watercolor painting Archives - Page 8 of 19

Humming Along on the Next Painting, Wow

Next up!

As I await my new invitation to participate in the 100 Paintings Challenge, and the next online course Cultivate Collectors to begin, I started another work. Gee, I am humming along, aren’t I?

When I took all those photographs of my veggie haul I wasn’t thrilled with most of them. I even had a few I didn’t bother printing out. This photo was one of those I had no intention of painting from. Well, lookie here. Guess I was wrong.

Finally using my brain, I sketched this out over the weekend to be prepared for the sessions to begin during the week. Smart cookie.

I was so excited to paint that I thought about it before I fell asleep, each time I woke during the night (which was alot) and it was the first thing when I got up to start my day. It’s great to have that motivation going.

The plan of attack was running in my head. Where was I going to start? How would I treat the areas that seemed to flow together? Which colors was I mixing to give the work the feeling I was after?

Plenty of questions, and I hope I have some good answers.

While my granddaughter napped, I ran to the studio and put down some color. I thought I might try to keep a light hand on this one. I’m not sure where it’s going to go, but it’s a beginning.

One Down, the Next is Coming up!

Bountiful ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
15×20 Watercolor, Canson 140lb cold press paper

This painting is finished. I may have to take another photograph as I think it could look a little better. The light seems to have washed out some color on the left side. I’ll try it again another day. Right now I am thrilled it’s done.

Moving along now onto the next work. Something is clicking and keeping me in it. Who knows what tomorrow will be like. For right now I have plans. I have ideas. I have supplies. I have references for work. I think I can feel a series coming on. And it feels really good.

The Blast Off class is over, but the learning continues on. This week I will be working in another class with Alyson B. Stanfield called Cultivate Collectors. I like the word “cultivate.” It reminds me of things that are growing.

Things are growing alright.

Photo of Painting for Friday

Moving right along

And we’re off! I had the day, the time, the motivation, the set up, and the materials! Yay for me!

You know, sometimes you get those days that just click, things happen, mostly the right things. As the day opened up I decided to pull out my new plan and schedule from the Blast Off class and keep going.

I felt good after hearing that another artist uses their morning for house/errands and the afternoon for painting, the evenings for family/whatever. I liked that. I’m a morning person anyway, but I don’t necessarily need to paint at that time. If things need doing I can comply in the A.M. and have the house neat so my brain is clear to paint in the P.M.

Perfect!

I ran my errands, visited the art supply shop and purchased the largest Arches watercolor block made, on sale! I added to my brush collection, also on sale. I picked up a tube of Holbein. You said it, on sale. I asked about oil painting mediums for the future. Then I ran home.

After lunch, on schedule, I went to the studio to keep working on this latest painting. I thought about it all night and painted it in my head. I knew what I wanted to do when I came to the studio.

Things are looking up.

On to the Next Step

The next step

*Note: For some reason this entire post, including my photograph, was deleted! It wasn’t me either!

And it was such a good post, too.

I was discussing how I’ve been fairing with the Blast Off class over, motivation high, resistance low and churning out this latest still life watercolor painting. This one is on larger paper than I was using and is going to take a little more time to finish.

Now I remember, since seeing the comments, that I was thinking about painting in oils again, but not so sure I want to inhale the fumes that turpentine, varnishes, linseed oils emit without going to all the trouble of trying to ventilate a basement studio properly.

Anyway, that’s all I remember. Use your imagination.

Beginning Another Work

With the Blast Off class over, affirmations in place, and a plan in hand, I began a new painting. The last thing I needed to do was listen to a phone interview by Alyson B. Stanfield with the author Eric Maisel, on his interesting book, Ten Zen Seconds.

I chose one of the last photos I took of the vegetable share haul and spent a good amount of time sketching in the subjects. The paper is one of the large sheets of Canson watercolor paper I bought a while ago. Yes, I know, it’s not Arches, but it will have to do for now.

Since I wanted to get the proportions right, I made a grid with pencil lines and lightly drew in the items. I wanted to try out the new Isabey brush I purchased to see how it would work. It’s a size 12, large sable hair brush and it holds alot of water, if that’s a good thing.

While I painted I listened to the interview and many of the things discussed resonated with me. Maisel talked about his work with artists and the overwhelm they encounter while trying to work, getting the work out there, promoting and talking about their work. It’s so interesting in that it’s the truth. Where to start? How to do it?

The anxiety of it all causes some of us to freeze. I know that well. Ever hear the phrase “When in doubt, don’t”? That’s what happens. If we don’t know what to do, we do nothing. Well, Maisel said that overwhelm can be helped by saying certain affirmations that he called incantations, together with deep breathing. Zen. He explained that after doing the exercise, artists find they can continue.

It makes plenty of sense. I think I’m need to get his book from the library after listening to this interview.

As I listened I painted. After the 30 minute interview was over, I kept on painting. I must have worked for 2 hours, slowly playing with the new brush and the paints.

Usually I’m done at 20 minutes, but this is large paper. It took some time. And I could wreck my work if I’m not careful. So when I saw the time I stopped and took this photo.

The process is still the focus. Another 100 paintings challenge is on the horizon so I have to make it count and work the time schedule. The Blast Off class and all the resources I have from it will help push my agenda.

Let’s see how it goes.

From #1 to #56 in One Year

What’s Left of Fall ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

Last year I posted this watercolor still life of rocks, a favorite shell and leaves I kept in my copy of the Artist’s Way as one of the tasks of abundance. They served me very well at the time. I was already painting twenty minute works. When I decided to join in the 100 Paintings Challenge this was #1.

Four Shells with Rock ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

This watercolor painting with more of my favorite broken shells and rocks is #56 in the challenge. It will seem as if these items were the only subjects I painted, but that would be the wrong assumption.

Plenty of challenges were met in between these two paintings.

This weekend I also had time to go through all 56 paintings I did this year. Some works were twenty minute pieces. Others took a couple of days to complete. How I used the medium seems to me to be tighter on this last work than the first. My handling of watercolor evolved to where I’m more at ease with it. I learned a lot and still have far to go.

The 56 works evolved into different series of pieces, mostly still life work in watercolor. When I looked at each painting I could relive the past year. I can remember my days with every work, how I felt, what I was thinking, where I was and how I got myself to paint. It was a moment in time. A lesson of life.

Feel free to drop in some comments.

Friday Photos of Paintings

Three Friends ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

Last year around this time I signed on to the 100 Paintings Challenge. I wanted to do a few things by trying to paint 100 paintings in one year: build a body of work, learn how to use watercolor paints better, see subjects with a keener eye, push myself to paint regularly. And maybe sell a few works.

Shells with Peach ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

The challenge has been wonderful in all of those ways, except I will not meet the deadline with 100 pieces of work. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not this year anyway.

Four Shells with Rock ©2012 Dora Sislian Themelis
7×10 Watercolor on Arches

On the plus side, I have met most of my goals, and even sold a few paintings. So I consider the year a win. I am up for round 2. As soon as my deadline arrives I am committing to another go around.

I am grateful for the opportunities I found this year and I’m looking forward to better things ahead.

Quick Self Portrait Can be Scary

Last week I wanted to paint something quick so I made a print of my photograph and hurriedly sketched this self portrait on a small block of Arches watercolor paper. Seeing these photos together helps me to see how squishy I drew my head, my eye isn’t looking in the same direction, and it’s too wide open. Scary.

On the trail at the museum visit

Drawing while sitting isn’t a smart thing to do. I end up with weird perspective. Would have been better if I stood up so I could see what I was doing. I made my head too long and the angle is wrong, but hey, it’s the process! This painting is an elongated me. The product was not the goal, it was to just work.

Since I figured out that my year of 100 paintings is coming to a close next week or so, I’ve been trying to paint more twenty minutes pieces. Each of my affirmation cards for the Blast Off class count as a painting, right? Add this one and I was up to #53. Still, not getting near 100. Why not just go ahead and paint anything? I might do this again on larger paper to get the proportions right. Hope I don’t scare myself.

It’s okay to take liberties in art. Does it really matter if the likeness is exact? Don’t think it is. The way Picasso painted his subjects nobody could really look like any of his abstract figures. So I can make believe this is a kind of abstract. Yeah, that sounds good.

Process people! Move it. Paint. Work. Try. Try it again.

Photo on Friday

There was just enough time to squeeze out this painting yesterday. Just enough time to throw these items together and just paint them. I want to say it took twenty minutes, but I really can’t be that sure. Maybe it was a smidge more? Not positive. I didn’t put the timer on.

None the less, I painted. And there just was no time in the day to do any more.

Artist Date with Louis Comfort Tiffany

Finally, I took a real Artist’s Date. Between holidays I found myself with a free day and I had been waiting to visit the Tiffany exhibition of oil and watercolor paintings at the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn, New York.

Not many people are aware that Louis Comfort Tiffany painted besides designing stained glass windows and lamps. It seems he traveled to the Middle East and Egypt and painted during his visits. His watercolors were my favorites.

The museum allowed photographs without flash so I took a few of the works I liked best.

I was especially struck by the way he painted highlights, paying special attention to the play of sunlight on objects. Some darker works popped with the dappled highlights, really giving his paintings life.

This watercolor painting was special to me for the beautiful color of the endless sky against the sandy foreground with the small figures as an afterthought. How evenly he applied the color to the sky area. I was impressed.

This is one of the pieces of glass work in the exhibit. The colors and design are reminiscent of Tiffany’s travels from his paintings. The museum had large glass panels and paintings Tiffany did with the Hudson school of artists, which were nice, but I liked his paintings of the Orient much better.

It was inspirational, to say the least.