Arches Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Finished on Friday

Yeah, finished! The latest watercolor painting of sunflowers is done. This is the last of the photographs from last year’s vegetable share. And, I’ll have you note, this is the largest size watercolor painting I’ve done so far. Big for a watercolor work.

June Sunflower ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
18×24 Watercolor Arches 140lb cold press paper

The Arches paper block was on sale. How could I resist? I’ve painted big works in oils, but watercolors big? It was intimidating. I applied the same lessons I used in oils though. Big canvas, bigger brushes. Bigger movements, big brush strokes. It’s all the same.

Also, I a photo of this work with flash by mistake. Then I tried it again without flash, as is my habit. This image is without flash. The image with flash was brighter, but it left out some detail. I will stick to natural light.

Now, on to the next work.

Painting, Process is #1

The relative lull of the after dinner hour has been holding some powerful stuff lately. What is it about this time of my day that I’ve been able to do some good work? Forget about the product. The process seems to have great momentum in this evening hour.

Let me just say up front, I am a morning person. I am wide eyed awake at 6AM most mornings, but that doesn’t mean I can work on painting at that time. Nope, the early morning is for coffee, the newspaper, and the Morning Pages, in that order too.

I plan my day after these things are finished. First thing on my list is painting. Again, that doesn’t mean painting happens first. It’s listed first and it usually happens later, after the house is in order and any running around I might need to do is done.

Yes, painting is on the list, baby. Every single day.

Okay, so I get to it after lunch, so what? I am grateful to the muse who makes me list it #1, because if that didn’t happen, painting might not happen at all.

So life must be in order for the muse to visit me in my studio that day. Just like a Virgo, right?

Green Pepper ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

I cropped another section of a larger photograph to make this painting. If I have any idea of getting some quick work done, it’s going to have to be a smaller piece. For right now this is working for me. It’s not twenty minutes, but rather almost an hour’s worth of work. Even possibly an hour. When I start working I lose track of the time unless I’ve set my timer. An hour sounds right this time.

The different colors next to each other are very interesting to me. I love the tumble of shapes. Okay, so they’re vegetables and fruits, there’s color, dark against light, everything I feel good working with.

The paper is great, the paints are delicious, and I’m painting. What else is there?

Process, baby. Just the process!

Mr. Resistance is Not Welcome

What is it about Mr. Resistance that makes him so irresistible? One small thing can throw an artist off her wonderful motivation and balance, leaving the door wide open for Mr. Resistance to walk right in and make a mess of things. Thanks a lot.

It’s not easy being a nice person like me. How do I get trapped into the corner and allow Mr. Resistance to walk all over me? Am I a doormat? Do I look like I have the word “Idiot” tattooed across my forehead?

Um, no, but it happens every now and then that a little thing can derail a nice flow of creative energy, like a late day with too many things on the list to check off. Derail is a nice word. Trample my direction is another way of saying my art making hit the skids.

Okay. I’m over that now. Mr. Resistance is no longer welcome and it’s time to get back to work!

Three Peaches ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Here we have the work that broke through the resistance blockade. Another short time frame, a small window of opportunity taken, and the spell was broken. An after dinner hour to make magic, and I worked hard to get it done. Small and quick.

I cropped another photograph to get the composition I felt comfortable with and I went at it with a quick pencil line, then right to the paint. Again, less than an hour’s worth of work and this was finished. It’s not easy work either. There was plenty of thought behind this painting. Some how I’m able to think where I want to go and get to it quicker than I have in the past.

Finished projects happen far more often these days.

Another Quick One Down

Someone kick me next time I decide to edit my blog posts from the iPad. Every time I do that I lose my whole post! What a stupid thing!

I wanted to edit the size of this painting. After I had a chance to take a look at the actual size I remembered I posted the wrong size here. Off to the iPad to make the corrections and Boom! no post. Yeah, that made me really happy.

A Red Onion ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

If I remember I said I didn’t plan on painting the evening I worked on this. I just had about an hour to spend before I fell to exhaustion, so I went to my studio to look at what I wanted to work on next. Before I knew it I had cropped a larger photo into this segment, filled my pan with water and began sketching this painting.

Did I say it lasted almost an hour? Yes, almost an hour went by and this was done, done, done!

I am on a roll over here. Thank you to the art muse for keeping me in the game.

Next time, no editing from iPad, okay?

What? Everyone Loves Free Stuff

Yesterday I planned to take a short break while I still was semi free and visit the nearest art supply shop. There are two in my area and both were having sales. One shop sent me a great coupon to take off 40% on a non-sale item. That is huge.

My little artist date started at the office supply store for some stuff I needed to continue working in the Blast Off class. Then I moved on to Dick Blick art supply. I purchased a nice large block of Arches watercolor paper on sale. I needed watercolor paint and chose yellow ochre from Windsor&Newton. Dick Blick didn’t carry MamieriBlu which I’ve been using. Fine.

Afterwards I drove over to Utrecht where the Arches was also on sale, same price. Ok. I found MamieriBlu paints there and bought permanent green light. Sale! I decided I liked the brush selection at Dick Blick better, so that’s for another day.

At the register the manager was fussing with some large sheets of heavy weight paper as I was paying for my paint. He turned to me and asked if I knew what the paper was, because he had no clue and no paperwork for it. What did I know? Was it bristol board? Was it watercolor paper? No idea here.

Then he said, Why don’t you just take it?

Who? Me?

Yes! Happy New Year to you!

I said, Why not? Hey, I will never refuse free paper. I don’t know what it is, but it’s all mine now.
Now if I can only get my butt in gear and use it.

Quality Supplies Makes Quality Work

Shells ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Arches paper

Sunflower Petals ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Arches paper

Rocks ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Strathmore paper

One day last week I was determined to keep at the painting schedule. Twenty minutes per painting and if I pushed myself I could do a few, one after another. Inspiration was running low, the shells and pebbles have been painted over and over, no new sunflowers around either. But after my artist date I had a bit of motivation so I gathered my stuff and went at it.

Shells, rocks, pebbles were thrown on my table and I just painted what I saw. Next! I decided to crop one of the sunflower photos are paint that view. Great! Then I went for an even quicker sketch of the shells and pebbles. I used paper that I had cut from larger sheets to make these smaller works, not realizing amid the Arches papers was a student grade of paper from a long while ago.

As I began sketching the last painting, as has become my style, the paint beaded up on the paper. The paper seemed to resist the watery paint. I had a hard time with that, and worked harder than I had been doing lately. Twenty minutes and I was not happy with the process of that last painting. Nope.

The moral of the story is to make sure to use quality equipment whenever possible. Taking short cuts is just not worth the trouble. I’ll be careful of that at the next session.

Photo for Friday – Time for a Small Watercolor Painting

Winter Cardinal ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Arches paper

No time to yap, I have shopping to do! No time to paint either, but I did find twenty minutes to paint this holiday type of still life. I was determined to get something, anything on paper this week. Next week is another story.

Do you see my little friends in this painting? I’m talking about my friends the apple and the beach shell. Just had to pop them in someplace here.

Happy shopping time now!

Moving On To The Next Thing

After I had my lovely beach day a little while back, right now it feels as if it was a year ago, I decided to look over some of the photos I took in my garden and elsewhere. Some of those photos stand on their own as photographs. Did I really need to work them up as paintings? Some of them just didn’t feel right at that moment. None of the landscapes were pulling me in.

Then I printed out the hydrangea photos I took in the summer when they were at the height of deep blue color. I even flipped the photos upside down to see if a spark would come. Well, I did feel something click and I sketched out the big petals into some kind of composition.

I lightly painted in some shadows on the petals and went in darker with the background. I’m still using the MaimeriBlu watercolor paints and not so sure I’m that thrilled with them. The colors are not the same as the Windsor & Newton paints I have used in the past. So I can’t even tell you which blues I dipped my brush into. I’m just going on instinct and mixing and applying to the paper, which I’m enjoying working with. Thanks to my artist/blogger friends’ suggestions, the Arches paper is making a difference in my work, but I haven’t been able to get going on this piece.

Shall I rant about now? Why not.

The new baby excitement has calmed down and all is well in that area. OK. The idiot light in my studio went out a while back and hasn’t turned on again since. Has it finally decided to quit? Just watch when I call the electrician to fix it, the thing will light. Isn’t that how it always is?

There’s my issue with the watercolor paints, as I mentioned above. Not that happy with them, but spent the money and now I have to use them up. When I think about it I feel discouraged. Move on!

Then there’s the technology thing. On the old PC I knew how to change the size of my photos, enhance the colors, etc. Now with this iMac things are a little different and it just takes me longer to get what I want out of the photos, and from the computer. Cut/paste, new tabs, skipping around looking for help, more to learn. It’s tiring.

Rant over. Time to get on with it.

Out in the Garden with Arches and Me

Inspired by the photos of the azaleas and the beautiful weather a few days ago, I went into the garden to fool around with my paints. My back yard garden is really shady. It only gets direct sunlight in one little corner by the entrance gate and it’s a great spot when other flowers are in bloom. In the summer that corner is sweltering hot. I just can’t sit there too long and the shady areas are a blessing! The other day the shady parts were freezing cold and this sunny corner was perfect for me to spend some time. Until I figured all that out took time too! But I was determined to be outside in the weather and paint.

The Arches paper was calling my name when I went to the studio to get the paints and brushes. So I decided Why not? I’ll play with the new paper and see what it does. I must say it was lovely to work on. The paper took the paint well and I could use a lot of water if I wanted. I’m sure that I’m going to enjoy working with Arches paper when I plan the next work. I’ve been using Maimeri Blu watercolor paints and I found that some of the colors are different than other companies. The alizarin crimson is not as deep as the Windsor Newton I’ve used and neither is the Burnt Sienna. Those are two favorites I seem to go for and these aren’t the same. The salesperson at the art supply shop said they may be hues of the colors so I bought them last trip.

Anyway, the point is I went out and painted with no agenda other than to paint. The process was the focus. And let me tell you, I was out there painting away, going for colors, not thinking where I was, who I was, or why. It was as if nothing existed but the sun, the paper, the paint and me. Can I say Heaven? Yes. I had no idea what was happening in the world and it was divine. I was totally out of my head and on vacation!

The azaleas were fully in bloom, the shadows the tall trees made were deep and dark. The sunny spot I was in reflected off the grass near my feet. I didn’t know what to paint first so I just threw paint where I felt it should go. A monarch butterfly came by and landed on the hosta nearest to me and I drew it in.

It was really an amazing afternoon in the garden painting away, no matter what the outcome. I can’t wait to do that again!

Back in the Saddle Again

Last week I mentioned that I missed the deadline for the Virtual pARTy painting entry. Not a problem, no biggie, no hassle, no judgement, no criticism. I was cool with that. I just decided to paint the photo that was offered anyway, remembering the process was important, not the deadline or the result. Cool as a cucumber. I went ahead except for a little thinking first.

I’m itching to try out the new watercolor paper I bought after you wonderful, helpful readers made suggestions, but I didn’t. Being a practical person, I bought a good size block of Arches paper rather than a tiny one to try. I’d rather spend money on a good sized 12×16 block rather than a smaller size paper and feel frustrated by the constraints of the size.

I tend to paint big no matter what size surface I’m using. I still have more of the other paper and it seems to me to be a waste if I start using the new paper, fall in love maybe, and then I’m stuck with paper I might not want to use again. The paper I have is a weird size too and didn’t pay attention to that until I wanted to matte a few things.

Before I sketched this horse photo onto the old paper I took some time to figure out what size I might want to end up with. When matting and framing it’s much easier to work with stock sizes. So when I decided to think about my frame edge and paint within that area, with the idea that a matte, or frame, could butt into my composition. Ahh! The brain is working!

With the frame edge penciled off, I went ahead to composition, eliminated too many subjects from the original photo. I like to leave some areas flat as a part of the composition. Then there are colors in this photo I wouldn’t normally use, so I enjoyed playing with them. Orange is not my favorite, but I think I was able to use it my way by mixing in other colors my brain tends to go for anyway. It’s good to distract that pesky brain because when it’s working it shuts up.

Am I finished? Not sure. I’ll look at it later and see if I want to play with it more or move on. So for now I’m back in the “saddle.” I crack myself up!