watercolor painting Archives - Page 4 of 19

Where’s the Inspiration When You Need it?

Little did I know how much painting inspiration I was going to get out of that vegetable share I did last year. Why didn’t I think of it as an investment in my artwork this season? What was I thinking when I decided not to bother doing it again, only because I wasn’t thrilled with the selection of the produce, for eating anyway?

Every week I dragged myself across Long Island to pick up my haul and dreaded what kind of crazy leafy greens I would find, only to get so excited by all the shapes and color that I photographed everything. And then I created artwork of it all. All my complaining about painting from life rather than my photos, were dashed with the veggie awakening.

Rooftop Scene ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Now look at me! I can’t find anything to get excited about painting. Okay, a landscape here and there, flowers in the garden, but nothing like last summer’s work.

What a drag.

So here I am, painting this and that, and making more jewelry. It’s fine. I’ve made a commitment to a one night shopping venue the first week of September so I may as well add to my inventory.

Greek and Turkish beads with waxed cotton cord

Long bead bracelet on the wrist

The colors and shapes are interesting. I’m trying to put a positive spin on my trysts with Mr. Resistance. Not so sure it’s working for me.

Show Up, Shut Up, and Work

Sometimes when the going gets tough, the “tough” shut down. There are so many excuses why one doesn’t get to work and I think I’ve pretty much used them all. It’s a dilemma.

Resistance is difficult. Anything, and everything, can block the path to working.

Let’s be on the up and up, okay? Those of us working from home have it much worse than those punching a clock at an office. There is no one to be accountable to, other than your’s truly over here.

We get the things done that need to get done. At an office, the work comes first, the house is left for some time later. At home, the house gets done first, and hopefully there has been a schedule in place for work. Does that happen? It should, but often times it doesn’t.

Who’s the boss of me?

But, hey, you need a pay check right? So get to work! Knock it off at the coffee machine and stop hanging around with that idiot, Mr. Resistance.

While I was trying not to waste time looking for the next painting subject in the studio, I wandered off to more beads. This bracelet is made of knotted Greek leather cord with more Greek Mykonos beads and Turkish glass.

Greek Mykonos beads, Turkish beads, Greek leather cord

After finishing the bracelet I tried, once again, to find a painting subject and leafed through a few travel books. I didn’t want to spend too much time so I settled on this scene. I liked the colors and the depth. At least if I move paint around I might be able to push away some resistance.

Something new to paint/sketch..

For now, it will do. The “boss” might be happy I showed up to work at all and won’t fire me.

Process Doesn’t Mean Perfect

Taking advantage of the momentum, I finished another watercolor painting this week. Imagine that? I had just wrapped up one work when I decided I should just keep going and start the next one.

The paints were out, the other painting was free from the watercolor block, I was there with wet paint brushes, why not?

I’m not even going to start with the whole thing about whether or not this is a good work. Forget it.

Process, baby, process. Start the work. Keep going until you finish the work.

Push it. Crush it. Process.

Three Pink Daisies ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
18×24 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Wanting to get it out of the way quickly I didn’t even spend time with the photograph. One shot and I was out of there. It’s a little shadowy on the upper right corner, which could possibly be my head blocking the light, but let’s ignore that, shall we?

Not a Wordless Wednesday

The temperature in New York this week is in the nineties. Today the thermostat in my car read 101F. People all around are wilting.

Get with the program people! We live in New York and this is the summertime, the BEST weather we’re going to have so enjoy it now because around the corner “you know what” is lurking!

It’s a four letter word beginning with an “S” and ending with a “W”.

Just dwell on that for a moment while I go about my business.

There is no way I’m going to complain about the heat. Nope. I am loving the heat and humidity. That is a fact. The summer has to be the best season for all the obvious reasons and painting is a big one. I can move it all outside and enjoy the weather. The sun, the scent of flowers and grass, the colors of it all, everything is just beautiful.

That said, I worked on, and finished, another watercolor painting.

Pink Daisies ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
18×24 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Plodding in the Painting Process

Everyone comes to their process differently. How an individual weaves their way through the day to come out at the other end with a finished product is as varied as each person’s character and ability.

Some of us plod. Some procrastinate. Others push. And some fly. I wish I could fly.

Me? I plod.

Twyla Tharp wrote about her process in her book The Creative Way, that she needs some little thing to start the process, an action that signals her brain to begin the chain of events that lead to working.

Many artists are working alone and not punching a clock. There is no boss who eyes us if we don’t show up on time. We are our own boss, and as such, might give ourselves the day off if we should so desire.

It’s no surprise that things can quickly fall by the wayside just because we suddenly have the urge to veer off in a direction that has nothing to do with creating our work.

Um, yeah, painting is work. (But don’t ask The Mr. if painting is my work. He’ll frown and look at me sideways.)

My day always has a plan. The to-do list is ready from the night before, but is tweaked first thing in the morning. Painting is always first on that list.

With morning activities done, the family out, and the house finally in order, it’s office time. Emails, updating, uploading, and all things computer related. Then there might be errands. By now it’s noon.

Have I headed to the studio to paint by now? No. I’m plodding through the day, trying to avoid resistance mode.

It can be mid-afternoon by the time I get to the item #1 on the list. I’m still looking for that little action that signals it’s time to get the ball rolling.

This past week I was determined to push, rather than plod, to paint. I cleared my day as fast as I possibly could. The weather was beautiful, but I knew I had been slacking and decided to bring the painting equipment outside to work in the garden rather than from photos in the studio.

Afternoon Garden ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
18×24 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Painting in the garden allowed me to enjoy the summery weather and work at the same time. Working the brush quickly I did my best to lay in all the colors and shapes I wanted before I lost momentum.

Once the work begins it goes well, I’m in the zone, the process of painting is satisfying and the end is agreeable to me.

Still, I’d rather not plod through the process.

Finished Work for Friday

After deciding to ditch the family travel photos and move on to other things, I found this photo of a monastery in Greece built into the side of a cliff on the Cycladic island of Amorgos. It was mysteriously appealing to me and felt that urge to paint so I went along with it. A twenty minute session and I was finished with this work.

Amorgos Monastery ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
9×12 Watercolor on Arches cold press paper

There’s more going on, but I’ll save it for later. See you on the flip side.

Finished for Friday

The sunflower and veggie photos are exhausted. I was hunting for subjects for the next painting by looking through my photographs of this and that. Since I’m not visiting Greece again this summer I wandered to my pictures of our past trips.

It wasn’t such a good idea.

None of the scenes appealed to me as paintings. The photos I took of my view either had my family or other people in them, or they just work as a photograph.

But then I got involved looking at our family, where we were, what we were doing, family we were visiting with, the youth of my sons and their happy faces, their silliness, and who is gone since then.

Many memories live in the pages of those photo albums and rather than finding inspiration I found a sort of melancholy.

A little book of travel info peeked out of my bookshelf and I found a small photo of a Greek island I’d never been to before. The colors and shapes were pleasing so I went ahead and sketched that scene. It felt good to lose myself in the activity and to shake off the downer.

Done in twenty minutes start to finish, it’s a bright, colorful scene with none of the memories.

Finished on Friday Doubled

Finished two paintings for today. Don’t get too excited, things could turn around again any minute.

Today I found the time to finish the painting of the little Greek church and when I was done I quickly turned my attention to my old photos from last summer.

There is something very appealing about the Greek countryside and the sea that I cannot resist. But I find I don’t feel too free when painting from photos I’ve taken there. I never seem to be happy about the compositions. Maybe I just really need to be there in person. This work feels stiff to me.

Then there are the photos I took last spring and summer of the vegetables, sunflowers and my garden then make me feel very comfortable when painting from them. I am not so sure why.

This second work was pushed out soon as I finished the Greece landscape. Feeling the need to paint something different right away, I grabbed this photo, cropped the area I wanted to work with, and headed straight to paint. No pencil drawing, just paint sketching. Maybe a little longer than twenty minutes?

I worked until I felt that I should stop. Much of this work was wet, but I pushed on, only waiting until it dried just enough to continue. Again, I tried to keep the water to a minimum.

Leaving out extra stuff, ignoring other things, just adding detail where I wanted to point out some things and that was it.

This work doesn’t feel as stiff as the previous painting. Maybe it’s me, but it feels so much better.

My Mantra: It’s the Process

So here we are, back at the easel, er desk. Yes, I’m painting flat, on my table with the watercolors. Some people use an easel, but not me. I can’t risk applying paints to have them run down the work. I have enough stress.

Landscapes are not usually my “thing.” Working on this latest landscape might give me more reason to ditch the idea. Don’t worry. I will wait until I’m finished with this.

New landscape of Greece

Since I took this photograph, I went back and removed some color from the water area. It’s a nice, little scene. Okay, my mantra is this: Process, process. Try to remember that it’s the process that counts.

Twenty minutes working on this and I have to run away from it.

The good thing? I cleared up enough of my morning to work in the studio before I do the errands for the day. This is a major accomplishment. As it is, I wake early and get moving, so it is possible to work first, run later.

The bad thing? I tire early and lose the afternoon/evening hours.

Remember: Process!

Daydreaming Again

Deciding on the next painting, I settled on daydreaming about traveling. Greece this year is not a possibility, nor is anything else for that matter. But daydream? That I can do.

Some of my paintings of Greek themes had a very good response at that art event I participated in so I thought I would revisit my photos of our trips. I tested out a small sized watercolor block just to see how I felt about the colors I would be using.

Hmmm…

I dropped in color after flooding the paper with water, outlining the major areas that need work. After it dries I’ll go back in and add more color and detail.

Good thing this was too wet to work at because I am notorious for pushing it too far when I shouldn’t, then tossing it as a goner. Not even twenty minutes in and I had to stop.

Will it make the thumbs up pile? We will see.