Coffee And Paint Drips Blog - Page 32 of 79

Working on Those Goals

About those goals..yes, I am trying my best to work really hard toward them. I decided the best one I can start on is in the studio. If I make it pleasant, maybe I will enjoy working in it. Maybe is a big word.

It’s a small space in my basement, but it’s mine. On the other side that you can’t see is a larger space we carved out for Son#1 and his musical instruments and other things. Now he has his own house and music space. So I confiscated some of it for me starting with the shelving.

I moved some posters around and hung more art I did in the past, moved my art books in and generally straightened up. That door leads to a closet I need to paint and put in flat files or shelves, but I dressed it up with a hand embroidered table covering from Cyprus I had. A bamboo folding screen I’ve had forever is blocking a crummy view of an unfinished area of the space. Who needs to see that?

Bead supplies, painting supplies, brushes, small sculptures and other stuff is arranged on and in the shelves. The table on the right is where I left out some bead stuff and ideas. Some things need to stay in view.

Today I treated myself to a real artist date at a museum nearby. In the afternoon I painted something small in the studio just to keep at it. The 100 Paintings Challenge is proving to be a real doozy. I figured out that I have only January to meet the challenge.

Will I make it?

Resolve to Reach Goals in the New Year

The new year is well under way now. What do we think of resolutions? Do you make resolutions for the new year? Are they possible to keep anyway?

Some people love making resolutions, mostly in the form of losing weight or exercising more, things which we all should be conscious of anyway. I am not a fan of resolutions. Maybe a better word to use is “goals.” Now I can get behind something that feels like I can reach for and attain it.

But don’t we need to RESOLVE to find a way to reach our GOALS? Maybe that’s a better suggestion. It makes me think of my process, as in HOW will I reach my goal? With what trick will I help myself move forward?

My brain hurts from all the thinking.

Last year I decided to try painting 100 paintings in the year with the goal of developing a painting habit, building a current body of work, and testing my skills in watercolor paints. I am at painting #44 in the challenge, not anywhere near 100 works. Okay, so I started the challenge a couple of months into the year. If I’m going to get there I need to step it up, pronto.

This year’s goals are much the same as last year: Keep working at it. Push the process. Stay in the moment. Plan. Prepare. Paint. Cruise.

Hour by hour, day by day is the best I can hope to do. If I push myself too hard I end up backward into the wall. I want to gently guide my inner-child-artist forward. Paint almost every day, remember to take a short weekly Artist Date, keep calm and stop whining about not having enough time for everything.

There’s plenty of time, and no time like the present. And time will march on without us if we let it.

Photo for Friday

Thought for Thursday

“I heard a definition once: Happiness is health and a short memory! I wish I’d invented it, because it is very true.” ~Audrey Hepburn

Greetings of the Holiday

Could it be that the shopping is finished and the cooking will begin? Beep! Time’s up!

I want to thank each and every reader who has scanned my pages of thoughts through the year and I wish all of you peace, health, and happiness with family and friends during the coming holidays and the new year ahead. May it be a sweet time for all of us.

Thought for Thursday

Lucy Van Pelt: I know how you feel about all this Christmas business, getting depressed and all that. It happens to me every year. I never get what I really want. I always get a lot of stupid toys or a bicycle or clothes or something like that. Charlie Brown: What is it you want? Lucy Van Pelt: Real estate. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” 1965 Charles Schultz

Found: Some Time to Paint

Winter Nest ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
10×14 Watercolor on Arches paper

With not much time to give to painting, I stole about 45 minutes from a busy day to paint this still life again. It’s already out and available so it was a no brainer to just go to it. Yes, this one took a little longer to complete.

The method of painting quickly that I’ve managed to work out is keeping me in the game. The least amount of water possible doesn’t saturate the paper allowing me to move on to another area of the work while the just painted area dries. Once dried I go back and add details. The pace moves fairly quickly.

Christmas is fast approaching and there are things that must get done. Painting is one of the things that just may not happen again for a little while. So the fact that I was able to squeeze it in is a big deal.

Photo for Friday – Time for a Small Watercolor Painting

Winter Cardinal ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis
8×10 Watercolor on Arches paper

No time to yap, I have shopping to do! No time to paint either, but I did find twenty minutes to paint this holiday type of still life. I was determined to get something, anything on paper this week. Next week is another story.

Do you see my little friends in this painting? I’m talking about my friends the apple and the beach shell. Just had to pop them in someplace here.

Happy shopping time now!

Thought for Thursday

“Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don’t know how paralyzing that is, that stare of the blank canvas, which says to the painter You can’t do a thing. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerizes some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of “you can’t” once and for all.” ~ Vincent van Gogh

A Surprise Package of Christmas Pudding

Last week I had a delightful surprise I wanted to share, but with the latest watercolor painting just finished I thought to wait until now. And anyway, I needed to actually have possession of the surprise so I could take photos and really share!

Today I received a package in the mail. Around this time of year lots of packages start arriving. Some are from online shopping I do, some are my kids’ shopping. Usually I am not surprised by the mail. This time I was looking at an unexpected delivery. When I looked closer I noticed a stamp that read Royal Mail. It was then that I remembered!

A blogging/artist buddy from the United Kingdom, Pat Elliott Paintings, had a give-away on her blog recently. It was a small watercolor painting of Christmas pudding. Readers were encouraged to comment and one of them would be chosen to receive the pretty painting.

Her cute dog, Missy, chose my name as the winner by eating her dog treat, where underneath was a number corresponding to a name. Imagine my surprise when I learned I was the lucky winner! I never win anything. Isn’t it cute that Pat’s return address label has Missy’s picture on it? It’s adorable.

(You must visit Pat’s blog to see her post with the photograph of Missy waiting for the go-ahead to eat a treat, and especially to view her paintings. Pat does wonderful work.)

Enclosed with the painting was a Christmas card. I think it’s such a nice thing to receive mail. Mail that you must open and read is just a wonderful thing, warm and cozy, as long as it’s happy mail. Email is not the same, but the times are what they are.

And so here is my prize. Until I get myself out there to get a frame my Christmas pudding painting will stand on my fireplace mantel with my holiday collection of St. Nicholas’ and Santa’s in it’s place of honor.

Thank you Pat, for this bright spot in my day. I will now brag to everyone how I have a friend across the Pond who sent me holiday wishes with her lovely work. I am humbled by Christmas pudding.