Category: Nature

Posted on

The warm side of the grey scale: conquering procrastination

Moonlight, acrylic painting

The reason I decided not to do any demos on a separate canvas for every class is simple: there have accumulated large numbers of somewhat finished; half-finished, not at all finished medium size paintings. For that purpose, I invented my changeable demo board which can tolerate everything: all kinds of colors and themes. It takes a lot of work to bring these unfinished paintings to some completed condition. On the other hand, I do not always feel like I would be interested any more in either that subject, scene, or the work itself. You know this state: some time later, next week, next month, in the fall, etc. Procrastination is a tough thing to conquer.

We all evolve, it is not surprising that our priorities or preferred methods do not remain attractive forever. I suppose anybody who has done painting or writing over long period of time, has experienced the state when one has to really wonder what was that I liked so much in this picture, scene, poem, article, story or sketch. We have learned along the way, and the former passions pale out when compared to the most recent discoveries or achievements. To some point, that is also true when I think about some people who I was so passionate about 30-40 years ago. Were they worth the tears cried out? Oh my, I have to laugh now remembering the stuff which seemed like a tragedy back then.

Golden sky, fall painting

The same laws of affection and love regulate my overall attitude to themes and objects which I would like exploring closer and drawing or painting. The colors I loved 30 years ago are not matching the color scheme I feel comfortable with at the moment. I would not say my drawing style or general approach has dramatically changed, but there certainly has been movement and development. I am one of those people who just took the pencil and started to draw, it was very simple and easy, and everything just fall in place as I moved the pencil around. I don’t actually use eraser when drawing, unless I would like to place something significantly higher, lower, more left or right. My mom had preserved portraits and illustrations I did when I was 10 (that’s 46 years ago), and I don’t find anything wrong with them. I suppose, I dared a lot because I had not studied anything art related. It was all fresh, all from scratch, and thus, totally unaffected by any other opinions.

These were my reminiscences from far away.

Today, I am facing a lot of work. Some of previous paintings are so highly textured that it is impossible to paint over the initial image or replace it with something else. I have been thinking also about adding some mixed media parts to such works, well, assuming I’d ever have time for that. I am not sorry to through out something which is completely out of line, but there is sort of appeal in previously used canvas. Some kind of challenge, too: is it possible at all to make something nice out of this mess?

Paintings in acrylic

That way, I have been adding some brush strokes here and there, and some paintings are actually getting done. Interesting enough, they seem to be unusually grey scale for me. Grays have abnormally huge scale of possible shades. It is interesting to observe what some particular stuff might result in.

Moonlight, acrylic painting

The attached images might inspire somebody to also finish up their started works.

It is always fairly difficult to get on the photo the exact colors or look. I’m trying, however, no online image can ever replace the actual painting.

 

Posted on

My rainy day sketches and paintings sparkle with light, and we have finally summer weather

Sketching in watercolor what is the advantage

Sketches sparkle with light probably because the weather has been no fun. The Latvian weather has been very unpredictable. Since I am always drawing and painting mostly from life and using real objects, that was quite upsetting. I did not get all depressed, but moved on as much as I could.

For time saving purposes, I am sometimes outlining and drawing with black pen. I do not have to use glasses that way which is great because glasses can destroy proportions and distort the visual perception.

Be curious, be creative

I love cheerful colors!

We were doing parrots in the Exotic birds drawing workshop. Everybody loved them!

Sketches sparkle with light
Sketches sparkle with light

I was very happy also that I finally obtained the St. Petersburg watercolor set. I wanted these paints ever since I was a small kid when I saw one artist painting with them. I got them now at the age of 55, actually my birthday is just some weeks away, so it’s a nice birthday gift for myself. These paints are said to be the best in the world just because they are made of the purest and best really natural ingredients. I love these watercolor paints: they have excellent transparency,  brightness and they are very pure.

Be curious, be creative

The sun is beating down today, so we are having some Mexico weather this week. Isn’t that crazy how I was freezing in my leather coat just a week ago, and it is advisable to wear nothing more than a swimming suit at the moment? Too bad, no swimming pool anywhere here, but I suppose, I can survive that, too!

Sketching in watercolor what is the advantage

I am a child of the sun, my horoscope sign is leo, and this immediately changes my inner settings. I don’t care how hot it gets, whenever it is sunny, I am happy.

I would love to express the hugest THANK YOU to all those fellow bloggers, friends and students who did not stop encouraging me during the bad weather period and are still following my trip to Europe, Latvia.

Posted on

Try something different: painting with sponge

Spring forest, sponge painting in watercolor

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. It is important not to overdo right at the beginning. Sponging takes one away easily, and in no time we can lose focus and forget where exactly we intended to place any particular color.

I did not plan these paintings. They are very spontaneous, and 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 way of layering watercolor. Simply don’t forget to test your paint 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 painting in watercolor, trillium forest

Sponge works on wet paper well (wet in wet application), and we can create 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.

Painting with sponge in watercolor, forest creek

Forest creek, I used sponge for background.

Layering quite a few colors with sponge is interesting: we never know how it will look at the end! Using just a few colors is beneficial with sponge painting. If you test them before and see that mix well without causing muddy look, just go ahead.

Sunny forest path, watercolor with sponge

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

I did these paintings during private painting classes sitting next to my student. That allowed me seeing immediately what they did correctly and what needed extra adjustment. These paintings are perfect for any beginner in watercolor painting. There is hardly any need for drawing, just some areas need that. Painting with sponge in watercolor will make it simple for any beginner and help loosen up.

And finally, large watercolor painting Spring forest: watercolor painting using sponge, 18 x 24 inches or 46 x 61 cm.

Spring forest, sponge painting in watercolor

Please, read more articles, all you need is typing the term in the Search box.

Private art lessons

Original watercolor paintings for sale

Posted on

Uniqueness of emerging painting styles and the seeming simplicity of winter scene

Creek, winter, trees, acrylic painting

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.

Creek, winter, trees, acrylic painting

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 project, art of students

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.

 

Posted on

I love birds and Natural Awakenings feature my painting on cover

Watercolor painting of summer meadows

Once I started to paint and draw  birds, I found unexpectedly a new interesting set of subjects. There’s so much to explore! My first paintings of birds were very approximate. 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 somehow like that stuff which I am going to draw or paint. That’s pretty much the reason I stopped painting human portraits.

Chaffinch in the grass watercolor painting
Blue finch, 12 x 12 in or 30.5 x 30.5 in watercolor mounted on wood panel

Birds in watercolor
Mostly blue background for lovely birds

Watercolor painting, 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.

Watercolor painting of summer meadows
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.