100 paintings Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Got it Together? Check!

There’s not enough time to do everything I have on my to-do list and the day is not over yet. The workshop weekend is here and what I need to bring is ready. Item by item, I crossed things off my list. I have not been sleeping well, waking at 4:30A.M. every morning, wide eyed and thinking. It’s not the workshop, just a sleep cycle changing I guess.

I had my usual Friday of things and there is no way I can paint today. I had the fleeting thought I could play with some beads and cord, but decided there is just no time after my busy morning. After lunch I went back to review what I need for the weekend. Good thing I don’t have to pack clothes and get on a plane, I’d be dizzy.

Portfolio? Check. Artist statement? Check. Directions? Check. GPS in the car? Check. My brain? Oops!

Alyson the Art Biz Coach, who is leading the workshop, commented on my post to bring only new, up to date work. That’s what I thought, too. What it is that I am working on now rather than three years ago, makes sense.

Taking this workshop at this time is the next step. Everything I’ve been doing the last few years has led me here. I am thankful to have taken the big step to blogging, facebook and twitter, or I would have to get up to speed with it. I found the Twenty Minute Challenge, and the 100 Paintings Challenge, two great sites that help me build a new body of work and try to find an art habit. Reading the Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, allowed me to tap into that inner child artist, try to fight off resistance, and rediscover the artist voice. Step by small step.

Friends always said I should have an art show. I always answered that I needed a body of work to show. Yes, college work was great, but people want to see today, not all those many years ago. And anyway, that’s not who I am now. Even work from a couple of years back is not me today.

Yesterday I realized I have been blogging since September 16, 2009, and I could not believe it’s been that long ago that I got my feet wet here. Who I was then, what kind of art I was making, if at all, compared to today, is like another person, but the same person. Just more awake, aware, in tune.

The rest of my day is not over. I have a kids dance class to teach tonight. After that let’s hope I sleep.

It’s Finished When My Brain Says STOP

Yesterday afternoon, after the plumbers had left me with their bit of a mess, after I cleaned up their mess, put my things away, straightened out the areas they were in, I finished the watercolor painting I was working on.

I went back to it, but something inside me said This Is Done, STOP! So I signed it and declared it finished. So here it is. The top photo was taken yesterday at about 4PM. The bottom photo I took this morning by 9AM. The light of day seems to have changed the colors: the top is warmer, the bottom is cooler toned.

Pepper Stem (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
12×16 Watercolor on Lanaquarell

Either way I am pleased with this painting. I have been using watercolors for some time now and I don’t think I am using them in the traditional way. The books I’ve looked at seem to manipulate the paints different than I am. Maybe we all have our own way of getting paint on the surface in a pleasing manner.

Whatever works for you, do it. Must there be only one way to paint with whatever medium? I think not.

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.

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.

Quick Watercolor While Busy

Lone Shell (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×11 Watercolor Canson paper

Busy will be my buzz word for this coming week. I am babysitting my little mushy while Son#1 and Gorgeous are away on vacation. Yay for us, we get to see our grand baby morning, noon and night. I’m not sure if any painting will be happening while we entertain our charge.

I have plenty to do to prepare like fill the refrigerator with food and do laundry. I want to be as free as possible. Somehow in my busy frenzy yesterday afternoon I had the thought to do a quick watercolor painting of a piece of shell I threw in my bag from the beach last weekend. Twenty minutes and done.

You know how it is when you get an itch you just gotta scratch! If my paints were not readily available maybe this would not have worked out, but they were and I did it. Lucky me!

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.

Keeping On

I’m still working on painting those 100 paintings. Thank goodness I joined the challenge otherwise I would find excuses not to paint. So, the idea to be accountable to someone or something else works.

It’s like when you are in school and expected to come to class prepared. The possibility of failure is up close and personal. Not so when you’re working on your own. Who’s going to grade me? No one, but myself. And I could give myself a pass instead of a fail.

Independent study might not be my forte. In my last year in college I had a painting class at which the professor did not hold regular hours. You had to paint on your own and attend one class a month. You can just imagine how that went. I was wasting time until I received the notice when class would meet and then Bam! I had to get on it.

I pulled out my 5ft roll of canvas, kicked it out on my basement floor and where it stopped I cut it and painted. At the time I was working in oils doing color studies using a limited palette of three colors. Abstract work, mixing the amounts of colors to see how many I could get from those three in a cloudy-like design.

Working all day and into the late night, I painted until I filled eight feet of canvas. Needless to say, my professor was impressed. After all, he told me to paint bigger! I knew I could do that, I just needed the time frame.

Pebble and Bits (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor on Arches paper

All these years later I’m still the same person I was back then. I need to be accountable and have a time frame. I guess that’s why twenty minutes does the trick along with this challenge.

I’m Still Here

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.