Category: Nature

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Adding color to winter days

Watercolor mixing, floral watercolor

The warming color

Adding color to cool winter days feels right. Or a bit better than simply doing nothing. I was hoping to get done much more, but darkness is very restricting. Even though, I’m drawing and painting at electric light, that has impact also because color changes. Sensitive colors and shades change to a great extent in different light, and the only correct painting light for me is the daylight. I’m obviously experiencing shortage of it and using warm and bright colors to offset the shortage of natural  light.

Floral watercolor paintings by Inese Poga

Colorful illusion of spring

As long as I remember myself, I never liked winter. I feel that I deserve way better than this freezing air and this wet snow or icy wind gusts from around the corner. I am not trying to get up when I should, and staying up much longer at night, that’s not helping. My productivity is down in winter and I find all kinds of excuses to justify the wasted time. It might be so that I’m completely dependent on seasonal cycles of the nature. I’m definitely a summer person, and darkness and cold are completely arguing with every living cell in my body. Well, I know, winter will pass, too, and painting in bright colors takes me to spring.

Watercolor painting, multicolor tulips
Spring tulips, 14.5 x 10.5 in or 36.5 x 26 cm

Art as a rescue medicine

My only rescue medicine is art. It’s impossible to imagine how I would survive these dark months without colors, paints, sketches, drawings, ideas and paintings! Thankfully, these things occupy my brain and mind completely taking into a meditative state of no reaction to surroundings, problems or issues. I believe art is the best way to fight these upsetting and lazy moods. The only times when I experience real flush of energy are before art classes, workshops and events. The opportunity to make canvas blossom gives me wings and I’m bursting with fresh ideas and suggestions. I’m very generous when it comes to sharing ideas and new knowledge.

How to start drawing and painting

Add color to your day

“Add color to your day” project is coming along, but not without a resistance. I will eventually figure out how to implement three 1.5 hour sessions during the week in order to use only watercolor paints, allowing them to flow, taking away bad emotions, and therefore these sessions will be providing people, who have similar winter moods, with positive energy and opportunity to overcome the situations they’ve stuck in. That might be health or relationships, or our own nature, it doesn’t matter what exactly. Color and art can cure everything, even people, who are unable to physically perform something difficult. New images for these sessions are on the way.

Yellow daffodils, watercolor painting by artist Inese Poga

A little bit of warmth

To share with everybody a little bit of warmth, I’m attaching a few watercolors. These are layered watercolors without using masking fluid. For some images, we created pen outline drawing at first.

Winter watercolors

January watercolor in warm colors: we just kept adding different layers and glazing, and adding more and more of them. I know we should have used something like masking fluid, but there was no time to wait until everything is dry.

Watercolor painting, divine inspiration

Pen and watercolor sketch of poppies: it’s cold outside, but painting in warm colors brightens up any place, any mood and any day.

 Original watercolor paintings for sale

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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.

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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

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Private art lessons

Original watercolor paintings for sale

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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.

 

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I love birds and Natural Awakenings feature my painting on cover

Watercolor painting of summer meadows

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

Birds in watercolor

Mostly blue background for these 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.

Enjoy!