Coffee And Paint Drips Blog - Page 13 of 79

Marching in the Greek Independence Day Parade

Sunday was a beautiful day here in New York. Finally some sun, and a little bit of warmth. Perfect for me because I spent the day as a participant in the Greek Independence Day Parade in Manhattan on 5th Avenue. Greece began their war for independence from the Ottoman Turks in 1821 for their 400 years of slavery, on March 25. Yearly the parade celebrates this event close to the actual date. Usually we are all freezing as we wait to step off. Side streets in Manhattan pack amazing winds!

Since I was a kid, give or take one or two for whatever reason, I’ve marched in this parade. In recent years, as some of you might remember, my family and I march with the traditional Greek dance troupe we perform with. They have the most amazing authentic costumes, and it’s a treat to parade in all the finery. Most of the fine, more intricate pieces were originally wedding clothes, or for special occasions.

This year, in particular, was special for me because Son #1, Gorgeous and the Princess also marched. And the Princess, at two and a half years old, walked the whole parade from 64th to 79th Street in costume with her little Greek flag. Precious!

Marching
We had a wonderful time, but now it’s Monday and I’ve got to get back to work. Another week of fun and games with Mr. Resistance. Wish me luck.

Thought for Thursday

“Procrastination is not Laziness”, I tell him. “It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.”― Julia Cameron, The Prosperous Heart

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.

Thought for Thursday

“No one should drive a hard bargain with an artist.”~Ludwig Van Beethoven

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.

Thought for Thursday

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” -Alice in Wonderland

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.

Thought for Thursday

” Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself” – Charlie Chaplin