painting from life Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Painting is Electric Energy

Another day, another painting start

What is it about painting that gets the electricity going? If I could feel like I did after starting this latest watercolor, I would bottle it and drink it every day to keep that momentum going. It is so weird.

After pulling the peach at the beach painting off the watercolor block, I hunted around for the next subject. It could take forever if I didn’t start something new immediately, and then I’d be arguing with Mr. Resistance again. You know he’d win, too, right?

Remembering the vacation we took a couple of summers ago out on the east end of Long Island, and some of the great photos I took there, I hunted them up yesterday. Of course, I had a different computer then, which crashed. The photos are in it. No worries, I looked for them here on the blog and started in.

It’s a nice, calm scene at Cooper’s Farm. I like the tractor. Okay. Something about painting just gave me a jolt that lasted into the evening. I kept thinking about it, and planning my next session wishing I could paint again at around 11PM last night. I mean, I could, but people are around and the painting is sitting in the dining room, not the studio.

Whatever. The feeling is still with me now as I write this. Today is an outside, running around day, so painting will have to wait until I return.

Funny how I decided I needed to try to work from photos rather than life, and now that’s all I’m doing. Is it like I’m on a kick or what? Also funny that I have a couple of different gourds from the vegetable share and I completely forgot about painting them. Totally out of my head.

Maybe I will have to also break with my tradition of working on one painting at a time to go ahead and paint those gourds on another block of paper? Ya think? Gee, what a concept!

Sometimes I knock myself out. Whack.

Me, Whimsical?

Having finished the dancers painting for the person interested in illustrations for their book,I emailed the image with fingers wimply crossed. Yes, I said wimp-ly. As in like a wimp. Should I have said sheepishly? Anyway, I was thinking it might not be to their liking with the “whimsy” word being tossed about.

Do I see my painting, or myself, as whimsical? I think not. My kids would say “Who, you? Uh, no.” Those are smart, observant guys, those kids of mine. Yeah.

I think watercolor work is light and airy by nature of the medium. Would I call my handling of the medium melancholy? So I lean toward Prussian blue and alizarin crimson, are they sad, depressing colors? Not in my opinion.

I paint what I see generally. With photos I see too much. From life there’s no time or room to see everything, which is what I like about painting from life. I am not sure it’s even possible to use watercolors to capture a crowd of people dancing unless in abstract forms or quick gestures. Maybe that would have been a better way to go, but I needed a reference, hence the photo.

What can you do? Can you please everyone? No.

I will continue to stay positive, or invite the unwanted advances of Mr. Resistance. I decided the operative word was “Yes”. I went with the flow. I tried my best with what I thought would be okay, and maybe not how I would have liked it to be.

After working from life going back to a photograph for guidance didn’t feel exactly right. Being true to myself and my own objectives may be more important in the long run. Book deal or no book deal.

Just Not Feeling It, So I Plod

Here’s a look at the hydrangea painting as I plod along on it. What is it about working from my own photos that just brings me down? I seem to like the photo more than I do the painting.

Maybe that’s the trick. My eye sees what it needs to see while composing the photograph. Is it then not meant to be a painting afterwards? I just see too much in the photo and my brain tries hard to replicate the details in paint.

I’m starting to get annoyed with this thing. The colors I’m using are annoying, the way I’m applying the paint is annoying, the composition is annoying. There’s nothing I am happy about with this piece. That’s happened to me before so I keep plugging at it.

I did a watercolor in the spring of the daisies in my garden. Yes, I painted it from life not a photograph. Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled with the result, but I kept thinking in my head “It’s the process.” I was going to ignore the result and move on to the next thing. Well my DIL, Gorgeous, loved it and wanted it for the baby’s room. That cemented the idea that maybe I don’t know beans about my own work. So I plod through this watercolor too. Push to finish it and think about what’s next.

Fighting resistance every step of the way with this painting, I plod.

I Need a Sunny Day

What do you do when the weather outside is not perfect? I get Artist A.D.D when it’s rainy. Yeah, I’ll just call this “Artist” A.D.D. because I don’t want to say how really blah and unfocused I feel in weather that’s not my opinion of good.

Last week I was somewhere and was asked what do you need to feel good? The thought that immediately popped into my mind was that I need a sunny day. Is that dumb or what? No one can change the weather. You get what you’re going to get in that department. Sun, rain, snow, it’s out of my hands. But I can imagine it, right? So that’s what I try to do. When things get crazy I try to remember to go to the beach on a hot sunny day, in my mind. Sometimes it works.

Today is a cloudy, rainy, but warm day. Not my favorite, but I can live with warm. I’d rather have hot and humid. People don’t understand it. I don’t care, I need it. I could get myself down for the day if I think about how the winter is creeping up on us, but don’t tell me to move because that’s not happening. No matter that I live in the New York suburbs on Long Island, I need to be in close proximity of the city of Manhattan. I may not be going there often, but nearby is good enough. I know it’s weird, don’t ask questions!

Last week was great hot and sunny weather for September. You bet I took myself to the beach for some R&R. Yup. I packed the essentials, (food and iced coffee) and drove out there. In fifteen minutes I was sitting in my chair in the hot sand with very few people on the beach. I remembered my watercolor set and found some broken shell pieces for when I was ready to paint. But first I breathed a nice long sign of relief that I had arrived! Yes!

I fished around in my bag for my camera so I could take a couple of pictures. It wasn’t in one pocket, not the other, not in the bottom of the bag. Well, OK, I’ll get the phone out and shoot a few pics, I thought. I couldn’t find that either. So I was without a camera or any device of communication. Let me tell you that was kind of scary! What did we do before cell phones? We were free. But in the 21st century, being free is not an option. After a little bit of panic and anxiety I decided I better get it together, paint and go home.

Thank goodness I found those bits of shells otherwise I didn’t have a good subject. This beach is so long there’s just ocean and sky, no little bay or curve of dune to be interesting. I hadn’t eaten the apple I brought so I arranged it with the shells in the sand at my feet. There’s just something magical about painting things in the bright sunlight with the reflection off the sand. The shadows are sharp and the bright light evens out mid tones so there’s no need to squint.

It’s a good feeling to work with color and form, to be able to forget where and who I am. Some people have the ability to be out of their body at will, their mind off in another world. For me, it’s this moment that I’m gone. Nothing exists but the brush moving against the paper. I don’t have to speak. I have no thoughts in my head, no worries, no concerns, nothing but an empty brain. I might not even be me. I almost don’t exist. It’s great.

I sketched out the apple and shell bits in watercolor paint only. Blending in straight color, making the shapes take form and moving quickly enough to get it done, I finished and was able to lay back in my chair to let it dry. Breathe in and breathe out, and sigh. I was there, I painted and I was done.

Painting From Life

Painting from life can be both exciting and nerve wracking, for me anyway. I seem to go into a trance as the action of painting and the colors of the paints hypnotize me. I don’t see what I’m doing. Overdoing the work with watercolors can happen before I can blink and wake up from my stupor.

These two little paintings are the ones that were sold in my Etsy shop. Both were painted on site. I painted Beach Day while at my favorite Long Island beach, Pt. Lookout. This couple were sitting in their beach chairs enjoying the day. I guess they were having a good day, for all I know they were annoyed with each other and just sitting there. Can you tell that I like a good story while I work?

The Greek harbor scene was painted while we were on a short day cruise to three Greek islands, Aegina, Poros, and another one that I can’t remember now. They were all lovely and had different scenes, but at Aegina we sat at a cafe to have an icy ice cream frappe because it was so hot we couldn’t continue without something cold. We were at the harbor and I had time to quickly draw the scene out with a bit of color. I finished it later on, but basically had it sketched with paint right there.

When I started with watercolors I purchased a small travel set that included half pans of basic colors, small brushes, and tiny pad of watercolor paper, and a little bottle for water. It’s like a fanny pack you can clip around your waist, but I never do that. I added pencils and some other stuff I need for painting and it’s the perfect bring along set.

The funny thing is the paints that are included are minimal yet I do my best work using just those colors. The palette at home has so many colors now, but I gravitate towards the ones in the travel set. I think I should pay attention to that and maybe minimize my choices. Whatever I do, I know I like painting from life. I just have to try and stay in the present rather than have those out of body moments.