Summer landscape – fantastic subject

Landscape paintings

What to paint in the summertime? If you are in the countryside, traveling or live in the suburbs, I believe it’s impossible to avoid painting at least a few landscapes. What do we include in the summer landscape? Everything which speaks to us or says loudly: it’s hot, it’s wonderful, and it’s summer. My summer landscape is based on my surroundings and what I see outdoors. My private park has numerous wildflowers, and it is actually rather wild with huge old trees, various greases and plants.

Summer landscape paintings

We can interpret any landscape in numerous ways. Choosing certain color for wildflowers, buildings, sunny or cool color for grasses, adding trees or water, roads or fences – it depends only on artist where you want your viewer to go. I would like my viewer and art collector to feel happy about what nature provides us with, enjoy the views which might not be around forever. In that regard, I am documenting the natural beauty before we kill the Earth completely. Thee is so much beauty in the simplest summer landscape.

Summer landscape

In my opinion, taking pictures of art and then posting them as separate images without background, literary destroys the art. I do that still because many places require to do so. Original art breathes and emits plenty of great, uplifting energy. All devices and cameras take away a lot already, and the small image you can see on the phone isn’t really my painting. It’s gone through numerous adjustments and algorithms. Regardless of that, I hope the energy within my summer landscape paintings is still visible.

Blooming summer landscape

These particular paintings were created between 2010 and 2021. There are many more, but one post can include only few images. I believe I already added too many pictures, but – when else to allow color to sparkle and imagination to run freely?  I intend to initiate Studio 65 sale to celebrate my birthday. That’s pretty much the only celebration I will have. Most of paintings are available as originals and also as prints. Originals are available from my art studio in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. Prints – anywhere.

Bright and happy, we could use more of that, couldn’t we?

Summer landscape paintings

Wish me well? Maybe buy a small art print or all kinds of things with my art, including puzzles, from my Fine Art America site:

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Have a great summer!

Pastel paintings of vegetable still life and nature

Fantastic still life paintings

Pastel for still life paintings

Pastel is a unique medium. Using pastel sticks and pencils, we are applying pure pigment to the surface. I love pastel because it is the bridge between drawing and painting.  I haven’t published many of my pastel paintings because they are difficult to photograph. This pastel still life paintings of vegetables and nature elements were done for my private art classes. Many people want to master drawing nowadays. Not trace and copy but learn being able to naturally draw.

Great start for good results

Drawing is very tough to teach since for the most part, people don’t see what’s important for drawing, as well are hesitant to put in efforts and practice. First step is to learn seeing, then we start developing our line work, after that we learn what’s important in painting, like recognizing values, applying contrast, shadows and so forth. Still life paintings in pastel are a fantastic starting point. I use pastel surface in dark grey and advise my students to do the same. That covers the darkest values already and is much friendlier surface than white. The same goes for acrylic painting.

Medium which doesn’t expire

Pastel still life paintings allow for many layers of pigments. That’s one more great feature: we build up the value and color as we go. I use Gallery and Faber Castell pencils and pastel sticks, as well as Conte pastel pencils. Each one has its application and suits for one or another step. I don’t have any specific tools and don’t use extra expensive pastel surfaces. All of this I had bought some 15 or more years ago. I love the pure colors of Conte pencils and subdued tones of my Faber Castell pencils. Gallery provides with pastel sticks in different sizes and numerous very attractive colors.

Still life painting of food

Layering for values and contrast

My process of using pastel pencils is exactly the same what for other medium. Dark surface, quick sketch, stronger values and darker tones first, after that I layer in lighter colors defining the shapes at the same time. The more layers, the more beautiful and saturated the pastel painting looks. Vegetable still life painting is a wonderful subject. Choose whatever you prefer and in whatever color or shape. We don’t have to limit ourselves with just peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers, there are lots of attractive shapes out there in the most wonderful colors.

Choice of subject

Still life paintings in pastel look gorgeous whatever items we use. The giving hands of nature was combined during the class since my student needed to paint hands and so we just filled them in with stuff from a magazine cover. Well, we just used it for inspiration, but added different colors and shapes. The herbal teacup was a nightmare to take picture of. iPhone camera changed the perspective so that it looked all wrong. The actual paintings are fantastic, and as you know no photo can ever compare to the original painting.

Summer subjects

Still life paintings in pastel are one the greatest summer subjects also. I cannot travel much because of the chronic pain which has worsened during the last year notably. Therefore, I use what I see around and paint in all kinds of combinations which are endless. I disagree that still life is boring. It’s the best way to teach about the multiple aspects and principles of painting also. These principles are all the same whether you paint buildings, faces, figures, flowers or landscapes.

Fantastic still life paintings

Still life paintings which matter

I hope you will love my still life paintings, as well as the Giving hands of nature. It was almost impossible to take pictures of them. Well, at least the idea will be visible. Hands painting is huge, very hard to take pictures of. Each week I will feature one painting which goes for a lot less than usually. It will be available on Special offers page:

Learn pastel painting in private art classes:

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Also, still life paintings are most frequently sold as prints: Still life paintings available as prints

I hope your summer is fantastic!

Show time

Show time

It’s been a while, and summer just flew by. My art show was delayed for 2 years by pandemic, and now the show is finally coming up, and it will open on September 14. I have submitted the paperwork and still need to add wire on the back of quite a few paintings. I will mostly present large size art at this particular show and I hope it will look as impressive and memorable as the original art which has been created in the span of 5 years. It’s not that all art was created some years ago, but a few paintings are from 2018 and 2020 and so forth. I’m showing in total 25 artworks. I hope the wall space allows for that.

I decided to add a few green paintings, as well. Farewell to summer.

Country barn
Country barn in summer meadow, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm
garden fence, show
Garden fence, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm
Abstract art, green summer fields
Summer flower fields, abstract acrylic painting, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm

Ajax Community Centre, East wing offers better light than the previous exhibition space at Ajax Town Hall. This show is happening in cooperation with PineRidge Arts Council. I am a member of this artist association, it’s one of the few which do a lot for an artist and charge a very moderate membership fee. They have friendly staff, and especially I would like to mention Mary Cook who takes care of the web presentation.

I have taken numerous new pictures. I won’t repeat myself, but iPhone just really destroys my painting images with extreme contrast, with absolutely wrong colors and it’s unable to distinct between shades of white and grey. Grey tends to look black and all white is just white without any shades of it. To be honest, everybody who’s seen my art only on the internet, hasn’t seen it all. That’s the disadvantage of presenting images as opposed to actual artworks. Anyway, it’s the only chance for me to go global and so be it.

Birch valley for art show
Birch valley, 32 x 26 in or 81 x 66 cm

As you know, on this website all horizontal artworks look smaller and all vertical ones much larger. Well, I’m adding sizes, but, unfortunately, they don’t mean much if you’re viewing this blog post on your phone. I hope you will check the studio sales pages later in the week because there will be new special offers. All art I’m displaying on my blog is original art, meaning, I am selling just the only true artwork as it’s created.

Many of my paintings are created on textured backgrounds. People often ask me about palette knife, and, no, I’m not using it, but I’m creating textures on canvas before I start painting the actual shapes of trees and other elements.

Art show, birch painting
Textured birch colors, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

Well, maybe some of you will stop at Ajax, Ontario in the future when traveling to Toronto and, thus, see how my art looks in reality. Meanwhile, buy art from my art studio also because numerous paintings won’t get into the show display. Certainly, attend the live show if you are in the Greater Toronto Area. It is the show time finally!

My summer was somewhat painful and I was off for about 6 weeks. I’m not one of people who snap pictures at emergency rooms and treatment clinics, so I had nothing much I was willing to share until I recently started feeling a bit better. Just in time, I’d say because I have only 1 week to finalize all art which goes into the art show.

All the best and have a good, colorful September!

Works and artworks

Artworks, lifting fog

It’s time to feature a few summer-related artworks, something which widens our space and takes us to places which might or might not exist. The power of imagination! I use imagination to a great extent since life has become somewhat subdued in the post-COVID era. Back to summer artworks.

I have to take new pictures of paintings which were created years ago, as well as quite recently. I mentioned in previous posts: an artwork for a show and an artwork for demonstration at art class simply cannot be the same. As art teacher, I try to adjust the subject to the skill level of students. Therefore, such paintings are more abstract. One example from the recent classes: bright summer landscape which is quite abstract, but uses strong colors.

While I was using iPhone 6, all my pictures were dark. With iPhone 8, then iPhone 10 Pro Max, all my pictures had yellow and purple overcast, the colors in paintings were as if yellowed out. With iPhone 13 Pro Max, I have sometimes extreme contrast, but there’s more ability to adjust the distorted perspective and color. However, paintings have extra bright blue-green, too strong blue, or all-over yellow-green and too much purple. Basically, any edits are global. I’ve never gotten my painting images right, practically never.

So, I have to take new pictures replacing all images between 2010 and 2018. They simply have no saturation, no contrast and make no sense either. One might ask: why to bother? Well, although few people ever read entire posts or look at all images, online images are often the only way they will see what I have painted. Since I have spent numerous hours cataloging my artworks, I decided to feature quite a few artworks from different years.

In Ontario where I live, summer is not that long. I rush to do gardening, painting, teaching while I have to catch up on regular chores also. Lots of things are still in boxes and many tasks await their completion. However, summer is for taking a break, too. Therefore, I won’t apologize for not posting very frequently, but I hope you love and purchase some art and love my artworks added to this post.

Have a great, green and blue, enjoyable summer!

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Spring edition, moving art studio

Moving art studio

My art studio is moving again, indeed, it has happened so many times during the recent years. I’ve moved three times since 2018 and now I have to do that again. While it sounds quite simple, it actually isn’t. The toughest part is finding a place and qualify for it. That requires mountains of paperwork, numerous hours of printing, scanning, signing, sending documents and so forth. That is the reason I hardly looked at the internet, any social media or blog sites. There wasn’t enough time in a day to cope with all that, and nothing was left for painting, unfortunately.

I did try to catch up with the artistic side, I sure did. However, that mostly resulted in wasted paint and a bit of frustration. As soon as I squeezed out acrylic paint and got in the mood for painting, the phone rang or I received a message, we have to go: to see a place, to meet somebody, to do whatever, and there was no other way around it. As you know, acrylic paint dries very fast, and even when preserving some in a tight container, it doesn’t work quite well as the fresh one.

Art studio sale
The most recent painting: White trillium blooms in spring forest

I’m really hooked on the moment when nature awakes. The most fantastic view for me can be a tiny sprout breaking through the soil and greeting the sunshine. The first wild flowers are such a welcome sight! Strength to overcome the freeze and courage to break through impossible obstacles: that is what grasses and wild flowers have. I cannot resist, I return to wildflowers in spring settings every year.

White trillium blooms
Refreshed and updated photo of Trillium bloom hills

One of my most favorite color combinations involves earthy tones, many shades of green as in sprouts, young leaves and grasses, blue patches of sky, as well as bright white, blue and pink of the wildflowers. According to such palette, I paint some knew dreamscape which I most often have seen only in imagination or which is stored in my memory chambers.

Art studio, white anemones
Spring creek and white forest anemones, updated and refreshed

My art studio in this big house had to be adjusted and the actual painting space was sparse. As you might know from my previous posts, I usually paint only by daylight. There have been times when I have to add evenings, but I try to avoid painting at night when artificial light is required. It could be my eyesight which dictates that, but I am very sure that for true color match we need the daylight.

White anemones,art studio
White spring anemones, new photo

So, the art studio is on the move again, and I have started to pack up a few things. Very large and small paintings will be moved first, as well as part of my countless brushes and art supplies. I would love to sell a few more paintings, but I don’t have much time for advertising at the moment. We will be moving 9 large rooms into 5 rooms, only one of which is large. My art studio is going to be arranged there, in the largest room. Daylight will be much better in the new place, however. It’s an older building with large windows, lots of character and huge backyard. That is such a luxury nowadays!

My best guess is everything will be ready around April 15, and that’s when I can start with my own paintings and art classes. Until then, – I go through moving troubles, packing and unpackaging, sorting, cleaning and being busy with all kinds of things which are not necessarily art related. There will be moment when we won’t have internet yet, and when I am all set up, I will come up with my newest discoveries in painting. You can still scroll through my blog which documents all art studio moves, gives lots of advice for new and established artists and offers excellent quality art at great prices. Stay well! I’d love to hear from you!

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