still life Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Free Thursday on Friday

Being free to do other things this Thursday doesn’t mean I got much done. It just means I’m kind of free. Kind of. There’s always things to do. How do regular people do it all? There’s just no way to have everything done the way it should be. Houses always need some kind of cleaning, picking up, straightening. If you want to eat healthy you have to cook food at home, every day, couple of times a day. What’s with all the eating? And how about the food shopping? My refrigerator is always missing something someone here wants. I can’t keep up!

So a free day means cleaning, food shopping and the other errands that are my job here. My day with the Princess is exactly that: my day with my granddaughter. There’s no stuffing her in a car and running here and there. Not yet. I’ll wait to drag her around with me for when she gets a little bit older. Right now I’m enjoying my days watching her grow, smile, laugh, and try to stand. It’s fun and I’m not missing a thing! A few days on and a couple days off. It’s great.

Thinking I have all of Thursday to myself, I tried to plan what to do once the errands were done. I hadn’t really given myself an Artist Date in a long while and I thought I might try to do that.

There are so many things I wanted to do, but once I headed out I couldn’t decide. It’s cold here after all. That means I have to be indoors if I want to be comfortable. I thought I might go to a garden nursery place, one that has a big greenhouse with indoor plants. Bright and warm with lovely greenery that I could look at and maybe photograph for a painting. Sounded good when I thought of it. Then I thought I could take myself to lunch at a quaint bistro nearby in a cute town. Maybe I would make believe I was in another country on vacation. I also threw around the idea of bundling up and going to the beach to walk on the boardwalk and look at the ocean. Nahhh, I nixed that idea.

What did I do? None of those things. I did my food shopping and went home. Once I was back I decided I had to paint something. It’s not an Artist Date, but I was too lazy to go anywhere special. I thought of all the things to do and didn’t do them, so back to the dining room table I went.

From the grocery bags I grabbed an apple from the ones I just purchased and set it up with the usual suspects: shell and pebbles. Yay! A new subject! Yes, very exciting. Anyway, I got to painting in my usual fashion of sketching with the watercolors.

Now, remember, I have all day to myself, and I thought I would take my time with this piece. Instead of work for only twenty minutes, as has been my recent habit, I would slow it down. Why not? Take my time, day dream while I paint, do a good job. I don’t think it worked out like that. I was not impressed.

I worked on this until I realized I added paint where I didn’t want it. Where are the highlights on this apple? Okay, the shell I know, the pebble I’ve painted before, we’re well acquainted. I’ve painted apples plenty of times, but the striping on this one got me as well as the bright, white highlights. And I was taking too long on it. So I left it alone and waited for the paint to dry. I was well past the twenty minute mark and not at all thrilled. I signed it with the idea that I was done. Finished. Over.

I propped it up to look at it. I thought I could have done better with this apple and went back to rub out some of the color. After going in with a wet brush to lift some paint, I still wasn’t happy with this. I love the shell and the rock. The shadow is fine. The apple looks sad. I think I should have left it alone and be done at twenty minutes. Or thirty minutes, tops.

I know. I got all sassy with myself, thinking I had all day free for me. What did I do? I messed with the twenty minute rule. That’ll show me!

I Will Beat the Crazymaker

Have I mentioned that I have a stalker? What’s up with that? People turn into some kind of crazy here and there.

Friendships are strange. It’s nice to have friends, but not when they become out of control monster-like. Think of the Hulk. He’s such a nice guy, right? Then something clicks inside his head and he turns into this wild, green monstrosity. There’s no putting that thing back in his box. Nope.

When I was reading The Artist’s Way trying to reign in Mr. Resistance, I read about the Crazymaker. Everyone has one of those people in their life now and then. They make it hard for us to do our own stuff by distracting us with their stuff. The bad thing about it is that sometimes you don’t know you have a Crazymaker on your hands until they jump out of the box like the Hulk!

I made my peace with my Crazymaker, in my head. I ignored. It worked, for a while.

Now they’re circling in the waters like a shark trying to fool it’s prey. I think I’m the prey. I will try to ignore, again. But the thing is this: they know what they’re doing. They make it hard to ignore.

People around me tell me things related to the Crazymaker. These managers of mayhem are smart. They know how to worm themselves in my direction, by using others I’m close to or friendly with.

Lately it’s been by cyberspying. That’s my definition because I can’t think of anything else to call it that will convey my meaning. Sly and calculating, they are. But guess what? I catch the drift. I’m not a fool. I’m outside because I identified the Crazymaker for who they are and I slowly stepped back. Anyone remember that skit from the ’60’s with actors I can’t think of right now, “Slowly I turn, step by step…”

That’s me, backing out of the driveway! But wait! Who’s that shadowy figure trying to get my attention? Nah, not fooling me. Still I ignore. How long will they lurk?

Anyway, I painted a twenty minute piece the end of last week which helped me drive thoughts of that Crazymaker out of my head. Now that I’ve committed myself to the 100 Paintings Challenge, twenty minutes of work is going to help me keep going. Quick and done!

Broken Shell (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×12 Watercolor on Arches paper

That will show the Crazymaker and Mr. Resistance who’s boss! Nyah-ha-ha-ha!

I’m In

I did it. I took the plunge. I made the commitment. Got on the band wagon. I took the first step of a long journey. Can’t think of any other analogies to convey what I’ve decided to take on with all the other stuff I do.

For a year or so I’ve been trying to beat Mr. Resistance at his game. I read The Artist’s Way, The War of Art, Walking in This World, looking for ways to get around the blahs of going to the studio to paint. Reading The Artist’s Way was my jump off point. The tasks were do-able most of the time. The most beneficial step forward was the daily writing of Morning Pages. Thank goodness for those Pages! The constant blabbing going on in my head has moved to the written page, leaving my brain pretty clear and babble free.

The thing is I wanted to be painting on a regular schedule. In the past year I have moved well along, but, alas, no schedule. I thought that, maybe, I’m not a good schedule person-type. I thought, maybe, I’m not organized enough to make myself walk down the steps to my studio area, in my house, at a set time each day to work. Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to act as if I have a job in an office, to which I had to show up every day and get paid at the end of the week. Where was the payment, the cash, the moola? Not in my basement studio it seems. And not anywhere else either. It just wasn’t happening on that regular basis I was looking for.

It was happening alright, just not how I expected it. Yes, I painted some solid work. Yes, I learned things about watercolors and materials. I learned how to find inspiration, when to give myself a break, how to lighten up and when. Live life, ignore some stupid stuff, much of it my own, pay attention to nice stuff, smile and move on. Yes, learning lots of stuff. Good stuff and not so good stuff.

I knew that spending a small amount of time in the studio looking through my things, sorting, cleaning, could lead to doing. For fifteen minutes I could do something and it worked, for a while. Planning to show up for fifteen minutes would turn into a new project. Process, process, process.

One day while floating around the internet I stumbled onto The Twenty Minute Challenge blog by Teri Casper, and things suddenly started to happen. I learned that I couldn’t fool around all day long with watercolors because I wasn’t getting what I thought I wanted with all the water, the sloshing paint, the fuzzy-ness developing on my paper. But in twenty minutes I could have a finished painting! What a concept! Smack me in the head!

Those quick paintings I did on the beach in October were finished works. Why couldn’t I do the same thing here? Well, it worked and I did it.

Fast forward through to the present. Through Teri’s challenge I found the 100 Paintings Challenge. Sounded daunting, but other artists were working through it, why not I? (I, me, which one is it? Forget it.)

If I had found out about this idea months ago I’d have plenty of work under my belt by now. The thing is, I don’t think I would have had the guts to do it. Don’t think I have the guts right now, just that I’m afraid if I don’t jump in with both feet Mr. Resistance will grab me from behind and beat me up. So I threw down the gauntlet and said YES, before I backed out. Remember- YES is the operative word?

Here I am, making a commitment to do 100 paintings in the year ahead. I said yes so it’s done. The wonderful, kind Laure, administrator of The 100 Painting Challenge was lovely with her encouragement, as was Teri and the other artists over there. Laure asked me if I wanted to begin right away or wait. I replied that I needed to begin as soon as possible to keep the momentum going. I even had the latest painting ready to go.

What’s Left of Fall (c)2011Dora Sislian Themelis
8×12 Watercolor 140lb Arches cold press paper

This still life started out as a twenty minute loosely painted work. I knew I would go back to it to define the areas needing work and decided to make this #1 of the challenge.

I did it. I’m ready. I made the commitment and I’m peeking around the corner for Mr. Resistance. If he shows up I’m going to deck him!

Late Today, but I Made it

Oh boy, this is being posted late today. Dinner is done and I’m finally here. The day just flew by and there was no chance of posting earlier. I’m certainly enjoying myself, but time is limited before I conk out tired as a brick. By the time the house is set right again, I don’t feel like doing anything except plopping in front of the television for an hour and I don’t even want to knit. And yes, just an hour, because that’s all I can handle before I fall asleep. I am not one of those people that has the TV on all day, unless there’s some catastrophe or blizzard going on.

One time, years ago, I was painting my basement/den area, rearranging furniture, being really busy. My mom called to ask me how I felt about some big thing that happened. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said “Don’t you have the news on? Don’t you know what’s going on?” Well I didn’t. Now and then I check in just to make sure some building didn’t fall down, or some other disaster wasn’t happening. Sometimes no news is good news.

Well, as I said, I’m busy. Some days more than others. I wish I could wake up really early and get the day started, but I can’t. I already wake at 6 A.M., before the others here. I wrote in my Morning Pages that if I could be up an hour earlier I could run to the studio and paint, just to get it in. Then write the Pages, start the coffee, read my newspaper and do the crossword puzzle, dress, make the bed, run a laundry, decide on dinner, check the calendar, check the refrigerator, etc. It’s just not going to happen.

Can’t get to it early in the morning and too tired to do it at the end of the day. That means trying to find time during the day, in fits and starts, bits and pieces, minutes at a time. Lately, 20 minutes. Baby must be asleep, no one better call me on the phone, or visit me. I can’t really work while talking, I can’t think.

When I was in school and painting during our studio time, we would yap, but that was different. Everyone was an artist, each of us working on our own paintings. We talked about our progress, or lack thereof, the professor, the model or the still life, our supplies, our vision. We had large easels and maybe a small taboret to hold our stuff which acted like a barrier, creating a kind of wall. I’m in my space, and you’re in your own space, but we can exchange ideas around the comfort of our huge canvases.

It’s not like that now. I’m painting on the dining room table while my granddaughter sleeps in a nearby bedroom. Not enough sleeping time for me to paint in the basement studio. Not yet. And I’m using watercolors so there’s no fumes for anyone to breathe.

Quiet Leaf (c)2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×12 Watercolor

This is one of the latest watercolor paintings I’ve just worked on in twenty minutes. There isn’t much detail because I keep using too much water and have to get it dry before I can continue. The interesting thing is the more times I get to paint, the more antsy I am to do it again. It’s exciting. I wake up wondering if I will get to it and think about painting every minute until I do. If I don’t paint I get cranky like a whiny brat. Bad inner artist child! Behave before I count to three!

Photos for Friday and the Latest Work

Back at the dining room table again. This time I decided to use three small rocks as my subjects. I had to laugh because I sent the last still life to the blog of The Twenty Minute Challenge and one commenter thought I could finish that painting with line around the egg. So I was thinking, what egg?Then I realized that one of the rocks I painted certainly did look like an egg! I had such a good laugh that day.

Here is the beginning of the latest work. I thought I could try to make these rocks look like rocks instead of eggs! I am still laughing, can you tell? Anyway, this is what my start looks like. I am still using too much water on this Arches paper. Rats! I’m not going to get twenty minutes out of this. More like two days! (Still laughing!)

After a little bit of drying time, I try again. I don’t know how I remembered to take photos of this! Besides, my granddaughter was asleep and I wanted to work quickly so I could be done by the time she woke up. Not a twenty minute deal. Nope.You can see how I try to sketch out the subjects. When I work, I try to move around the whole surface so that most of the painting is moving together and evolving at the same time. I usually work this way so I’m not surprised by having one element fully developed before the rest comes together. Because if I do that, it never works for me. That one element ends up standing out or floating in space. It’s very action oriented even though I’m stationary. My painting arm is moving around alot and sometimes I stand, then I sit. If I do one or the other too long, I lose my focus. But then I lose my perspective, I can’t help it.

How did Monet paint the same scene at different times of the day? Did he paint a quick twenty minutes, an hour, and do another one of the same scene a few hours later? Or did he come back the next day, but later, or earlier? If you sit there and paint a landscape on the scene the light and shadows change with the hours. This is what I was pondering as the afternoon slipped away.

By this stage in the painting I had very little natural light left. The whole painting time was maybe about an hour. I began later than I wanted, mainly for the light. Drying takes time and I couldn’t move on until it dried. My mantra was ‘Less water’. I wouldn’t listen.

I must figure out this water thing. The longer I take on my work, the more details I see and want to add. It’s my opinion but, I think the paintings lose spontaneity if I go too long. Not good, not bad, I don’t know. This is not the finished work. It looks done, but that’s just because it got really dark when I took this photo and I had to edit it to see anything! Do these rocks look like eggs?

Some Time in the Morning

While my granddaughter was fast asleep after her bottle this morning, I headed to my watercolor paints at the dining room table. Like I have mentioned before, the light from the window at this spot is great. Even thought it’s a rainy, windy morning the light is still good, north facing light. The basement studio hasn’t seen any action in a while because it’s easier to keep an eye on my charge if I paint nearby. I set up the usual suspects and painted for twenty minutes.

I haven’t had the chance to get a smaller block of paper for these quick works so, as suggested by a fellow artist and blogger friend Pat, I cut larger paper down to the size I need. The way I paint, the bigger the paper, the bigger I go so I have to pencil in a dot to limit the area.

The paper I am using is Arches. The small notebook was Canson, and I’m noticing a difference. The Arches paper block stays wet longer, not so the Canson notebook pages. I’m also finding that I can’t paint as fast with the Arches because it’s still wet when I want to add color and then it gets muddy. I have to pay attention. Learning how to use the tools is part of the process, so it’s all good.

This is how the painting looks after twenty minutes. It’s not exactly how I’d like it to be so later on, if I get the chance, I will go back to clean it up.

On impulse yesterday, I purchased a 10 pack of small stretched canvas for almost no money at, gasp, Michael’s Crafts. I do hope there will be some oil painting in my future, meaning this winter. How does twenty minutes of oil painting sound? Can it be done with any success? Can I do it with a modicum of success? I guess I will have to try it and see.

Friday Fun

Yes, Friday is sometimes fun. It’s a busy day for me with lots of things to be done before the weekend. One thing is food shopping. Why do I always have to visit the fruit market or the big super market? Why do we have to do all this eating, and cooking, and shopping? It’s too much.

So I did my running around and came home exhausted. By the time I got myself together at home it was already afternoon! Where does the time go? I should, at least, be having a blast doing something I like to do. And even that doesn’t get a whole day!

Yesterday the town where we live had trucks out vacuuming the fallen leaves for mulch. When I came home from my errands I found that one of my neighbors had blown all my leaves into the street for the trucks. He’s a nice guy, very energetic. In the winter he plows the whole block with his snow plow in the driving snow. Like I said, energetic.

A small, bright red Japanese maple leaf was poking itself up over the mounds of leaves as if to say Hi! Over here! I took it out of the leaf pile and put it in my Artist’s Way notebook to dry.

This afternoon I arranged it with my favorite rocks and painted it. I did the twenty minute challenge thing so when the time was up I stopped painting. I got a little watery with the rocks, which I didn’t want to do, but the leaf looks good to me. I will go back and work on the rocks after this dries so I can better define that area.

I’m happy to say I’ve kept up with these twenty minute paintings. It’s never boring. I like the process and I’m even comfortable with the outcome most times. The challenge is helping me produce more finished work besides.

The hydrangea painting is waiting in the studio. I think it hates me.

Day Off Friday With Photo

Friday is my day off. I had a lovely three days of babysitting my amazing granddaughter and can’t wait for next week. Of course, I think she is the smartest thing at only 6 weeks old. She is alert as a whip, when she’s not asleep, which is alot of the time. You know, babies need sleep to grow, so that is cool. She’s adorable when she’s asleep. When she’s awake her eyes are wide and steady. She can and wants to raise her head and look around. I don’t remember my kids doing that this young. She’s a voracious milk drinker when she’s hungry, but right in the middle of her feeding she nods off to sleep! Then she’s awake and looking for the rest of that bottle. And her legs keep moving, kicking, pushing with a purpose.

She is very interested in her crib decor here at my house. Who knew polka dots would be fascinating? One side is lime green with dark brown dots, the other side is brown and white herringbone. It’s the dots that makes her excited. She turns her little head to see the herringbone for a few seconds and turns right around to the dots. Her arm extended, those little legs pushing in the air, she’s all into the dots. Her breath quickens and she starts to vocalize at those dots. So I do too!

Am I running off about this princess? I might be.

I think helping to raise a child is a huge responsibility. There is so much to learn about the world and themselves. I am thankful to have the time to devote to her. While feeding her I had Mozart and Frank Sinatra music playing. We looked at shapes and colors. We talked back and forth. I helped her push her legs and flip herself over for a few minutes. We took a walk in the carriage in the lovely fall weather. I walked, she slept.

And during one of her naps I sat at the dining room table for twenty minutes to paint while Mozart played. I had already set up a still life of the usual objects of late: rocks, leaves and apple. As I had pulled out the tomato plants from the garden and culled the small green tomatoes, I added one to the mix. Twenty minutes was enough to keep me in the painting mode. Twenty minutes and I was done.

I can’t wait until this baby can hold a paint brush!

Shaking up the Week-Friday Photos and More

After I posted to this blog on Wednesday I decided to try to upload these photos once more before I hung it up. Voila! One of the photos of the painting I did popped up. Go figure. The second wouldn’t upload again. Maybe by the end of this post it will work. So I’m writing this Friday Photos post to take advantage of the uploading.

Can you tell I’m painting on the dining room table? Yes, that’s been the spot for the 20 minutes paintings. The light is good from the large window and casts great shadows on the subjects. And it’s close to the kitchen! I’ve been getting to the painting late in the afternoon which cuts into cooking time. People around here need to eat!

The studio in the basement is okay, but the hydrangea painting is down there and I just don’t want to look at it for a while. My large watercolor palette is there too, but I’m having too much fun with the travel set, even though it’s supposed to be for painting on the go. Good thing I purchased plenty of half pans of Windsor & Newton paints on sale because I’m going to run out soon. The large palette is filled with the MaimeriBlu paints. Something about the colors with those paints, but if I really should use them. Next time.

Photos Friday

Enjoy the fruits of my labor!