Color Blocks
August 13, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Sennelier Soft Pastels, Sennelier Pastel Paper, Somerset paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
“Certain things are remnants and certain things are things I actually see everyday. “
Certain conversations make all the difference in the world to what we are doing. The color blocks you see are simple play from this week. An exercise in random. But I was talking with a trusted art friend on Monday afternoon and I casually used that phrase above in mentioning the color block groupings. She made me stop so she could write it down.
Brilliant.
They look like buildings.
Organic buildings?
We also talked a lot about sustaining intrigue, and how that really is our job after all as artists, creatives, teachers, writers… And that made me think…differently, just a bit.
Because it’s a funny thing when you put words to an idea.
Especially unguarded off the cuff words to another studio artist.
There’s a moment, a brink, a pause as the words sink in
And you realize…
you’ve actually arrived at a different place…
And all that came before was leading you right here.
Now that,
To me…
Is intriguing.
And I see the work now..as chapters in a mystery unfolding.
I couldn’t be more pleased or excited to not know…
to just do…
And then I’ll know.
Oh, I love this scribbles work.
I really do.
Process… in private studio.
Thank you Jeanie.
Now…it’s Friday…and I have a feeling that the only way to beat the heat is to head to the Dragon Room for a Naughty Margarita. Any takers?
Black and White and Color
August 11, 2010 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Derwent Sketching Pencils, Water, Sennelier 140lb Aquarelle Paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
Sennelier Pastels, Somerset Paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
Black and white and color. Play. But more…inquiry. Sustained intrigue, as a dear friend of mine phrased it on Monday. That’s what we artists do after all. Set up safe space to sustain intrigue and then jump in.
So here are my small blocks of shells, going through a couple of paces. A couple of ways in. Sheer instinct …and practice. There’s just one more thing I want to do before I paint them for real. A tonal color restriction..just to test some sandy colors..to see how close I want to real..or if..a pure dance of color chords will be what I am after.
Because the painting will go fast.
I want no barriers of thinking, or time,
or questions in my mind.
I want to be alone with line and color
And fascination.
No questions except
This or that?
Here or there?
Stop or go?
Just breathing
And doing
So just one more page of play…
Um…no.
My hands just told me NO.
“Get out the scissors. Cut the canvas up.
And move everything aside…
go in not completely knowing…
and come out the other side.
Then you’ll know. ”
“No more inquiry?”
“Nope. ”
“No more prep?”
“No.
The answers are all primed.”
Well.
Sometimes the artist is the last to know…
I guess I’ll go get my scissors.
Vacation created all this space.. and the hands have taken over.
Not quite like the assistant I imagined hiring someday…more like a pushy partner.
“Well, snip snip…let’s get going.”
“Sheesh.. okay already..I’m coming. ”
How’s your Wednesday?
Boxes of Shells, Color of Shrimp
August 9, 2010 by Janice · 5 Comments
Graphite, 80Lb Paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
Shrimp on ice
Not much to go on, but here’s Sunday afternoon’s random must feel the pencil across the page session. Fragments of shells, the color of shrimp. And squishy thoughts of sky reflecting in wet sand. Subtle marks across a canvas. An interplay of line and textures.
I saw a drawing.
From a sculptor.
That reminded me of these pieces I’ve had in mind.
Simple form and texture. Simple and yet everything,
Like a walk on the beach.
Simple color, textured, and bits of shell as wind and water move across the sand…and I am there to notice…and mark them down.
There’s something elemental and enduring and spiritual to me about these fractured bits…that contain a wholeness in their parts.
So I think a small series of oils. Maybe some studies first in pastel. It’s part of the “scribbles” work.
It’s Organizing Monday, and I am organizing something about line against patinated color..in variation…calls for a bigger piece of paper. Yep. The rest can wait. This is speaking loudest to me. It must be important.
And so it moves to the top of the list.
I asked a question last night…and this seems to be what I am getting as an answer.
The artist smiles, so go with it. No questions. Just the doing.
Then you’ll know.
How about you? How’s your Monday going?
Gently, Softly
August 6, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Sanguine Contè Crayon, Handmade Thai Paper, Janice Cartier August 2010
Gently, softly with whispers and smiles and a luxurious stretch of my toes, I pick up the crayon. Where to begin?
Anywhere.
Just jump in.
First days back are a bit of a bridge, so contè crayon is a nice ambassador, willing to greet me in the middle.
Diplomatically amenable.
A first envoy from the studio.
And a warm up tool.
“Here , we’ll have a pliant go of it.”
Some further working on the puddle piece that lies topmost on the table.
I made a schedule. But it would seem at the moment, days without a formal agenda are making the best days of this summer. Not drawing, not painting for just awhile created space my head does not have to fill.
My hand has taken over.
It just moves across the paper with no thought…
except how terribly good this feels.
Or is that dark enough, or should this whisper here?
Doesn’t that line bend just so?
I barely pause, oh maybe to get a drink of water,
But my hand is holding all the answers.
And it says to me…shhh
We’ve got this…
Just enjoy it.
Contè is an amiable friend and glad to see me back.
Ahhh…I should go away more often.
And later ? You know it’s Friday…and yes Naughty Margaritas all round. Maybe we’ll wear sombreros …
Once in A Blue Moon
August 4, 2010 by Janice · 5 Comments
Dale Chilhuly "Moon", Photo by Pat S. Minchow
Once in a blue moon I’d like to be a bird that flies and darts among the reeds. Or a cat that climbs fences and leaps across a lawn. Or perhaps a giraffe that reaches high up in the trees just for a nibble.
Or a sculptor that alters terrain.
Hides surprise and real delight to be discovered by passersby…
It would be awfully tempting to disguise myself behind a bush
or as a tourist from Great Britain
And listen
To the oohs and ahhs
As the promenade proceeds…
Down the slope, over the rise, past the water garden.
I ‘d have to tiptoe
Or tip my hat just so if spied,
“Lovely weather we’re having”
And smile to my sculpting self
Over the joy that had been plain..
as one by one
my pieces
teased
pure pleasure
from
everyone walking
in this enchanted garden.
Once in a blue moon
I’d like to see as Dale Chilhuly sees.
Or better yet …
Make that
See everyday
with childlike fascination.
- Dale Chilhuly at Cheekwood, photo by Pat. S. Minchow
Mystery and Surprise
August 2, 2010 by Janice · 12 Comments
Pencil, Italian Paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
I am not officially back yet. Tomorrow. And then resume posting on Wednesday. I am in vacation mode still. And it feels so deliciously yummy. But saying hi today, is kind of like waking up early, before you have to and snuggling down in the bed for one last luxurious sigh with your pillows. An eye to the clock but luckily there’s a little bit of time left before the alarm goes off.
Sigh.
And is there a line to draw? Between the before vacation and after?
Before deck time and after.
Before I saw those lightning bugs at dusk and after.
And watched the sky go by, one puffy cloud after another.
I did not paint one lick. I barely picked up a pencil.
Hah.
Sitting in an Adirondack chair on a covered porch in the afternoon among hydrangeas and watching the rain come down kind of washes everything away.
Don’t draw it, don’t.
Don’t even pick up a camera..
Just be.
And take it in.
Renew yourself.
Nourish.
Fresh peaches in a summer baked cobbler creates total amnesia.
Nirvana, after a fresh tomato and fried okra dinner.
And real laughter eases all those silly little concerns.
It may take awhile for this vacation to wear off.
I hope so.
Because that door to the zone now looks…
open and inviting…
I think I’ll keep my flip flops on until winter.
And have a BLT for lunch.
The artist smiles.
It’s Organizing Monday, and I am organizing a plot to prolong that vacation state of mind while easing back into work.
How you be?
This Will Be A Puddle
July 16, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Sanguine Conté Crayon, Thai Paper, Janice Cartier, July 2010
This will be a puddle. Bits of pigment pulled across the page. It’s bigger. The page has lots more parts, but here we see a circle, a puddle, the outlines of the dance.
The paper has ridges, bumps, pulpy bits engrained. The conté is soft. Chalk. It hugs and clings as if the paper is a raft.
Yes, here..now over there…now skip a bit and then darker by that branch..
softly flit
now press
Now rest.
And take a look.
More..tease it more..
We want velvet hints of soil
And wet, it will have to seem wet..
Even though made of dust.
Sanguine.
Blood.
Beats and rhythms of a heart.
Make the lines fairly sing,
Like birds in the canopy,
And leaves buzz.
Pine needles crunch under foot.
and pause…
there’s a track
Where something fed and watered just hours ago..
This will be a puddle.
But’s it’s not quite there just yet.
This will be a puddle
Some paper and some chalk.
This will be a puddle
To quench an artist’s thirst.
Only fitting right? After all, it’s Friday, Naughty Beverage time.
The artist smiles and looks fondly at that chalk. This feels so good.
This will be a puddle.
If I play some more.
Fresh
July 14, 2010 by Janice · 5 Comments
Handmade Japanese Papers, Janice Cartier, July 2010
Fresh. Handmade. And whispering. Beckoning like a lover. I have sanguine conté, charcoal and graphite fairly chomping at the bit. We can even haul out some French or some Japanese ink. I have a bit of those. and some quiet time.
I have this urge to make a set of drawings, tangles of trees, dapples of light. Quiet spots you have to make an effort to get to, off the beaten path.
I call them sanctuaries.
Spots I’ve walked and places I ‘ve paused…because there was for that moment something…
Something about them,
something
more
So I stopped..and took them in.
Breathed them in deeply.
Lines…
Lines pulled across the tooth of a page.
gentle deposits of pigment, in blood red that goes all the way back to the Renaissance. Bits of burnt wood dating to caveman times, charcoal resting gently on the page…
pencil tracks left
that trace
An undulating connection
a give and take…
in that moment and this one
Timeless and yet
a breath
A fresh breath in time
Calls to me
Come on…
Drawing,
seeking sublime
And bringing that into being..
On handmade paper that whispers…
Come on
Play with me.
You know you want to.
the artist smiles…
Yes. I do.
Little Boxes of Fun
July 12, 2010 by Janice · 2 Comments
Pencil, 80lb Paper, Janice Cartier, July 2010
Callou Callay…oh frabjous day! I think I will just stare at these for awhile this morning. Yep. Little boxes again.
The artist practically giggles. AND BRAND NEW WORK!!!!!! Oh it refers to old work, sure…can’t totally get away from self. But the top two pieces , these near right ones…are called Elysian Fields and Passing Through the Muses.
NO where. No where do they exist already in any of my work!!!!
The dynamics might.
But not the vision.
This takes work , this takes desire , and this takes a lot of energy shifting.
I am fairly dancing as I look at them.
Here’s why.
They came to me unconsciously and automatically as I just sat and “doodled”, sketched for a while yesterday.
What that means.
It means my source is somewhat more cleansed.
They are not a lament, but a wishing.
A clear clean wishing for where I want to take my work.
And an answer.
Well, as much of an answer as some squiggly lines can be and some random sketching.
But these are bones for very large pieces. Very large semi abstract and get out of my way this is how I see it playful pieces. Squishy with paint. Light in color and as musical as a brass band marching down St. Charles Street.
Delicious what I see in them.
Yes. Little boxes of fun. Places to put my soul into…
Now I AM going to giggle.
It’s Organizing Monday and I am promoting some squiggle time for everyone…just see what comes out when you create a bubble and sketch with nothing in mind. Kind of a temperature taking thing. It will tell you where you are and where you might be going. Whatever it is that you do. Try just a few moments of nothing in mind…and just squiggle… see what comes out
The artist smiles.
Some Progress…Finally
July 9, 2010 by Janice · 5 Comments
Watercolor, 300lb D'Arches Paper, Janice Cartier, July 2010
Step by step.. inch by inch…the artist smiles.. finally some progress. As unfinished, as unevenly layered as this is, here it is. The paint is flowing again on this piece about source. It is a work in progress, but I see already some shifts in color, some relationships that are new to me and many that are so wonderfully familiar.
And I like that.
Pushing away, or intentionally changing, while still becoming more of self not only sounds ironic or contradictory, it IS just that. In a paradoxical, exploratory and I hope good kind of way. It’s growth.
My shapes float more.
My colors are unapologetic.
So what if I am taking you to fuscia.
Hah. I need to BE fuscia this time.
Just look at that sky we’re building.
Right there in the puddle.
Hah.
“You like that well enough,” the painting says,
And nudges me…
“Look closer.”
And it LOOKS different.
It looks..amazingly… like a certain satellite image…
And that..
(My jaw is on the floor..)
I have to take in.
That was unintended.
This is ground zero after all. And it fits.
The artist tilts her head.
Well, what do you know about that….
Hm..
Just get out of your head…and dance…
The important stuff will come through.
And perhaps that will create its own path.
I love it when paintings do this to me.
Surprise me with a nudge…ask me to push them even more.
Give me meaty hints of what they can be that I hadn’t seen before.
Yep.
All this from another puddle, and some fuscia fronds
the artist smiles…
Finally…it feels …
Challenging …
and right..
I had my doubts on this one, just as much as I had a sureness that this would be important…
There’s that precipice… there that one….that edge of in between…now that’s a fine and challenging place to work from..
It makes a difference in the painting.
And painting from there makes a difference in you.
It takes intentional work to get there.
The artist, pauses….
Still amazed…
Small?
No, not a small thing at all..this feels..
This feels
Liberating…as much as it feels reassuring.
Mojo …a bit of mojo jumped into the paint..
The artist laughs out loud…
And does a little dance.
Yep. It’s like this, in private studio.
Now don’t we need some Naughty Margaritas?