sunflowers Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Photo for Friday and More

Afternoon Sunflowers, 14×20 Watercolor
©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis

The latest watercolor painting is finished. Twenty minutes of painting time has it’s merits, and it’s detractions.

On the one hand, painting for twenty minutes keeps me in line. I can’t get too busy in the details to end up trashing my work. It helps that I must step away from the painting to see it better and decide where to work next. And then there’s the drying time. All good things so far.

On the other hand I could walk away after twenty minutes of painting and quite possibly never go back. That could last a couple days and I’ll never finish the work so I could start another. I’m not the type of person to have a couple of paintings working at the same time, so that’s not helpful. I turn to jewelry or knitting if I’m not painting the latest piece. Kind of not good.

All in all the time limit thing has been positive. Ok so, I’m not cranking out painting after painting on a regular basis, or enough to paint the 100 paintings in the year. I’m working toward that goal, but anything could derail that plan.

I made a commitment, and I’d like to see it through, but the larger I paint the less work that gets done. Rather than paint little paintings, which are fine, I want to open up and work larger. Packing a lot of painting on a small surface sometimes doesn’t do justice to the work. Little by little I’m working it up in size.

Can twenty minutes translate on a larger surface? With the right brushes, subject, and mindset, maybe it’s a Yes. Could I push myself to work every day for the twenty minutes? Or, work all day on one work twenty minutes at a time? I just don’t know about that, Artist A.D.D. and all.

Every Day I’m Shuffling

Day #2

There’s a wild song on the radio that I get a kick out of every time I hear it and one of the lines is the title of this post. I don’t listen to the radio in the car, or in the house, all day either. I need my quiet. I do enjoy some Frank Sinatra and I have favorite classical pieces, but mostly my brain is too noisy for it.

Now and then I listen to the music the kids like, and some of it is hot. Some people like to listen to the old stuff they liked as a teen. I can’t. Some of that was great, some horrible, but I just can’t go back there. Did it, done with it. Give me the new stuff.

So I’ve been “shuffling” until I got it going with this new piece. Another twenty minutes of working around the composition and it’s starting to feel good. When one area is wet I work on a dry area, keeping the whole painting in motion. Trying to see the piece develop as a whole and not surprise myself by not-so-happy accidents.

From what I can tell by this photo the piece is moving where I want it to go. Brush strokes, paint placement, dark and light, with details to come at the end of it. Maybe I will take one more day and finish up. So far, so good.

Two More Sunflowers

Two Sunflowers (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
14×20 Watercolor on Lanaquarelle paperr

Motivation comes in strange ways. I need to have my painting implements staring me in the face to be able to feel like working on the art. After reading everything I have, and taken the great workshop last weekend, what is it with the resistance?

I must admit making painting a daily habit is working more than not working. At least I know in the back of my mind I have painting to do. At some point in my day it will happen. There is no such thing as painting all day long. No such thing. You just have to try to go to the studio, or the dining room table, and get to work.

There are a few more sunflower photographs I have at the ready. This is another that I started painting. Here is the progression from sketch to dropping in color. I allowed myself those precious twenty minutes of time and stopped.

Twenty minutes of painting time is the best thing I ever started doing. I get to paint every day, sort of, and stop myself before I make a mess of things. Rather than get bogged down in detail, which was my hallmark, I know I don’t have too much time so I am use brush strokes and color to say what I need to say.

I could have stopped at this session, but I felt that the work needed just one more go to make me feel as if the painting was finished. Each time after the paint dried I felt different about my work. Something about how the paper flattened back down, how the colors looked, gave me confidence I was on the right track.

If I had kept on going past the twenty minutes I might have had to throw it out, as I have done before. I am master of my domain! Yeah, right.

Sunflowers and More

Six Sunflowers (c) 2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
12×16 Watercolor on Lanaquarelle

I decided to paint these sunflowers one more time and from life, before I had to throw them out. They were getting really dry and ugly. I think I’m finally done with sunflowers. I sketched out the composition and tried my best to keep the colors light before adding darks. They don’t excite me anymore. Not like when I first painted them. I guess it’s expected.

On the distraction front, I am doing well! Isn’t that how it is?

I’ve become obsessed by the colors of beads and this knotting business. It’s become addictive. These red beads look striking against the black of the waxed cotton cord and make me want to play with them again. I’ll be putting these in my Etsy shop soon, along with the blues bracelet from last week. Yum.

The thing with this is that some beads have too small a hole to thread the cotton cord through and it becomes frustrating. I managed.

Now I’m on a mission to use leather instead of the cotton cord. I made myself dizzy searching the online shops for both leather cord and more beads. Yeah, more beads. Beads with some sparkle. Beads with a larger hole so I can play some more. Like I said, addictive.

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.

Cut Finger, or Not I’m Painting Today

Like I said, I have to paint whether this bandaged finger is in my way or not. Maybe it’s the summer time, but I just don’t feel like doing anything important around here. Who wants to do inside things when the weather is so nice outside?

I do have some things I need to get done, but painting has to come first. Too many days without painting, even the distraction of other creative pursuits, and I get itchy.

This is the last of the sunflower photos and I took my paints out in the garden to paint them. I decided to take a different look with this piece and try to be a little looser with it. I did draw in the composition, but tried using more brush strokes and color changes.

Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t. I had to stop before I made mud out of it. I thought I used a little too much water than color. Some how taking the photo of the painting is helping me to see it better. I’m pleased with what I see here rather than the actual work. Maybe it’s just me.

It’s not finished. Another session and it may be done. Now that I’ve painted I think I can go do the things I’ve been putting off. My artist brain hates to do accounting stuff.

Hot Day at the Easel

The weather in New York has been really hot. It’s not that unusual, in fact if it’s going to be hot here it better be hot in July. I don’t want to hear anything from the people who like the cold weather. If anyone complains about the heat I remind them that if they wait we will have snow soon enough. And it would be too soon for me. Guaranteed.

With my babysitting over, and the heat outside reaching the real feel temperature of 110F, I planned on staying in with the air conditioning on and painting. Since I’ve been pushing myself to work from photographs lately, I looked through some of the latest and decided to keep going with the sunflowers.

Twenty minutes at a time was my plan. I thought I would work on this for the allotted time and stop. I sketched in the composition and went in with paint as you can see here.

Another twenty minutes later and I’m at this not quite done stage. I tried to walk away from painting rather than look at it with a critical eye. I see way too much in photos so this is hard work for me.

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

This is the finished painting. I have thoughts on this that I will not air out loud. I will leave the critique to you readers. Sometimes I think I should stop painting all together at the first twenty minutes, but that’s just my opinion.

Off on Tangents, but Painting Happened Nontheless

My day began with a bang. Not really a bang, but maybe there’s another word for it. I was minding my own business pouring my second cup of coffee on a nice, quiet morning. I reached for the half and half, yes I like half and half, and started to squeeze the carton. Let me explain, I get a carton and open the folded and sealed top to form a spout and then I close it up. If I squeeze the carton a nice small stream of milk comes out. Nice and neat.

Well SOMEBODY opened the carton for the spout, and I, unknowingly (not paying attention), pour it out all over my lap, my tablecloth, and my coffee. I started to think to myself that this may not be my day, and it was only 8A.M.

I went along my day. Farmer’s market, supermarket, bank, etc. Errands. I thought I might not get to paint, but I knew I had been losing my fight with Mr. Resistance and, bad day or not this was going to be it.
What do you know? I had run out of the large size watercolor paper I had been using.

Now what? I really didn’t want to use the travel pad and my subject was going to be too big for the small Arches block. Great. I opened up the small block and now I see I need a spatula to get the protective paper off. I trudge to my basement studio, where the light still doesn’t work, and fetch the tool.

Now what? Phone call from The Mr. about some computer problem. I trudge back to the basement and the computer, flip it on and we discuss. Ok. I passed the kitchen and remembered I wanted to roast some peppers I had. So I go at that, almost forgetting my painting outside.

Then I think I should have painted these peppers, but now they’re all cut up. Bright idea: take photos, and add a shiny platter for contrast. That’ll show that book deal guy I can paint Greek themed stuff. Right.

I’m all finished with the peppers, put them in the oven after their photo shoot and remember I was supposed to be painting. I go back to the basement to get another watercolor block. While I’m running around my house I am thinking that I must be some crazy kind of idiot, going off on tangents, not getting anything done.

Finally, I get myself to my painting set-up and sketch out my idea. I wanted to paint from the photos of the sunflowers from the farm. I sketched out the subjects and started getting into it when I remember I had peppers roasting in the oven. Shades of my turkey debacle from a couple of weeks ago.

I run to my kitchen, remove the peppers that were not burned and returned to painting. Now can I get down to business? Yes, I did and I am happy to say it felt good.

Sunflowers Outside (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
12×16 Watercolor on Lanaquarelle paper