Original art Archives - Page 4 of 9

December 12, 2020October 17, 2024

With love and embellishments of frost

Bright winter day

After the snowfall and storms, the day comes to greet you with a bright and sunny smile. Every worry is buried under the healing cover of white snow blanket, and you just walk by wondering how overwhelmingly beautiful a simple tree can be. We can love or hate winter, but sometimes, days happen when love shines through millions of ice crystals on tree branches embellished by frost. It is an understatement to call such landscape beautiful because it consumes one entirely and echoes in the heart and resonates with the soul.

All is white

The best feature of winter snow is to beautify all ugly and awkward-looking fall remains. The view is undisturbed and travels far away, and everything we see is endless path of light, topped with the purity of transparent sky. I delved into such winter landscape and transferred it onto canvas. It took me a while. The view is not complicated, but acrylic paint is quite stubborn. It requires five to eight layers to reflect the deep whiteness of snow and the strong shadows of trees. Every tiniest spot on a painting requires attention and work.

Extremely limited palette

This particular painting is created using extremely limited palette: black, white, brilliant blue and burnt sienna. The green color is a mix of burnt sienna, blue and white. Only four colors will create a great winter painting because we can adjust all proportions of the above-mentioned colors, thus, getting numerous shades of grey, blue, green and white.

Screen settings

Now, what you will see on the screen depends on your device and its settings. I looked myself at pictures on the iPhone, and they have extremely strong contrast. On the large monitor of my big computer, everything is more balanced and not that exaggerated. Regardless of your device, you will still have an idea of what the painting is like.

Long history

Just like many other of my 20 x 16 in or 40.5 x 50.5 cm paintings, I started this one last year at a full day workshop. Therefore, this painting has a very long history and processing time. I didn’t get it done and adjusted completely last winter, so it was left in a pile of paintings waiting to be either painted over and changed (subjects I have lost interest in), or finished (subjects which look promising).

Three versions

After I took 3 sets of about 30 pictures each, I finally got some with acceptable color balance. Accidentally, having taken a picture of only half painting, suggested me I could use this painting for 3 prints: vertical with the front trees only, square with the main portion of painting and the horizontal which is the entire painting. Each one looks interesting, indeed. I know other artists do that, but It’s the first time I will be offering 3 prints of the same image.

Winter birch acrylic painting by Inese Poga — Vertical version of White birch trees, bright day

Shop some art, make my day

I have decided to ship only paintings which somebody requests to be shipped. The main reason is that my art looks much more attractive in reality when the actual size makes extra impact on the viewer. I am well aware that not everybody is ever be in Canada, Ontario. Yet, many people live here and have no problem stopping by at Inese’s Art Studio. They are my main customer and thanks to people , who live here, I can paint and purchase new art materials and paint more. It’s not a whole lot of money, but it is a support. If you feel you like some painting, don’t hesitate, let me know! We can always arrange something.

Link to my store on this website: Shop special offers

I hope to be in touch a few more times this year. With love, Inese

November 18, 2020October 17, 2024

The joy of color

Color is a big part of any artist’s work if they paint in color. We love some particular colors and we feel uncomfortable with or even dislike and hate other ones. I am very much convinced, though, color is secondary to value, otherwise black and white drawings and paintings wouldn’t make sense. Color gives my paintings mood and, sometimes, it’s the main element of the artwork. Usually, change in color will change the entire painting. I work very hard to achieve color balance and fine-tuned transitions in my art.

There’s more to art

However, people often notice only color, especially when art is viewed online. The online display has gone through many devices and you can see art also using whatever device you have. The most affecting factor is the size. 10 x 10 in art looks the same size as 10 feet by 10 feet painting online. The impact on viewer is totally incomparable because we have taken away all presence of this art. There is so much more to art than color. Lines, brushstrokes, edges, smoothness or extreme textures, story the painting tells and subject of it.

Unchanged nature: subject of my art

For realistic and semi-realistic art, color is interpreted depending on our subject. I’m looking for warmth in my art, as well as energy which makes us happy, maybe thoughtful, but not upset or more depressed. Therefore, I choose to paint nature. I love unchanged nature: flowers, wild flower fields, creeks, country roads, old country barns, small birds which I can watch in my backyard. This subject is very inspiring for me, and I’d say for everyone who looks at it. About 3 decades ago, I was very much in painting posters with faces and figures, I have done a lot of fashion images, too, but at some point, it became boring and moved on turning to nature.

Original, exquisite and recognizable

Early on, I made it my point not to get influenced by anybody else. It was easy before the internet came around since one cannot be present everywhere. After I moved to Canada, I realized that artists were literary copying photos sometimes. It had been the hugest no-no back in Europe. I still feel like it’s not a good art when one has to copy, trace and pretend this comes from the artist, and not from computer, printer and projection device. Therefore, I’m always trying to distinguish myself from the crowd. Many of my paintings are imaginative views of non-realistic settings, but I like the subject to be recognizable. I also want people to notice immediately that I have painted one or another artwork.

My painting techniques

I use techniques which I have developed during many years of creating art. Nowadays, you can find out quickly how somebody does whatever they do, but I prefer to go for my own discovery. My textures are most likely created with different tools and mediums. My color mixing definitely doesn’t fall into the regular color wheel dependence. I believe every artist has to find their own color palette because that will work always. I do not follow the trends, but frequently, some part of my art hits the trendy side anyway.

I currently sell originals only

The displayed images are of original paintings. Original means this painting is exactly as I have created it. My brushstrokes and my original color transitions are visible and touchable. That also means you can feel the energy and my touch. Original art is alive with everything that’s gone into it. I am very meticulous about what I want in the painting, even when it is a small painting with simple subject. I work tirelessly until I have achieved exactly what I wanted my painting to be. The images have a bit too much blue and green than my art. I use grey, brown-grey, but camera gets colors differently. What you see depends on settings on your device also.

Birds and other enjoyable themes this season

It is great one can rotate paintings on their walls. It is also fantastic one can create displays of large collections. Prints are fine for some areas and specific rooms, but when it comes to classiness and elegance, originals beat prints 100%. Classiness is already built in the original art, so you don’t need to add extra work to make this art look impressive. I have to display some paintings more than just one time for a few reasons: lots of people never read or look at something closely, attention is the hugest deficit nowadays, and holiday season is short. This type of paintings is sold only during holiday season.

Art prints

I can offer to select printed art products from Fine Art America site which has a huge choice of products which can be viewed in 3 dimensions.

Art collections by Inese Poga

My winter collection:

Winter paintings by Inese Poga

Enjoy! I hope somebody loves my art so much that they are willing to go a step farther and purchase it. The special offers are here:

Original paintings for winter holidays

July 29, 2020October 16, 2024

Summer poetry in colors and lines

The poetic medium – watercolor

Watercolor is a very poetic medium. That’s not only because of its flow and easy transition of colors, it is also because nothing else captures our mood, idea, concept or scene as impressive and as fast as watercolor does. Managing classic watercolor painting takes mastery. We can apply it very abstractly allowing water and pigment to create the initial shapes and values, or we can use watercolor in many layers making it opaque and creating strong dimension and volume.

World watercolor month

World watercolor month is getting close to its end. I usually do not devote or create specific paintings during July, but keep using it as I normally would since it is one of my preferred mediums. I like applying watercolor in many different ways: from very abstract to very detailed and from almost animated to very realistic. Our painting style is usually a summary of our personal objectives and intentions. Generally, I do not aim for a very lifelike look, but rather impression my artwork makes. I participate in shows and exhibitions and I want my art to be visible and standing out among hundreds of other paintings. It quite often does thanks to style, colors and large size.

Good energy

Please enjoy the gallery, and you might like to purchase some art or art print which comes in numerous options for frames, mats and printing surfaces. Print is not original, but in specific spaces it definitely serves the purpose: it gives a space complete look and never stops inspiring and being beautiful. There is never too much beauty in our surroundings. Good art is valuable because of energy it sends out. Energy presence is almost touchable in my art.

African violet, watercolor, 20 x 14 in or 51 x 36 cm

I used to have numerous African violet plants. A few survived, and these are the ones I have been painting.

Garden roses on fence were painted in winter of 2019.

Probably the saddest time ever. since my mom passed away in February. All paintings of this time are so uplifting, light and cheerful. For balance.

Summer pansies in purple, watercolor painting for sale

Purple pansies, 20 x 14 in or 51 x 36 cm

Pansies belong to my favorite painting models. Purple fits them well because of all variations. Purple pansies are somewhat abstracted and painted using watercolor wash and a few strong edges.

The summer still life paintings have been in creation for a long time. I started them probably in 2016, but they got their finishing touches only now. They both have very vibrant colors, just as summer vegetables do, and everything which has great shape worth capturing, suits my still life well. Enjoy!

Summer still life, 20.5 x 16 in or 52 x 41 cm and Kitchen still life, 18 x 24 in or 46 x 61 cm, both watercolor

Please, visit my Fine Art America site for all kinds of artistic products:

Art collections by Inese Poga

July 21, 2020October 17, 2024

Still life with personal touch

Blue, green and orange still life by Inese Poga

This post has many pictures, make sure to check them out. I decided to devote a special article to my still life paintings since it has been an important genre for me for many decades.. In languages which I speak fluently (native Latvian, German, English and Russian), still life is called as follows:

Still life: English

Stilleben: German

Hатюрморт: Russian

Klusā daba: Latvian

Nature morte: French

Naturaleza muerta: Spanish

Natura morta: Italian

Wikipedia gives a brief historic overview of still life as a genre, and I don’t think I need to repeat it.

Etymology and direct meaning

Translating literally, still life means dead nature in French, Italian and Spanish and Italian and Spanish have presumably borrowed it from French. The direct meaning of English still life is “life which is not moving and making no sound”; not moving and silent life – in German. Russian uses a loanword from French; hence French was spoken in all higher educated circles in Russia for quite a while until the Socialist revolution in 1918. Still life in Latvian means “silent nature” referring to rather making no sound than not moving. I find this very amazing. I do stick in my still life paintings with “nature that isn’t moving, but is visibly alive”.

Spring tulips and cup with color background

My still life

As a native Latvian, I have formed my understanding of still life based on classic Latvian art. I especially adored Latvian art which was created between 18^th and 19^th century and around the beginning of 20^th century. Latvians used to go to France and Italy to study art, therefore, the influence is undeniable. The part I never liked and to which I developed internal opposition was the use of mainly cold raw umber and rather muddy earth and dirty blue color in still life art between the WWII and 60-s of the previous century. However, they worked well in combination with grey color since grey has many thousands of shades. When I was younger, I couldn’t stand such color combinations.

The beginning of my personal style

I initially was somewhat really naturalistic. I could sit for hours in the garden or in my room and draw leaves, plants and flowers between age 10 and 16. I drew also people and faces of my sister and other relatives, but for still life, I didn’t have to ask anybody to sit and stay there for a few hours. Back in 60s and 70s of 20^th century while Latvia was still in the Soviet Union, I could mostly use what I got from our garden. Vegetables and fruit lasted longer than flowers, so, I developed a special love to them. I used just pencil and watercolor on a bad quality paper. I didn’t have lots of art supplies, often not even eraser. That taught me drawing so that I wouldn’t need eraser. I didn’t have obviously camera and printer, and nobody knew anything about the internet yet.

The subject of still life

Still life with fruit and flowers, watercolor

I have most often certain requirements when setting up a still life. I use something man-made, such as bowl, cup, jar or mug, box, books or similar items. I implement some flower or leaves, or the entire plant whenever I have it, and that establishes the living part of my still life. I also love adding either fruit or vegetables since they are always available. I sometimes cleaned out the fridge, and my husband used to joke that we didn’t eat for the entire month while I painted my still life. Big is definitely more impactful, and I go with full sheet watercolor paper (22 x 30 inches or 56 x 76 cm) when I have a good quality paper. The same about acrylic painting of still life. The small size is about 16 x 20 inches or 41 x 51 cm with just a very few exceptions that are even smaller. Painting big size art is much easier for me and I always prefer that assuming I have enough time and appropriate art supplies.

A very attractive genre

Over years, I have painted numerous still life paintings. Many have been sold as prints. I cannot include all still life paintings, but just a few in one post. These paintings are recently finalized, but started even 10 years ago. The “Spring tulips and cup” painting was done like that. Pictures I was taking years ago, do not look that good any longer, but I cannot get better ones from framed art which is under glass. For these paintings, I had only my sketch or drawing for reference.

I could finish this painting because I had created a value drawing in the same size what painting is: 20 x 24 inches or 51 x 61 cm, therefore, I had reference

Watercolor painting, still life — Still life with blue, 25.5 x 20 in or 64 x 51 cm

It is usually difficult to get true pictures of paintings and how the viewer sees my paintings, depends on their device. I certainly tried. I have 4 monitors at 2 computers, and every image looks very different on each one of them. These paintings are available as art prints also. Thanks for reading!

More about my still life art, click on image for article:

Watercolor still life of fruit and vegetables

Please, shop for art prints of all kinds and other art products:

Art collections by Inese Poga

July 5, 2020October 17, 2024

Pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps

Morning pansy, pansy watercolor painting

Summer flowers

When else to use live flowers as a model if not in summer when everything is in full bloom and getting more beautiful by hour? Although, we’ve been hit by a heat wave, there’s plenty to paint outdoors and indoors. I won’t write a long text this time because pictures will display the painting steps I use and also probably inspire somebody to get a brush, pencil and watercolor paper. There you have it: I’m presenting pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps.

Petunias

Petunias are usually in every garden. The pink and purple petunia painting is more abstract. I do usually create a drawing on a separate paper for reference and not to damage the watercolor paper with erasing anything. I transfer my drawing onto watercolor paper using daylight on a glass door and how it perfectly shines through even thick watercolor paper.

Summer flowers, watercolor painting steps

Watercolor paper

Watercolor paper is one of the most important aspects of watercolor painting. I started Bright petunias believing that I was using Arches watercolor paper. After a while, I realized it didn’t work like Arches. If you have painting experience, you know that Arches facilitates beautiful washes and easy flow of paint. It is possible to lift paint also. I discovered that this sheet came from leftover Saunders-Waterford paper. Some 10 years ago, it used to be a good paper, but it gradually became worse and worse, and the last batch they sent me was so bad, that I will simply never buy any Saunders-Waterford paper again.

Washes with big brushes

I always start with basic washes which I am applying to wet paper. Any cotton paper needs to be wet in areas which you intend to work on, except for fine details which we add at the end. Then I gradually build the shadows and shapes using multiple layers of paint. My pictures show how unsuitable the paper actually is. The only plus is it doesn’t buckle; therefore, I don’t have to tape it down as with cheap watercolor papers.

Paints and brush

I always use round brush with fine tip, size 14. I always use large brushes as long as possible for they hold a lot of water and pigment, yet allow getting extra fine edges and lines, too. I switch to number 6 round brush with fine tip only at the end when I need some tiny elements painted. I always use St. Petersburg original and authentic watercolor paints. I’ve never had better paints so far and I have tried very many. I’d give the second place Da Vinci paints, but they don’t sell them any longer at my art store. St. Petersburg paints have all the best qualities of watercolor paint thanks to the manufacturing process and raw materials.

Bright petunias

The result could be smoother, but for an abstracted painting, it works. I use colors intuitively and carelessly actually and lots of water. For color testing, I am making use of extra sheet of cheaper watercolor paper because it shows the exact color I will have.

Morning pansy

For Morning pansy, I followed exactly the same steps. I’m creating drawing, transferring drawing to paper, making paper wet around the central flowers, starting with applying paint around the main part and allowing it to dry before I move on and start putting paint on flower. Then, I create leaves. The entire painting requires going over and over some parts. At the end I’m adding water drops. In the base of every single painting are the same principles: want impact, create values. Color to me is always secondary and I use that color which I prefer at the moment.

Result

Morning pansy, watercolor painting by Inese Poga — While I didn’t try to paint reality since I never do, colors and shapes work extremely well in this painting.

Inspiration

I think that could inspire you to paint your own summer flowers, but I will sell later drawing templates on this website. My art is always based on drawings and I like it that way. Such art reveals progress and refinement of my personal style. I’ve done abstract watercolors, too, but they seem to be way too simple and never a real challenge. I love tricky things and exploration of effects and somewhat realistic art allows me doing that.

Note: Please, respect my copyrights, and since these particular painting steps are not intended for copying, use your own drawing, but apply process and advice.

Art prints, all my paintings which I have uploaded to Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Category: Original art

With love and embellishments of frost

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The joy of color

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Summer poetry in colors and lines

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Still life with personal touch

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Pink and purple summer flowers with painting steps

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