Color Blocks
February 26, 2010 by Janice · 3 Comments
Schmincke pigments, Color Pencil, Somerset Paper, Janice Cartier, February 2010
Along the edges, see those vibrations there? That’s what jumped out at me when I reviewed some of yesterday’s explorations. I thought I was looking for the color of a dark winter sky, but no…I was looking for the color behind it.
And I found it.
Soft and mellow on the sides.
A gentle glowing,
If you look for it.
Sustaining color right in sight,
A lavender with yellow,
A blue against its orange…
Color, for me…is not isolated.
It isn’t simply blue or black.
But what rose doré does against a naples yellow,
Or how chromium green changes with a glop of ultramarine right there in it.
Color alone is beautiful,
but what it does along the edges when it meets another…
Well, sometimes that’s a flash, sometimes that’s a song…
Sometimes it’s a poem,
But there,
There is where it is most estuarine,
And gives life to many forms,
Tucked into the edges, and along the this is this and that is that…
Well,
That would be where I like it best.
Insist upon,
Even when not thinking.
So…
it stays in all the work.
Befriend random. Experiment. The constant becomes you.
Today? Today, I think I’ll cut some things up…see what comes of that.
And later, bless the good soul who ever thought of cocktails at five….We’ll share a Naughty beverage don’t you think? Phew, what a week. How was yours?
Framing Things
February 24, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Views From My Santa Fe Windows, thumbnails on graph paper, Janice Cartier, February 2010
Framing things…or maybe reframing things is a better choice of words as I work through some of these sketches. One of the 4 series I chose for this year is a windows series. It’s a recurring thing with me that I have only taken to a formal level a few times….maybe three that I can remember.
But I love windows and views.
There’s something of a barrier and an opening.
Something of exclusion and expansion.
Something of geometry and organics.
Paradox.
There is something of that.
And it depends a lot on where we put the frame.
What reaches into that space inside us…
And what we have a view to do…with what we are looking at.
What’s inside and out…
Time of day, light, terrain..
and what goes on inside we silly artists as we pause and contemplate.
As I ‘ve sketched these this week, the pieces in this “Peace Of An Island” folder,
It has afforded me, oddly, little peace at all..
Oh, the odd bits, of sheer ooh and ah when I ‘ve uncovered a juicy bit to paint ( no small thing that), or recover an idea I had only graced with a cursory glance before and dismissed as you don’t do that, or maybe someday just to play…and scurried onto paint what everybody wanted, expected…what I had created before…
But here..
In some of these windows..
I found moments, pure and fresh..
Contemplation yes,
And restlessness…
New geometry to hold some thoughts,
New shapes,
New ways of expression,
New breath,
And some very, very old holds on me..that I’ve never painted,
Some deeply rich and lingering.
Others..what if’s that seem… new…or maybe just dormant, and coming to life
Choosing form to fit them,
To engage and put them into process,
Well there’s little peace in that..
But there is excitement and sureness of being on the right path.
It feels odd, AND comforting to come back to this kind of knowing,
This knowing nothing,
But looking freshly,
Into this re-framing things,
And doing.
Complacency is not a path to mastery…
Apparently, discomfort is.
How about you? How do you carve new space for yourself?
Small Inquiries
February 22, 2010 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Faber Castell Color Pencils, Sketches, Photos, Waterman Pen, Graded Pencils,Janice Cartier,February 2010,
Tip of the proverbial iceberg there in the picture…underneath …well…underneath is this week’s mission must accomplish.
I’ll be doing some drawings, some color studies, some experimental thumbnails that will progress into small studies and works of art..in several media.
But first they have to all go through the initial sketch process.
Why?
Because this is where I begin to choose form.
This is where I have small conversations with my initial response.
This is where what if’s
Are birthed.
So small inquiries,
Some back and forth,
Like knocking on the door to the zone,
And seeing if anyone is home.
That ’s where you will find me all this week.
It’s Organizing Monday, the last Monday of this short month, and I am organizing small inquiries across 4 series, to get them all to the next point.
So far…
it’s huge lots of fun.
Discoveries, puzzles, playfulness and ah ha’s ,
From simple basic things we do..
In private studio.
It’s work, it’s fundamentals.
And there’s way lots of it.
So please pardon me if you don’t see me too much about, being social, I’m here,
Just head down in the work…and I am liking what I see so far.
Actually, it’s invigorating.
How about you? Need a little time in your cave when the ideas are still real small and tender?
Soft Marks
February 19, 2010 by Janice · 1 Comment
Sennelier Soft Pastels, Janice Cartier, February 2010
Soft Marks. I feel like making soft marks today. And suspensions, like a scrumptious word and extended phrases that chase across a page…
Soft marks..
That dip down and nip, stick, then scurry on…
Soft colors in suspension…
With an occasional edge above the water.
Tips.
Marks.
Edges that hint
Of treasures just below the surface coming to the light.
Like that dream I had two nights ago
Of sea turtles swimming into land.
One by one and in abundance,
They swam in with the tide…
So many,
So strong
With tender underbellies…
I want to hold them in my thoughts…
And look for echoes…
With some phrases that I found…
There’s an oyster in it, edges and echoes there.
Some ripples.
And some soft gentle whispers like kisses on soft skin…
Suspensions
Of time,
Of place..
At my fingertips…
And soft marks
Some with an edge,
A slice right through the surface.
I want to make soft marks today…and see what they could mean.
So soft french pastels?
Oui…
And something clear and slippery…to suspend them in.
Hm.
That’s the mood I’m in.
And later, Naughty beverages all round right? Cheers at five wherever you are…
Cut Words
February 17, 2010 by Janice · 5 Comments
Recycled Notes with a Bow, Waterman Pen, Rhodia Pad, One Writing Notebook, Janice Cartier, February 2010
I have a note to self for this month on several active projects. It reads ” choose form” . It’s a studio thing…until I transferred it over to my desk and the accumulation there. How do I get all those notes and source material for writing processed? What’s the first action, or next action there? So I asked other writers and editors on Monday, you may have read.
And they were very helpful.
See the bow?
I was running low on notepaper ( I like paper a lot.)
And I had too many notes …
So I thought…recycle?
And:
a) I set a deadline ( thank you Fred)
b)I opened a new file in Word Notebook and starting pretending to write memos on whatever topic each page was about. ( thank you R.S. Russell )
c) I asked this question of each page I came to: “What do I want to tell you?” ( thank you Joanna)
And as I finished with each page… I cut it up.
(Hm…goes with the collage impulse I am having…)
Oh, and I ignored everybody practically, and everything..and just stayed with it, taking breaks once an hour. It isn’t easy, and some pieces I had to set aside….but now…
We have “Cut Words” my new notepaper. And a form of a gift to myself. More space, usefulness, and a wonderful by product….
The ideas and clarity are bubbling up…
about the writing…
AND some ideas about the new paintings…
And discoveries about some older ones…
And poems are popping into my head..
And from the the looks of how many words I have taken down…I seem to want to write and deal with questions about form this month….and I seem to jot down lots of phrases that seem poetic…hm…so many that I think perhaps, one of the answers to my question of what is the first next action in writing, like drawing is to visual art…is to capture phrases…
Great multitudes of form spring from them.
So on I go, I have promised to solve this this week.
To pare down those pages and pages..
Into a form that is more consumable…
Lean and agile,
Fleet and sleek,
Like a gazelle that escapes a cheetah…
or a brook that burbles quietly
Like a heartbeat strong and steady…
“Cut words.”
That’s my art this week.
I promised myself to finish these..
So hand me my scissors and a red pen…I am “choosing form” as I asked of myself…
A digital file of memo’s by topic and a nice stack of fresh possibilites for the reverse side of the old notes.
It’s a first step…a next action..
Thank you to my friends,
Just what I needed.
And why not put a bow on a gift ?
The artist smiles.
The Forest For the Trees
February 15, 2010 by Janice · 6 Comments
Ghirardelli Chocolate, Rhodia Pad, The Forest For the Trees (tabbed), Janice Cartier, February 2010
You know what would be sweet? Yes, chocolate for a lifetime, but other than that. An editor’s mind to pop ready made into an empty brain cell or two of mine this week. That’s what.
I have two notebooks stuffed with notes. I have journals, and I have scribbled words in some field books and the few sketchbooks I have on hand.
“Content”.
Lots of content.
And yet,
Getting it into consumable form?
Meh, not so much.
How do curators, and editors do it?
Hand me a brush, a pen, a pencil…
I am good…
Give me a blank page in a journal, I can write until I am spent.
A post?
Driven by what’s going on in the studio, a rhythm that’s part of my practice…
Set these notes and archival material in front of me…
My eyes glaze over, or I get lost , reading it, tagging it, categorizing it…or getting lost in the idea of it…. and seeing ten more paintings I could do.
Ahem.
So what?
I have an extemporaneous style of speaking and writing. Sitting down to possibly outline something, or organize it into …
What? What form?
In the studio the simplest, first step is drawing.
Easy peasy,
Back flips with that all day long.
Is the first and simplest action with long form writing…
A paragraph, a sentence, a topic?
What’s the sorting action?
First page on the stack..this needs a paragraph , a summary, transpose this note, condense?
Choosing forms, to put them in…
I am slightly stuck.
Notes become what first?
How do you best work?
And gee, this feels like going back to school…
Yes, it’s Organizing Monday, and the studio is tempting…teasing me… come here, just grab your brush and ink..
But I promised myself,
I would at least solve this this week..
Help… I cannot see the Forest for the Trees..
And I am trying to get unstuck, keep my tires from spinning round and round in the muck…
So far I am liking paragraphs…or looking for the lead sentence on the first page, then the next and then the next..
The artist smiles…
How do you organize your source material for writing? What “next action” comes up first for you?
Reflections
February 12, 2010 by Janice · 1 Comment
Dark Chocolate Truffle Wrapper, Waterman Pen, Open Journal, Janice Cartier,February 2010
Reflections of snowflakes. That’s what I see in this little metallic wrapper. It was lying on my desk as I looked through some drawings yesterday. Those edges, transparency and reflection, something I have always been drawn to, intrigued by, no matter what the medium. When I saw this simple wrapper …I paused.
Hm.
I looked closer.
It has been a reflective week.
And there is a lot of snow outside.
Reflection and transparency.
It’s easy to see a direct response,
Outside my window,
The trees are encased in bright,
Light bounced even late last night.
But those are inside matters this week as well.
And here…
it is in simple presentation..
urging me to explore…
A little more…
Simply take a pencil,
And make these marks, some dark, some light,
some squiggly, some straight,
and let myself expand…
Along a simple wrapper…onto paper…
Maybe paint…
And see what transparent and reflection..
See how those tie in,
With random wetland marks I make.
It’s that simple.
In a practice…
Of seeing..
What meaning can be made.
Capture. In private studio.
What if’s
At our fingertips.
And then…later… Naughty beverages, right? See you then?
Transparent
February 10, 2010 by Janice · 3 Comments
Pencil, Plastic, Paper and Ink, Janice Cartier, February 2010
“Ones for you to mark next”, says the note from an artist friend. A surprise group of drawings and some blank paper came in the mail this week .
I am to mark next on ones like this. That is her pencil drawing. And on the blank pages she sent, I am to start some marks for her as well and send the whole packet back.
It’s an experiment in collaborative art.
And letting go.
Engagement,
And random.
Back and forth across the miles.
We’ll play.
Respond.
To whatever comes next.
And what our impulse tells us to do.
It’s a simple game.
It’s a magnificent game.
To keep fluidity coursing.
And to see instinctual aspects of ones art.
It’s a call and response.
Like all art.
Artist to artist.
Artist to viewer.
Veiwers to each other…
It’s a simple game.
It’s a magnificent game.
It’s art.
In a private studio between friends.
Only, you know I ‘ll keep you posted.
Let you see how it progresses.
And that transparent box?…look at those shadows it makes upon the drawing…hm..hand me a pencil..or maybe…I’ll do that in soft colors??
There are several more organic drawings underneath…hm..how shall I respond??
One never knows do one?
But the game is on.
How about you? Do you play with friends with what you do? Workout with a buddy?
It’s More Than Football
February 8, 2010 by Janice · 1 Comment
Rhodia Pad, Alexa Pulitzer Paper, A Waterman Pen and a Bow, Janice Cartier, February 2010
“You can feel it, the city is electric”, a close friend wrote me late late last night. This is the same friend whose house I hunkered down in to ride out Katrina, one block from the Mississippi River and the levees. But we were on higher ground, nine feet above sea level to be exact, in a house that had withstood all the storms. It did again. Outside was altogether another story.
Think apocalyptic.
It seemed fresh.
The birds returned quickly.
The sun came out.
We breathed.
I literally toasted some single malt in gratitude up to billowy white and very fluffy clouds. Knew there would be work to do, lots of it.
But we had survived.
And then the levees broke.
We were on an island.
And the water was rising quickly.
And things got worse.
Much worse.
So every minute, every minute no matter what, you show up, you do the next thing, then the next, and then the next.
In an endless succession of next steps. No matter what is going on around you.
It’s survival after all.
And not just your own.
I still cannot write about it, too private, seems wrong somehow. Seems a bit much.
It was.
But we became more. We’d been challenged and we made it. Those bonds are strong. It is a club no one really ever asks to join. Once in it though, you recognize the members. Few words are necessary.
Last night, every minute, every play, every aggressive call made by that coach and carried out by that team, was full of heart, full of strength, full of getting it done…
In spite of tremendous odds against us.
And that we understand, completely.
It’s more than football to those of us who survived.
And here, here we get to celebrate…
What was in us then as well. THAT’s what the fuss is all about. THAT’s what the tears and the smiles are for. It’s not just football…
It’s our heart.
Laissez le bons temps rouler for a while..
We need to dance in the streets…
Can you feel it?
Then join in.
And yes, we are laughing and crying at the same time…seems it works that way sometimes…
Win. Whatever you are doing, or set out to do this week. Win.
It feels good.
Advanced Readers Copies and Cardboard Boxes
February 5, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Sumi Ink, Herbs de Provence, Fireside Pies and Newspaper, Janice Cartier, February 2010
Advanced Reader Copies, Janice Cartier, February 2010
Cardboard Boxes, newspapers, Advanced Readers Copies? …or “found materials”? Just a few things that need to be recycled or traded, but they offer up other possibilities to the inquiring artistic mind.
Like, hm… that little box is really nice white bristol board on the inside, and that Fireside Pie box is a nice thickness of corrugated cardboard, malleable yet strong. And that newspaper, well, we saw what I am doing with newspaper at the moment. And those books…dare I cut them up? Or paint in them? Play with images and text? Perhaps turn them into art objets as well, experiment?
Look like art materials to me.
The artist smiles.
As Fats Waller says, ” One never knows do one? ”
Hm…
Can I really cut up a book?
Can I cut into its pages?
Or turn it in to something else, embed its phrases into other places?
Or can I create a little world inside that little box?
And that pie box…what could that become?
Do I want to play in three dimensions?
All I know is…
They must go…
Or open up another door,
Become a path to play on.
Become, “What ifs”
The artist smiles again.
Kind of an artist’s favorite question.
Naughty Margaritas? Or brandy at five? It’s Friday after all. And I think we’ve earned it.
( Note: In case anyone has a “she’s going to kill the puppies” response to cutting up/drawing/painting in these ARCs…email me if you collect…)