Category: process

Sunflowers from Underneath

Under the Sunflowers (c)2011Dora Sislian Themelis
12×16 Watercolor Lanaquarelle paper

Here’s a different view of  the sunflowers, from the underside. I thought this was a different angle with different color scheme. Not the typical full face of flowers. I like to shake things up with composition once in a while. Not really into the ordinary or the typical.

Whether this works or not doesn’t really matter. Remembering it’s the process that counts, I painted this with those words in mind.

Process, baby.

Yes, in between I had my distractions. Who doesn’t need a distraction now and then? I most certainly do. Otherwise I could head for the lounge chair in the garden and just gaze at the world. That would be nice, if I didn’t feel guilty to do that.

Painting is work. Lounging is not, unless I call that thinking. So I paint.

A Distraction for Friday

 A Distraction

Oh man, I had to get away from that last painting with something that didn’t need to make any sense!
I went out into the backyard garden with the watercolors determined to get away to a far away place. Planted out under the crabapple tree are these late blooming, salmon azaleas among other flowers and potted planters.

Twenty minutes was all I wanted and I did it. Done. I really didn’t care what I came away with as far as a finished product. Back in the saddle people! A little too washy in some spots, but who cares anyway? I mixed up some pleasing colors, threw them down on the paper with no objective other than the process of painting something, anything.

A little secret: on the other half of this paper was the dance party painting. It took all I had not to paint right over it. Would have been some kind of satisfying though.

Apples, and Shells, and Rocks, oh my!

There’s just something about apples that I need to paint. What’s going on inside my brain that lures me in and bites me, compelling me to put an apple in my still life paintings? Weird brain.

I’m not even that thrilled with how this brand of apple paints up. Besides the paints, which I am too stubborn or lazy, or something, to add the new Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Sienna to the palette, I need to buy prettier colored apples.

At least I found time to paint, thrilled or not. Process over thrilled. May as well paint a junk painting now and then. Is it good or bad for the ego? Then again, it is my opinion.

Some times I think my work was lousy and someone else would say how they love it, so I can’t go by how I feel. Just paint and don’t think about it. Move on.

This was a twenty minute session at this point. I left it alone after twenty minutes because it was annoying me. I had to stop and get away from it. The next day I worked on it again and it looks slightly neater. I can’t think of the word to describe the finished piece other than “neater.” It’s done.

There are some elements that please me though. I really like the color strength and shape of the broken shell on the right and the way the shadow pops the lower edge. The rest is just so-so, to my eye. I think that apple is doing nothing for me. Overplayed the apple, and maybe that rock. The shell?

I think it’s time to find other subjects, but I’m not sure exactly what thing is going to feel comfortable.  Other fruits are boring as well as some veggies. Maybe a fabric? Or a shiny platter? A bowl?

Maybe I need a vacation?

Progress in the Process

I have a busy Monday ahead of me today. And an even busier week to come, this being the lead up to Easter. I just can’t believe a year has passed and here I am in the middle of another Holy Week. Didn’t I just do this? Didn’t I just blog about this? Time just flies by.

The big question is this: Will I have any time for myself and painting? I seriously doubt it, but I will try to squeeze some work in. This time last year I don’t think I was using twenty minute increments of time to paint. I think I remember working on one piece for a while.

There’s nothing wrong with that either. However, since I found how productive I can be using twenty minutes to paint I’m not sure how/if I can go back. Maybe if I find something interesting to paint I may have to work on one piece twenty minutes at a time. That could work.

But this week is rough for me. Fasting, baking, cooking, evenings in church take up alot of time. I’m pooped already. Can I skip any of it? I don’t know if I can. I’m so used to going to church almost every night of this week. I’ll see how I feel.

Shell Bits and Pebble

I painted these shells once again, but this time I added that pebble. Moving the set-up around to see the other side this time, made the still life look different once more. It’s working for me so I’m not going to change it up and chance a bout with Mr. Resistance.

Then I happened to get a flash of motivation and quickly sketched the objects again before we headed out for dinner Saturday night. I moved the items around again, found a pleasing arrangement and  dropped in some color before we had to leave. Done.

I am definitely making progress with the process!

I’m Still Here

Bits and Shell (c)2011DST  8×12 Watercolor

Hello! I didn’t forget you! Did you forget me? I could almost forget me! I have been busy this week with my little munchkin and having plenty of fun.

Babies are amazing animals. I’m really enjoying watching her grow and change. In fact, I’ve been enjoying watching myself grow and change. We’re on similar paths. She: physically. Me: artistically.

With the kick in the knees at the 100 Paintings challenge, to just put away a painting once it’s finished, I’ve been easily moving on to the next work. Progress! Growth! My kind of “change”!

It’s amazing what a difference a small suggestion can make. It feels like freedom. Free to move to the next stage. Okay, I’m still painting still life items, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Painting the same items over and over affords a certain affection with said items. Yeah, it sounds weird, but these things are out and that’s it. Don’t think about it too long.

So. I painted this yesterday and today I painted another one. I am on a roll! “Change” is good!

Quantity over Quality, Process is Progress

Shell With Bits (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
 8×12 Watercolor on Arches paper

Adding to the latest mantra, which for some time was: It’s the Process! Now I’m saying to myself: Quantity over Quality. Yes, don’t worry over what the outcome is, just keep moving. It’s a good idea.

Over at the 100 Paintings Challenge, of which this is #12, the host Laure Ferlita, sent out an email recently. It seems some of us in the challenge have begun to discuss the good and the bad of our work in our blurbs. In other words, we are judging individual paintings rather than critiquing a good number of them as a whole.

Instead of pointing out the faults of each piece, just paint and forget about it. Finish one work, put it away, and begin the next.

That made sense to me, as I always prop up my work and look at it as I walk by during my day. Since Laure’s message, I have put my challenge paintings in a pile. I will take them out and look at them when I hit twenty five. Will I see changes by then? Maybe.

Really, the idea of quantity over quality is similar to process. The point is to paint, and keep painting. Progress comes in degrees and over time. For me, the progress is I’m painting regularly. Even if it means twenty minutes at a time. This painting was done in twenty minutes. Progress means I have my tools out and available to use when I find the time.

If I can use those twenty minutes this wisely every day, I am way ahead.

Prepare to be Creative

Where did I find the time to even read this week? With everything that goes on around here, I’ve been hard pressed to find time to paint, much less read anything beyond the daily newspaper. Yes, I still read a real paper.

I love to read. I will read anything, books being my favorite. The heftier the better. When I was doing the Artists Way course we were not allowed to read. The idea was that reading takes away creative time and could be used as an excuse not to paint. I get that, but I’m sorry, somewhere in the day I need reading time.

On with The Creative Habit. I’m still on the first chapter and it’s a good read so far. The author, Twyla Tharp, suggests creative people need to work at it to develop artistic habits. Makes sense. It’s our job, our work, our being. So why is it so hard to keep in the creative loop? Well, she points to Mozart as an example. Boy genius or workaholic?

His father Leopold had massive influence as he was famous himself, but Wolfgang worked harder than no one else on his music. He had a fierce focus and was constantly at work. Nobody had to tell him to go practice as it was his passion. If he could do it, what’s up with the rest of us?

We’re not prepared, for one thing, so we lose our focus. Tharp notes:”In order to be creative you have to know how to prepare to be creative.” We need our subject matter, our content and we can learn to make it habit, and that is a skill. Routines feed into creativity. “Everything is relevant. Everything is useable. Everything is raw material. But without preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it. Without the time and effort invested in getting ready to create, you can be hit by the thunderbolt and it’ll just leave you stunned.”

Routine is the first step to ritual. Automatic, divisive patterns of behavior are vital to establishing a habit. Something that makes your brain click in, just before you plan to chicken out. The ritual “eliminates the question, Why am I doing this?” It also teases the notion of whether or not you feel like doing anything. We need to decide what daily ritual helps the brain click in and say Now I’m ready.

So, is it the daily sketch, the music we chose for painting time, lighting a candle, or the moment of quiet thought before we begin that signals the start of the ritual? As I face the blank, white canvas, alone in my solitude I need to think to myself “What’s in it for me?”

Stay tuned..

I’m In

I did it. I took the plunge. I made the commitment. Got on the band wagon. I took the first step of a long journey. Can’t think of any other analogies to convey what I’ve decided to take on with all the other stuff I do.

For a year or so I’ve been trying to beat Mr. Resistance at his game. I read The Artist’s Way, The War of Art, Walking in This World, looking for ways to get around the blahs of going to the studio to paint. Reading The Artist’s Way was my jump off point. The tasks were do-able most of the time. The most beneficial step forward was the daily writing of Morning Pages. Thank goodness for those Pages! The constant blabbing going on in my head has moved to the written page, leaving my brain pretty clear and babble free.

The thing is I wanted to be painting on a regular schedule. In the past year I have moved well along, but, alas, no schedule. I thought that, maybe, I’m not a good schedule person-type. I thought, maybe, I’m not organized enough to make myself walk down the steps to my studio area, in my house, at a set time each day to work. Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to act as if I have a job in an office, to which I had to show up every day and get paid at the end of the week. Where was the payment, the cash, the moola? Not in my basement studio it seems. And not anywhere else either. It just wasn’t happening on that regular basis I was looking for.

It was happening alright, just not how I expected it. Yes, I painted some solid work. Yes, I learned things about watercolors and materials. I learned how to find inspiration, when to give myself a break, how to lighten up and when. Live life, ignore some stupid stuff, much of it my own, pay attention to nice stuff, smile and move on. Yes, learning lots of stuff. Good stuff and not so good stuff.

I knew that spending a small amount of time in the studio looking through my things, sorting, cleaning, could lead to doing. For fifteen minutes I could do something and it worked, for a while. Planning to show up for fifteen minutes would turn into a new project. Process, process, process.

One day while floating around the internet I stumbled onto The Twenty Minute Challenge blog by Teri Casper, and things suddenly started to happen. I learned that I couldn’t fool around all day long with watercolors because I wasn’t getting what I thought I wanted with all the water, the sloshing paint, the fuzzy-ness developing on my paper. But in twenty minutes I could have a finished painting! What a concept! Smack me in the head!

Those quick paintings I did on the beach in October were finished works. Why couldn’t I do the same thing here? Well, it worked and I did it.

Fast forward through to the present. Through Teri’s challenge I found the 100 Paintings Challenge. Sounded daunting, but other artists were working through it, why not I? (I, me, which one is it? Forget it.)

If I had found out about this idea months ago I’d have plenty of work under my belt by now. The thing is, I don’t think I would have had the guts to do it. Don’t think I have the guts right now, just that I’m afraid if I don’t jump in with both feet Mr. Resistance will grab me from behind and beat me up. So I threw down the gauntlet and said YES, before I backed out. Remember- YES is the operative word?

Here I am, making a commitment to do 100 paintings in the year ahead. I said yes so it’s done. The wonderful, kind Laure, administrator of The 100 Painting Challenge was lovely with her encouragement, as was Teri and the other artists over there. Laure asked me if I wanted to begin right away or wait. I replied that I needed to begin as soon as possible to keep the momentum going. I even had the latest painting ready to go.

What’s Left of Fall (c)2011Dora Sislian Themelis
8×12 Watercolor 140lb Arches cold press paper

This still life started out as a twenty minute loosely painted work. I knew I would go back to it to define the areas needing work and decided to make this #1 of the challenge.

I did it. I’m ready. I made the commitment and I’m peeking around the corner for Mr. Resistance. If he shows up I’m going to deck him!

Knock Knock! Who’s There? Oh, it’s You..Again

Where have I been this past week?  Right here, at home, visiting with Resistance.  Yeah, it hit me again, that lousy Resistance, with a capital R.  Sometimes things go a little off track and lands me smack in the blahs of creativity.  Meaning no creativity.  Meaning resistance mode.

What’s an artist to do?  Well, first I decided to lay off bugging and nagging my inner artist.  I gave in to resistance and took a nap.  Maybe it was well deserved.  Feeling off is not going to help anything, but dropping out of it can.  So I did.  That’s all I could do on Day 1 visit with Resistance.

To back up a bit: I ran out of paper in the travel watercolor pad I was using.  Bad move #1- I didn’t shop for another pad.  I still have paper, but it’s larger.  So, I decided to just use the larger paper for the next work.  I set up a small still life of the usual items and added some interesting agate stones I have for my jewelry making.  Maybe they were too interesting?  Make that Bad move #2.

As I was free from babysitting one day this week, which is another story I will have to tell another day, I sat down to paint this set up.  Remember, bigger paper.  I began to sketch in the objects with paint, no pencil drawing.  I had hoped to do twenty minutes.  Bad move #3-20 minutes on big paper with interesting items that had detail, lots of detail.

How did it come out?  Disaster.  Knock-knock, Resistance at the door!  Hi, how have you been?  Come on in!  It’s been such a long time!

The next day I took that nap.  The day after that I pushed myself outside to take some photos of the Japanese maple tree with it’s bright red leaves.  I wanted to post them, but Resistance wouldn’t let me saying we should have a coffee together.  So I had coffee in my ‘dream corner’ of the living room and looked out the window at the back garden.  Resistance told me to just leave that horrible painting on the dining room table where I started it.  Sure, look at it every time I pass through to the kitchen, why not?

The following day I ran my errands and totally ignored the painting and anything to do with it.

Do you know how hard it is to fight the soothing call of Resistance?  I must say I’ve been lucky these last few months.  Keeping resistance at bay was a breeze.  It was smooth sailing for a while, plugging into creativity, staying in the mode with 20 minutes at a time, happy with the process and feeling good about the outcome of it.  Nice work.  I guess a visit with Resistance was inevitable sooner or later.

What did I do after all that?  I knit.  After I knit, I am going to ditch that painting.

What’s the Rush?

Painting in progress
I must slow down my progress on this garden painting.  I’m trying to figure out why I’m in such a rush while painting.  Where’s the fire, huh?  I don’t take into account that I’m working with a medium that needs to dry somewhat before I keep throwing more paint in an area.  What’s that word?  Impatient?  I feel like I want to see results while I’m  painting, but with these watercolors I’m learning I need to wait just a bit or there’s going to be mud, not color and form.  While I was working on this I had to stop myself from continuing. 
Is it that I’m working from life that gives me a sense of urgency?  The idea that I’m present and ready, let’s get it down before I lose the feeling?  I don’t get that sense when I work from my photos.  No, with photos I get too detail-y.  Maybe it’s the idea in my head that time and light is fleeting?
When I paint from life I forget where I am and it’s a good feeling.  But I push it and keep painting like a mindless robot, just adding color, shadow, lines, water, with out of body movements.  As I wake from my painting stupor, I look at the work I did and think, “Ok, you did it again and messed it up! Idiot.”  Some how I don’t tear up the work and I just leave it tossed aside discarded like the trash, but not in the trash.  Later on while passing by on my way to another room I see it and think “Oh that’s how it looks now?  How come it’s not as bad as I thought?”  Things seem to work.
Funny thing is I always forget that it’s the process not the outcome.  Why is that?  I wish I could figure out how my brain works.  How long does it take to grow up?