nature Archives - INESE'S ART STUDIO

February 28, 2025February 28, 2025

Sunny colors in spring landscape with barn

Why do I paint what I paint? Why this landscape? I have done commissions when somebody else orders the painting subject and colors. However, when I choose the subject, I look for something which feels like me, and I go for it. I pay no regard to all classic or whatever painting rules. Instead, I usually guide myself with what feels right and suitable to me. That includes deciding when the painting is done.

This particular painting was started last year, around this same time. I did the first layers and left it since other things came up and I had to deal with them. As I have mentioned before, I have quite a lot of paintings which are in their initial stages. I don’t push myself – if I don’t feel like completing some painting, I leave it alone.

Recently, I decided to add some layers and see what I could do with this landscape. It looks good and has lots of appeal in the final version. Each painting undergoes numerous transitions, from the first blocked in layers to final details. I regret that colors are both, more yellow and bluer, and the red tones are sort of missing on photo.

Spring landscape painting with barn, painting steps

I paint what’s around me and what I know well. That is would be – forests, parks, backyards, creeks, trees, plants, flowers and garden. These subjects are applied in different combinations from still life to landscape and everything in the middle. I am not close to large water, and I absolutely do not have any mountains here. However, nature provides me with endless inspiration, especially trees and plants.

Spring landscape with barn, black and white version

Black and white version of spring landscape on studio wall

Just like always, I love checking out how the black and white version of this landscape looks. I think it is quite impressive, with all values in correct places, and certainly, it’s possible to see the landscape, barn and daffodils clearly. One can tell it’s spring even without colors.

Barn landscape painting, smaller version

Barn, spring landscape painting on studio wall

The situation with art materials and paints is very tough here. I have run out of most good quality paints; there’s no white paint left. I just use what I have, but I will definitely need to get some new art supplies from somewhere soon. I dislike internet shopping a lot, and I always preferred to see in person what exactly I was buying. No such option here right now.

Enjoy my new spring barn landscape with white daffodils and weathered fence. It looks sunny on the wall, indeed. Also, this view takes us to a beautiful day when blooms are out and leaves are opening. Let’s hope we get into the nice spring weather sooner!

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January 13, 2025January 13, 2025

Creation as art therapy

Harmony and balance – main goal of creation as art therapy

To regain harmony, balance and self-fulfillment, many people are trying to find simple ways to cure their stresses and change the rushed lifestyle in nowadays unforgiving world. The most healing, as well as most accessible path is using creation as art therapy. You don’t have to be an artist to find huge satisfaction, calmness and feeling whole again since creation of art, painting, drawing, sketch is already art therapy. If you never tried, maybe you should do that right now while it’s cold and not that great outdoors.

Landscape painting, acrylic sunset painting

The healing potential of creation as art therapy

The healing aspect of creation is based on the idea that it involves mind, soul, emotions, feelings, activation of memory pathways, harmonizing movements of hand with brush or pencil, thus, stimulating self-expression, intuition and getting in contact with person’s inner self. All of that gives us a chance to free ourselves from never ending stresses, being in competition with everybody else, and getting rid of emotional blocks. The other aspects of creation of art are ability to focus, improvement of memory and decision making.

Relaxing creativity

Creation as art therapy involves fantastic relaxing potential. Especially, if you prefer using color as the main feature in art. The colors we feel as ours, disclose the subconscious state of our mind and lead to transforming experience. Creation of art involves all of our brain processes, and that manifests as a healing effect and feeling of inner balance. Participation in art classes is one way to facilitate the creativity and learn how to implement it in our life.

Power of colors

Each color possesses unique energy which affects us. Working with colors releases different energies. For painting, we usually go either with color of our subject and reference, or choose it intuitively which is what I do most often. Choice of color can be frequently subconscious – we feel attracted to some colors and avoid using others. The same goes for subjects which we feel are ours.

Blooming wildflower fields, summer landscape

Blue and green – colors of life and harmony

Blue color calms and facilitates peacefulness decreasing stress and anxiety. Look at the blue sky, which represents endless calm. We surely can paint sky and water as blue as we want. Green color symbolizes the energy of nature, harmony and balance, healing and increasing the feeling of the inner calm. Green color means life and renewal, just like in spring everything comes back to life. Green is dominant in nature during spring and summer, it’s the most healing color, the best art therapy.

Orange and red for passion

Orange color is the color of enthusiasm, living energy and creative intentions, it gives us vitality, helping to open our mind to new ideas. Red color activates our energy, power and passion, especially passion to live and create. Red color also can be a manifestation of subdued emotions and inner restlessness. I have rarely used only red, orange or yellow, but these colors are very essential for fall landscapes where they are represented in abundance.

Yellow for joy, purple for magic

Yellow color is associated with joy, self-awareness, mental clarity, it facilitates positive attitude and perception. Yellow brightens our space and sparkles up feeling of pleasure in our mind. Having different shades of good quality yellow paint is absolutely crucial for any painting. Purple is color of spirituality, intuition and depth of soul. Color of mystery and magic. I have rarely used purple as a dominant color, but it’s useful for softening green. Purple has its place in art therapy.

White and black

White means clarity and purity, new beginnings. White is unavoidable in art. We need to brighten and lighten other colors, and pure white is very important for watercolor and acrylic painting. Black color represents completeness and strongly indicates value, shape and form in art. I don’t use black color in watercolor at all, but as a mixing component in acrylic. Strong indication of values is important in any painting.

Painting, creating and using colors

When we create a painting, we rarely use paint straight from the tube. It’s important our painting has light and dark values and warm and cold colors. Therefore, most often it is a mix of colors and different shades. Yet, the overall impression usually shows a tendency towards some particular color palette, like I love combining all kinds of green with blue, white and yellow. Fresh and uplifting, at the same time, emotionally loaded and peaceful. Fall paintings have numerous red, orange, yellow and mixed shades. Saturated colors, warm, bright and vibrant.

Different preferences

I have written before about my grey and subdued color periods, as well as blue, green and red. Over time, the perception of color becomes very refined. The color choice usually reflects the mood of that time. Grey looks fantastic in art. Sometimes less color makes painting much better. However, there are seasons when I feel I need the brightness, the strong, bold colors. Nobody says we have to stick to something one. In art, we experiment, explore and test. Time spent painting becomes meditation and art therapy.

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May 30, 2022October 18, 2024

Colors of summer, colors of garden

Farden painting, acrylic painting, garden flowers, garden fence

It happens every spring and summer: my students are very interested in painting something great which involves bright colors of garden or wildflowers. Therefore, I get my canvas and demonstrate patiently once more the attractive colors of garden which we see in spring and summer, and numerous plants which we can imagine.

It’s interesting that I have finally many students in private art classes. That’s quite amazing because usually groups were filling first. Certainly, private class is different from group class, and preparation thereof is quite time-consuming. We spend on one drawing 2 to 3 art classes and on a painting at least 3, but very often – 4 classes. That means I can finalize the art within 4 weeks.

I published good, very large drawings in the previous post, and it looks like they didn’t attract too many viewers and I didn’t hear the gasps which follow when somebody looks at the actual drawing.

While there’s often no other way, presenting art on the internet is boring and it never causes the same reaction as when looking at art in reality. I’d say, closeness and experiencing size of art really matter, and – to a huge extent. I usually do identify sizes of paintings online, but what you see on your screen is the size you experience. On the phone, the size becomes tiny. Needless to add that everything is extra bright on the phone and that might not always suit the painting. I do miss the chance to meet people in person, to share the thoughts behind each drawing or painting and steps of its creation.

Garden painting in acrylic, garden flowers, garden fence

I’ve been still working on putting together our house and starting a new garden almost in a forest, quite literally, and to me, this seems a never-ending task, at least for now. Therefore, I’ve posted hardly anything anywhere. You might think: what’s a big deal about giving a class, but for me it is a time-consuming preparation process and major input of energy into the actual teaching. I take teaching very seriously, just like I take seriously everything that matters to me.

Colors of garden, acrylic painting on canvas, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm. The size of this painting is 24 x 18 inches or 61 x 46 cm. I always start a painting on pre-painted or color-primed canvas. It’s easier to paint like that for everybody.

I don’t want to disappear completely from the internet space, so I am posting at least one new, just finished painting. I do adjust myself to requirements of the demo, and this particular subject is strong, bright and very present, and so are the colors of garden. Colors of garden in any case can be breathtaking.

I hope you like the pictures scattered around this post, and I’d love nothing more than to sell something from my art collections. It’s been a long time since I had a live show, but one is coming up this fall. It was cancelled due to pandemic.

Colors of garden, garden flowers and garden fence painting

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I hope you have a good time at your place and enjoy the recent painting and other artworks!

April 25, 2022February 2, 2025

Playing with green color

Green spring landscape, painting in progress

Green is a color which we feel extremely attracted to in spring. I do feel that way, and maybe you do, as well, if you’ve had many months of grey and white view out of your window. I celebrate the return of green color since it uplifts my mood and promises nicer days ahead.

There are numerous concepts and assumptions about using green in art. Many artists avoid it almost completely not be accused mixing their colors properly. Just like with everything else, it’s better to have our own take on that and experiment.

For acrylic painting, there’ s practically no need to buy green paint. Why? Depending on your personal preference, it’s possible to mix up any green shade from other colors, including three primary colors. I don’t like aqua and phthalo too much, and although, they are strong and good for cooler areas, I prefer using the quieter tones.

After 5 layers are applied on the textured background

I love black plus yellow plus touch of blue, or blue plus burnt sienna and touch of yellow. Here and there simple blue plus yellow work well. The thing is we can have cold and warm yellow and very cold and warmer blue and that changes the green we are having. Every one of colors we get has some good potential for applying it. Where? It always depends on the project, intention and technique.

After 7 layers of paint or so

It is advisable to break up the green spaces with calming tones of purple, red or cool/warm brown. My most favorite set of basic colors for spring is blue, green, grey and some warm brown, burnt sienna or white. It is a calming combination and surely conveys the concept of an artwork well.

After adding light color to selected areas

I had a 24 x 20 in or 61 x 51 cm canvas from 2015. Everything is expensive right now, and that is an extremely high-quality canvas. I cannot recall what exactly my idea back then in 2015 was, but I decided to reuse it. This canvas had quite visible textures underneath of a few layers of grey/green/blue colors. I couldn’t change the tree shapes or location dramatically, the same goes for the water patch. Therefore, I adjusted the textured image and after a few layers it started to come to life.

Spring creek landscape painting — Closer view of top and middle parts of painting

Green spring creek — Closer view of top and middle parts of painting

It’s interesting how many starting-out artists believe they’ve got to finish their painting in one sitting. That is the damaging impact of paint nights which are not art classes, but entertainment, and tutorials which use rather tiny canvas or paper. If the size of painting is quite large, it is physically impossible. Every single spot need attention and work. Acrylic paint requires timing the paint application. That means, we cover some areas very quickly and for some – we wait until the previous layers are dry. That way we get our colors to shine and shapes to work well. That translates as painting in small segments and retuning to them layer after layer.

I called this painting “The moment before”. That includes everything that happens before the nature explodes in brilliance of blooms and abundance of green in leaves and grasses. The photos are taken with iPhone and the camera of 13 Pro Max is quite disappointing. The actual painting has no real yellow in it, and the green is well-coordinated in cool and warm areas. You might not see it that way, but anyway, that’s how it is.

The moment before, 24 x 20 in or 61 x 51 cm. Enjoy!

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November 19, 2021October 10, 2024

Fall landscape, dazzling colors

Fall landscape, fall trees, acrylic painting

Fall landscape is especially attractive painting subject when days shrink and it gets pitch dark already around 5 pm. The added bonus is bright color palette and the options of mixing colors are endless.

I’ve been painting away, but since the daylight is sparse and ends soon, the hours I can work on a painting are short, too. If you have ever done acrylic or oil painting, you probably know how wet paint is reflected in artificial light. To the extent that it becomes impossible to paint.

If you favor walks in the nature and you are just like I am – always enjoying the play of colors in the sunlight or cloud shapes when it’s rainy and overcast, – you will probably like this painting with its vivid colors and the nature-related subject. The fall landscape is something I paint always around this time, but I am going to focus more on fragments of landscape in the future, unless it is a huge canvas.

Fall landscape — Left side and right side detail of fall colors and forest road

It took very many layers of paint and going over and over some areas because it’s no secret acrylic paint is more and more lacking quality and saturation with pigment.

Fall landscape is a great subject for reflecting our love to color. To facilitate brightness and strong tones, I let the painting dry every night and return to it when the daylight is acceptable. Therefore, the process extends over a few weeks, but I am fine with it now. It already received lots of great feedback. The size is again 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm. I started this painted for the class, but certainly, getting it done took many more hours.

My paintings are very color-sensitive. While the picture will show only what camera with automated settings can capture, the actual painting always has more of everything, but definitely great balance between dark and light, as well as cold and warm. These particular pictures are more on the warmer side. Just like always, I took many of them and chose to publish the ones which are the closest to the original.

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Tag: nature

Sunny colors in spring landscape with barn

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Creation as art therapy

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Colors of summer, colors of garden

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Playing with green color

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Fall landscape, dazzling colors

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