Category: process

Life, Art and Drama

The bloom of the azaleas in the background is over now
“Artists are dramatic.  Art is dramatic.  If we artists are not making artistic drama we make personal drama. We tilt at imaginary windmills and demand center stage.”   This is how Week 9 in Walking in This World begins.  Discovering a Sense of Camaraderie says, “Keep the drama on the stage.”  The author suggests that we need to focus our attention on our relationships and the difficulty that normal people present to us wacky artists.  (Wacky is my word.)  Normal in the sense that they have a regular job and we’re doodling and playing with paint all day. (Not me at all.) Wink-Wink.
I guess some artists can get all antsy and up in their own head that we’re not normal people because we don’t have a 9 to 5 desk job making regular money, we’re special after all, we create a drama.  Artists can get more nervous and turn on relationships and it’s not reality based drama.  If we don’t get to make our art regularly we make trouble.  At least we’re still creative, but it’s not helpful creativity!  It’s an interesting concept!
While reading I take notes like this: “Is this chapter talking to me?” I’ve been painting fairly regularly with the help of The Artist’s Way courses, but haven’t in a couple of weeks.  Life happens, things get thrown out of order and art doesn’t happen.  Yes, I’ve tried to stay with it in a way, but not painting.  It’s strange that coincidentally there’ve been weeks of drama floating around.  Nothing important, just stupid things.  So I’m reading this chapter, but I don’t think it’s really about me.  I’m not all that interested in causing drama or trouble.  I’m a nice, quiet girl.  I read this on page 201:

  “As a rule of thumb, artists should repeat this mantra: Sudden problems in my life usually indicate a need to work on my art.”

I’m not a person who likes to be teased and joked about with sideways glances, however good-spirited.  Being a straight, honest, level person, I like a good joke like anyone, but not if it’s a back handed compliment with a smirk on the side, however playfully done.  The Mr. loves doing this and not just to me.  He’s done it to his mother, brothers, etc. and he thinks he’s funny.  They laugh.  I get confused.  I want an apology.  He says it’s a joke, I don’t think he’s funny.  Now he’s mad and I’m center stage!  Ugh!

Finding myself alone during the weekend, The Mr. went fishing, Son #2 feeling sick and in bed, I went to my studio and started playing with my beads.  No, I didn’t paint.  Hours flew by as I moved the beads together making patterns, admiring the different colors, manipulated colored wire by wrapping large stones.  How can I explain how much better I felt after spending that time with myself? 

“Artists become snappish when they need to make art.  Instead of making art, we make trouble-and we make it because we are bingeing emotionally on NOT making art…We need to go full steam ahead and when we don’t we tend to blow off steam by venting inappropriateluy about any number of imaginary ills…our aches and pains becoming the world’s pain in the neck.”

I don’t think I’m snappish and I’m no trouble maker, but I don’t want to be messed with either.  I’m just reacting to a stimulus that my personality doesn’t agree with.  By reading this chapter I figured that maybe I just have to keep making art so I can more easily deflect the dopey stuff that comes at me.  Process, baby!

Will this be my painting spot for today? 

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!

Taking my Time with the Bagpipe

With the idea of spending just 15 minutes in the studio I’ve been able to work on this newest painting of my son and his Greek bagpipe.  Fifteen minutes turned into a couple of hours, so I guess it’s something to keep up doing.
I’m trying to go slow on this work too since my tendency is to throw paint around and then I’ve gone too far.  In that respect, using watercolor as my medium is discipline.  I think to myself:  Take your time, don’t rush, don’t be impulsive with the colors.  I like to just go with my gut on the color choice, letting my instincts take over.  Choose first, think later and I end up sorry sometimes.  I guess it depends on my mood.  As with the first cherry blossoms painting I’m thinking more before I act.
A plus about blogging on my painting is the work-in-progress photo.  After taking a photo I can see, somewhat easier, where I need to go .  The photo flattens things out.  It’s like taking that step back from the easel and squinting at my work.  The camera helps me squint and blur the edges, colors and composition to see where I’m going.  While I’m painting I could make huge application mistakes that could cost me the whole shebang.  Then it’s dumpster time!   Sometimes things are not fixable.  I’d like to avoid that and keep an upbeat attitude, if I can help it.
Taking it slow, chosing and applying the paint, stopping to photograph the work, and stopping altogether is keeping this baby alive.  I can already see some things I might have done better, but I’m painting.  I’m in the process.  Whatever the outcome, I did it and if I need to, I’ll move on.  It’s all good.

Done with the Course, on with the Process

I’ve finally closed the book, so to speak, on The Artist’s Way.  I re-read the last chapter, answered the Week 12 questions and the tasks, and did the check-in.  It’s been a great motivator and there are things I did during the course that I believe I will continue to do for a long time. 

The three pages of free thought journaling every morning will definately stay.  It’s been wonderful to write down the stupid things I think I do, how dopey I think I might be, and be done with it.  And the artist’s date is a must-do, whether it’s an hour or a whole day thing.  Anything I can do to keep the creativity coming. 

Just showing up at my desk with no agenda has allowed all kinds of ideas to flow.  Once I’m there I start thinking about something and suddenly I find myself painting for hours, where I had no intention to do so.

The Artist’s Way has allowed me to be creative in whatever medium I feel like using at the moment.  If I knit I don’t feel guilty that I didn’t paint.  I know I’m  “doing” anyway.  I’m more comfortable knowing it’s the process not the outcome.  Show up and do, rather than think about it and don’t.

So the last few days have been a little hectic and I didn’t get to paint.  Besides, the light in my studio keeps shutting off for some reason and it’s caused me to avoid the space.  I hate sitting at my desk in the middle of something and the light shuts off.  I’ll have to get that fixed, but in the meantime I was knitting.  I finished another pair of socks for the online shop, worked a pair for a gift, and started another.  While I knit I think of colors, shapes, textures, ideas, designs, it’s great.  Knitting was a mini artist’s date with myself and the process of creating.  It’s a must.

Process Painting

A good lesson I learned from The Artist’s Way was that it’s acceptable to go into the studio with no idea what will happen once I get there, if anything.  I used to think I had to have a plan, execute that plan, and end up with a pleasing outcome.  Honestly, I think I set myself up for failure with that thought because I’d end up doing everything else except go to my desk.  In my head I rebelled against it because I just wanted to fool around with the paint, doodle, and do “nothing”.  Now I know I’m better off doing “nothing” and maybe I’ll come out with “something”.  I know, wacky artist in the house!

The thing is when I doodled and did what I thought was nothing, I’d be happier.  It was fun and didn’t feel like working.  That’s one thing about doing The Artist’s Way course is it makes you become aware and steers you towards the process of art which could lead to exciting ideas.  It makes you feel like playing again another day and see what happens next.

I’ve been playing with watercolors for a while so they’re readily available to me.  I love oil painting, but since I cleaned my palette a few years ago I haven’t been able to start up again.  I bought a couple of small stretched canvases recently so maybe something will happen with them soon.  For now, it’s watercolor.  I just thought I’d see how the paint reacts with different brushes, wet paper or dry, what will happen to the paint when I add one color next to previously applied colors.  Playing with the medium to see how controllable, or not, it is.

Beach at Dusk ©2000 Dora Sislian Themelis
11×14 Watercolor
With no agenda, painting was a pleasure.  I let the watercolors dry and went back to look at what I painted.  When I saw some little idea of a landscape I went in with more paint and pulled out small ideas of the sand, shore and dunes.  I painted beach fencing with small brush strokes and defined the beach a bit. 

It was a good session in the studio.  If I had thought ahead what I was going to do there I might not have felt so comfortable.  Lesson learned: process, play.

I was Right, it’s the Process, Stupid

As I mentioned before, I’m working toward more art and less housework by reading The Artist’s Way.  Remembering to do the tasks is an effort. It’s not that the tasks are difficult, not in any way. I just can’t remember to do them. I think about it while I’m writing the Morning Pages, which is 3 pages of journaling and has become a habit I’m enjoying.

Being able to empty my thoughts on paper has helped declutter my brain-junk. You know all that yapping that goes on in there? Well, I’ve got alot of it.  Do this, did you do that, why, is it, isn’t it, you idiot, and on. Journaling helps that, but somehow the tasks escape me.

This week I allowed myself time and now I’m in Week 8, “Recovering a Sense of Strength.” As I read yesterday I was having “Aha!” moments. The author writes, “Creativity occurs in the moment..” She suggests that we not pay attention to the final form and don’t ignore the fact that “creativity lies not in the done, but in the doing.”

So I’m reading this thinking about my post yesterday and how I wrote the point of my painting was the process not the result! I really didn’t care about the painting I ended up with. The objective was the action of painting, using the materials and tools, getting the thoughts on the paper in color.

The idea that you need to have something to show for your effort stops that excitement to create. Focusing on the process allows that little sense of adventure. If I let myself  think I have to come up with a masterpiece, I’m done. Just playing with the paint or cleaning the desk area helped me to take a small step rather than a scary leap!

To read these ideas in a book that just yesterday were my thoughts was a revelation to me. I feel like I’m on the right track. Another painting session is on the horizon, as long as I’m not distracted by laundry, which is a whole other ball of wax.

The Energy of Art

After working at straightening up my desk and studio area last week I had that idea for a painting, remember?  The painting tools were available and so was I.  A good block of time with nothing else to do was before me.  At least I had planned from the day before with the sketch, the technique, and the tools.  Somehow the synchronicity was there and I took advantage of it.

The instruction in watercolor I had was a disaster, but I’ve been playing with the medium for a while now and whatever I’m doing seems to please me.  It may not be how it’s supposed to be used, but hey, I’m allowed to change it up!  The technique of just applying the paint to the paper without thinning sounded interesting enough to try.   Oil painting is what I’m used to and this seemed close to how I worked in the past.  I mixed color on the palette, but then I would mix again on the canvas.  It worked for me. 

I used a limited palette of basic colors from two different paint companies, Holbein and Maimieri Blu, in tubes.  I think I liked the Holbein better, but I’ll have to experiment again in other techniques. 

Without wetting the paper first, I dipped into the paint with a large brush.  I began to shape the petals of the flower adding color where I felt like it belonged.  The photo I used was just a guide for where the light and shadows fell, and for the basic colors.  After that I was on my own. 

The act of painting was energizing.  I could feel the electricity of the connection with the painting surface through the brush, to my fingers holding it, up my arm with my body and mind totally engaged.  There was no talking in my head which usually has a hundred conversations going on at once.  Delicious silence and all the attention was on the painting process!

The end product was not the agenda.  I wasn’t sure what art my painting time would produce and I really didn’t care.  To be able to move into that realm of daydream/energy/action was the focus.  The means was the medium and the technique, which would justify the end, so to speak. 


And the result wasn’t bad either.