nature Archives - Page 4 of 10 - INESE'S ART STUDIO

December 16, 2019October 17, 2024

Gifts of experience and art

Gifts of experience can be the perfect choice

It can be hard to find a gift for someone, who has everything, or for somebody, who will not be fine with stuff which is presented just for the sake of giving gift. Gifts of experience are great option. First of all, most people rarely take or use time for their own well-being. They’d do gym, yoga, other exercise or a meeting with friends at the best. There is so much more! That is why experiencing great things is actually better than being happy for a few moments because gift of experience can last.

Need for self-care and relaxation

Adults need relaxing self-care time even more than teens and kids. Most people just rush and run through their day, and they believe that is the only way to live. Everybody needs their chance of simply engaging in an activity which is rewarding, relaxing and life-improving. Drawing and painting regularly increase focus, decision making ability, not to mention memory improvement. The trial in brain flexibility and memory-associated issues proved that drawing and painting 3 hours a week improved memory and created new brain neurons, as well as longer signaling pathways 75% compared to start-up condition. People, who draw and paint, have better reaction time and keep focus longer.

Participants of art classes report life improvements

I have had numerous talented, committed and diligent students over more than a decade of teaching art in Canada. They created fairly large paintings to decorate their living and work space, as well as took part in juried shows and contests after completion of art classes. All participants told they gained a great experience in painting and also became better people, who had no more signs of depression and troubled mind. Some recovered from anxiety. Art classes always work as meditation with color and shape since creativity takes over our mind and cleans it. Creating literally swipes your mind clean from disastrous and damaging thoughts, helps with grief and allows overcoming tough life situations.

Available art classes: Art classes

Private art lessons: Classes specifically for your needs

When you retire, you won’t do everything

My art classes always bring together people of all ages and all walks of life. We are experiencing the miracle of creative makeover every time when we have an art class. It can be so that potential students put off drawing and painting until retirement. Some people wait for many decades to get started in art while they know for sure they’d love doing that. Life can present unpleasant situations as we get older and sometimes the dream just won’t be fulfilled because of some bad health condition. Therefore, I am suggesting making time now: today, tomorrow.

Studio snapshots

Spending time at art studio will be your best experience during all dull winter months. Just try it and you will be extremely happy you did!

Art studio is ta wonderful place where pleasure and happiness live, and it comes with your Gift certificate as gift of experience.

Studio Ajax, Ontario, holiday art display

Art for kids and art for fun, including decorative holiday art, these paintings could be on your walls!

Gift of art

Art gifts are timeless. They do not have expiry date. Do you really need just a snow or holiday-related art during holiday season? It depends on preferences. Most people collect art which involves certain subject, theme, color or is created by a particular artist. Original and handmade art always looks classier and more elegant than prints. The special flare of personal touch makes it unique. Buying directly from artist means at least 50% lower price than gallery price, which includes even online galleries selling original art. Gallery markup usually ranges around 50%, plus, shipping is done by artist.

New birch painting, goes with chickadees , birch painting is 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

Gifts of art, chickadees with golden leaves

They are very lovely! chickadees, each 12 x 12 in or 31 x 31 cm

Chickadee with golden branch, 1

Chickadee with golden branch, 2

Shop original art, all year long: Original art for sale

Specials: Special offers

Wrap up nicely what you’ve got and add some more if something is still missing!

December 2, 2019December 10, 2021

The Christmas gift you can give anybody

Brief Christmas gift guide: choose art

Art is democratic and it is also a perfect Christmas gift. It is a gift which goes from very personal to very formal. Some people might not find any value in art, but most of us do. The difficult part is always having too many choices. Print is not the same as original art. Hand painted art carries the uplifting energy of colors, lines and brushstrokes, as well as artist’s thoughts and energy.

Affordable handmade luxury

Hand-drawn and crafted cards, as well as hand-drawn images and hand painted art are becoming more and more exquisite things. Handmade items are considered luxury in quite a few countries already since they are unique and one-of-a-kind. America is more inclined towards digital art. Handmade art deserves its high and exclusive position on the value list of luxury items. It is a luxury which everybody can afford.

Handmade is unique

Handmade art is always unique and pertains to the person who created it. Anybody can create digital files and print them off. It does not require the specific, elevated state of mind which makes an artist flutter above the Earth and feel like the creator of universe once the painting is completed. Each brushstroke is artist’s signature, each line – proof of excellence.

Art can be perfectly matched to the gift receiver

If you know the main values of person receiving the gift, you might be able to choose a perfectly matched piece of art for them. Nature enthusiast or fighter for sustainability on the Earth will love nature related images and scenes. People, who appreciate beauty, will always enjoy it in art, as well. Simplified and strong images will work well for these, who stand firmly on the ground. Art is a good gift when one is not sure what exactly they should choose.

There is never too much art

Many people say they have enough art already which I absolutely do not believe. I have seen million dollar houses with bad quality prints on walls. Most places would also have just one painting on a large wall. Boring. Art will either enhance and give elegant appearance, or make your space look cheap. There is also neutral art which is not too abstract, not too realistic, but has still all quality markers we should look for. Most importantly, art can be always displayed: on shelves, on walls, on desks, bookcases, dressers and even on the floor if its size allows for that.

Direct sales from artist

Buying art from artists directly is always less expensive. They created this art; they can decide what price tag to put on it. Gallery sales involve extra fees since artists showing their art have to pay either for space, provide percentage of sale amount to gallery, or both. Some galleries will take as much as 50% and more off the sales amount, even online galleries. That is included in price. With direct sale from artist, especially at their studio, no middlemen increase the price.

White winter, acrylic, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm

The very red poinsettia, acrylic, 41 x 51 cm or 16 x 20 in

Golden trees, moonlight, acrylic painting, 41 x 51 cm or 16 x 20 in

Spruce hills, acrylic painting 41 x 51 cm or 16 x 20 in

Refreshing my own sales pages for Canada-wide, international and USA shipments

I will try to publish also more frequently my own art-for-sale images. For many years, I focused mostly on teaching. It’s time to make my own art more visible. I spend abnormal time creating it. I will have a few public shows in 2020. I have been accepted in 2 so far; when it comes closer I will publish more about that.

My sales pages are always in progress, but I will start adding more “Buy now” buttons for each painting.

Live in Greater Toronto Area? Stop by

The easiest way to purchase some art for people in Ajax, Ontario, and close by areas, like Whitby, Pickering or Oshawa, is to just stop by at my studio. I will ship all unframed watercolor art and small to medium size unframed acrylic paintings (11 x 14 in or 28 x 36 cm to 20 x 24 in or 51 x 61 cm) to other locations in Canada and the USA. I will only sell and ship my original art, not art products with printed images of my art. I do not process your payments on my site, Paypal does; therefore, you are not putting your credit or debit card info on my site and shouldn’t have any worries about it.

My art for sale, getting updated: Original paintings

Inspiration: Inspiring gifts

I just added new painting images to my FAA site, as well.

Enjoy!

August 14, 2019October 16, 2024

Still life: essence of art

Still life with fruit and flowers, watercolor

Subject I love: still life

I have painted numerous still life paintings over years. It was not my most favorite subject when I was young, but I fall in love with this subject as time passed by. This genre usually works well for me: set up some things which can be found in the garden or fridge, find some cups, bowls and add a few flowers or leaves in absence of flowers. As you know, whenever possible I do not use photos because camera always distorts the image to some extent and the image is never what human eye can see.

Still life tells a story

Still life always tells a story, and this story can be read quite easily if and when the viewer wants to. It is by far not only shapes and color; it is much more than contrast between live and organic shapes and handmade items. Still life reflects my current opinions and my current emotions. It can express everything we are willing to disclose.

I started this particular still life 5 years ago. I had everything I need to set up something quite attractive. I did a rough value sketch in the actual size which is 22 x 30 inches or full sheet of Arches watercolor paper. I transferred the drawing onto watercolor paper and moved to first washes, just like always working from the back to the front.

Still life: art that tells story — This is how far I got in 2015., drawing from a setup in my studio

Still life: setup — I only created a few washes and left the painting alone for practically 5 years

Restarting the process

I suppose, I got busy afterwards and the items of my still life simply went bad. I did not have time for about 5 years until recently.

After I moved into my new Ajax place, I had to sort out all numerous art folders. I found a few started paintings, all on large size Arches watercolor paper, and I decided to do something about at least a few of them. It took me about 3 days to bring the painting to its final stages.

Lack of reference should not stop us

The sad thing is that I could only reference the rough sketch. I obviously used my memory and imagination, otherwise it did not work. Working from life results in more vivid and lifelike painting. However, if there is huge interruption in the process, completing such painting can be challenging. It is not only because I do not have the same setup, but also because we change over time. Our perception changes, our color preferences change and, finally, the way we work changes. Therefore, it can be tricky to pick up the process where it was left so many years ago.

I took the risk, and I think the result is great. It is a very large painting. It took the entire table length to somehow accommodate it. I also had quite hard time taking pictures with iPhone because of the size.

Masterclass: new way to learn art this fall

This fall I am starting master-classes which will take place once a month. These will be classes for people with experience and they will be designed to elaborate a particular subject and master-class will also include extensive demo and explanations.

I would like to give art classes that genuinely teach somebody, so, that they have artistic freedom creating their own art. I find that most art classes teach students nothing. It is mostly just some design which is executed with paints. Learning is a great way to stay young and keep our brain flexible.

Sign up for FALL SEMESTER art classes

See more of my still life and other paintings on FAA:

Art collections by Inese Poga

April 8, 2019October 17, 2024

Personalized creativity

Personalized creativity eventually becomes our style. Creating is learning, and learning means living more intense and enjoying something new every day, our personal way.

We create us

Any creation involves saying something about us. That’s how we are telling others what our point of view is. True creativity is never copying and reproducing, but taking an idea which lives in our imagination or was just born in our mind and bringing it to life.

Reproducing versus creating

I regret seeing how plenty of art instruction is meant to teach not principles, techniques and understanding, but to reproduce a popular concept or successful image which everybody is painting or drawing. We have numerous back-lit landscapes, starry nights, tree projections in the sky, human eyes and lips. A painting subject which is already so much worn down.

Personalized creativity

Creativity is great not because we can do things that other artists have done, but because we can create everything exactly as we want, as we have intended and imagined, and it becomes our personalized creativity.

If you can draw, you can draw anything.

We can use any subject and make it our own.

If you can paint, you can paint anything.

We can use any color and make it the most important color for us or the viewer.

We have endless opportunities to express ourselves.

Learning is an ongoing activity, and it’s erroneous to assume somebody knows everything about everything. Experiment is the best teacher of all: how do we know if we never try?

The helpful mistakes

Mistakes and errors are an essential part of the learning process. It’s silly to be afraid of mistakes and do nothing. Perfectionism most likely lives inside many minds, however, but that doesn’t mean anything less than perfect has no value.

The circle of knowledge

Imagine that everything you know is within a circle. As you grow older and become smarter, the circle grows and widens, too. However, the interesting thing is that the more we know, the longer becomes the line that borders the unknown space which surrounds the circle which contains our knowledge. That’s why we just keep finding out things that we were not aware of. That is also the reason for asking more questions and finding more answers.

Creative exploration

Exploration with pencil, brush and color goes a long way. There is no end to it. The more we have learnt, the more we become aware of things we still have no idea about. It makes sense to make your style very personal from the very beginning. You do not want to be the second if you can be the first one. Therefore, copying art is not a good practice. You would not copy somebody else’s poem or song? Would you? The same is true about art.

Some of my recent watercolor paintings:

Art blog articles versus photo blogs

I have been on and off from blogging due to personal matters, but, hopefully, I will manage to post something more during the upcoming months. Painting takes much longer than to write an article, a short poem or to snap a photo. I sometimes spend months on a single painting. I could post progress images, but when I have the momentum, I do not want to interrupt it. Sketches and drawings might take just a few hours. However, such photos need to be edited and adjusted to be visible.

Slow spring

Spring is slow in Southern Ontario, but the first blooms are already in buds. and I saw a few crocuses showing their lovely colors outside. Their colors were bright and intense. Spring rewards us with intense colors and fresh air. There is always 1 hour or a bit more to spend with beauty and colors. It isn’t even that hard to find that hour.

Part of my art for sale: Available paintings

My artistic products on Fine Art America, and you can view them in 3 D, rotate and turn upside down, etc.:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Decorate with beautiful art for spring season!

March 19, 2019October 17, 2024

Spring in heart and in my art

Watercolor painting, robins, nest and eggs

The wonderful time when nature awakens

This is the time I live for: spring is in the air and so much beauty will wake up just a few weeks from now. The awakening of nature feels like a renewed energy raining from the sky, shining through the window and reflecting from the mirror-like puddles. Birds cannot stop their chirping and I, too, go with all this hectic spring rush.

My art is happy art

I have been painting all seasons, however, the biggest portion of my paintings shows greens, bright and soft colors of spring flowers and the blue tones of transparent spring sky. Clouds come and go, and one can be very sure that the sun won’t be hiding for long. The sun will open buds, grow grasses and bring many flowers to blooms. My pencil, brush and pastel stick are unable to stay in paint boxes, they beg to be put to use. Whatever I have decided to create, I know it will turn out to be something happy and inviting for eyes, soul and heart.

Simple subjects: messengers of spring

I do intend to start some more serious painting, but quite frequently I am interrupted by very simple and routine things around me. I love watching birds and the moment when a bloom opens. I can observe the sky colors and moods for hours. The same goes for mystic ways how trees grow their twigs and branches. When the heart is so full with spring emotions, I have to become part of this awakening mystery in the nature.

Peaceful, large watercolor, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm. The original is simply stunning.

This is an Easter nest, pen and watercolor on paper. Robins and their nest

Chickadees and apple blossoms, watercolor painting

Spring watercolor painting of chickadees and apple blossoms

Easter lilies, large watercolor painting, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm

Large watercolor painting of yellow spring daffodils, 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm

So much art, get some

I will publish more uplifting and happy watercolor and acrylic paintings soon: I am very pleased to share some of many paintings which are forgotten while preserved in boxes and folders. They have been created over the course of quite many years. Art takes time, but I don’t think any other experience comes even close when one feels the painting is done and what was a white sheet of paper, is now a live story and delight for eyes.

Apple blossoms, the messengers of spring and hope

It’s spring and new beginnings. Enjoy spring paintings and get ready for Easter which is not far either. I usually sell some art around this time, hopefully, this year won’t be different. However, since I’m not back in Ontario yet and I am posting this from Europe, it will take a moment. Most medium size size watercolor paintings. Just contact me and I will let you know:

Contact Inese Poga

For original watercolor paintings, please check out this page:

Shop original watercolor paintings

My art on Fine Art America:

Art collections by Inese Poga

Registration for spring art classes: Sign up here

Tag: nature

Gifts of experience and art

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The Christmas gift you can give anybody

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Still life: essence of art

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Personalized creativity

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Spring in heart and in my art

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