fall art Archives - INESE'S ART STUDIO

October 28, 2020January 4, 2023

No-rush life mode and energetic value of art

Distractions

These days, there are many distractions which do not allow working peacefully and devotedly on whatever we’d like to accomplish. I never give up painting, unless it’s so that I cannot get physically to my easel or painting desk. That is rare. I am working on additional paintings which will be included in the fall/winter sale event. It was supposed to take place in reality, but it’s safer to do this event remotely in the current situation.

Things which depend on me

I get done efficiently everything which directly depends on me. I wish everything depended directly on my own abilities and decisions! Just as always, iPhone gives me hard times. Especially when painting is large, it seems impossible to just snap a realistically looking picture of it. iPhone tries to enhance everything and I just don’t need that: contrast in excess, all blue or all yellow image, too light or too dark parts. These pictures look good on the phone screen, and that’s about it. Once I upload them on computer, it feels like disaster. It feels like that’s not the same painting.

Energetic value of original art

I post only original art on my website. That means I have created every single drawing and painting from scratch. There is no other one exactly like the ones I have painted. Original art is unique, one-of-a-kind and it displays features which are not visible or not present on a print or digitally multiplied image. Original painting has energy, and this energy vibrates in the space and captures the viewer.

Original art feels alive

Original painting upon completion starts living on its own. It’s a new energetic entity, and it has become a part of the universal energetic exchange. Art prints are copies, and they carry only the energy of materials and machines applied in the printing process, there’s nothing alive about a print. Yet, it is a good solution for decorating some certain spaces.

Texture plus multilayer paint

Many of my paintings have texture under multiple layers of paint. Textured spots enhance the image and usually look very attractive. It is more difficult to paint on a textured surface than on a smooth one. However, when used correctly, texture adds to volume and interestingness of art. I always use many layers of paint allowing them to dry between painting sessions. That also adds color play to painting and works towards an impressive impact. Photo cannot react to every tiniest nuance on canvas, and therefore, it goes almost unnoticed online.

Display and photo features

To be honest, if you haven’t seen art in person and with your own eyes, you pretty much haven’t seen it. Online is ok, and it can be anything: much better or much worse in real settings. If this pandemic had happened 50 years ago, we couldn’t even dream about connecting online and being present where we cannot be physically. Just keep in mind that no image can be like the original from which picture was taken. Every device, every screen will change it.

No-rush life mode

I’m living in a no-rush mode and moving ahead at my own pace. That also means putting no extra pressure on myself. Days are getting shorter swiftly, and I can do only what’s possible. That doesn’t involve lowering my personal standards, however. Every single one of my paintings involves a lot of work, many hours, numerous tubes of paint, countless decisions and millions of brushstrokes. It shows in the finished product. I actually wouldn’t change a thing when it comes to my art. It deserves attention and it deserves love. Slowly, but surely: art sales will take place.

As always, for prints you go to FAA:

September 30, 2020January 4, 2023

New fall art, online art show and sale

Finding the right conditions to work

I’m very pleased I can finally publish my newest fall art. If you read my posts, you probably know, we have to go through a live-in renovation. It hasn’t been easy, in fact, I had to take a break from anything I was doing for a while because it just wasn’t possible. I can only work in silence and when there’s no direct presence of anybody. I normally do not answer phone and also do not talk while painting. I’m all consumed and taken away by the creative process. I paint in silence without any music, but I open the patio doors and listen to birds and other sounds of nature if the weather is good.

Strict preventive measures prevent public access

My show should have been on from October 1^st. After visiting the exhibition site, we decided not to go ahead with the real show. We have new restrictions in Ontario, and it basically comes to this: if hardly anybody is attending the exhibition site and they have to go through a strict procedure to be allowed on the premises, there’s no point in putting up a show. It is time-and effort-consuming process, and I just don’t see any value in exhibiting my art at this time.

Show and sale move online

The show will be all online. People, who reside in Ontario and can make an appointment to come to the studio, one person at a time, would be another option. I have numerous Thanksgiving pieces of art: from ecological prints to handmade unique cards, boxes and more. The ecological prints are created using nature materials like flowers and leaves and arranging them on thick watercolor paper. The process involves boiling and drying and then framing this art or using it in mixed media pieces.

Time-consuming creation process

My large paintings usually take up to month to finish, some – even longer, like 2-3 months. For medium size art, it’s approximately 2-3 weeks of work. I have never painted anything just in 1 sitting in acrylic. That is because of acrylic paint properties. Acrylic paint dries darker, much darker with some colors, therefore, I am glazing and adding new layers as I go. I want my art to be something impressive and something where one can literary feel like they are walking into the painting. I also take about 200 pictures of each painting, download, cut, resize them, then watermark and chose the most appropriate. That’s why I usually cannot post sooner than every 2 weeks at the best.

The birch valley

Fall art for sale — The birch valley is large painting, its size is 81 x 66 cm or 32 x 28 inches. Here it is on the easel. On the monitor screen, a picture of another fall painting is visible.

Fall art by Inese Poga — Birch valley, textured, large acrylic painting. As always, I have painted around the edges and painting is ready to hang on the wall.

Fall in the hills

I suppose it would look great on any wall. It depicts excellent mood and I think my color choice supports that. The first layers on this canvas were put down in 2015. It’s amazing how long it took me to add the final touches and turn this art into something I wanted to.

Fall in the hills, fall art by Inese Poga — Fall in the hills, beautiful soft colors and good composition

New red barn

And finally, the “New red barn’ which we started painting during art classes exactly a year ago. Just recently, I decided to finish it up so that one more painting is completed. Students were rushing, but I decided to work out this painting properly by adding enough layers and some detail.

Online art sale — The new red barn, acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 16 in or 50.5 x 40.5 cm

Beauty has no price

I assume, my paintings when sold from the studio are not expensive. I don’t think you know anybody who’d work for $25-$40 a day and add even materials. Compared to all abstract and animated, as well as very amateurish art out there, my paintings are very recognizable on this background since I use certain colors, paint certain subjects and have a distinctive personal style. The truth is that fewer and fewer people can draw or create somewhat realistic looking art nowadays, and that works for me and lets me stand out.

Updating website and tackling shipping

I will work towards making my sales pages better in the upcoming weeks. They need update big time; I just didn’t get to that yet. Unfortunately, shipping is always what Canada Post charges me. They give great deals to huge customers so that their clients get free shipping, but a single person business pays way above the global average and also about 40-50% more than in the US.

Only original art

I am only selling originals for now. The new fall art looks amazing. For prints, I can order them myself and then resell, but that’s a risky process. I trust sites which specialize in creating and framing prints, such as Fine Art America, for instance. They do good job and nobody could ever compete with options for frames, as well as prints on numerous materials including wood and metal.

Art prints and other artistic products:

October 29, 2019September 19, 2021

Artworks, brushworks, paintworks

Golden sidewalk, fall painting in acrylic

Essential aspects of artworks

Painting isn’t just brushing around. Many different things go into a single painting. That’s why nobody can learn painting within a few hours.

Painting process includes idea, concept and composition, choosing and mixing colors or deciding on palette, paint application using different tools and brushes of all types, brushstroke, blending and creation of values, contrast and adding highlights. The painting process also includes understanding of abstracted parts and backgrounds, ability to see and understand what is more important and what should be left out of painting. Each one of these aspects involves continuous work and ongoing elaboration.

Loose isn’t sloppy

I sometimes get the impression that by liking loose painting style, it is understood that we can apply sloppy, coincidental and not targeted brushstroke (when there is a brushstroke). In fact, any part of putting paint on canvas must be targeted and have some intention behind it. Moving paint around is probably the worst habit one can have or develop. The first step is always to learn practical use of brushes and tools. That refers to painting in any medium.

Flat brush for acrylic painting

Flat brush is magic in that regard that it can carry out numerous functions. Flat brush has a few surfaces and edges. We can make it work fast and create smooth color and values transitions. We can use two different colors or shades of them on each side of the brush. We can draw thin lines using the edge of flat brush and holding it so that it is perpendicular to canvas. We can use it for easy blending with clean water and as a dump brush. We can use any edge or side of it to paint small parts. I assume a decent flat brush an essential tool for acrylic painting,

Fan brush, sponge and paper towel

Any of these tools can be used for textured prints and also for quick cover of large areas. It makes sense to learn using fan brush in a sensitive way. Most people won’t rotate fan brush and won’t use just a part or corner of it, We use in classroom fan brushes which I have specifically cut out with scissors to create more impressive prints. Such brush also controls amount of paint better. Paper towel is our best friend with any medium. It is very important to have many sheets of paper towel around the painting surface as soon as you start working.

Understanding values, contrast and direction of light

If somebody has done a lot of drawing and sketching to establish the composition, focal point and also value pattern in a painting, they will understand these aspects much easier. I find that a value sketch is probably the most useful. Once we have done a value sketch, we do not need even a photo reference. Value sketch will identify all areas which are of great importance. I know that most beginners assume ability to draw and creating value sketches in color a waste of time. Yet, I can honestly say that nothing else helps more than such sketch.

Fall sunset, acrylic painting — This painting which we did in art classes, uses contrasting colors with distinctive temperature, as well as extra simple composition.

The most important part of painting

The most important part of painting is decision making. When somebody has plenty of experience, they apply paint in an automated manner. It is predictable what each color combination, each type of paint application and each element of composition will do for our painting. Until we have gained sufficient experience, it is mostly guessing whether something will work well in your painting or not.

Acrylic painting, red country barn in fall — Red barn, maple gold, acrylic painting on canvas

Red barn, acrylic painting — Red barn, maple gold painting with small bit of background

Layer it on

Acrylic is a friendly medium. Acrylic paint can be applied (in fact, should be applied) in many layers. Each layer will bring out more or neutralize colors and values appearing underneath. If canvas fabric is visible in the final version of painting, it is clear that one has used too less paint and too few layers. That is a common beginners’ mistake: to believe that one layer of paint will do. One layer of paint is not sufficient, especially, because acrylic paint becomes flatter as it dries. We have to go over and over some part of painting for a few times until we have established the correct proportion of colors and values.

Golden sidewalk, fall acrylic painting — Golden sidewalk, acrylic on canvas. We were painting Golden sidewalk during adult acrylic painting classes. This is my demo painting, I always add more layers after class.

Golden sidewalk, fall painting with acrylic — Golden sidewalk painting got lots of attention on Facebook. I must admit it looks very good also in reality.

More about recent acrylic painting: Paintings in progress

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

October 17, 2019December 12, 2020

New fall paintings and art in progress

New art, new fall paintings, new vision

I have painted recently and completed quite many new paintings, especially fall art and three-dimensional textured paintings. Colors are so bright and uplifting outdoors, and it is difficult to resist not capturing one or another landscape. I have to still work more on making my art visible on the internet. It is not enough to be present on Facebook and a few print sites, like Fine Art America and ArtPal. Just as I am writing this, somebody ordered a print from Fine Art America, my bright pine cones under snow.

Managing single person business

Realistically, I get to paint a lot, and I create new art and paintings almost every second day. It’s completely different story with putting this art out there and letting somebody know it is available for purchase. I am only one person doing everything. Sites like Facebook don’t get that. They tell me that Walmart started to use Workplace app and their sales grew big time. Well, just think about that. How does one single person’s tiny business compare with insanely huge company, such as Walmart? It doesn’t. I have no employees; therefore, I cannot connect them to my workplace. I find that funny how they apply to everything one-size-fits-all.

Your interest would be greatly appreciated

Regardless of anything, I keep painting. I certainly would love to sell something before Christmas, so that I also can enjoy the fruit of my difficult, time-consuming and labor-intensive work. I usually sell at least 1 painting around this time. I should sell 100 times more paintings this season to make a space for new art, that would be terrific. I sell quite a lot of prints on different sites, but the profit from print and art product sale is like $1-$5. It is very little, yet, it means somebody loved my work so much that they were willing to spend some money on it.

New art and paintings in progress

I have brought to completion two very textured paintings: the “Rocky stream” which is more abstracted and impressionistic, and “Birch light” which was totally done during art classes. I had placed the textures using modeling paste before, since it takes quite a few hours to dry.

Birch light, acrylic painting 20 x 16 inches — Birch light, acrylic painting, 20 x 16 inches

Rocky stream, acrylic on textured background — Rocky stream on heavily textured background, 20 x 16 inches; in fact, all recent paintings are created on textured background. It looks excellent in reality, and texture is still visible on a photo, too.

Autumn path, acrylic painting on textured background — Fall path, 20 x 24 inches acrylic painting on highly textured background

Some work will be still done on the “Fall path”. Yellow color is tricky with acrylic, and it takes numerous glazes. I think the color combination works extremely well, and it will fit very nicely the late fall mood.

My next art show will be on November 23. I hope local people will attend. I have many pieces of art in different sizes and done with different mediums. There is so much to choose from!

All art products, including many kinds of art prints can be purchased from FAA:

Ajax, Ontario, art classes and winter workshops

As the weather gets cooler and less pleasant, it is great to be part of our student groups. It can be your “me-time”, it can be your stress relief, it can be the best event in the entire week as my students told me. We have created numerous paintings during my art lessons. Some are more finished, some are less done. That always depends on group. Whatever you learn, stays with you forever. Whatever you draw or paint, will always delight your eyes.

Link to art classes and masterclass: Sign up for art lessons

August 21, 2011April 3, 2022

Pear still life and fall art classes

Still life, – classic or modern, abstract, or realistic, – I adore this subject in any form it’s created. I took my time this summer and painted a good size watercolor on heavy Arches paper. For this particular still life, I used real pears and a cloth next to the window. My intention was using bright and sunny colors as you can see in the resulting painting.

Pears, still life — Golden pears still life on my easel, just finished

It is more my personalized realism painting than pure realism. I chose the placement of fruit and light reflection so that the entire painting shines through flow of colors and shapes.

In the upcoming art classes, I am teaching still life, floral painting and landscapes. My goal is to teach students so that they can discover the excitement of drawing and painting real fruits, vegetables, flowers, street scenes, nature scenes without reproducing photos, computer printouts and similar aid. We learn creating a genuinely original art since it originates in our imagination and perception.

Most students are beginners or have very limited experience, but everyone has shown remarkable results so far. There is also usually a group of students with previous experience in painting and drawing. They will also learn numerous new techniques and discover new ideas.

Classes are designed for children 12+ years, youth and adults.