Winter ends in the art studio around half January. That’s just how impatient we are: once Christmas is over, we’ve got to start preparing for Valentine’s Day, Easter and, most importantly, for spring. We use this time period to define our painting styles.
While winter may seem to be long, boring and unpleasant to many people, we are using the best part of it. The picturesque beauty of snow-covered fields makes a good scene for painting, especially when contrasted with frozen or silently running dark streams to which the majestic attraction of trees under the snow is added.
Our vision and perception of any subject are absolutely unique. There are no two persons who can see one thing in exactly the same way. That’s how nature has taken care of our individual features. That’s also how one image becomes a reflection of many personal interpretations and allows to create many distinctive paintings.
Winter creek, acrylic painting, it’s sold. I painted it as a demo for class
Painting as a process is a very individual activity regardless of how much of experience or knowledge we are implementing in this process. The art we are creating from scratch will always carry our own features, as well.
From psychological point of view, it is possible to associate certain types of lines, composition, application of paint, colors, amount of detail or lack of it with particular human features. I find this fantastic because that’s one more way how our uniqueness manifests.
Winter creek paintings by my students
The emerging painting style is like handwriting: once we have perfected it, it’s completely ours. Does it make sense to repeat somebody else’s writing? Probably not, not even in these cases when you are told your writing is hard to read. The most beautiful hand-writings are actually all complicated and hard to read.
When I started to paint and draw birds, I unexpectedly discovered a new interesting set of subjects. There was so much to explore! My first paintings of birds were very approximate, animated. I tried to give them some character without getting too much into detail. I’m paying more attention now to arrangement of colors on wings and other feathers and to their external anatomy.
I like most birds, and I really need to love or somewhat like the subject which I am going to draw or paint. That was pretty much the reason I had stopped painting human portraits.
Bird paintings, mounted on wood panels, all watercolors on Arches watercolor paper
Mostly blue background for these lovely birds
They look very attractive, and all paintings are ready to hang without extra frame or glass
Nature has the most wonderful variety of everything, from small to huge, from simple to complicated. I suppose, I will keep studying birds for a while. I do get tired of similar images, though, that’s why the next paintings are three-dimensional landscapes.
Talking about landscapes, my painting “Overlooking the Meadow” will be on the cover of Natural Awakenings Magazine.
Overlooking the meadow, is a large 18 x 24 in or 46 x 61 cm watercolor
Natural Awakenings is a free publication about healthy and natural living that is available in over 90 cities in the US and Puerto Rico, with a readership of over three million. I had my market scene on their cover in 2012, and immediately after that I sold some paintings. Well, if you happen to see this magazine, pick it up for free. They write about useful things there. I also find amazing that they contacted me already 2 times.
The learning season at my studio is getting close to the finish line. Paintings in 3 pictures are done by my students who started attending my art classes as beginners. They progressed very fast from not knowing how to mix paint to students who pretty much were sure what they wanted to achieve. We were exploring multiple techniques and subjects; we created quite many beautiful artworks. We feel enriched and inspired, and hopefully, the newly acquired skills will enable our students to capture their impressions during summer and their vacations.
Summer plans
I have been extremely busy recently, and I need a break, too. I’m going to spend some time in Europe, in my homeland Latvia this year. My art studio is getting reorganized, as well. We will start out again in September with new classes, seminars, practical learning in both, life skills school and art school.
Adjustments to online presence
I’m working on new updates of website which will contain all relevant information, and I might be very busy for a while yet. I intend to implement store pages and add new art products to these pages. It’s difficult to decide on art store format and what online options to use. There won’t be that many posts during this time.
My demo painting
My demo painting was waiting patiently for 7 years to be completed. I have a few paintings at different stages of completion, this was one of them. I wish photos captured colors better because my real painting has fresh summer green and good bright contrast. All my pictures with light green color have turned into some strange mustard-green color. I personally do not like and I do not use this color, not in summer or spring paintings. However, iPhone keeps damaging all my pictures. I should use only the big camera every time, but convenience sometimes comes first.
Waiting for something can be as exciting as the upcoming event itself.
Spring is late this year, and that makes us more impatient. Everyone is tired of storms, cold, snow and icy winds. However, why to wait when you can create sensation of spring and speed up its arrival on your own?
We’ve been busy with blossoming apple trees painting during the last 4 classes.
Unlikely many North American art schools, we are focusing not only on technical abilities, but also on the emotional impact of our creations. We pay attention to emotional aspect and the energetic potential of painting.. Great art creates fantastic energy.
When painting a certain subject, we are trying to capture not that much its photographic likeness, but rather to implement the idea and emotions, the emotional charge within and behind the painted image.
We are trying to paint our vision in the way others could experience it, too. That requires freedom in our approach, experimenting with colors and brush stroke, immediate decision-making, and high confidence level, as well.
The painting subject was very attractive this time, and we got really great results on our canvas.
It is important that we use the same basic image and the same medium (acrylic, watercolor or pastel) in a class since every medium requires different handling and specific techniques for bringing the painting subject to life.
Acrylic is actually very forgiving, and everything can be adjusted, changed and improved when necessary.
All artists were not present at the time of taking pictures, but all paintings looked fantastic. They are beginners! This is a great achievement.
We will just have to learn how to paint sky and water yet, and these students could surprise us with fantastic paintings which they have created without a guidance.
Don’t allow routine blocking your intentions and create
We have our routine duties, we have to make our living, but how about the soul? What are we doing to feed not only the body, but also our soul? Some people express themselves playing music or dancing, some are writing poetry or stories, and some love to create. Most people never forget to devote time, money and huge efforts in order the physical body stayed young and healthy. When it comes to mind, it is a completely different picture.
Art is special
I don’t think anything compares with the wonderful feeling when I have a white blank canvas or sheet of watercolor paper in front of me, and I’m about to put down the first lines or brush strokes. Creation is straight the opposite to consumption, and I really have deep respect for people who love to create and give something to others instead of just taking and using. Create art: it is a rewarding way of self-expression. It takes away from our daily troubles and routines, and this time is never wasted.
Need for self-care and relaxation
Adults need relaxing self-care time even more than teens and kids. My art classes always bring together people of all ages and all walks of life who create something for themselves. We are experiencing the miracle of creative makeover every time when we have an art class. Participants come with all kinds of mental and physical conditions sometimes, but all of them report feeling better after an artistic workout.
Art classes and painting workshops for adults
We had busy October and November. I met many interesting people, who definitely were amazed by my art and wanted to learn doing something artistic for themselves, they all love new things and create them. I gave many adult and teen art classes, and my November workshop was also successful.
Article about me in women’s life style magazine
We were discussing the magazine article which will be published in Laura’s online site devoted to making lives of women richer and more satisfying. This article will describe my personal and art concepts, I will also share my experience living in Europe and in Canada. It is very important to provide women with their personal space and breathing space because women are frequently the ones who have never a moment specifically for themselves.
Participants of art classes report life improvements
I had extremely talented and diligent students. They created fairly large paintings to decorate their living and dining rooms along with small nature scenes. All participants told they gained a great experience regards painting and especially acrylic painting and also became better people who had no more signs of depression and troubled mind. Some recovered from anxiety. Art classes always work as meditation with color and shape since creativity takes over our mind and cleans it.
Decorate with your own art
We spent approximately 6 hours doing large decorative floral paintings. No doubt, these paintings will make every space look more attractive and inviting.
Art workshops: one time painting events
I am running workshops once or twice a month. This time, we decided to paint winter landscape, and we think the flower painting would be a great subject for the next workshop. Workshop takes 2 hours in average, and we got done the entire painting during these hours. I’m providing with template to speed up the drawing and planning part. We have more time for application of paint when using a template.
Age doesn’t matter
We had one younger participant, but she left a bit earlier because she already had done two winter and spruce tree paintings with watercolor. Watercolor is a faster medium, especially when painting winter and snow, many areas can be left white. Winter creek is a fantastic subject for any beginning artist.
Please, join us for live art classes and workshops: Sign up here
