“It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.”~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Thought for Thursday
Coffee And Paint Drips Blog
A New Moleskine Notebook
With my discount coupon in hand, I headed out to the local art supplier in my neighborhood for a little Artist’s Date with myself.
I had a mission: buy watercolor paint colors I ran out of, and get a Moleskine watercolor notebook for doodling and sketching.
Mission accomplished! The notebook is one of the smaller sizes. I really didn’t want to commit to something too large so I wouldn’t be discouraged. But you never know, I could be annoyed by using a small book too. Then again, the price of the larger was much higher so I sprang for this one.
The instructor at the NYC workshop I participated in used a Moleskine for her sketching. I thought it might be good to keep me from arguing with Mr. Resistance. Nothing expected by a doodle or a quick sketch, no commitment to a huge new painting, to experiment with brush and paint.
Process, not product.
Just staying in the game, so to speak.
Tuesdays and The War of Art
Resistance and Trouble
“The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work. The working artist banishes from her world all sources of trouble. She harnesses the urge for trouble and transforms it in her work.” ~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
I’m not one of those people that gets into trouble. And as for starting up any trouble, nope, not me. I like my life quiet. Just want to do my “thang” all by my little self, quiet, nice, without any arrows pointed at me. It’s not saying I haven’t been in the mix here and there in life, but quiet and small does me very well.
So reading this chapter left me not much to identify with in my own experience. However, if you think of the celebrities of today with all their high jinx it makes some sense. Pressfield notes that ill health, alcoholism, drug addiction, proneness to accidents, compulsive screwing up, jealousy, lateness, and anything that draws attention to ones’ self is all a manifestation of Resistance. Even acting cruel to others, and enduring the same is a form of Resistance.
“Trouble is a faux form of fame.”
Imagine that? It was enlightening chapter, to say the least, and I’m glad to have had my eyes opened.
Thought for Thursday
“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t know why they choose him, and he’s usually too busy to wonder why.” ~William Faulkner
Painting Workshop at Bethesda Fountain in NYC
Needing to keep current here, and as the fall season moves along, it’s time to share one of my summer adventures. Not that my summer was so chock full of adventure or excitement, well it sort of was, but who needs to hear gory details, except for the fun stuff. Right? Of course.
There short of it is like this: We finally decided to visit Greece. I also signed up for a plein air workshop in New York City’s Central Park with an artist I happened upon online, thinking the lesson will do very well as I planned to paint while away. However, I was side-lined and never made the class, almost didn’t make the trip, but I persevered and thankfully, we did.
After our return I was able to make up my lost workshop day and enjoyed painting outdoors in the city. It’s something I had never done before.
The artist/instructor Anne Kullaf, was wonderful, had great info and style of working. She demonstrated her oil paint technique and showed me how she works in watercolors. We were alike in that we both sketch/draw in watercolor paint rather than plan in pencil then add color. And the site at Bethesda Fountain in the middle of Central Park was a great place to work. I had never been in that area of the park before either. It was rather impressive.
Here’s how my day looked in pictures:
By the third painting I was hitting my stride, but I was also hot and tired. It was a good experience and something I should continue to do.
Thought for Thursday
“Some people want to advertise their weirdness, and spread it out, that’s not me.”~Weird Al Yankovic
The Pleasure of Participation
In the midst of the stuff around here with Mr. Resistance I had the pleasure of participating in another shopping event. While “he” and I struggle with our competing thoughts about the hows and whys of art, it ended up that I would be the only artist vendor among jewelry, make-up, accessories people if I decided to attend.
I’ve shown at this event in the past, and it’s a lovely restaurant with great shelving for art display. As before, I set up my watercolor paintings on the shelving and my hand knit accessories at the tables below.
It’s good practice to show artwork at these shopping events because you just never know who might be interested. There’s a lot of great feedback, shoppers were really impressed and asked great questions about my work. Meeting different people, talking about my process and exposing people to art is always a nice experience.
Also great was that I sold a few knit pieces and the restaurant owner bought this watercolor painting of sunflowers.
The fun part was that each of us was so excited, she to have purchased art she loved, and for me to sell a painting I loved. It’s nice to know it will be going to a new home.
Thrilling, actually.
Back to The War of Art, Again
Resistance and Procrastination, Part Two
“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.”
~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
What a mouthful! Can you just imagine for a moment, putting off doing the work one day thinking you’ll get to it tomorrow, and tomorrow becomes the next day, or even the next after that? Days could turn into weeks unless we stop ourselves from jumping down that rabbit hole. There is every possibility that months can pass without putting brush to canvas, pen to paper.
Chose your poison.
Why is procrastination such an easy habit to develop? Life would be so much better if we could flip it around so that getting our work done consistently becomes the habit.
Somehow I am going figure out how to flip the switch and turn Mr. Resistance on his head.
The Process Has Rewards
If the magic is in the doing I better make sure I am at the ready and working. I know all along that it’s in the process, not the outcome, where things keep moving.
The 30 in 30 Challenge is over. There was that possibility of success, of hitting 30 paintings in 30 days. Negative view: it didn’t happen. Positive view: something happened. Not a lot, but enough.
In the spirit of the positive view, I carry on in the process.
The weather being really wonderful for an October in New York, I took myself on an Artist’s Date to Clark Botanical Garden in Albertson, NY on Long Island. It’s not the beach, but it’s near my house, easy to get to, beautiful, and quiet.
Thinking positive, I planned to do some watercolor sketching so I toted my equipment with me. I couldn’t decide which paper to carry along, the Canson notebook or the Arches block. I brought both. They’re small enough and I wasn’t carrying a beach chair and lunch. That decision was a good one because I learned something about each type of paper.
As I sketched on the Canson above, I noticed I couldn’t rework already painted areas, which began to run. Looks like Canson paper is only good for really fast work with no going back.
Below is the Arches block. I could continue working and adding paint without having issues like the Canson notebook. The only draw back with a block is if I wanted to do another sketch I needed to free this one from the block with a palette knife. That means it had to be dry to remove causing wait time.
The two works have a different feeling with each type of watercolor paper.
Working en plein air was a good experience and exercise, too. Out in nature, it takes time to adjust to seeing shapes, shadows, highlights, colors, and sorting all that information onto a 2 dimensional surface.
Let me tell you, it was hard work. The process doesn’t lie. It knows the work is hard, but doing it has rewards.
Steven Pressfield’s Newest Book, The Authentic Swing
Synchronicity abounds lately. It seems that when we are ready and open to receive the “gifts” things start to move. The Universe sends it’s power our way. Use it or lose it.
A while back, as I was writing here about beating Mr. Resistance by reading Steven Pressfield’s great book, The War of Art, I received a note from his lovely publicist, Callie Oettinger. She liked my posts and sent me copies of Steven’s other books. What a thrill that was! I wanted to read Turning Pro and Do The Work after I finished with The War of Art, and here they were on my doorstep. Thankful and grateful for such a generous gesture toward me, an artist writing this little blog about life and art.
Just a couple of weeks ago I spied a package at my door. To my surprise it was Steven Pressfield’s newest book, The Authentic Swing, about his writing process for his novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance. I was swooning once again.
After I stopped jumping from excitement I started to read and found it magical in the way Pressfield describes his process. Page by page I had Aha! moments.
Yes, like golf, the artist is on his own. Yes, like golf, artists need to find their own voice/style, Authentic Swing. Yes, like golf, art is an individual sport. I could identify with so much of this book it made me dizzy, the way I lose myself in painting. That kind of dizzy.
A section in the book gave me pause. I held my breath as I read it. The title of the section was Cover The Canvas. Yikes! I know all about covering the canvas, quick before I lose it.
“My mantra for first drafts is “Cover the canvas.” What I mean by that is that our supreme priority is to get SOMETHING down from Page One to The End-no matter how incomplete or imperfect.
Don’t stop. Don’t think. Don’t look down.
The enemy in the first draft is not incompleteness or inexactness of imprefection. The enemy is Resistance. The enemy is self sabotage.”
There it was, the enemy. The bane of my artist existence is Mr. Resistance, self sabotage, myself.
Am I ever going to get Resistance behind me? Learning how by reading the process of accomplished professionals like Steven Pressfield helps tremendously. As I study his books my time away from painting is much shorter than it once was. I am learning how to invite the Universe and ignore Mr. Resistance standing in the corner.
Now, if I could harness that knowledge to get over the fear of moving forward with this website, I want to hold a free giveaway of the extra copies of Mr. Pressfield’s books. When I figure that out, and if I could hide what I’m doing from Mr. Resistance, I’ll let you know.