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Back to The War of Art: Resistance Only Opposes in One Direction

RESISTANCE ONLY OPPOSES IN ONE DIRECTION
“Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually.
So if you’re in Calcutta working with the Mother Teresa Foundation and you’re thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing…relax. Resistance will give you a free pass.”
from The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

Isn’t that nice. Mr. Resistance will tell you “Oh that new painting you’re working on? Don’t bother working on it. It’s not coming along so well anyway. Why don’t you just go fidget with some of that junk in your dresser drawer instead.”

Rather than pay any mind to what Mr. Resistance says, we should brush him aside and push harder to finish that painting and accomplish a new goal.

Yes, that’s what we should do, but do we? No. No, we don’t. We, I, listen to his murmurings, his whispers, and my brain believes him, even answers him saying “Yeah, you’re right. That painting isn’t working out the way I thought. I’ll wait for tomorrow to work on it.” And there it all goes down the drain.

It’s just that easy to take the short leap off the path.

Back to The War of Art: Resistance is Fueled by Fear

RESISTANCE IS FUELED BY FEAR
“Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.”
from The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

If we can manage to ponder this idea that Mr. Resistance has no strength, that all the fuss is fed by our own fear, the question is: How do we identify said fear, and more importantly, how can we conquer it?

Resistance, the Brain, and the Process

Developing a new website is a big deal. If this WordPress thing doesn’t kill me now, nothing will. And for that I’ll be grateful. In the midst of my mess here, figuratively and physically, painting happened. Imagine that? Actual work took place at my studio table. A day of productivity is a welcome thing. Needed, and necessary.

Putting aside resistance, trying to keep myself in the now instead of thinking about what I should’ve done, and what I could do tomorrow, the moment came. I grabbed it with both hands. The paints were available. The watercolor block was on my table. Photos I took in the fall were strewn across my table too. All I needed was to feel a pull toward one of them. Motivation is such a difficult thing to capture and the brain is a strange friend.

My brain talks way too much, and says things to me that I wouldn’t say to my worst enemies. Why do we do that to ourselves? The brain goes on and on about hurtful thoughts, talking such trash. And we listen to it, ingest and digest it, and spit it back out by doing absolutely nothing.

Someone come and kick it out! Guess what? That someone has to be one’s self. Get with the program, already!

Enough with the trash talk, let’s get to the art.

In the next photo you can see how I started adding shadow and trying to define the areas. The last photo is the second day of working on this watercolor painting and it’s starting to look like something I could be pleased with.

You may or may not remember, but it’s the process that is really the focus. Kicking out Mr. Resistance is part of the gig. Returning to the painting is the second part. Resistance has to be toppled to make time for the work. But, and the but is a big one, then I have to get back to work. It’s such a long story.

Back to The War of Art

RESISTANCE IS UNIVERSAL
“We’re wrong if we think we’re the only one struggling with Resistance. Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.”
from The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

Isn’t that wonderful? So we are not alone. Everyone, not only we creative types, experience our own kind of resistance. Maybe other people don’t call it Mr. Resistance like I do, but it’s safe to say it happens to the best of us.

The thing we most want and need to work on or at, is exactly the thing we seem to avoid doing. Amazing isn’t it?

A Finished Painting in Twenty Minutes

While I navigate this new website stuff, I have been working. Very hard work, I might add. As I type this, I am trying to figure out how to enlarge the type in the body of my post. Oh joy! Meanwhile, yes, working as I hold off Mr. Resistance, my old buddy, my pal!

Finished products are amazing things, let me tell you. Some how the work gets done as I am in that hazy fog of creativity. Then I blink and Voila! finished products. It’s hard to explain, but, there you have it.

Two finished paintings, another started, and two finished jewelry pieces are the result of that working haze. You already saw the finally finished work in a previous post. The second piece is a smaller work I started and finished immediately before I moved onto the painting I was avoiding. It helped to have one work done to spur me on.

Beach Day, 9×12 Watercolor ©2013 Dora Sislian Themelis

This little watercolor painting was done in twenty minutes from a photo I took of my granddaughter at my favorite beach, Pt. Lookout, NY, on a warm September day. It’s been sitting on my art table for a while and just pulled me in. The vulnerable quality of the pose, a view of the back of her head, is so lovely.

It was the right work to do at the right moment, to help push resistance aside and get to work.

Decision, Commitment, Productivity

It seems that making the Decision, leading to a Commitment, causes Productivity. It should only work like that every day. Here I am fighting and arguing with Mr. Resistance, and once I made the decision to get to work, Wham! it happens. That commitment to get myself to the studio and do some much needed painting really worked.

Next painting

A while ago I read The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, which helps artists of all types break away from their creative blocks. It was definitely an eye opener and the tasks helped me move forward in my art making. However, now and then I slide right back into that comfortable mode of “I’ll get to it later.” And you know how that is, later never comes, time passes, and we forget everything we learned.

Things happen, plans fall through, the “lights” go out, in more ways than one, and art just doesn’t seem to happen.

Until I read about decisions becoming commitment. The brain knows what it’s doing, trying to distract us from our work. But the commitment I made shook it all up. I guess it works, huh?

Session 3

You see, I was on a roll, painting along so effortlessly, when I was so rudely interrupted by a mess of a hurricane here in New York. This painting was begun in earnest, each stage worked in small segments of time, gradually developing when my lights l

iterally went out. I stopped painting this and anything else. Nothing in the way of creativity.

Knitting took painting’s place for a while, as we regrouped. The holidays came and went, I sold some work at some events, but painting did not resume. Mr. Resistance was getting nice and cozy, until I “Decided” to move on.

Flower Shadows, 18×24 Watercolor, Arches 140lb cold press paper @2013 Dora Sislian Themelis

Decision Equals Commitment

Information sometimes comes at the wrong time. The brain is not ready to accept certain ideas, facts, data and the like. However, the information presented is digested and the time eventually comes when we need to make a decision. The decision, then, becomes our responsibility. Decisions lead to action.

Recently I had a choice to make on another online program. Take the course, or don’t take the course. The course would have been beneficial in that I would not learn anything business-wise any where else, given the fact that I am not going back to school. Please, not at this stage in the game, and not for business.

The deciding factor was finances. This course was pricey. Okay, I would learn things I didn’t know, but the question hung on me: Would the cost translate into actionable usage? Would it benefit me in ways I would see in concrete form. Or, would it benefit me in time, with more help, needing more learning? I just couldn’t justify the price at this point. With plenty of other ways of getting information at my fingertips right now, I passed on the course. Next time around I’ll rethink it.

Someone would be making money, not necessarily me. For now I’ll just Google whatever I need to know.

But the course presenter sent out a free and informative video workshop with good thoughts on moving ahead and making things happen. A big take away for me was the idea that we need to make a decision first, and that decision, what ever it might be, is a commitment. Once we make a commitment, we take action.

“Once we take action, the Universe bends to support you,” the presenter emphasized. That statement struck me, reminding me of the book I read a while ago The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles, from 1908, I think.

I get that. Making decisions is like saying there’s no B.S. now, you’ve got to get things done. Take charge. Act. Be a doer. Push it. Do it.

Making the commitment was the easy part. Kicking out Mr. Resistance is the hard part.

Resistance Makes me Knit

KnitBabyHat — Knit Baby Hat ©Dora Sislian Themelis

Well, here we are at WordPress, trying my best to get myself together and move the blog along. Mr. Resistance is doing his very best to make me crazy. If Mr. Resistance doesn’t make me crazy, WordPress definitely will do the job.

It’s a steep learning curve and it’s embarrassing how hard it really is to be up and running. Everyone says Use WordPress, it’s professional looking, it is so easy to use, you’ll feel like a rock star. To be perfectly honest, I feel like an idiot. This is stuff that kids probably can do blindfolded. Me? Meh.

First you need to find a host. Then you need to decide on a “theme.” After that, which in itself could give you anxiety, you need to configure the whole shebang. I don’t know who those people are that think this is easy. They must be making money telling people anyone can do this.

Who are those people?

Little old artist me is doing her best to keep it together, yes I am.

Who could paint? This is ridiculous. But I can knit! Yeah, knitting is happening here. This adorable little baby boy’s hat was knit in one sitting while watching some dopey thing on TV. Lovely blue wool yarn will keep a baby nice and warm. Sized to fit a newborn to maybe a year old. My granddaughter pulled it on her own head the other day and she’s two and a half now.

I won’t be comfortable with this new platform until I’m done customizing it, and learning how to even add content. Typing my thoughts, wrapping them around my photos, adding captions, and whatever else, is taking up much of my energy.

Resistance Likes Painting, Not Knitting

The thing about resistance is that it has a life of it’s own. Mr. Resistance is not a nice entity and can waylay one’s ambitions just as surely as the sun rising and setting each day.

In other words, it/he/whatever is powerful. And some days it’s just easier to let resistance have it’s way.

The Big Rib Cowl

However, knitting is happening here. Lots of knitting these quick big knits have been flying off my needles. That Mr. Resistance just likes painting right now, I guess.

Last week I participated in another shopping event. I brought the same wares: paintings, notecards of paintings, jewelry, and hand knitting. Everyone was very positive about all of my work. I met some very interesting people and had some wonderful conversations. One baby bracelet sold the whole night.

Most of us vendors enjoy meeting each other, looking at our wares, and doing some shopping ourselves! It’s a nice evening out. Even nicer if pieces sell. Overall, it’s good exposure, good practice speaking about my work, and the work gets out there in public.

But these cowls I’ve been knitting have become a popular item. I’ve sold quite a few so far.

Right away the colors are strong, just how I like it. The pattern is big. I like that too. There’s a little sparkle. Also nice.

So, okay, maybe the paintings aren’t moving as well as the knitting, and some jewelry designs. But the plus side is that if I sell some knitting I get to buy art supplies.

I should only paint.

Resistance Means Just Do It

There is no time for painting. There is no time for jewelry designing. There really isn’t even time for knitting, but somehow that is the only thing I’ve taken time out for. Imagine that?

Paintings for the shopping event on Thursday

Resistance is such a hard thing to push aside. It’s my number one issue, and the one I was making headway with the past few years.

It’s been said that the thing we avoid doing is exactly the thing we must drive into full force. Every book or article I have read on the subject says this and that about that. Artist’s block, resistance, distraction, overwhelm, it’s all the same: avoidance of the important stuff. Soon as there’s a to-do list, you can be sure we will try to get around doing the things listed.

Ok, that’s my story, and I’ll stick to it for now.

I have been avoiding developing my own website/blog on another platform than this one. Just deciding on a domain name was hard enough, but it’s taken me until now to finally make that live with hosting. All the how, where, when, why, what you can think of and I’ve been there.

So now I’ve taken the leap of faith and I did it. What next? Developing the site takes time. Eventually I’ll be okay with what I have and let it go live.

It’s a brave thing to step out of your comfort zone. But if other artists can do it, I should be able to do it too. All that marketing stuff I’ve been studying will eventually pay off.

Meanwhile, this week I’m participating in another shopping event nearby. I’ll bring some paintings, some jewelry, and some hand knit items and not every piece I own either.

After that, maybe I can get back to painting something new. If I can stay away from the computer and the website stuff.