Paintings To Build a Room Around
December 30, 2009 by Janice · 1 Comment
I have a new assistant! We are busily at work. Making maps and plans and setting all to right. I know he LOOKS a little odd. Not your usual European accented too snobby for you gallery/studio slave, but he was a gift to me. So I took him in.
Never mind those two very efficient keep everything going including food in the fridge assistants to Glenna Goodacre I met in Santa Fe. We are not there yet.
So I will take this charming balancing seal and work with him.
And besides, he is highly entertaining.
And sometimes that is really needed.
Especially when carving out the next year’s painting roster.
When you are planning paintings that rooms are built around.
Or ones that create small sanctuaries.
We need some laughter, when looking at a full year and the many long hours that will go into bringing so much to life, and all that goes with that.
Phew.
A balancing seal looks pretty much dead on right now.
And he’s colorful to boot.
Now if he could just manage the trip to Whole Foods and back…
Ah well, we have Lindt Truffles to tide us over.
And some tea…hm..mine needs warming up…
Sigh.
He’s new yet.
Artist grimaces and heads off to fix more tea.
Staff.
Would be so nice to have.
Don’t you think?
When you are making paintings to build rooms around.
Just saying.
Back to work we go.
He IS very good at balancing that ball.
That could come in handy.
The artist smiles.
And gets back to work.
Cartier’s Bright and Shiny New Year
December 28, 2009 by Janice · Leave a Comment
On this last Organizing Monday of 2009, the new year is looking pretty bright and shiny. Still an open blank page waiting for some words that will set those actions into motion.
Still resting on a pivot point between all that came before and what will come in the near future. Nice place to linger just for a moment. In the crispness of this chilly winter morning. Considering the possibilities. They say more snow is on the way. Fresh snow and a fresh year?
Nice.
Time drifts when snow is falling it seems. And when blank pages are yet to be filled. This time should have a name, because it feels like time out of time.
This time when we are poised between one thing and another.
And doesn’t the film run a bit different here? Doesn’t our mind wander and visualize? Remember and wish at the same time? Some special things bubble up and we know, we just know, ahh, that is it. That is the thing.
So what words go here?
What drawings do I make?
There’s a small sense of excitement, anticipation I guess, just before the tracks are made in the snow, or the pen or pencil touches page.
All things are new and fresh and good.
And shiny and crisp.
Like the sparkle in our eyes when we set out on adventure.
There’s a savoring of all we ‘ve done, or where we’ve been before…
But then there’s something else…
Something between known
And unknown,
And that’s the place we’re going.
What tracks will I choose to make this year? Straight ones? Or will I make snow angels? And giggle rolling down a hill?
Will I be alone?
Or will I hear the laughter of many friends?
Will I make great new things?
And find them all new homes?
Hm.
In my new year…
What word or words could go here
That would make a bright shiny new year spring to life?
Like a fresh snow fall just waiting for a frolic?
I have one, I think…
But I am very tempted to just draw a smiley face in the middle of that page…
And a heart.
I am making a flow chart,
And painting plans
And all the rest…
But just so you know…
There are snow angels among them.
And I can’t help but giggle when rolling down a hill,
Or gasp when I see something beautiful.
Like a bright and shiny New Year stretching out before us.
What words go here?
Perhaps…
I am wishing for you, hoping that is,
Your hearts are filled with wonder,
You frolic as you work
And that we all have our arms outstretched
To catch…
A bright and shiny 2010.
Om Nom Nom
December 23, 2009 by Janice · 7 Comments
Aha. I’m making fudge. That is all. No fancy art work, no fancy words. We have more than enough out there. Just om nom nom…coming soon.
What you don’t draw your idea out too? Hah. A nice cube, I think.
Now, I must go melt chocolates, make some goodies and design the presentation.
Just here, playing elf. And letting ideas sift and sort.
It’s all part of the process, yes?
Some new things are percolating. I must give them some space to grow.
While I stir chocolate.
Oh yes.
A secret ingredient to making fine art.
Is knowing when to stop and when to start.
So for a while today.
I will stir chocolate,
Mince nutmeats,
Melt butter.
The artist smiles…
Already into the textures and the colors.
Even when we play,
we are working.
The thing is to enjoy the work WHILE you are doing it.
My muse wants to make fudge today.
While I sift over some painting ideas.
So we will.
Let the ideas refine and work themselves out.
Yep.
That is all.
We are making fudge today.
Designing Your Package
December 21, 2009 by Janice · 10 Comments
Ahh, two more Mondays. TWO! So I am in the middle of finishing up my drawing gifts, and doing year end review. Being present, looking back and seeing hints of forward too. Phew. It’s kind of a mixed blessing.
But I had the unique and delightful pleasure of listening to a conference call from Pam Slim and Charlie Gilkey over the weekend. And here’s one thing I really loved: They call it a “Compassionate Business Review”. And there’s a worksheet. A simple 3 page very nice worksheet that comes with the downloaded call.
And it was free.
Nice gift. Thank you Pam and Charlie.
Already I am feeling better by integrating this little goodie into my year end review.
Last year, I found this annual review at Chris Guillebeau’s in early October and mixed it into my usual way of working. One of the things I like about it is the different metrics he measures along with his bottom line. Things that may not be dollars and cents measures, but are the very things that get you to those dollars and cents and make sense of what you are actually accomplishing.
And then there is the utter brilliance of simplicity in this from The Big Bright Bulb. A pretty good measuring question if I ever heard one.
Why should creatives bother with a year end review? Sounds like it’s confining, constricting, a measure in black and white?
Depends on what you measure.
And what package you are designing.
What parts of yourself you want to bring forward and what parts might not suit for what you really really want. We all deserve a very personalized perusal.
This is the time of year that we take a look, celebrate those things large and small that we actually accomplished. We take a look at our package.
And the person we are inside it.
Decide, hm…what is it that we each bring into this world? Now, how can we really do that better? Which thing needs most focus? Which thing is very close to where it needs to be? Are all the little pieces reflective of the whole?
Goals and lists are fine and good things. Compassion is a word that needs blending into all of that. Toward others and yourself.
So celebrating, counting all the things that count…well I like that.
It helps me design a custom package to carry through the next year.
Something elegant and handmade, not perfect, but always caring and human.
I heard “epic” is John Unger’s plan.
Hm, I was thinking more along the lines of Alice Waters who claims to be “bringing people to their senses. ”
Still working with the design brief for this upcoming year….how about you?
Happy Organizing Monday.
The artist smiles.
Abundance
December 16, 2009 by Janice · 12 Comments
I like color, that’s no mystery. I also enjoy shades of black and white and grey, taupes, and ochres. And you know I love the names of colors. Colors are like tastes of foods, whispers of sound, movement and reverie. They move us at our most basic level.
I have been wondering what to give you all in this holiday season. It is custom to send a note, exchange a wish or two.
So I went searching for something red. Hm. Looked at one thing then the other, nothing seemed quite right.
Until I found this.
A Della Robbia tart that I painted in another December.
Ahhh,
Abundance.
That’s it.
I wish for all of you abundance… in your hearts, in your dreams, in your stretches in the New Year.
And full, alive, invigorating color.
The artist smiles.
And the simple pleasures.
A juicy tart,
A word or two,
A moment here and there.
To contemplate the treasures at our finger tips….
Abundance.
Happy Holidays from me to you. There’s a virtual cup of coffee or tea to go with it, a smile and a hug. And later…champagne?
Gifts From The Sea
December 14, 2009 by Janice · 10 Comments
Three. Yes. An unbelievable three Mondays left in this year. I am fighting a terrific urge to do a gazillion things at once. And I started the early bits of the year end review yesterday. I wonder what that thing is called in between what you want to achieve, the calendar, and your list?… hm.. oh yes, crunch time?
Sounds very painful.
Neal, my former personal trainer comes to mind….
I digress.
To avoid the panic ( okay to avoid most of the panic) I am using blocks of time myself. Blocks to get this and that done and still make time to take pleasure in the drawing.
I managed to get four gift drawings completed last week among the very intense getting rid of everything that no longer belongs on my agenda. Bringing to the fore the things that are most important. Making notes about what worked, what didn’t. And taking some time to appreciate the season. Some giggles scrunched into this crunch time. Holiday music helps. I got four lovely drawings and some islands of peace, totally yummy time.
I am nowhere near finished on my finishing of the shells. I have some paper left to fill. And moments to enjoy. And wrappings to pull together, some ribbons….yes, ribbons and cards to add… and of course all the rest of everything we do.
But I thought you might like a glimpse, a glance at secret scribbles…shh..don’t tell them….
And as we all put ourselves into this last three Mondays, maybe we should remember to give ourselves some kind of reward, some kind of pampering. Seems fair enough. I always did after I let Neal put me through my paces.
Little gifts to ourselves.
Some abundance.
Like gifts from the sea.
How’s your Monday going?
Simple Gifts
December 9, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
One of the truest simplest pleasures of being an artist is drawing. It is thought made visible. I love to draw. To be present in drawing.
Today I am drawing gifts.
Simple ones.
Shh.
Don’t tell them.
It’s just a few fine scraps of gorgeous Italian paper and some pencil lines.
I’ll wrap them up real nice.
Put some names upon them and send them on their way.
To live somewhere else.
Simple gifts.
To be there, not here.
To say all year long, I thought of you as I drew.
Just a piece of paper.
That’s what I am doing today.
Among the hustle, and all the rest.
My pencil will be moving along a fine laid weave, the graphite will skip and turn, caress the foreign papers, while my heart and my thoughts are filled with familiar faces…hoping they will like finding this inside the wrappings beneath the holiday tree.
A thought. Some time. Some lovely paper and a pencil.
A little bit of me.
Simple gifts.
Pleasure.
Taken. Savored. And passed on.
Art is a living breathing thing.
Shared with wit and wonder.
Simple gifts.
From an artist to loved ones.
Toward the Soft Spots
December 7, 2009 by Janice · 4 Comments
Wholeheartedly. I was thinking about that word this morning early, very early. As in what am I going to write about today when so much inside is shifting around. Usually a word will pop into my head, linger, and I’ll stay with it awhile. Make more words of it that may be useful, or need to be said. This morning it was two words. Finishing and wholeheartedly.
Yesterday I had come across another note of mine that mentioned that I tend to head for those sweet soft spots, the inside heart beat of a piece. Or that’s the aim. In working on finishing my Counting Mondays list that I set before myself, several of those spots have appeared. Some are easier to work on than others. Some have magically arrived. Some you can color with the big red of resistance.
Yes.
Right there in my path, simple, innocuous ( innocuous? There’s a surprise word and I haven’t even had my tea, hm.) looking items on the list are looking more like stumbling blocks.
Which makes me groan.
You know what I think we do with those, right?
We ask questions of them.
Poke a bit to find out what’s holding them in place and specifically in place as in get out of there already, why don’t you?
Hmph.
I would say we are at 30 per cent complete on the list.
The good news is I got my surprise kisses from an unexpected source. ( item 11)
The bad news is I haven’t tackled that driving manual of rules. (item 4)
There’s progress on some of the other items. (1,2,3,5,6,7,8)
And a couple…well a couple are really making me scratch my head (9 and 10 specifically and of course item 4)
It’s not that I don’t know how to drive, I do. Even post apocalypse. Especially then. It’s the encyclopedic rules book that honestly bears not so much practical rules as punitive rules. Like this one, what to do if your low beams lights aren’t working. Well you switch to hight beams and get home or to a garage as soon as you can. WRONG.
They say, pull over and put on your flashing lights.
WRONG.
Are you kidding me? Do you know how long you would be safe in the hood with that one? Or who wouldn’t make it out safely in case, you know , the water got a little high…
So yes, I may have to read carefully, and pretend, imagine, a more suburban take on the whole driving thing….I am used to helicopters, boats, streetcars and being driven by taxi or friend, or colleague just to the jumping off point. Or walking. Walking is a good thing isn’t it?
BTW. The rule of the road on streetcars and autos? The streetcar wins.
Anyway. As I go about all the other items on my list, the painterly ones, that manual on my shelf is taunting me. I would much rather go to one of my happy places like say that window with the poinsettia in the photo…and the peace of an island painting that will come of it. Or move to higher ground listening to Wynton’s Christmas music.
That manual is taking on a distinctly unpleasant mocking personality. (I narrow my eyes at it. Growl a bit. )
Sheesh, getting my international license seemed to have more makes sense rules. Yes, grape harvesting wagons entering the road are to be looked for in the fall. And fog lights are required on your Fiat especially along the fiume.. or on the autostrada late at night… hight speeds and fog… it gets a little edge of your seat driving then.
Texas? Hmph. Jumping through a Texas hoop when I know out on the ranches…in between what in Europe are called “built up areas” anything goes. (We call them cities.) So I am reading their rules.
grr.
So finishing and wholeheartedly… I said I would do it so I will, wholeheartedly cursing it all the way… that counts for beating resistance, doesn’t it?
Was that laughter? I thought I heard that manual laugh.
How are your Monday’s going?
I need more tea.