close to Pickering beach, therefore, people walk and stop by frequently.

Don Smith, musical performance

Great experience

That was wonderful experience which allowed me to meet new people and also give some painting demonstrations. I am quite new to Canada, and every connection helps. All of represented art was painted in Canada since I couldn’t take any paintings across the ocean relocating from Latvia, Europe.

The weather was good, and people were stopping by and checking out paintings we had taken with us.

Watercolor and acrylic artist Inese Poga

Warm welcome

This August Sunday was pretty windy, we really had to watch watercolor paper and small paintings to prevent them from flying away. Pine Ridge Arts Council always supports local artists and helps artists with exhibitions and shows. The local SNAP and local Rogers TV  also had included my art presentations. I can say, it was a warm welcome.