My high definition realism art

Red barn, acrylic painting

Personalized vision and realism

Properties of our eyesight are very unique, indeed. There are no two persons, who see everything exactly the same way. We could say, the way we see is just as unique as our DNA, fingerprints, iris of the eye and similar extra fine things. Therefore, when we create something, some people will love it, some people will think it’s nothing special and some will either ignore or dislike it. That is normal. The thing we have created has still the same value for us personally, at least it should, because its objective value does not change depending on subjective likes or dislikes. It’s social media which either stamps some creation as success or disregards it.

High ranked mediocrity

I do sometimes wonder why a painting which is really good does not get that many likes as something rather average. Go figure. Partially, this is because of ranking. Let’s say, I post my image at the right time and it immediately gets 30 likes in the first 20 seconds. That’s it! It immediately moves up the ranks, and that is all we need. New likes follow, comments are posted and we’ve got the attention of the invisible viewer mass. Now, does the response always indicate that we are becoming a master in some area? Not really. We still need to have our self-criticism and apply our personal judgement.

Versatility

We should have options, always. The trends are out there and whether to comply and act on them is up to us. People sometimes suggest: you should paint more abstracts, you should do some black and white art, you should post more drawings and so on. I could do all of the above. The problem is, however, that I do create art which I am deeply in at any particular moment. I am not good with following trends and I actually do not care that much about them either. It is bad for marketing, no doubt about that. However, it is the only way to stay true to oneself and do more of my own realism.

Specific realism

I love realism. I need to clarify, it’s not any realism, but my personal enhanced realism. We could say, it’s high definition because I adore adding something still tasteful, but very detailed. Details are risky, but they also make a view very unique. I love specific colors and cannot stand some other particular colors. I do not like using black, in fact, I use it only for mixing up other colors. I love greens which are mixed up from black plus blue, plus yellow plus burnt sienna and white. Some grey shades require black. I really dislike black in watercolors. I never have used even 1 drop of black in any of my watercolors.

The choice of subject

We normally paint what resonates with us. I at least do. I have also many favorite subjects: still life, seasonal landscape, buildings, perspective and flowers. I think all young people want to paint portraits and figures. I did, too. Some stick to them and some move over to other subjects. I love painting and drawing from reality, and to paint face or figure, I’d need a model. That complicates things because it makes me dependent on somebody else. With my subjects, I choose time, place and medium.

Too many paintings

I’ve read how people complain they don’t have enough artworks in portfolio. I think it is also problematic to have too many artworks. I’m adding 2-3 a week in average. I have numerous paintings in different completion stages. Some are drafts, some half-done, some need change in color or more highlights. I get tired of one medium or subject quickly. Therefore, I switch from acrylic to watercolor and vice versa, I sometimes do just pencil drawing or pastel drawing. I love creating all kinds of drawing-based art because I’m very good at drawing from reality, and for that matter, drawing anything.

Preferences

My preferences are very noticeable when it comes to art. I love clean colors. I never use paint straight from tube, but the mix must be clean. It is easy to create any color from 3 primary colors, plus black and white in acrylic. I add burnt sienna, burnt umber, ocher and many shades of blue. That way, my palette is complete. I’m not a big fan of Ultramarine. Instead, I use Prussian blue and brilliant blue. Seasons have huge effect on me. I basically paint spring in winter or early spring, summer in spring, and fall in summer. Does that mean I cannot wait until the actual season arrives? Yes, it does.

Enhanced and personalized realism in art; Summer place 2, I love how it came out, acrylic painting on canvas 18 x 24 inches or 46 x 61 cm

Summer place 2 and Breezy daisy field

I would love to post just one painting in every article, but there are so many lined up. I will limit myself to just two this time. Summer place 2 is the second one in Summer place series. Breezy daisy field is also continuing the flower field series. As usually, I started them for demo purposes at art classes. The summer place 2 took about 2 weeks and daisy field about a full week to complete. My paintings consist of many layers and under-layers. It is best to paint any acrylic painting on color-coated canvas. They both are the same size: 18 x 24 inches or 46 x 61 cm. One is horizontal, the other is vertical. I’m very sure, the internet display will make one look larger and the other smaller.

Daisy fields, acrylic artworks

Breezy daisy field, it got a lot of attention on Facebook, acrylic painting on canvas 18 x 24 inches or 46 x 61 cm

Grey of spring and lush green of summer

It is still cold outdoors. This April came with such a nice promise of spring starting early. What a disappointment! It is almost May and we have freezing temperatures every night. That is why I am a lot in very strong and very rich green color. I’m not trying to overdo, but it feels so nice to surround myself with this color at the moment. My love relationship with green will pass, too, but it’s so pleasant to look at such art and be around it.

Here you see art currently for sale: Shop original art

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Art collections by Inese Poga

My solo art show February 14 – March 19

Red country barn, acrylic painting

If it was only painting

My show is finally up. Putting up a show, small or extensive, takes time, many hours of work, dealing with selection, adjustments and paperwork. It felt as if the small tasks were never-ending: glazing, covering with protective layer, attaching wires, designing and printing price tags. I have taken numerous pictures. Light was not that good some days; well, it’s February. Therefore, contrast ranged from extreme to none, brightness went from burnt  out images to a total lack of light.

Lots of work and many decisions

Even putting up paintings at location was time-consuming. Any place has its pluses and minuses. Light is as it is, and I had to figure out the best layout immediately and without hesitation. There was staff, who went up the ladder and put up each painting, and while they were doing their best, everything took some adjustment. I think I managed to do very well with placement of my art.

It is a great advantage to see art in person

While 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 with your own eyes and experience the feeling of direct presence. There are so many devices between the real painting and its image on the internet! Any of these devices change the look of painting to a great extent, so some things get lost along the way, which especially refers to balanced and carefully crafted colors and contrast.

Paintings which were included in this show

My paintings frequently display paths and roads. Road, as well as path is an important symbolic element of my art. We are always on the way, always going to something new which is still to be discovered and explored. I am posting this time a few completely new and a few overworked paintings. That especially refers to “Nostalgia” series.

Subjects of my art

I loved to find untouched landscapes in close vicinity of a town: old country barns, quiet streams, birch groves and meandering forest paths. I genuinely love wildflowers, they appear quite frequently in my art. The same goes for always painting spring in winter.  That is a natural mood lift and fantastic way of spending dark and gloomy days when storms, snow, cold and ice make the outdoor landscape very hostile.

Less text, more art

This post is intended to show paintings, therefore, less text, more art.

Red country barn, early spring, acrylic painting 76 x 61 cm, acrylic on canvas

Red country barn, early spring won the easel, Nostalgia series

Path in blue bell woods, Nostalgia series, acrylic painting, 24 x 20 in or 61 x 51 cm

Reflection of clouds, summer stream, acrylic painting on 24 x 20 in or 61 x 51 cm canvas

Nostalgia, the painting which initiated the series of landscapes disappearing from our neighborhoods, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 in 61 x 51

Interested to purchase? Shop originals

If you happen to live in Greater Toronto Area and especially around Ajax, please stop by. My show is on at Ajax Town Hall Council Chambers Lobby until March 19. 25 works of art are exhibited. I take from the first responses, that people like it. Enjoy!

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How to create better art and flower paintings

Watercolor painting of rose, rose painting

Create better art without getting lost in advice 

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!

Better art, flower painting, rose

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

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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!

November needs more color and sunflowers

Sunflower painting, watercolor by artist Inese Poga

Sunflowers, the sunny flowers

Sun plus flowers equals sunflowers. It is also an excellent painting subject when it gets darker in October and November. We switched from bright fall colors to rainy and snowy start of November. Warmth of sunflower color fills up the entire studio. Gentle, soft flow of light yellow and burnt sienna tones among the strong earthy greens and burnt umber is a very attractive color combination. I am a good example of how artist’s taste and feel for the subject changes over time during a few decades. I was painting a similar image years ago, and my color choices were completely different then.

My painting style

Specifics of my painting style include spontaneous and intuitive use of color and improvisation on the spot. I don’t use masking fluid much, especially, for paintings which are done as a demo for an art class. There’s simply no time for that. Ability to improvise helps with demonstration. Many unexpected  and interesting things can happen painting intuitively! Since I have been painting and teaching for many years, I can act and react very promptly, including change of subject if necessary. I love freedom in my own art. I do teach others to treat their painting like that, too. This particular sunflower painting is 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm.

Red barn in fall

Subject of the following painting is a red country barn which I also painted in acrylic. My watercolor painting is larger than the acrylic one. Its size is 18 x 14 in (46 x 36 cm). Size means a lot in live presentation, but unfortunately not online. This painting relies on combination of saturated fall colors, tree shape and barn. Barn is placed strategically to increase the perspective and feeling of depth. I am trying to take pictures of my art with background in order size of paintings would be more visible. However, it’s not always possible. I love bold colors as much as simple grey and saturated brown tones. This particular image shines because of colors and diagonal use of composition elements.

Barn and golden maple tree

This is a barn which was painted a while ago. I love painting buildings, because of organized and completed lines and perspective. My mom had saved some drawings which were done when I was 12 and 13. That’s like half a century ago. These were my drawings of buildings and plants which I had done looking at the actual subject. We didn’t have internet or cameras then. I always loved drawing what’s around me. This painting is also quite big, it shows a country barn and side building as I saw them. Oranges and reds are also super energizing colors. The same goes for painting: vivid colors help.

I hope you love my sunflowers and other paintings! It was great pleasure to paint the recent sunflowers, and this painting is the newest addition to my watercolor collection also.

Enjoy, be inspired and paint! I do appreciate visitors to my sale pages, here is Original watercolors page, it gets updated quite frequently:

Original watercolor paintings for sale

I was also chosen to be a Spotlight Artist in Fine Art America’s traditional still life group with the pumpkin still life which I published before. That is nice!

All prints from Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Copyright notice: Copyright of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. Please, respect my copyright. The use of my images is prohibited if I have not issued a written permission. That includes no pinning on Pinterest.

Fruity, simple, attractive

Still life with fruit, watercolor still life painting

Fruity, simple and attractive is still life with apples. Between years 2013 and 2018, I used to spend either August or September in Latvia. They have numerous fruit trees. Apples were in all tones and colors: red, white, green, purple and scarlet. Their round perfect shape was always attractive to me, so, I rarely could resist sketching or painting some apples whether with leaves or other elements.

This particular painting comes from my bright color period. I think it was 2008 when I painted this still life. It is quite large, 15 x 22 inches or 38 x 56 cm. I used to enjoy extra bright colors and St. Petersburg watercolors definitely facilitate that.

This apple still life was painted in Latvia looking at a tree and balancing paper in my lap. The weather wasn’t really cooperating, but I managed to finalize this painting upon my return to Canada.

Similarly, this still life with apples and pears was painted at my daughter’s computer desk. The space was too small to lay out paints and paper in a manner that I could paint without worrying that something falls to the floor. However, I love how it came out. I got some leaves in the garden, and they had a few green pears. I love my color combination in this one.

These are clear white apples which grow in my sister’s garden. They are ripe in August or even sooner, but must be consumed swiftly. They are extremely juicy and sweet, but go bad fast. I haven’t actually seen this sort of apples in Canada. I think this still life came out quite nice, too. I had to add final touches upon my return to Canada.

I have many sketches of apples, some unfinished watercolors and also acrylic still life painting with fruit and apples. It is not possible to remember all paintings which feature apples.

My personal point is that anything makes a good painting. Simple things can be painted and drawn as great as very complex subjects. I do always advise starting with such subjects that are around you and are easily found and replaced. That is a wonderful exercise in composition and color. It is also pleasure for eyes. Such paintings look great on any wall.

My art on Fine Art America:

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Original watercolor paintings for sale