painting flowers in watercolor Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Plodding in the Painting Process

Everyone comes to their process differently. How an individual weaves their way through the day to come out at the other end with a finished product is as varied as each person’s character and ability.

Some of us plod. Some procrastinate. Others push. And some fly. I wish I could fly.

Me? I plod.

Twyla Tharp wrote about her process in her book The Creative Way, that she needs some little thing to start the process, an action that signals her brain to begin the chain of events that lead to working.

Many artists are working alone and not punching a clock. There is no boss who eyes us if we don’t show up on time. We are our own boss, and as such, might give ourselves the day off if we should so desire.

It’s no surprise that things can quickly fall by the wayside just because we suddenly have the urge to veer off in a direction that has nothing to do with creating our work.

Um, yeah, painting is work. (But don’t ask The Mr. if painting is my work. He’ll frown and look at me sideways.)

My day always has a plan. The to-do list is ready from the night before, but is tweaked first thing in the morning. Painting is always first on that list.

With morning activities done, the family out, and the house finally in order, it’s office time. Emails, updating, uploading, and all things computer related. Then there might be errands. By now it’s noon.

Have I headed to the studio to paint by now? No. I’m plodding through the day, trying to avoid resistance mode.

It can be mid-afternoon by the time I get to the item #1 on the list. I’m still looking for that little action that signals it’s time to get the ball rolling.

This past week I was determined to push, rather than plod, to paint. I cleared my day as fast as I possibly could. The weather was beautiful, but I knew I had been slacking and decided to bring the painting equipment outside to work in the garden rather than from photos in the studio.

Afternoon Garden ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
18×24 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Painting in the garden allowed me to enjoy the summery weather and work at the same time. Working the brush quickly I did my best to lay in all the colors and shapes I wanted before I lost momentum.

Once the work begins it goes well, I’m in the zone, the process of painting is satisfying and the end is agreeable to me.

Still, I’d rather not plod through the process.

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.

Sunflower Painting is Finished, and What I Learned

It’s Friday and time to show you photos of the latest finished watercolor painting. I had some other fun news to share, but you will have to wait. Painting is happening and the sooner I get this one out of here the easier it will be to get the next one working and I will tell you what was so much fun.

First twenty minutes

There were a few things I learned while painting this work. Firstly, the height of my art table is too high. The dining room table is lower when I painted there, waist level while standing. This was not comfortable and I felt as if I couldn’t get away from it by standing or sitting on a stool. It will need to be lowered if I’m going to paint there.

Secondly, the desk lamp is not natural even though I have a daylight bulb and an incandescent one. It’s just way to bright and also too close to the work to gauge paint colors the way I wanted. I persevered.

Second twenty minutes

The third thing I learned is about the paper. After using Lanaquarelle, then Arches, I can tell the difference in quality. I bought this Canson tablet on sale, it was larger than I was using, and figured it’d come in handy when I was ready to work larger.

Also it’s a pad, not a block, and if not affixed to a surface it curls and rolls when wet. The painting surface is not that great either, leaving weird brush strokes. Well, I guess it’s okay if you want those brush strokes to show.

I’m using two different paint companies, MaimeriBlue and Windsor&Newton. When I painted a layer over an area previously painted, the layer beaded up. Was it the paint? Was it the paper? Or does that happen? I thought it was strange.

Blue Vase With Sunflowers ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
15×20 Watercolor on Canson paper

After I finished I took photographs while the work was still attached to the table. My problems were the same I had while painting: unnatural and too bright light, too close to get a good shot. I took the painting off the table, went to the dining room table and the nice northern exposure picture window to take a photo. See the difference? Washed out color in artificial light, more true to the paints in natural light.

The fourth thing I learned is that I’m getting comfortable using my photos to paint from. I don’t want to get too cozy because then it’ll take time to get back to painting from life.

I’ll figure it out one of these days. In the meanwhile I’m still in the game.

Back to Painting the Sunflowers

First twenty to thirty minute session

So yesterday’s painting sale was fun. Now back to business. Back to the drawing table. The sunflowers await. Twenty to thirty minutes of painting time is all I allowed myself on the weekend. It was just enough to get something on the paper. Something is better than nothing. Yesterday was a bust.

On my Sunday session, while the painting dried, I played with my beads. That’s always fun too. I had to get away or I would over do the work. Even if I use a timer, my brain just ignores it and I keep on going. Bad idea most times.

But then I can become distracted by so many other things that I never go back to the painting. I’m on a schedule here. I have 100 paintings to get done!

Today’s twenty minute session

Today I was determined to get to it. Maybe someone can explain it to me, but while I am painting I really don’t like what I see. Yeah, it’s the process I keep telling myself, but shouldn’t the end result be somewhat pleasing after all that? I’m not just mindlessly drawing in a coloring book, there should be real art at the end, right?

After I photograph the work for all of you to see, I am surprised by it. I don’t dislike it. There are areas I need to push, but overall it looks better than I thought.

Let me know what you think.

Resistance to Painting is Ridiculous

New painting

After a morning of errands, and plenty of procrastination, I kicked myself into gear after lunch to start working on a watercolor painting of the last of the sunflower photographs. I remembered I had a 15×20 pad of Canson watercolor paper and decided I didn’t need to shop for paper after all. Not today.

The only thing about this paper is that it’s loose sheets, not a block like I’ve been using. To work with sheets of watercolor paper I needed to tape it to a surface so that when it dries it lays flat.

There was no board this size to use as a surface so I taped it to my art table. You know what that means? It means I painted in my little studio. Can you tell I had the desk lamp on? It’s not the best light, but it will have to do.

Today I had a plan. After a brief pencil sketch just to place the flower heads on the paper, I wanted to use only the brush strokes for the petals and leaves. I tried to use just enough water to put the paint where I wanted it to go, using color for the lights and shadows, without drawing them in pencil.

Other times when I pencil in my composition I indicate where the shadows should go. Not this time. The brush stroke was dominant and the color choices developed the shadows. Watercolor is a tricky medium. But I guess every medium has it’s tricks. It’s up to the artist to discover how to use them.

Twenty minutes was the allotted time, but I may have painted past that. I didn’t use a timer today. When I felt I was too on top of this work, I stepped away to look over my table with jewelry supplies to distract myself. That was fun. More colors to look at, rather than ruin this painting with overwork.

When I said I kicked myself into gear, it was an understatement. There’s no reason for me to put up road blocks. It’s not laziness. It’s not boredom. It is resistance. I dragged myself to paint, with the little inner-child-artist having a tantrum and holding her breath until she’s blue.

It’s so ridiculous.

Art is Loved

When I signed onto the vegetable CSA for the season I planned to receive flowers and eggs as well as the fruits and vegetables they offered. It’s been interesting to see the different produce I brought home. Some things I never saw before and never want to see again, to be really honest. Let’s say it’s been an experience.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the flowers. Those sunflowers had an effect on me from the start. I liked the jaunty way they sat in my vase and I just had to photograph them. The life of fresh flowers is fleeting, so to preserve their beauty I had to take photos. Did I think I would paint them? Yeah, the idea came across. Did I think I would be enamored of sunflowers? Nope.

This painting was the first of the bunch and it was memorable because I painted it in great weather in my backyard garden. It just happened to be a beautiful day with painting happening.

At the end of the summer I added it to my portfolio of work that I brought to the workshop I attended. Did I think it would be purchased during that weekend? Not at all, but that’s exactly what happened, as I said in the post about the workshop. Crazy.

Me, my painting, and happy new owner Grace!

Grace, my table-mate fell in love with my painting and had to have it (her words)! Of course I sold it to her, and we took photographs of the moment. It was a lot of fun. (By the way, Grace makes beautiful pottery and owns her own pottery studio The Potter’s Wheel. Visit her site and Etsy shop when you can.)

Sunflowers Outside hanging in Grace’s home

Just this week Grace posted to Facebook a photograph of the newly matted, framed and hung painting in it’s place of honor in her home. It was a wonderful feeling to know that painting is loved by someone other than me, it’s maker. Doesn’t it look happy? I think it does. And so am I.

Process Leads to Finished

You see, the process, when implemented by the twenty minute time slots, leads to finished product. It’s a coincidence that I just read something to the effect that artists with a day job should fit creativity time in their day just like this. They should set a timer for twenty minutes and push headlong into painting, or whatever.

Amazing!

I finished this today. Believe me, if I don’t put it away right now I will find some other spot to play with on this work. After I took this photograph I made a small area of the background darker to pop the yellow flower petals a little bit more.

That is my downfall. I tell myself I’m finished and then after I clean the brushes and my palette I spy an area I think needs a flick of the brush. Many a work has been ruined by such impulsiveness.

Forget it, I’ve already uploaded this photo and that’s it. The little brush stuff I just did will have to be discovered by someone else, hopefully a happy art collector.

Just putting it out there into the Universe, hoping the Universe hears that little plea for a buyer to show up and give a nice painting a new home. That’s 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.

Twenty Minutes or What?

Twenty minutes to start something new

As I was saying..yes, twenty minutes to something new on the table, easel, whatever. It’s been a quiet Sunday and I had time to paint, having danced around the paints all week.

I played with beads twice, coming up with two different bracelet designs, and successfully by-passed painting. What’s with that?

Today there was that split second decision to put water in the plastic bucket and just do it.

Isn’t it funny, though, that I can go to my studio where the beading stuff is, sit there to come up with jewelry designs and finished products, but I ignore the watercolor paints sitting on the dining room table? I think it’s funny. It’s really not funny, it’s annoying behavior, and it has to stop.

To be totally honest, I don’t even think I worked on this new piece for twenty minutes. Maybe it was more like ten minutes. Just enough time to sketch the composition and throw down some color, that’s all. You can see the paper is still rolling with water and hasn’t dried when I took the photograph. Quick and done.

Tomorrow I can move this along and get a feel for where I want to go with it.

Just to let you in on a little secret, I am planning to paint bigger. Don’t tell Mr. Resistance. He might throw a roadblock in my way. Just saying.