Inese’s blog

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Stick to your plan and pay attention to reference

Acrylic painting, flowers

Having a plan, sticking to it

Sticking to a plan is a key also in painting. Whatever we are doing, we need some kind of a draft in our head or some plan which we keep in mind. However, it is easier said than done. That especially refers to beginners in art. I have noticed that most people want to draw or paint without any plan and without any thinking.

Elements of a painting

Perhaps, when starting out, it is hard to know what parts or matters we should pay most attention to. There are lots of simple things which make the subject look multi-dimensional. By far, those are not only darker and stronger values. Strongly emphasized edges or absence thereof, strong dark areas behind the lighter ones also contribute significantly to the spatial perception, not to mention color if it is used.

Things to do and not to do

I was told that the darkest dark should meet the lightest light when I started painting about 50 years ago. It can be tough to implement, especially without real reference, when we have only a photography or a sketch. I am personally not excited about patterns which repeat in a regular rhythm such as petals or trees along the path, blooms on a branch and similar things which we unintentionally place on our canvas when there is no firm plan or sketch.

Acrylic painting, spring magnolia
Pink spring magnolia blossoms is an acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm canvas, Spring mood, light colors and feeling.

Reference is a guide

Why am I saying: pay attention to reference? Because most people don’t do that. When we are just beginning the painting, they would have a look at the reference image or set-up. After a while, I notice nobody looks any more at the reference. You have to! The only exception is when it is a completely abstract work which has been drafted in one’s imagination or when we paint from memory.

Painting or drawing from memory

Painting from memory takes practice, and beginning artists cannot handle that too well. Reference or value drawing (if you have created such) has all the answers: where to use dark color, where to make strong edge, where to wash out edges to lose them, where to place highlights and what exactly the shape of something is.

Preferred brushes

Knowing what values go where is extremely important, much more important than what brush to use. However, talking about brushes: always use the ones which you feel comfortable with and which suit the size of the area you are working on. Very simple. We can use no brush at all, but sponge or palette knife, that is a matter of preference and choice.

Try no rules, but use principles

I know how some art instructors want to make rules about everything. There are no rules in the use of tools. It is very obvious that using a very wide brush for tiny spot is simply difficult and vice versa. I know a lot of artists who create the entire painting with just one brush. I do that sometimes, too.

Acrylic painting, pink rose
Pink rose, acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm, this painting is also a demonstration artwork for art class.

Real versus photo

So, the conclusion is: do not change things around dramatically or completely when the work is halfway through and always keep an eye on the reference. If something does not work at all, it is better to start over again. That’s why it is so rewarding to paint from real subjects, live is live and photo is just a photo. Live comes with smell, touch, very visible shape and very noticeable values.

Purple pansies, acrylic painting
Lovely purple pansy faces, acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in canvas. Bold color, large flowers

No pressure

Do not put pressure on yourself and painting: there are moments when we need to stop and make a decision about the next step. Paintings and drawings really hate when they are not treated with due respect. It is much better to allow everything to develop in a natural way. For illustration, I have attached the recent flower paintings. There are many more, but they just need finalizing touches. You know: painting is never done, right?

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How to create better art with less effort

Watercolor sketch, line and watercolor landscape, one point perspective

Everything requires effort

Is it even possible to create great art with little effort? Yes, and no. The most important part is probably wasting less time and materials. We need a plan to achieve that. A good plan for creation of a painting means a sketching, drawing or a value sketch. In my personal experience, it is pencil, pen and watercolor sketch which is the best preparation stage for a painting.

Not only result matters

When somebody wants to apply for classes I am usually told this: “I’d really like to paint”. Something like that. Points to some landscape or floral, or still life. Basically, everybody is interested in the result and not that much in the path which led me to it. I spend a lot of time practicing and exploring the subject from different perspectives.

Exploring art supplies

If you are one of those artists-to-be who jumped straight to brushes and did not take your time to explore the elements of an artwork, I can understand you. People usually think watercolor and sketching is for watercolor artists, who mask out white spots or those who get ideal washes just by swinging around the brush with some paint on it. However, there is a missing link between the idea of our art and it’s draft.

Seeing subject artistically

The real life shows that any potential artist and anybody, who does art as hobby, would have gotten much better paintings sooner if they considered sketching as an important step. That refers to painting with any medium: watercolor, pastel, acrylic or oil. The truth is, they all originate in one place: in our brain, through our eyes and senses. Therefore, we should exercise our visual abilities and our visual perception. I’m talking more about importance to learn seeing in my previous posts:

Attraction of drawing and Overcoming painting issues

Lack of values, proportions and contrast

The problem with not well developing painting is not only the technique of applying paint. That usually works fairly well after a few attempts. The problem most often is in our eyes: we do not perceive values, shapes, proportions and potential composition; therefore, we cannot come up with a neat plan to make painting elements work.

Watercolor sketch

This sketch became a large watercolor painting afterwards

Advantage of sketching

Sketch is done much faster than a painting. Sketching out objects or just values, putting them in a draft composition allows making a decision momentarily if that will or won’t work. Sketch isn’t the entire painting, but by doing it one learns much more about their subject. We find out that we need to look at it more carefully, more intensely, more accurately.

Watercolor sketch

Thin and thick black pen and watercolor for creation of perspective sketch, 1-point perspective

Watercolor sketch

Rough black pen and watercolor wash sketch to use as reference for larger acrylic painting

Skills are based on knowledge

I can compare creating art with writing. When people say “I don’t want to sketch and I don’t want to know anything about drawing”, it is like somebody who intends to write a novel would say “I don’t want to know anything about spelling and grammar. I just want to write a novel, so give me the idea and off we go”. The entertaining painting events also do a bad service: not only the entire idea does not allow anybody to really learn anything about creation of art, but the approach is just so wrong and materials are so bad that many people get a wrong idea.

Sketching and drawing for creation of painting

Art is more than moving paint around canvas

When somebody is just moving paint around the canvas in hopes that it miraculously will take the right shape and become the right color, I must say, it won’t. Painting is a summary of things we put in it. It is also the energy we put in it. Therefore, the sooner one learns about values, relationship between light and dark areas, values, softness or roughness of edges, proportion and compositional layout, the faster their paintings take shape and have volume. The missing link between our idea and its incorporation into artwork is the value sketch. Creating value sketch and color sketch is not a waste of time and paint.

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Want to create something beautiful? Start painting

Acrylic painting, Spring tulips,art for sale

You always wanted to draw or paint, it’s time to start painting

Sometimes, this idea might seem too complex to pursue, but, in fact, all it takes is starting to draw or paint.  Simply get your art and – start painting. Learn as you go. You will need patience, courage, willingness to experiment and accept your mistakes. You should be ready also to put efforts, work and time into your learning process.  Nothing happens on its own and without actually doing it. Any drawing and painting starts with being able to see and use our senses. It does not start with knowledge of techniques and all kinds of tools and mediums. We acquire this knowledge gradually as we gain experience.

Experience and lack thereof

I have given countless classes and workshops over many years. It actually feels like I have been teaching arts all my life. It is obvious that all people, who would love to start painting or drawing, do not get past the first problems.  They give up this fantastic activity before they familiarize themselves with easy fixes. We can fix anything in painting or drawing along the way when it comes to creation. It sometimes only takes a few brushstrokes with dark or light color.

First we learn seeing

The important aspect of engaging in visual arts is the ability to see and to understand what one is looking for. Most people are sure that they have good enough eyesight and that they can see everything. That is not true at all. While we are seeing things around us, we are not seeing them in an artistic way because for drawing or painting we need to sometimes abstract the view or define the detail. I suppose the inability to perceive values, shapes, colors, lines and their relationship, as well as correct scale, depends on whether one is aware that these things exist.

Don’t trace, don’t copy

It’s not rare that artists simply copy an image or photo and then transfer this copy onto paper or canvas. Many artists do a lot of image editing with special software so that the image is ready to copy and to apply paint on it. That supposedly saves time and efforts and makes painting process easier. If you want to ever draw and paint without fear and with confidence and know why you are using a particular technique or step, go with freehand drawing and observation straight from the beginning. It will pay off in longer time, usually not in the first hour.

Drawing takes time, but it’s worth it

A complex drawing might take me between 30 minutes and 2-3 hours. When the drawing, value or tonal sketch is done, I have everything what I need to proceed to painting: values, contrast, highlights, composition and correct correct scale. I’m usually doing drawings in size of actual paintings as opposed to thumbnail sketches. I can do whatever I want with my sketch afterwards: use it for watercolor, pastel or acrylic and more. I can even flip it or use just some part for my next painting. I don’t need editing, adjusting, copying or enlarging. Therefore, if you want to be ever free from computers, screens, measuring devices, grids, start learning to see.

Poppies, acrylic painting art for sale
White magnolia, acrylic painting

Pay attention to reference

I have noticed this many times: students do not see the reference photo or picture in an artistic way. They see a flower, a tree or fence, but that’s not the most important aspect. I am using frequently real objects: fruit, vegetables, flowers, flower pots, leaves, cups, bowls, glasses and similar things  for still life, and that can be a problem also. Until you start paying attention to shadows, values, correct size and scale, potential composition, contrast and layout, drawing doesn’t happen. Everybody can draw and paint anything as soon as they understand what they have to see in the subject.

Calla lilies, flower painting, art for sale

Draw any subject

There are countless tutorials. They usually show how to paint one single subject.  If you first learn to draw, meaning draw anything, you can choose any subject without limitations. You just need to know what is important about the subject and look for it. That means paying attention to things which other people don’t even know about.  Start with placing your subject in front of you and look at it. Look carefully at dark and light spots, visible lines and shadows, direction and size and notice how light makes a difference. Starting with very light and general outlines try to get the exact form. We go from very general shapes and lines and move towards details. Repeat until the drawing becomes three dimensional, not flat.

Acrylic painting, Spring tulips,art for sale

My approach to creating acrylic flower paintings

I have elaborated a new approach to acrylic flower painting since many students want to learn painting with acrylic, but their results are quite often disappointing and don’t make them happy. We use the large-scale drawing, transfer it onto canvas and then follow with paint. This new approach uses the specific features of acrylic paints: short drying time, ability to work over dry layers; and turns them into the biggest advantage. Results are quite stunning. However:  results are great as long as one follows all steps and uses multiple layers of paint.

Lilies, drawing for acrylic painting
White Easter lilies, acrylic painting, art for sale

Everything matters

So far, I have given only live art classes because they make a lot of sense. Explanation and even watching somebody else painting do not always lead to good results. It matters how much water or how much paint, or what medium on what surface one uses. It matters how fast the previous steps are done and it matters how you move the brush and mix the paint. Everything matters, and we can correct mistakes right there  as they happen. It is great that somebody can explain why some things work and why some others don’t by doing it in the classroom.

Red poppies, acrylic painting, art for sale
Purple pansies, acrylic painting

Group art classes

Private art classes

Original acrylic paintings

View my floral art collections here:

Art collections by Inese Poga

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The magic attraction of drawing and watercolor

Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory

Pencil and paint become magic tools

Drawing and watercolor painting take time, and I was recently short of it. However, we created sketches from real fruits in our watercolor class. We did also a large-scale reference drawing for our still life painting, and we are about to finish the chickadees and birch painting in the evening class.  Creating pencil sketches is the best you can do to make painting easier.

Drawing therapy

I paint and create drawings even when I cannot do anything else. I paint and do drawing when I feel desperate, disappointed with the reality of life and when I am having mood swings because of the strong medications. It can be a bit difficult to get started, bet when I overcome the resistance, it is a pleasure. I don’t always care how great the painting or drawing will be or how perfect the color combinations will come out. Art is so therapeutic that I cannot compare it with anything else.

Creating still life drawing
One set-up of still life which resulted in reference drawing to be used for creation of a painting

Advantage of live classes

When we compare online, over-the-internet and live art classes, I must say nothing can replace the live interaction and face-to-face learning. Why? Because I can see right away what’s causing some problem: too much water, too dry paper, too less paint, too much paint, bad quality paper, brush or paint.

Large still life drawing
Any of these drawings might become paintings, this one is  22 x 29 inches ( 56 x 74 cm)

When it comes to watercolors, everything matters, yet, the quality of paper is the most important part. I always use the same paper that I give my students which is quite large size, approximately 16 x 18 in or 41 x 46 cm. This time it was 18 x 24 inches or 46 x 61 cm. Big practice painting is much more beneficial.

Fruit sketch
Drawing still life: pen and watercolor sketch
Transferring drawing for watercolor
First step in still life painting is sketch: we did a very light line drawing and began to apply some paint
Watercolor layers
This is just the start, but we will finish this painting during the next class

Process

First we create the drawing and value sketch with all shadows and halftones. You can do that in pencil, using pen or even pen and ink. We transfer the drawing onto watercolor paper using very light lines. Once paper is wet, we cannot erase anything. We do the first washes and add layers and more layers until our paintings looks completed.

Sketching and drawing for ageless brain and memory

Don’t go tiny, experiment with large sizes

I have seen over the years how tiny and small paper prevents one from creating good art. If paper is too small, it will be definitely too difficult to apply paint on it. If you are watching somebody paint online and you do not have a very thick, heavy and good quality paper, you can kill yourself, but you simply won’t achieve what they are showing you. Saving on paper is a mistake because thin paper won’t allow to use multiple washes. With bad paints, you won’t have great results and transparency also, so, it’s best to have the decent ones.

Drawing real things

I love drawing, therefore, I’m also teaching students to draw from real life, not photos whenever possible. I believe that drawing from real  subjects results in the best art because it gives one absolute freedom of interpretation. I find drawing easy because I was learning drawing not from photos, but from real subjects and set-ups. I am simply good at it and it is very helpful not to have to use computer for editing.

Enjoy the benefits of creativity

I hope that more people will pick up pencils and brushes following my advice and get started with drawing and painting. There is simply nothing like it. It doesn’t demand one to be in good shape or to be dressed up or look perfect, it doesn’t even require being in a good mood. That comes as an additional benefit along the way. I’m also seeing art as a tool to cure addictions and prevent from falling back into them. Creativity is  a powerful tool which we all can make use of.

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Giving up is not a solution, acrylic painting tips

Tips for acrylic painting

I’d love to share some acrylic painting tips. I hope these painting tips allow to achieve more and paint better.

Giving up before seeing potential

I feel sad when some students discontinue classes just after one month. I can see the potential in attempts, but people with little experience in drawing and art usually don’t.  All it takes is usually adding a few dark and light spots, adjustment of edges and straightening out a few shapes. In fact, any acrylic painting can be whatever the artist expects it to be if we keep working on it and don’t stop prematurely.

If you know how to, you can improve anything

I’ve said that before: nobody becomes master within a few hours. Nobody. I also do not want students comparing their first attempts in art: this makes absolutely no sense. There was a reason artists used to cover up their art with a cloth and show it to nobody until the artwork was considered ready and finished. There are easy adjustments which can change the painted image to a great extent. We add tiny bit of sparkling light, sharp edge of very deep dark area, and everything improves.

Patience and ability to take risks

Patience and ability to take risks are two very necessary features for anybody who’d like to enjoy creating visual art. I have told this before: time-lapse demos make people believe that this is exactly the way one paints: one, two, three and here we go. In reality, we sometimes need to go over and over one spot for many times. With acrylic paint, there are no limitations of adding layers. We need to apply many layers to achieve volume and visually attractive effect.

Painting tips for acrylic painting
Once you know what principles are applied to creating a painting, just follow the steps and use layers and painting comes to life.

Applying color versus building it up

Smearing on paint in one color is not the same as building it up. I have quite often seen transparent trees and flat buildings, not to mention flowers without any volume. That means, there was no dark color blocked in underneath and the light color was used only in 2 tones. That cannot make a structure or subject look like it is having dimensions.

Think layers

Many people have difficulties thinking in layers: the most distant, underneath it all layer, the middle value layer, the defining layer and the highlighting and detailing layer. It is in the human nature to try getting it right away. I’ve observed how students sometimes start with details which should be implemented at the end. This approach is fairly essential in acrylic painting because we have to work from dark to light and from distant to close: that’s how the image evolves.

Painting tips, Garden, demo painting
Demo painting for garden landscape, basic layers

Keep the color on 

The other problematic issue is holding color on the spot we need it to be. We are practicing painting on a spot techniques. Quite often artist gets carried away and keeps blending and moving paint around until it results in everything being the same color. It is very important to learn using brush for painting on a spot which is like running on a spot: brush it on, but don’t move all around the canvas.

Brush must be clean

Finally, as I’m washing brushes after classes, I can immediately tell which brushes were used by me and which by students. My brushes are almost clean or have the last color in it. Students’ brushes are usually full of many colors, quite often dark colors which we applied at the beginning of the class. That means, the brush wasn’t cleaned during painting. That results in muddy and dirty colors which don’t shine and lack brilliance. We must clean our brushes frequently!

Tips for acrylic painting
We go layer by layer until the painting takes shape

Painting is easy and extremely rewarding

We must have patience and allow for some time to get where we want to be. It depends also on what our goal is. Any painting is nice and great if we do not expect it to become a top art just after a few classes or painting attempts. We can notice fear and indecisiveness in brush strokes which lack confidence. Therefore, taking risks and experimenting is very important, especially,  in visual art. We have to be persistent and even stubborn. I hope my painting tips help you!

Inspiration: