Spring season is giving space to summer. We bathe ourselves in light. We walk through spring and summer days very aware of nature’s beauty. This is the most inspiring time of the year, at least for me. It is not only because the nature is so ready to bless us with so much visual abundance, but also because the energy is so vivid and at its highest point: the energy of growth and fulfillment. Every view is framed by grapevines and has flowers scattered over it.
The magic energy
We should capture some of this sparkling energy and preserve it for cool fall and winter nights. I do capture such energy in my art. I love including floral elements in my paintings, whether tiny or large. I believe we suffer from too materialistic life style and we are too obsessed with profits and material gains. That leads to imbalance. Mental side and soul should be loved at least as much as the physical body which gets all attention.
Feeding our soul
Art feeds our soul. You enter an art studio and you will be right away embraced by something uplifting and mysterious. Painting consists of paints, lines, shapes and light rays. How could they possibly take one to another world? They can since we implement ideas, thoughts, concepts and energy along with visible things in a painting. Art crosses the limits of visible and invisible and easily passes the restrictions of reality. I think that makes pursuing art such a worthy experience.
Is painting ever finished?
It is great to look at a finished artwork. I dare to say that the process of creation surpasses the savoring art by the viewer. To be able to create feels like an endless journey to satisfaction. Is a painting ever finished, though? The truth is that sometimes I continue mentally working on some painting even after it has been sold. These ideas will find reflection in my next paintings.
Moving to my new art studio
As I am packing up my studio again, I was just snapping a few pictures of the recent and not that recent paintings. I do sometimes forget how much art I have created and it is nice to refresh my memory here and there. Paintings are sold over time, but what remains is the reality of being able to create beauty.
Enjoy and visit
My new studio will have more space, indoors and outdoors on 2 levels. It will be a great place to create new art and to enjoy the previous paintings. Thankfully, it is a very close move, 7 minutes by foot and 5 minutes by car. Enjoy the images of paintings and visit my new studio! If you are somewhere not that far from Ajax, Ontario, stop by! It is summer, travelling is easy and fun.
We have to keep art supply list short! When somebody wants to start drawing or painting, they sometimes buy too many painting and art supplies, tools and materials, and quite a few of them won’t ever be used. While we need paper, canvas or other surface to draw and paint on, it is important to have that surface which fits your art intentions.
It is also important to find out what the painting style or technique you want to use involves.
My favorite watercolor painting supplies
Buying watercolor paper
Watercolor paper is a very sensitive part of watercolor painting and by choosing the right paper you will enable yourself learning faster and paint better.
There are so many paper manufacturers! Most of thin watercolor paper will not do anything. In order to create beautiful washes, you need paper which takes in water and pigment: thick, heavy, cotton paper. My favorite watercolor papers are Arches brand and Saunders-Waterford. I use the heavier papers of these brands, always cold pressed because I love the grain on paper.
You can do test painting on lighter and thinner paper, it is just so, that you probably won’t get the best results and painting on thin watercolor paper will require more skill and more effort.
Art supply sets
We can see quite frequently sets at the art store: sets of brushes, sets of pencils, sets of paints and sets of canvas and even combined sets of paper blocks, canvas with drawing, brushes and other things. Sets are meant for testing brands and also for as if your comfort: just get a set and no worries.
Universal things never work for specific purposes. You are not going to do a universal painting, but most likely pick your favorite painting subject and technique; therefore, you need specific and tailored things, not anything that says paint or brush on the label.
Art supply setswhich won’t work
Some sets don’t make sense, for example, acrylic paint sets. You will use white color at least twice as much as any other color. Yellow color can be very problematic, and it goes fast, too. Depending on a personal preference, you might never like or find attractive some set colors. We generally do not need any premixed green colors because we can always mix up numerous tones. You will need a few primary colors, black and white. The problem is that all primary colors come in very many shades and tones. It is the best you choose from separate tubes and test many similar colors until you find yours.
These art supplies I use for drawing, they include pens
Quality matters
Craft acrylic paints will not have the same features what paints for fine art. They are generally very liquid. Liquid paints are useful if you want to pour them, but they won’t do well for painting.
Students grade acrylic paints are cheaper and contain less pigment, but more binding and filling substances. Some brands have fairly good paints, but most cheap paints feel like colored pasta, not paint. That depends on color, too. Red and some dark blue colors will be quite fine, but the lightest and darkest colors will fail when mixing.
My favorite art supplies for acrylic painting
Medium quality acrylic paints
Medium quality acrylic paints are fine for basic layers, but they usually have very weak white and yellow colors. That affects the painting to a great degree. We have to remember: as acrylic painting dries, it will become much darker and flatter without that initial contrast which is present on the wet painting. Therefore, we normally use third, fourth and more layers depending on subject. It is a good thing to leave acrylic painting alone between painting sessions to dry completely. Every next layer is easier to apply. Most artists use only good quality acrylic paints for top layers.
Brush sets
Sets of all-purpose brushes are simply useless. We use watercolor brushes (very soft, capable of absorbing and holding pigment and water) for watercolor painting, specific acrylic brushes, they can be as soft as watercolor brushes, but with shorter bristles. You certainly could use synthetic watercolor brush for acrylic painting. Acrylic is versatile medium and you could use fan brush, sponge, rough bristle brush for effects and sponge.
You will need a few brushes depending on painting size, painting subject and detail, but not 10 brushes for a small painting. The brush we use depends on our medium of choice and technique. If you are a beginner, get 3 (small, medium and large) brushes for your medium, that will do and you can buy everything else as you go.
Some of art supplies we used in recent art classes
It’s not the brush, it’s the painter
I use only 2 brushes for watercolor painting: number 12-14 round with fine tip and number 6 round for small parts. I usually paint large size art. For acrylic, I can paint the entire painting with 1 flat brush, or 1 Filbert and then use adjusted fan brush. The main thing is usually to know how to use the brush to its full potential. It is frequently not the brush, but person who paints with it.
The specific supplies you need will always depend on size, technique and painting subject. It feels good getting supplies on sale, but one has to be careful when deciding whether you will ever use these particular materials, tools and supplies. Keep the art supply list short!
Organize art supplies and painting tools
Students love leaving everything in a big suitcase type of bag and then they cannot find anything when they need it. We need not only to organize the folder, bag or case of art supplies, but also our work space before we start painting. All tools, brushes, pencils, all paint tubes, palette, palette knife, sheets of paper towel, mixing pad, paper or plate, water containers, eraser, sharpener – everything must be within reach. You should keep on your direct work space only tools, brushes and paints which you are going to use. Overcrowded work space will disturb you and slow down.
My advice is: have less art supplies, thus, keeping the art supply list short. Try also buying better quality art supplies and keep them neatly organized when stored and when in use!
We are born with the ability to draw, but we lose it as we grow up and get older. Many schools disregard manual drawing as unnecessary in the age of coding, digital art and devices that can do everything.
Sometimes, we lose our ability to draw when one compares their drawing with the best possible drawings on the internet and decides that they will never be able to do such a drawing. Therefore, it is easy to give up what did not even get a chance to unfold.
We forget that it is not what some internet sites will tell you: draw like a master in one day. For some unknown reason, it is believed that art does not take numerous hours of practicing and numerous attempts to improve our own results. Nobody becomes a master in one day.
Who can learn drawing?
Most people who have managed to learn manual writing shouldn’t have any problem with drawing also. In order to be able to just look at something and draw it, you must practice. It will not happen right away, and it will not happen on its own.
In fact, to acquire ability to draw, you must exercise your ability to see at first. If you want to see things artistically, you also need to know what to look for and what to pay attention to. We lose our ability to notice things, as well as our ability to maintain focus when we are always distracted by presence and interference of devises.
Don’t be perfectionist
Cravings for perfection can be irresistible; therefore, many people take credits for a drawing which they have simply traced from a photo or printout, reproduced on a larger scale using grid, display on a wall, or photo editing software. I would still suggest: learn manual drawing and don’t depend on devices. Be driven by just the desire to capture your subject.
Drawing is a base for any more or less realistic painting. Painting is drawing with a brush.
What is important when you start drawing?
Draw big: that is the most important part when starting drawing.
Choose big size paper. For beginners, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 41 cm) is a good size, later go up to 20 x 24 in (51 x 61 cm) or create value drawings as big as your painting is. Even with smaller size paper, draw your subject large. Small things do not allow implementing much of what is important: values, shadows, direction of light and contrast.
In order to show something special that your subject has, you have to stay away from tiny things. Large drawing has also more impact. It is simply much more effective and noticeable.
Best subjects
The absolutely best way to learn about values, shadows, direction of light, contrast, size and shape relationships is starting with still life. Still life can consist of anything: your favorite things, toys, souvenirs, beauty products, food, fruit, vegetables, flowers, dishes, books, clothes, hats, gloves, glasses, interior items and so on. Use your imagination and set up something you like and find interesting.
Fragments of landscape are great. If you are a beginner, choose just a small part of a view.
Buildings and structures are one more extraordinary great thing to draw. They are everywhere, no need to stress out looking for something which is out of your reach. Add fences, fence posts, doors, steps, windows and so on. Perspective is a very important part of such drawings. It is nothing very difficult, but there are things you simply need to know.
Flowers are always easy to find and get, therefore they suit well as subject.
Portrait and figure drawing require a model. Model can be not always available. Reproducing photos does not really make one an artist who can draw human faces and figures, but as a learning exercise it is still fine.
How to start drawing?
We start with exploring our subject visually. We try to look at our subject at least 3 times longer every time than at our paper. Gradually, your hand will do what you want it to do.
At first, we mark up the space with approximate sizes and place approximate shapes.
Try not using eraser until you have established the main shapes and are about to define details.
We always go from abstract to definite and from distant to close, as well as from back to the front if it is a large piece or shows perspective.
Work simultaneously at all parts of drawing until every single part has obtained some definition. Step back and decide what’s to stay, what needs more work and what has to be erased. Clean up unnecessary lines, correct the wrong ones.
How to bring your drawing to a completion stage you want or need
Drawing serves many different purposes.
Drawing as a reminding sketch
Drawing as a reminding sketch is the simplest way to recall view, landscape or interesting detail. For such drawing, only the main lines, shapes and values will do.
Two point perspective drawing
Value drawing for transfer
I have many hundreds of large size value drawingsand sketches. My models can sometimes go bad, such as fruit, vegetables or flowers. For watercolor, we do not want to damage the watercolor paper, and therefore, we improvise and test everything on another (preferably, half transparent) paper. When the subject is complex, or when the potential painting consists of many parts, or these parts must be aligned in a certain accurate way, for instance, in perspective drawing of buildings, street views or complex structures, value drawing is much better reference than any photography.
Such value drawings and sketches can be left unfinished because some parts do not need much work and you can do it directly in painting. We only define more these parts which might be difficult to remember due to unusual shadow play or shape and line relationship.
Drawing practice pieces
To create a quick manual drawing, does not take much time or effort. Focus on something interesting, rather fragment than the entire view or subject. We sometimes want to see whether some part of drawing or painting will work or not. Therefore, we do sketches and drawings of some parts only. That is simply a good practice also. Such drawing can be finished and worked out, or we can leave it at a sketch level.
My drawing of spring lilies for watercolor painting
My drawing of spring lilies for watercolor painting
Standalone drawing as art
Drawing as art which will be potentially framed and hang onto wall or placed in portfolio will require the most time. It will include all aspects of painting, plus line work, nice shadows, strong and zero values, and everything in the middle. It will have good contrast, interesting relationships between parts and more. We will use soft eraser and sometimes stump to spread out graphite dust and create smooth, even coverage of dark areas. We will also use different pencils with different softness grades.
My drawing for watercolor painting, many daffodils, see painting in other posts
My drawings
I usually don’t create just drawings because I probably love color too much. I have many value drawings and sketches, and some are really worked out quite well. I keep them in large 1 meter x 60 cm folders. I can always re-use whatever I like or consider suitable. My drawings are usually large and very large, attached images are up to 51 x 61 cm or 20 x 24 in and larger.
I don’t mind spending time on a manual drawing because that works like a plan for painting. While you draw, you can figure out all accents and contrasts, as well as see how and if your concept even works. I will eventually turn some drawings into paintings.
Any of these drawings might become paintings, this still life drawing is 22 x 29 inches ( 56 x 74 cm)
Everybody can draw
We can draw before we can speak. We can draw even if we cannot speak or express ourselves in writing. We can still draw and recreate memories when everything else is gone from our mind.
Research confirmed that people, who had lost big part of their cognitive function and memory, could clearly remember what they had been drawing many years ago: places, events, occasions and people. They test this at University of Waterloo,, Canada. Researchers also advise people to draw and paint their adventures and life experiences because they will never forget what they created artistically.
Don’t wait: start manual drawing today! I simply would love that everybody experiences the huge pleasure we gain from simply drawing and sketching. Register for my art classes: Registration for art classes
Flowers and paintings are a natural fit. Don’t you think? I started to take some pictures, and there were flowers which I had used for watercolor class as a reference material nearby. Colors came out more balanced, and the ambient impact was flawless.
I decided to sell both: flowers and plants as we move ahead. I think it is a great idea because I have numerous plants and numerous paintings. In fact, I have many hundreds of paintings.
Enjoy the recent paintings
This time, you can enjoy my recent flower paintings surrounded by more beauty of live plants and blossoms.
The beautiful contrast between daffodils from the garden and spring magnolia painting, or maybe it is a compliment?
Acrylic paintings of roses with hyacinths, the large one is 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm and the pink rose is 12 x 12 in or 30.5 x 30.5 cm. It is the same subject, but different look
Lovely colors, lovely paintings: bright white calla lilies and the pink rose
Drawing for the 3-hour rose workshop is visible behind the painting. I painted this pink rose as a demo for flower painting workshop. Colors of painting and live daffodils look gorgeous together.
New priorities in art instruction
I also rescheduled and regrouped my priorities in art instruction. When it comes to art instruction and teaching, I enjoy students, who have genuine interest in learning something new and in developing their skills as opposed to those who just hope that painting paints itself. Everything requires work and efforts. The result of flower painting is very pleasing.
Small groups: big attention
My space can accept quite a lot of students, but I decided to have rather individual and private classes or small size groups. That gives me the opportunity to review all important aspects of getting somebody started in drawing, watercolor and acrylic painting. Large groups suit more the art entertainment, like painting in bars and restaurants. They don’t care about quality or skills one develops, but I certainly do.
Experience helps
Also, individual or private art classes require very high level of art instructor’s skills, and not everybody has them. Well, I do. I have huge experience and I have definitely explored practically everything when it comes to creation of a drawing or painting. I am extremely good at drawing, as well as I have worked out my personal watercolor and acrylic painting style. It sure takes many years, not hours.
Preparation of an art class
I know how people use to think that art class does not require much preparation time. It is straight the opposite. I frequently adjust not only the painting subject, but also level of difficulty, and pay attention to availability of materials and reference materials. That can take sometimes 4-6 hours. The follow up classes on the same painting subject take less preparation time, but it is never less than a few hours. I have to review what every student has achieved so far, what and why they need to work more at. I switch from one painting subject to another if student or group cannot handle it.
Advantages of private or individual art classes
I believe, private or individual art class is the best solution for people who want to seriously engage in art or feel uncomfortable with other people around them. It will definitely lead to faster achievements and results. More ideas about painting flowers with acrylic: Create beauty
Please, review schedule and let me know if you are interested in any art classes: Sign up for classes
I am always happy selling a painting to people, who love art. You are welcome to contact me via Contact page and visit the studio at any time which suits my and your schedule.
Meditate with color and line and treat yourself with an extremely wonderful experience!
Copyright notice: Copyright of displayed paintings, drawings, images of work in progress and images of finished paintings belong to artist Inese Poga. The use of painting and drawing images is prohibited without a written permission. That includes no pinning on Pinterest.
Spring paintings feel like a good choice when nature awakes
When else if not now to engage in creation of spring paintings? One can tell how much I love spring by just having a look at what I have painted recently: spring flowers, spring scenery and spring landscapes. I think I feel seasonal changes on a mental level very strongly. I cannot imagine I would be painting snow right now. Still life in that regard is the most neutral subject, but I felt I needed something more impressive.
My personalized realism
Most people believe I paint reality, but I do not. I use quite frequently real things, like I used real daffodils for the front part this time; however, I always beautify the reality and make any subject my personal reality. That means I give the subject my colors which I love at that moment, enhance the layout, and add extra contrasts or values, just to make everything more of what I experience at that moment.
Nature does not always cooperate
The truth is the spring has been slow again in Ontario. We even had very winter-like weather a week ago. Therefore, to facilitate the feeling of blooming and warmth, I just paint it. I decided to mostly post one image at a time whenever possible. Most people never read posts, so, they only have a glance at the featured image and move on. That is why most paintings, advice and images which are in the article go unnoticed.
Taking pictures
Taking pictures with iphone is very difficult. The extreme contrast is fine for any regular pictures, but not art. My solution is taking pictures with backgrounds, extra items, paints, brushes and similar. That works for the most part, but the painting area one works on, can be very messy sometimes. I mean, there are paint tubes, dirty paper towels, plates with leftover paint, brushes, sponges, jars with dirty water and all kinds of other things. Therefore, some pictures look messy by accidentally displaying some item which completely doesn’t fit the view.
Just imagine how it looks on my wall
My pictures still display more contrast than they should. Everything is usually well-balanced in my actual painting. I work in layers and for many hours in order to achieve the color balance. As you know, acrylic paints, at least the ones which are available in Canada, become much darker as they dry. One has to calculate that in when applying paint. It can happen so that sometimes white or yellow paint is very weak, and fixing the value imbalance requires extra work.
Available for purchase
Any of paintings are available from my studio. Paintings which are displayed in this post are 16 x 20 inches or 41 cm x 51 cm. I have to mention that because pictures look all the same on the internet. Anyway, enjoy the Daffodil barn and spring paintings! Daffodil barn got lots of great comments on Facebook and Fine Art America site this time, in particular, in acrylic artists’ groups. Please, see links to other posts and FAA sales site.
