Moving To Higher Ground
November 30, 2009 by Janice · 4 Comments
Can A tweet change your life? Hm..well it can definitely alter it. Last night instead of the definite frustration I had going on, a tweet and the link it contained turned my Sunday night into an absolute delight.
@wyntonmarsalis was “heading on stage” for his live concert on Facebook. In what might be the most satisfying use of all social media ever, Wynton and his Quintet Ustreamed a fan appreciation concert live from the Gillespie Club in New York City last night. And later, for an encore, a jam with Monty Alexander and Jonathon Batiste. If you missed it, you really missed something special: Marsalis on trumpet, Dan Nimmer on piano, Carlos Henriques on bass, Walter Blanding on Sax and Ali Jackson on the drums. And they smoked it. The best of the best doing what they love to do… like watching a master painter and his crew deliver a living breathing masterpiece just for those who showed up….
You remember showing up, right?
(the artist smiles)
Sometimes you get treats for showing up.
This was an absolute treat in every sense of the word.
Improvisation like a dream. Golden tones and smokin’ keys…honestly, you want to see what making jazz music looks like, this was it. History was in that room. Fun and work and more fun and wow what music.
Yes, words leave me, and the sound just comes in..it was verra nice.
Being part of the jazz appreciating audience ( the comments were rapidly flowing) as we listened was about as close to being there as you could get. Over 1100 virtual fans captured in the magic hour just as rapt, just as engaged as the people sitting there in the audience. And the live audience was part of that stream too. Not quite Snug Harbour on Frenchmen Street, but I will show up any time they want to do this again.
Marsalis just happens to be one of my premier muses.
That’s his current book in the photo, Moving to Higher Ground. I just got an overdue notice from the library this morning. oops. I am taking my time with it because it is jammed packed with brilliant insight on the process of jazz. Something I seem not to be able to live without: Jazz Music.
So here we are on an Organizing Monday, 5 and counting folks, until we say goodbye to 2009. I have my list front and center…some things on it are a snap, some things not so much, but I think I will be doing them while listening to what Wynton is bringing to the season.
Yes, why not? I am looking for big red gifts with a bow on them…and this is one I am giving myself. I intend to make it fun.
How about you? Any “whistle while you work ” goodies you use to make the work not so well, work like?
Thank you Wynton Marsalis for being the classy guy you are. ( BTW, none of those links are affiliate links…just passing on the joy )
Tis now that season right?
Color To Order
November 23, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
Colors to choose. Paint to use. More color to lay in stock. One of the many pleasures in paint are the names: cadmium orange, ultramarine violet feinst, rouge rubis…English, German, French.. the color comes from all over, like little packages of life. Add water and you get a river of thrill when this ones spreads and that one meets the other. Ahh. One of the many pleasures of being an artist is just the stuff we get to use. Offer any one of us a trip to Sennelier in Paris, or a roam through Artisan in Santa Fe, or any of the art suppliers of note in any major city…be sure to tie a rope around our waist so you can pull us out in a decent interval of time.
I am low on Chrome Oxide of Green, and Warm Sepia hm, better get some more Cobalt Blue…how’s the Rose Doré? Yes, add to the list… Cobalt Violet? Yes.. more..
And on it goes. Not a bad way to spend a little bit of a Sunday afternoon.
Silly, but I love the names of the pigments, they are so very specific, it’s like knowing the face and the hair color of a friend. Alizarin, manganese, viridian, all very unique with personalities and properties. Even the greys, Paynes or Davy’s? Davy’s please. It’s warmer.
My favorite? Hm, ones I cannot do without? If ever Schmincke ceased to make Ultramarine Violet Feinst we would see a huge hole in my heart, and a personal rant like are you nuts rant to the makers. And Cadmium Orange, so clear, so bright, so vital for connectors….and that Chrome Oxide…who knows that they need something called chrome and oxide to be happy? Well, some of us do. Cause that’s the way we roll. We won’t mention that thing that Winsor Newton did to my Cobalt Green. All wrong. All wrong I say. But they did not ask me. Hmph.
Tell me you are not at least a little in love with a favorite pen, or a particular maker of paper… yep. See what I mean? Don’t start with the Moleskinerie or the fabulousness that is Kremer pigments…the sable that is Series 7.
A new fresh sheet of paper…
Excuse me I drifted.
Cobalts and cads, sediments and stains, all over the world people are at work mining and grinding and binding them just for us. Did you know that lapis comes from Afghanistan? Makes incredible blues. And did you know that Graham paints are bound with honey and hand made? Ochres so rich, so bountiful. Sigh.
And on it goes.
We have today and five more Mondays left in this year…hm…Lots of paint to spread…so I took a little head count yesterday, wrote some letters…Tick Tock…Lots of parts to being creative. I took some time for renewal so my brush is rearing to go.
How about you? Ready to spread your creative self around? Do you love the stuff you get to use?
As a side note, I have to say thank you to Alex Fayle and the simple interview he asked of me…sometimes the lesson is in doing something hard to do…( the artist smiles.)
Summoning Silos Of Red
November 16, 2009 by Janice · 7 Comments
I need the power of red this morning to get my energy up. We had a flood in the house this weekend which knocked out the use of all the important things in this side of the house…and as I write that, I have to chuckle a bit, and wonder, sheesh what’s up with uncontrolled water and my path?
Anyway, I am tired from mopping, tired from cleaning, and yet, I have promises to keep…so red, sipping it, eating it, trying to think it . Go go go engine…
The artist just chuckles… looks longingly at her bed…
Hmph, Cat’s there.
Right in the middle on my pillow.
Sip. Good tea.
Okay.
So.
To deal with the complexity of this day and trying to catch up on my deadlines…I think one more thing might help….
A quote from John Scott that I uncovered yesterday at my desk…a reminder for when we are building, or doing anything requiring multiple tasks…or making a special piece….He said that complexity is just simplicity applied repeatedly.
Simple idea, huh?
In the throws of a complicated large piece of studio art work, it can soothe frayed nerves, calm collaborative egos, reassure not quite sure creators.
Or ones that might be a wee bit overworked.
So one thing, then the next, then the next.
Yes or no.
Do or don’t.
Now or later.
Simple,
Again and again.
Still needs fuel to do it,
So I am summoning silos of red…to fuel my engines today.
And yes, I will watch out for water inside the house and out.
What IS up with that?
This is Organizing Monday, we have too few left in this year.
Seven counting today.
7?
Yes.
More red , s’il vous plait.
The artist smiles. Now, first one thing, then the next….
Chandeleur Sketchbooks
November 13, 2009 by Janice · 2 Comments
I’m searching the good stuff some more today. Like these sketchbooks from Chandeleur Island and some files I have on my table. Looking for two more decisions. That’s what creativity is after all, decisions. That’s what any art work is, one decision, then another. Best made in the much acclaimed zone when in studio mode.
We love that, being in the zone. Things flow. Paint appears to be wondered at later, sometimes puzzled over, “Did I do that? Really?”
Sigh.
The zone.
Love it.
We want to be in the zone with no distractions to get our highest best self as artists.
So other noises have to be made quiet.
I’m creating a specific body of work, a unified performance. It has many facets, in and out of studio. Intent has to be set. The why has to be firmly in place so the how and everything else, follows the vision. Up front conceptualization. Practical and material matters. All of these come first. But execution…that needs happen in the zone. And you don’t want distractions in the zone. So some loops have to be closed. Boundaries set. Planning. Add time into the mix. And tick tock. You get pressure.
I could paint on Deer Tracks this morning, or I could get some other decisions made.
I want to build in some assurances that all is on track. Outcomes are in the works. That’s actually worth a lot to the practicing artist. Constraints put in place to define the scope of the project at hand. Achievable, actionable steps to get where we want to be. In the artist’s case, the result is a piece of art, or a body of work. Sometimes themed. Sometimes not. Could be experimental. But it is tangible. We bring things into being.
I have a body of work to rebuild, and I put a timeline on it. That creates all kinds of pressure. Pressure not needed in the zone. If I pick up that brush this morning, these need to be made decisions will still be with me. As I push into the mink or compare and contrast, or just work on the edges, these unmade decisions will be there, syphoning energy from the flow.
So I need to close those loops.
I made a commitment to myself. A timeline of expectation. An outcome expectation. Captured outcomes that are vital to me. So …
Which hat to put on this morning?
I will search through some good stuff today.
Quiet some distracting voices. The ones that are saying, tick tock, what about me, and…this:
You must perform to a standard unlike any that have come before and in spite of any obstacles that lay before you.
That’s the big one.
It’s a challenge.
It’s pressure.
It’s my life.
You have to learn to manage. To problem solve. If I want to not only comeback, but to thrive. Be whole.
So some loops need to be closed.
To get to the performance.
To get back into the zone.
Which is kind of like going home.
Right into the heart of what it is that makes you get up in the morning.
That urges you to work through it all.
In spite of everything that has happened.
So I will go through some good stuff today, in spite of the emotional ambushes I find there.
Because the why is firm.
The why is to face my true heart.
You know that one that got broken.
The one inside that I have been nurturing and protecting..no wind or water or person can make me give that up. It’s who I am.
It’s mine.
I’ve carried it with me. It’s needs to be in the zone.
But first, a couple more decisions. Some pre-painting, some vision, to put firmly in place.
And then hello baby, hand me that brush, and put me right there in the squishy paint…..LOL…That’s what I am talkin’ bout…
And yes, I will be so ready for a HUGE Naughty Margarita at five. You’ll join me, right?
Love And Happiness
November 11, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
Love and happiness. Words fail me this morning because I have been captured by process…thinking with graphite and ink…that feel, that process, is probably the one thing I do that I would miss beyond belief if I ever couldn’t do it. It is a true pleasure. As natural to me as my brown eyes and the curve of my smile. Here we have paintings coming into being. Some source material. A quick sketch made some time ago. Notes made yesterday.
Me thinking with graphite and ink.
I have 3 sheets of 22″ x 30″ luscious 300 pound watercolor paper that I want to use by the end of the year.
Requires a decision. Three actually. To me, this paper is small. I don’t want to confine myself. So how and what do I paint on them? How do I give them the same expansiveness the large piece I’m working on has? So I had a planning session yesterday.
I am happier working large. Love to have room to explore.
What if…they were studies, parts of larger pieces? Completely whole in their own right, but still to the scale of a large piece? Yes, I could do that. So I went looking through a sketchbook for some choices. Found one right away. Zeroed in on a part of it that I really want to do. Decision made.
That’s one.
Then I came across another page. The drawing stopped me in my tracks. Yum. But it’s not for a study, not for doing just a part…or at least not that kind of a study…it needs to be drawn several times with something velvety, maybe even painted in greys…hushed and operatic at the same time. It’s an enclosure. An intimate shelter in a wilderness….that needs something else…and maybe drawn and cut up, that was fun when I did that…maybe…
Scribble, scribble.
And the notes go on…plotting, planning…
Happiness.
Goes into the drawing project box. For blocking drawing time.
Still need two more decisions for the large studies.
Hm, looking…
That’s when the cat spilled the wax.
Huh?
Yep. Cat batted my candle out with a quick and decisive hit and run swipe. Chocolate Stonehenge brown velvety wax dripped and splattered everywhere. Like a small lake of it. The cat took off leaving a wax paw prints trail.
Sigh.
So I cleaned up the wax. A huge lot of wax. But I looked at it, deep velvety rich…like the drawing of that enclosure I want to make… I couldn’t throw the wax away so I put it back in the holder…And it smells sinfully good…even as I grumbled and cursed the cat, I felt that warm velvet wax on my finger tips. Smelled the exotic hints of smoked cedarwood, bergamot and amber…
I held a large piece in my palm, touched it with my fingers.
Felt the warmth, the depth of it. I had been enjoying it’s candlelight. The wick now out like a cinder.
And now this mess…but wait a minute…
Something… I looked again…
Hm, I remembered a put away joy….ahh…Fairfield…I smiled…perhaps….oil wax for the enclosure…
That could make it come alive just as it should.
Yes.
Another decision made. A rich one…not the one that I was after, but one that I needed.
Muses and masters come from all kinds of places. Even from misguided over vigilant Fire Cats who batt out candles.
Yes, I can see it. This drawing will also be an oil painting with a rich wax medium as a binder. That gives it a finish so scrumptious. Hushed and rich, just what I want from it…the drawings first and later oil wax…That curve of my smile got bigger. There’s light in my brown eyes…
That’s what thinking in graphite and ink does to me…especially when I know I found something rich. Like finding treasure.
So not your typical planning session, but I am captured by it all the same.
And it smells delightfully good.
Now…
Two more studies. Two more decisions still needed.
More choosing to do today.
The cat is smiling and licking his paw.
I really am a dog person.
But this time we’ll let that go.
Capturing Outcomes
November 9, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
So I am making project boxes. Containment, for specific important projects like I did in Santa Fe.
I was doing some of that this weekend, when something made me pull Dave Allen off of my shelf and take another look. I came across this phrase: “capturing outcomes”. He uses that phrase in his collection process, the part where we gather everything we have around us to process it. And even though I do that regularly, this time seeing his phrase flipped a switch. He calls projects “outcomes” here.
Now, I am tweaking my system a bit. Not my studio method, but some of the how around it.
It’s just a difference in words.
Or is it?
Sometimes creative souls see too much, hear too much, have too many ideas. And we collect source material. It all needs to be processed. So we can make real things come to life. In the studio and out of the studio. So we have this stuff.
Dave Allen in all his capturing outcomes goodness says, all good action systems have “discrete” functional components. A closed loop that makes them work apart from all the rest we keep around us. This closed loop, gets the results we are after.
“A closed loop,” I read. Were my loops sufficiently closed?
This is an important question because closed is the opposite of what the creative mind wants in the studio. We want open to possibilities there. We don’t want closed off. But out of the studio? Hm. Does our creative mind sometimes need to be closed?
Sheesh.
Was my system off somewhere that I could do something about? Because I want to shorten some steps.
So I paused. Even looked up the meaning of discrete. I thought it was something to do with taste and judgement. Discrete means separate.
THAT was extremely useful.
Here’s what I found in looking at some of my system:
Although I am organized and have decent systems, my actionable material, my support material, and my reference material were not as “discrete” as they could be. Yep, co-mingling. And might be biting me in the butt, causing my energy to be zapped way too soon… and getting slightly in the way of outcomes. Making the steps longer, or too many. And giving me less time to paint.
It’s all related, good, actually great, stuff, but not as useful as is, if I want to shorten the steps. To feel less pulled here and there…yes…Dave I see what you mean. And I want to be there already. Adjust and close that action loop so that it works smoothly and fully in studio and out, neutralize the rest so it isn’t beckoning me or getting in the way, AND have the studio time that drives it all in the first place.
So some tweaking will change all that.
If the changes work, it will be like getting an assistant and more traction all at once. Frees more energy for the squishing of squishy paints.
So I am all for that.
Ironic isn’t it?
That sometimes closing a loop or two, sometimes creating fewer choices, might actually net more creativity.
Yep. Works like that sometimes. And I have some rearranging to do.
Because in the New Year that’s another gift I want to give myself.
Shortened steps. Clarity.
Powerful action.
Capturing outcomes. Has a nice sound ring to it doesn’t it?
Sometimes just a phrase does wonderful things.
That’s my Organizing Monday.
How’s yours going ?
Working the Edges
November 6, 2009 by Janice · 2 Comments
Deer Tracks Nearby is a six panel piece of 40″ x 60″ pieces. They will probably be framed separately, given a 3 inch break between them, but in theory they should join in one contiguous piece. Like the land they are painted from, acres and acres of conserved land, privately held, adjacent to the Pearl River in Mississippi.
Except…
We have a slight problem.
Here, at the top…
We have a teeny, tiny problem.
Santa Fe painted panel and Dallas new in process panel are not quite in sync.
Hm.
Logistics can bite you in the butt.
And I noticed too that the painting from Santa Fe has a different quality to it.
Location DOES influence an artist’s work.
But the structure. The idea. The whole is sound.
Pat on the back.
And this can be fixed.
Artist looks again.
Hm.
These need to hold hands.
Each edge is a bridge and was intended to be seamless.
Sometimes we don’t get seamless.
Sometimes we have to work a bit along the edges,
In the breaks,
in the fractures,
in the change.
Now what we do with that…
Becomes part of the story
Working the edges…
How do I paint my way out of this? How do I make this work with all the rest?
How do I make these edges flow…
And belong…
How do I get them to hold hands?
Or do I leave some evidence of fracture?
Of disruption?
How rich do I want to make it?
Choices.
Choice,
Depends on intent,
Doesn’t it?
I need to reread my painting notes…
And see how what was intended, fits into now.
Because art is a living breathing thing…
We live it.
It’s not out there somewhere,
It’s here, right here
Working the edges,
Wondering which would be best for the piece…
Seamless…or evidence of fractures…
Well…the fractures…are more real…now,
But were they in the original drawings?
Now there is a very interesting question.
Paintings sometimes take on a life of their own…
Do we listen?
Or bend them to our will?
Yep. That’s my Friday.
Hope yours is going well. I could use some time at the Dragon Room for sure...a pitcher. Definitely a nice chilled pitcher of Naughty Margaritas all round. Save a seat for me will you?
Pushing Into The Mink
November 4, 2009 by Janice · 1 Comment
Imagine the velvet nose of the deer seeking water here. Imagine the sable dipped into color…and then pulled across the page…
Seeking.
Both seeking.
A sable loaded with sepia…a nose scenting water….
Seeking.
Nuzzling closer and closer.
Leaving footprints.
Leaving brushstrokes.
To mark their quest.
And what of those who come after?
To see hoofprints.
To see color.
Seekers too.
When this piece, the whole of it is finished,
And hung beautifully on some wall…
by a tender lover of art
in some broad expanse of space..
There will be more seekers coming..
There already are.
The name,
look at the name of this painting…
Deer Tracks Nearby…
You won’t see me paint them,
they are just implied
But they were there.
They told me,
paint this,
bring this into being.
For the seekers,
For myself,
And for the seekers
I don’t know…
What are we after?
Not sure, only guessing…
but I am pushing into the mink, the mystery, the prize…
thinking of footprints of hunger, of thirst…
that needs to be satisfied.
We Picked Red
November 2, 2009 by Janice · 5 Comments
Red Box. Warm thoughts. Powerful engine. That’s what we were needing this morning. So we picked red. And the deeply steeped English Breakfast Tea, laced with cream, is steaming in a hand friendly mug right here as I write.
It’s Monday. Yep. Time change, season change, chill in the air. Yes, needed the red. There’s so much to do.
Know how many Mondays left in the year?
Nine.
9.
Neuf.
!!!
(Artist takes a sip.)
Yep. That’s what I was thinking. Not so many are there?
And those holidays are sneaking in too.
When I started accidently counting Mondays, I thought it would be great to see my efforts on those Mondays as a gift wrapped in red with a big red bow that I would give myself at the end of the year. Make that late December review exciting.
Tick Tock.
So a few days ago, when I drank the last tea bag out of that red box in the picture and did NOT throw the box away, I didn’t know why exactly.
Well, actually I like really cool boxes and packaging, but that’s for another time.
But this box? I put it on my desk.
Red box on my desk. Why would I do that?
It’s been in front of me for… hm, a week? Maybe more?
It’s an ordinary, everyday kind of box. But it’s kind of shiny red… nice proportions, contained something I really like, hours of pleasure, a steady friend in the mornings.
Yes, I know it’s just tea..
And a cardboard red box…
But the tea makers..
And the tea boxers and the tea shippers and the tea sellers…
They all got up every morning.
To bring it to me.
This red box I hold in my hand.
Think of that.
I have to like these guys a lot.
But wait there’s more …(Okay , yes, I ‘m chuckling with that, she sips again.)
As I lay in bed this morning wondering about that dream I had in the early hours, and that strange man in my dream that was speaking to me, I glanced over and saw that red box again. I’d never seen this man before. He asked to bring me gifts and clients and lovers of art who saw what I see. And they would buy. He asked for sketches, he asked for work, he asked to be let in…he came as a friend…in casual shirt and pants, a sweater… at ease , not flashy just sure… he was so sure….and he came to me…hm…
I glanced at that red box again. Knew I would photograph it, maybe even draw it when I had decided to keep it on my desk. But what was it saying right now? And who is this person in my dreams?
I tilted my head, hm,
Tossed off the covers and picked that red box up, brought it in to photograph…still puzzling. What?
Don’t exactly know. Except…
As I handle it, turn it this way and that, the cardboard and the color…
Become something else…
Something to remind me..
About giving myself those gifts…
And letting those gifts come in.
So there it will sit…
For the weeks to come
As I write and paint and ask more of myself all of November.
Hm…something about putting our dreams in an everyday box…
Something about dreams…
Tending,
Listening…
And being open….
So I am sipping, being with the images for a bit…
And yes, somehow they are important. Somehow they mean something about making Mondays count.
And that guy…if you know him… Well, here I am.
Yes, I ‘m chuckling. And making my second cup of that red tea, we have work to do around here.
How’s Monday going for you?