painting for twenty minutes Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

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.

Friday Photos of Paintings

Three Friends ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

Last year around this time I signed on to the 100 Paintings Challenge. I wanted to do a few things by trying to paint 100 paintings in one year: build a body of work, learn how to use watercolor paints better, see subjects with a keener eye, push myself to paint regularly. And maybe sell a few works.

Shells with Peach ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

The challenge has been wonderful in all of those ways, except I will not meet the deadline with 100 pieces of work. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not this year anyway.

Four Shells with Rock ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

On the plus side, I have met most of my goals, and even sold a few paintings. So I consider the year a win. I am up for round 2. As soon as my deadline arrives I am committing to another go around.

I am grateful for the opportunities I found this year and I’m looking forward to better things ahead.

Photo on Friday

Shell, Pepper, Pot ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Arches paper

There was just enough time to squeeze out this painting yesterday. Just enough time to throw these items together and just paint them. I want to say it took twenty minutes, but I really can’t be that sure. Maybe it was a smidge more? Not positive. I didn’t put the timer on.

None the less, I painted. And there just was no time in the day to do any more.

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.

Working on Those Goals

About those goals..yes, I am trying my best to work really hard toward them. I decided the best one I can start on is in the studio. If I make it pleasant, maybe I will enjoy working in it. Maybe is a big word.

It’s a small space in my basement, but it’s mine. On the other side that you can’t see is a larger space we carved out for Son#1 and his musical instruments and other things. Now he has his own house and music space. So I confiscated some of it for me starting with the shelving.

I moved some posters around and hung more art I did in the past, moved my art books in and generally straightened up. That door leads to a closet I need to paint and put in flat files or shelves, but I dressed it up with a hand embroidered table covering from Cyprus I had. A bamboo folding screen I’ve had forever is blocking a crummy view of an unfinished area of the space. Who needs to see that?

Bead supplies, painting supplies, brushes, small sculptures and other stuff is arranged on and in the shelves. The table on the right is where I left out some bead stuff and ideas. Some things need to stay in view.

Today I treated myself to a real artist date at a museum nearby. In the afternoon I painted something small in the studio just to keep at it. The 100 Paintings Challenge is proving to be a real doozy. I figured out that I have only January to meet the challenge.

Will I make it?

Resolve to Reach Goals in the New Year

The new year is well under way now. What do we think of resolutions? Do you make resolutions for the new year? Are they possible to keep anyway?

Some people love making resolutions, mostly in the form of losing weight or exercising more, things which we all should be conscious of anyway. I am not a fan of resolutions. Maybe a better word to use is “goals.” Now I can get behind something that feels like I can reach for and attain it.

But don’t we need to RESOLVE to find a way to reach our GOALS? Maybe that’s a better suggestion. It makes me think of my process, as in HOW will I reach my goal? With what trick will I help myself move forward?

My brain hurts from all the thinking.

Last year I decided to try painting 100 paintings in the year with the goal of developing a painting habit, building a current body of work, and testing my skills in watercolor paints. I am at painting #44 in the challenge, not anywhere near 100 works. Okay, so I started the challenge a couple of months into the year. If I’m going to get there I need to step it up, pronto.

This year’s goals are much the same as last year: Keep working at it. Push the process. Stay in the moment. Plan. Prepare. Paint. Cruise.

Hour by hour, day by day is the best I can hope to do. If I push myself too hard I end up backward into the wall. I want to gently guide my inner-child-artist forward. Paint almost every day, remember to take a short weekly Artist Date, keep calm and stop whining about not having enough time for everything.

There’s plenty of time, and no time like the present. And time will march on without us if we let it.

Found: Some Time to Paint

Winter Nest ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
10×14 Watercolor on Arches paper

With not much time to give to painting, I stole about 45 minutes from a busy day to paint this still life again. It’s already out and available so it was a no brainer to just go to it. Yes, this one took a little longer to complete.

The method of painting quickly that I’ve managed to work out is keeping me in the game. The least amount of water possible doesn’t saturate the paper allowing me to move on to another area of the work while the just painted area dries. Once dried I go back and add details. The pace moves fairly quickly.

Christmas is fast approaching and there are things that must get done. Painting is one of the things that just may not happen again for a little while. So the fact that I was able to squeeze it in is a big deal.

Photo for Friday – Time for a Small Watercolor Painting

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!

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.