Category: Resistance

Twenty Minutes to Success

Time is such an important commodity that it’s a terrible thing to waste.  How can you get back wasted time?  You don’t.  That’s it, done, finished, kaput.  Once it’s gone, there’s no running after it to stuff it back into the clock.  Maybe we don’t want to call it “wasting time.”  I call it daydreaming.  I think daydreaming is useful, and we can say it is time well spent.  I do alot of running around in my head, painting, redecorating, organizing, gardening.  I try to think things through to completion in my mind and decide how I like the outcome.   Much of that thinking seems like wasting time, but it’s work!  Many times I can’t see the end result.  Then it’s wasted time.

Today I was impressed with myself because all the little things on the to-do list were done.  I’ve been working on it.  Another week and my new job begins.  All that thinking-things time must become useful-doing-and-accomplishing-tasks time.  Babies need attention and thinking isn’t going to help when they need a diaper change!  So yes, I’m working on it.

Today I planned the route of all my stops and crossed each item off today’s short list as I finished.  Last on the list was this entry:

“Paint for twenty minutes.”

That’s exactly what I did, too.  Why waste time thinking about it, just get it together and Do It!  The important part of it was that I had the idea and a plan.  The tools and subject were in my head (thinking again).

I read a blog called The Twenty Minute Challenge by artist Teri Casper.  Some of my blog/artist friends were posting there and I decided to take a look.  Talk about not wasting time!  This idea of spending only twenty minutes on a painting resonated with me.  After the times I spent at the beach this summer and painting a quick painting, I came to realize two things:

  1.   I very much enjoy painting from life rather than from a photo.  
  2.   I think I painted a better work in a short amount of time.
As I said I had a plan.  A task in The Artist’s Way was to take a walk and collect different leaves representing a sense of abundance and fulfillment.  The theme at The Twenty Minute Challenge was Autumn.  I added two plus two together and got a painting out of it!  The rocks were out, I found the leaves I had pressed in the Morning Pages notebook, took out the trusty travel watercolor set and went at it.  And twenty, perfect minutes later I had painted a small still life and was happy about it too.
Dry Leaves (c)2010 DST  7×10 Watercolor

Tuesday No-Show at the Easel

Daylilies and Hydrangea in the garden at 7AM this morning

Sorry I was a no-show yesterday.  I had one of those days that would not stop for anything.  My morning started at the farmer’s market.  I was disappointed with the produce as the veggie guy didn’t have much with him.  Maybe he was having a bad growing week.  Then the fruit guy was out of fruit, so I visited the cheese guy and bought cheese.  Okay.  Cheese is not fruit, but I decided to splurge.  I love cheese.

When I returned home I had phone calls to make that I have been putting off.  House stuff, laundry (people need clean clothes you know), oh and a library stop to pick up books I ordered.  Tried to cross things off the to-do list and not making much of a dent.

After lunch I was meeting a good friend for Starbucks coffee and to dish the dirt!  We don’t get too many chances to get together often so it was a real treat.  That took up three, nice long hours, but worth every minute!  She’s an art lover and is encouraging me to set up some sort of gallery show somewhere.  I’d like to do that, but I’m afraid I may not have enough work.  I have to think about it.

Later I had to plan our dinner, prepare the dinner, serve the dinner, clean up after dinner and finally sit down in front of the TV to just veg. 

Painting? Nope.  Thinking about painting?  Yup.  Planning the next painting already even though the current one isn’t finished at all? Uh huh!  What’s interesting is that I’m not in resistance mode, just moving along.

I’ll try again today.

Just Going with the Flow

The painting dry spell seems to be lifting.  I think we need to just do nothing for a time while the brain resets and inspiration can return.  You know that thing called Life gets in the way and what can you do but sit it out for a bit. 

Some things must be done and other things can be left alone.  Go with the flow and forget it.  I wasn’t painting and I wasn’t in my usual fist fight with resistance either.  Just chilling, looking at my studio space, organizing stuff, checking out yarn and knitting, drooling over beads and just daydreaming in general.  No commitment to anything.  Maybe that’s the trick?

Here’s the new studio set up.  I never went to IKEA, although I will eventually get there, but I confiscated a bookshelf from my son’s music room for my use in the studio.  I won’t tell him if you won’t, okay?

 At least I can store some things out in the open now. I’m not done.  That door on the left is a closet I keep older work and other stuff.  I’m planning to paint it inside and add flat files or shelving on one side with horizontal slots for canvases on the other.  It’s a thought.  By the way, the light still doesn’t work.  I guess it’s time to call in the pros.

I started a sketch from this month’s photo suggestion at the Virtual pARTy blog.  It’s not a great photo composition, but a good starting point for painting ideas.  I missed the deadline to enter on the blog, but I don’t care because this has my “thing” working again, and I don’t even like horses.  My focus is going to be on the nearest figure and I’m blocking out the rest as shapes and grounding lines. 

Another artist already finished her work with the same  idea, which isn’t all that unusual.  Each artist has their own vision and techniques making each work different anyway.  I’m interested in the process right now, not the outcome.  Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m not using the new watercolor paper yet.  I want to, but I’m frugal that way.  I’ll finish the old paper before I use the Arches that cost big dollar bills.

 And these are the beads I bought.  Aren’t they just amazing?  Well, I fell for the colors and then the shapes, and all kinds of ideas came to my brain.  I’m compelled to arrange them with silver beads, maybe wire wrapping them, I don’t know what to do first.  I set up my jewelry stuff on the opposite side of my studio desk on an old kitchen table we had when I was a kid.  Yes, it’s still alive and works! 

Keeping my stuff out seems to inspire me.  I could be in that room for a pencil and end up seeing an idea glinting out of the corner of my eye.  Before I know it I’m working on the sketch or the beads. 

The week is new yet, and I have errands to run.  After that my time is my own and  I’ll be in my little foggy dreamland.

Why Argue With Life? He Ain’t Listening

Did you ever get one of those days where everything you wanted to get done just doesn’t?  How about a couple of weeks of those kinds of days, all strung together?  Welcome to my world.  Somehow, every day that I’ve planned to do my thing, something else comes up to squash that lovely plan.  Every day!  It’s very annoying.  Bad enough I have my daily fist fight with resistance, now I have to wade through life to get to the other side.

Yes, Life has a way of getting in my way.  Remember that to-do list I had?  Well it’s still full of things I want to do.  The universe decided every day, for the last couple weeks, that it’s not my day for anything I want to work on.  Nope! 

“Forget that silly list”, Life said.  “Today your lower back is going to go out!  There will be no time for painting when you need to find a chiropractor!  Forget about it!  And that little trip to IKEA you keep wanting to take?  Not today!  Today you will spend 2 hours in that chiropractor’s dark, warm, noisy waiting room with a million other yapping people who are also waiting.  Isn’t that better than painting in that no-light studio of yours or trying to organize it?  Why, the time you would spend trying to decide what to paint will be put to better use in that doctor’s office, right?  Of course it would, now go.”

I could blow my whole day doing some thing I didn’t plan on because Life said so.  Who could argue with Life?  When Life tells me to do this because that just isn’t happening, I just go along with it because I’m like that.  Why fight it? 

Resistance is alot like Life, but I’m doing my best to spar with that creep by keeping a window of creativity open, however teeny weeny.  But big shot that Life is, there’s no messing with that guy.  Life is bigger than all of us put together.  When he talks, people listen!  So, okay, I do what he says, when he says it, and how he says to do it, whatever it is.  Find a chiropractor!  Yes, sir.  Attend that event!  Done.  Go to this wake today, and that wake tomorrow!  Yup.  After you do that other silly little thing you want to do for two minutes, run that big errand, now!  Aye aye sir! 

Can anyone tell Life “You’re not the boss of me”?  Life gives a holler and the blog is posted later than I want, too!

Finish Something…Tomorrow

Since I went on hiatus for the Easter holiday I haven’t been able to start a new project.  Here and there I found some time to knit at least.  And even that has been hit and miss.  I was excited when I bought Arches watercolor paper to try, but I’m looking for the next thing to paint so I can work with it.  Nah!  Resistance is peeking at me from around the corner, again.  A tough cookie, that resistance.

Yesterday I went to my studio just to look at it.  I decided to rearrange my desk and worktable, again.  Flopping the areas to be a little more Feng Shui this time.  I don’t like working with my back to the door, but then I like being able to see out the window too.  Having my back to the door felt worse than not seeing outside so I moved my desk.  Now if someone is coming toward my space I’m aware.  My table is under the window and that felt comfortable.  That darn light has been out now for a couple of weeks.  Watch when I get someone in to fix it, it will light up!  The light and I have a love/hate relationship. 

Before, light on
After, light off (darn light)

Something about rearranging the space made me feel good.  I know I’ve said it before, but it’s true that cleaning and straightening gets the creativity going.  I don’t know why, but it does.  So I’m feelilng kind of good about doing some painting again.

I read Week 7 in Walking in This World this week and it made me feel like I was on the right track.  The last section in Discovering a Sense of Momentum was entitled Finish Something.  Don’t we all have half done things hanging around?  At least I do. 

Whether it’s photos that need to be in a book, or artwork left undone, there’s always something that needs finishing.  The author, Julia Cameron, writes that to keep the creativity flowing we need to finish things we’ve left off. 

It can be as mundane as cleaning the medicine cabinet or straightening up a room.  She calls it a small pat on the back and a shove forward to moving our creative energy along.  Mend the socks.  Hang the curtains you bought.  Sort your CD collection.  Those things half done help us to drag our feet.  Finish things and the universe increases our efforts behind our back. 

I have been trying to get that studio in order since I carved out that space for myself.  Reading this chapter gave me the incentive to keep going.  I planned to visit IKEA for some much needed storage for the studio.  With the push from rearranging the room the day has come and it’s…tomorrow!  Today is just too busy with some other things I need to do.  But tomorrow is D-Day and I’m really excited about it.

The chapter ends with this: “Finish something-anything!..It’s an inner order: ‘Now, start something’ finishing something says.”  Here I go!

Done and Ready for What’s Next

The Bagpipe 11×14 Watercolor ©2010 Dora Sislian Themelis
I’m finally finished with this painting of my son and his bagpipe.  I can’t do another thing to it or it will be a mess.  Thanks to a suggestion from a lovely commenter, the paper might need to be rougher or stronger if I’m going to rework areas or use a lot of water.  I learned a few things about my materials and myself, how I paint, what I like to paint, and maybe how to fight with resistance.  It’s a process.
Resistance was beating me with this painting.  I will look at this in the future and remember how hard it was to go to the studio to work on it with all the action.  Boy did I want to just skip it and move on to something else!  I weakened and found myself working on an area, giving up the resistance battle.  I guess that’s how it is.  One day you’re playing, having fun and the next it’s a chore to paint.  Something clicked and whatever it was helped me get back.  Was it the reading material, the doodling tasks, the morning pages, or was it just my head being ready to try again?
John’s Laouto 11×14 Watercolor
©2001 Dora Sislian Themelis
As I have said in past posts, I was primarily an oil painter.  I think I used watercolors the way they should be used in this work I painted quite a few years ago. This was done after the miserable watercolor class I took.  Can you see the difference? 

The other thing about these two paintings is that the bagpipe was painted using a photograph of the scene and this was painted from life in one sitting.  I think the life painting has a freer, more spontaneous watery quality.  When I started using watercolors, I had just ended a bout with resistance.  Since I was new at it, I had motivation in my corner and kept painting. 

The bagpipe work is dramatic because of the lighting and paint application, but maybe a bit too detailed for my comfort.  


As I move on it may be time to get the oil paints out and revisit painting on canvas.  I’ve been using watercolors as if they were oil paints by applying them the same as I would the oils.  Maybe it’s not a great idea.  Maybe it’s just how I work.  I’m not so sure.

Watercolor paints are just so easy to get out, use and clean up afterward that they’re very inviting.  The transparency of the medium is what artists like, but did I work with them the way they’re meant to be?  Does it matter?  Comments, questions, criticisms?

Anyway, that’s my own critique.  Thanks for listening to me rant.  I’m done and I’m moving on. 

The Din of the Light Bulb Moment

In reading the latest of The Artist’s Way books, Walking in This World by Julia Cameron, I had a light bulb moment.  Yes, that weird feeling when suddenly things seem very clear.  I could feel a “pop” go off in my head.  I looked up and around me with a start.  You know the feeling when things seem to come together and make perfect sense?  That sometimes happens slowly, like a gradual awakening, the fog slowly lifting and you say to yourself, “Yeah, I see. I get it.”  No, that’s not what happened to me.  I had a rush, boom, clang, got hit on the head moment.  Ouch!

Before you think I lost my mind, I should explain.  As I’ve been stuck in resistance lately and I had put off the latest Artist’s Way course book, I decided it was time to re-direct, take a U-turn and pick up where I left off.  I’ve been very good about writing the morning pages, not so good at keeping up with artist’s dates, but here and there doing small things to stay in the loop: looking at old work, fussing with that bagpipe work, knitting on socks, ordering yarn.  Yesterday I picked up the course book and started reading again.

Chapter 3 is about discovering a sense of adventure to gain a greater feeling of freedom and open mindedness. One of the tasks was called Draw Yourself to Scale.  Interesting, I thought.  The task involves sketching.  Nice and easy, right?  To paraphrase: “Sketch each moment and enter adventure..The coffee mug, the doctor’s office..Don’t need to sketch well.  The adventure of life rushes past us in a blur.  Velocity is the culprit.  Velocity and pressure.  A sketchbook freezes time and is a form of meditation to focus on every moment.”  And here I was thinking I had to sketch myself.

CLICK!  The light bulb over my head popped really loud!

A couple of months ago I bought a teeny sketchpad and filled my old rapidograph with ink.  I don’t like to carry a large handbag for the weight of it, but okay, the one I have right now can fit a few things.  So there’s the sketchbook and pen, handy and ready.  When I had some time, and no knitting with me, I’d pop out my things and doodle.  Most of the time I forgot I had them with me in my bag.

POP!  Light bulb!  I have doodled waiting at the doctor’s office!  CLICK!  I drew a little girl in my teeny book after allergy shots in the waiting room!  SNAP!  I pulled out the little book last week at a coffee salon and sketched the live musicians while my company sipped their coffee!  I’m in the loop after all!  Where I thought I was out of the game, I really wasn’t.  Maybe I was coasting along the whole time?  If I hadn’t read this chapter I may have continued thinking I was still in resistance mode.  Talk about synchronicity!  Things were just falling into place of their own accord.  Could it be I just wasn’t really paying attention to myself?

Boy, that was some light bulb.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go…

Wrapped up in the latest B.S. going around and my own resistance, what does one do?  Well, I do a couple of things.  I can’t really say which one is the go-to perfect thing for me to do when I’m frustrated.  People would think, “Oh you’re an artist so you’ll go paint or draw something.”  No, I don’t go there when I’m annoyed.  Wish I did, but that’s not it. 

Some people go shopping.  My shopping wouldn’t make a dent anywhere.  Sometimes I go shopping and walk around the store with the things I’ve chosen and by the time I’m ready to check out I’m already done with the items I was holding.  No sale!

Dancing is a feel good thing for me, but I feel stupid dancing alone in my house.  Gardening is another good thing to do, but here in New York there’s no gardening going on right now.  Nope, not with all the half melting snow still around. 

From what I’ve been reading lately on resistance, it’s good to do something mundane, repetitive, or ordinary.  The Artist’s Way said to do your mending!  Who has mending today?  Nobody mends socks anymore.  You pop a toe hole and toss the socks in the trash these days.  Or maybe now with the huge recession people will think twice about throwing clothes away when they pop a hole.  I mended socks until I could no longer mend them.  So there.

Want to know what I did?  I ordered yarn!  Yup.  In the heat of the moment I went online and ordered yarn.  Enough to make a kind of big thing.  I’m not saying what kind of thing in case anyone’s looking over here!  And…I knit!  I took out every half knit thing I had this week and checked them over.  Then I started knitting.  Those half done socks from a couple of weeks ago?  Done.  The other pair of baby socks?  Done.  The new order has not arrived yet, but I can’t wait to get my hands on it!  Yeah, yarn gets my juices going! 

Painting is hard.  Knitting is easy!  Ordering yarn is even easier!  I’m licking my lips just thinking about the mailman coming with my yarn order.  And the color is delicious.  Come to think of it, it’s the colors that really get me.  Yarn colors can be amazing!  Just go visit a yarn shop and see all the colors and textures.  Some yarns are real eye candy.  Heaven can be found in a yarn shop.  OK, most yarn shop proprietors are the meanest, nastiest, snobbiest people on earth.  Oh yes they are and the shop nearest my house is a testament to that.  Yarn is not cheap by any means and they have the nerve to be nasty!  So I snub them and order on line.  It’s great.  The only draw back is that you can’t see it all or touch it.  It’s fine and less expensive, sometimes free shipping, no tax.  Wonderful not to deal with crazy people. I’ve had enough of dopey, crazy people for the moment.

The other thing I like to do to escape is read. What am I reading NOW you ask?   Take a look below and let out a nice laugh, go ahead, I laughed too!

 

How do You Spell "R-E-S-I-S-T-A-N-C-E" ?

Doodling at the allergists office today

“Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable.  Resistance aims to kill…Resistance means business.  When we fight it, we are in a war to the death.”  ~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

A reader left a great comment on this blog after yesterday’s post and it had me thinking all day.  Go ahead to yesterday and read the comment.  I’ll wait. 

In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield writes that resistance is insidious.  It keeps us from doing our work by telling us anything it can think of.  It, and I’m assuming that’s the scratchy voice in the head, will lie, seduce, bully, cajole, deceive, reason like a lawyer, or hold a gun to your head like a robber.  Resistance will double-cross you as soon as you turn around.  And, he says, if you believe any of it you deserve everything you get because resistance is full of crap.  I had better buckle up.

So, my question to you dear readers is this:  “How do you fight resistance?  What form does it take, and what measures do you use to battle it and win?”  I’m very interested the things different people do to work through all the junk and push the resistance aside. 

Please feel free to leave your comments.  I could read all the books in the world and still have trouble with resistance.  Maybe what works for you could spark an idea for me.
I’m looking forward to it, bring it on.