Clark Botanical Garden Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Sketching at Clark Botanical Garden, NY

On one of the last nice days of autumn I revisited a beautiful place near me, Clark Botanical Garden in Albertson, NY. I’ve visited here many times to find some serene, calm moments.

It’s just such a lovely place for calm and meditation. A place to “bath in the forest” as I’ve read. This particular day I planned to paint in watercolors here instead of the other favorite place, the beach. That day the beach might have been a good choice, but I wasn’t sure if the weather was warm enough. At the Gardens the sun was really strong and hot. Maybe it was better that way.

I found a bench at one of my favorite spots at this sunny, turtle filled pond with reeds and lily pads. Ate the lunch I brought with me and then got to work. The first attempt was a little tight. Another garden wanderer approached and we chatted. She loved this one.

The next watercolor sketch was somewhat looser in style. I always start out getting down every detail and this time was no different. Deciding to paint the negative space instead of each item I saw was helpful to keeping my hand and brush free.

Onward!

Artwork Friday

A little while ago I was hunting for a painting subject and decided to revisit this scene I have painted a couple of times before. This pond garden was such a serene spot when I visited Clark Botanical Garden in my area and I enjoy looking at it.

Pond 3 ©Dora Sislian Themelis, 7x10 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper — Pond 3 ©Dora Sislian Themelis, 7×10 Watercolor, Arches cold press paper

Here it is in watercolor once again. I tried to leave more white space and introduce some brighter colors this time around.

Twenty minutes of work to keep it light, fresh and to enjoy the process.

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.