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?
Where to Begin?
September 25, 2009 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Where to begin on a work put aside? Especially a big work. One with lots of parts and history. And words, we are going to put words with it too. It should make some sense. Be accessible, possibly even logical.
Okay, I have to laugh at that, logical left the building way long ago.
Yes, I am still laughing. There is a logic to process of course, but it isn’t always a straight line. In fact straight lines have given me a problem since the storm. Tumbled fragmented ones seem more real. Perspectives altered into surreal are more plumb. Awkward juxtapositions the more believable paths. That’s what climbing over giant ancient oaks filling your streets like a river will do. Being tossed into a kind of war zone. Everything changes. When your reality becomes surreal, surreal becomes your reality. And you deal. You just deal the best you can. And it does not abate easily, or quickly when the alteration is so complete and so pervasive. Anyone who says so is not to be believed. It stays. Altering everything for all time.
But there is a logic to it and its own sense of time. The fragments within and the whole vie for dominance. We want Humpty Dumpty to go back together again. Fit right back on that wall where the view is so good and the food tastes wonderful and the music seeps up from the cobbled streets as sweet as the gardenias that bloom in the sun nearby.
But the cracks from the fall are there.
Do not try to fight the cracks.
Acknowledge them. Acknowledge that normal is always going to be relative for you. Logic will take up new points on your internal GPS. And the map? The map is uncharted. And your boat has to be tended to to even think of sailing again. It will not sail true if it isn’t.
So where to begin?
I think with the paint. Let the mind be clear like water and just let the paint lead us in. I want bowls of blue. Big bowls of blue. But I see to get there, I might have to start with orange and gold. The shimmering partners to blue. And I cannot wait to sink into deep piles of sepia mink. But I have those flutters of light kissed green that must come first.
And where to paint first? It’s 6 large panels. An overall expanse of, hm, 12 feet. Almost 5 feet tall each one. I started with the far right and worked left. Three panels at a time laid there on the floor in Santa Fe. The 3 left ones are still blank. Not passively blank. Waiting, anticipating blank. Flow. They want to feel the flow of paint literally poured on. They want the touch of sable that leaves color in its wake. They want the finesse that comes from deep and fine experience and appreciation. They want to glow.
So where to begin?
Paint and paper have their own sense of logic. Their own demands of time and sequence and right. They care little about everything else. Tradition, technique, all good, but only if they serve intent. Learn the rules, get those under your belt, but then be willing to break every single one if that’s what it takes. Deal. Deal the best way you can for what’s right in front of your face in that moment.
And in this moment I am thinking gold…
I think we’ll start with pure gold right out of the tube.
Yes.
That feels good.
A friend asked me two days ago if it was too early in the week for Naughty Prickly Pear Margaritas. HAH. Silly question.
How about you? Meet you at five for a beverage and a chat? It’s been a fairly big week in a quiet leap taking way. Congrats to all my friends and their big…top tens… way to go.
First At Bat
August 7, 2009 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Those two tree trunks. And the bouquet that reaches toward them on a diagonal. That’s it. That’s all that decided me on this one to begin. Not the showy, in your face aren’t I gorgeous head shot of a blossom that truly is a show stopper. I am saving that one for later.
But this one. A gentle circle of green opening blossoms and then the full one but a side glance, a come hither that is more subtle.
And color that is almost all the same.
But it isn’t.
Close.
Very analogous.
But not the same.
Here’s the challenge: to make it all seem like an event.
To find the slight differences that say here is this part, that is another, and to move you around the picture. To walk your eyes in such a way that you are pulled right into a story.
A subtle story, true.
A restricted palette to tempt,and tease you there.
Under those trees, into the shade, to praise something simple and yet so extraordinary.
Maybe it’s a longing to go back to the garden of Eden.
Dunno. I am exiled. So maybe there is a bit of that.
But I think it is quite simple. Like a taste of fresh greens in a salad, crisp and clean. Fresh.
And then a hint of passion….
call it foreplay
… an appetizer.
But it was an event. And we’ll explore it.
Ahh, is it Friday then? Are we ready for Margaritas?
A Very Raw Plan
March 11, 2009 by Janice · 7 Comments
Rain is pattering on the rooftop, urging me to be cozy, settle in. But I want some adventure. And lucky me, I made a map. Not a complete one, just one to get me started. One that has the bones of a piece with plenty of room for possibilities and play. Nope, nothing refined or finished about it. Except it has the impact, the desire, of destination already embedded within it.
Now desire is a very good thing.
Yes, even Buddha has to admit that the move to be totally present in the moment, is desire. Being IN the moment, that’s different. That’s alignment. So here’s how alignment is going to work in this piece. There’s a framework. There’s a strong impulse to create a piece that taps into color, line, form, texture just as much as, maybe even more than, it taps into story.
And there’s desire to touch something more sublime.
Strong, willful desire for nuance as much as boldness. For contrast as much as familiarity. For exploration of places that pierce my status quo. So perspective as I knew it, is off the table. Color needs to be pushed. And form, well it may have to take perspective’s place. Already my brush is hungry to trace some new paths across an expanse of white. Dip into magical water with pigment suspended, waiting to be spread. I like not knowing exactly. I like that I can feel my way through it.
Feel, is the operative word.
So within the structure, within the map, there is plenty of intuitive trust. Plenty of here, just let it happen, you actually know inside you what this is already. Let it out. Look what the forms are already suggesting. The shapes the lines trace. Sweet, sweet anticipation. Yes, it is a very raw plan. One designed for exposure. One that could very well fail.
But I’m thinking, it won’t.
If we can’t trust ourselves in our practice, then what are we about? Know what I mean?
Artistic License
March 9, 2009 by Janice · 11 Comments
I’m calling artistic license on the next painting. Which is code for, “I’m not sure what I am doing, but I want to push it even farther.” I was drawing ( doodling) last night and the schematic for the next piece appeared….with some odd “window” opportunities. Those spaces in between again. I have already been looking at some prickly pears and some yellow cactus blooms, I’ll do those sketches next, but several things in the paper and some thoughts on my mind reminded me of Murakami and his windows into …more.
That’s the fun of reading globally. Possibilities appear.
Putting a toe into surrealism is not enough for me, I think I want to wade farther in. After all, that’s what my world became. And I have always loved the Moderns. They looked for innovation by actually going back to basics, line , form , color , texture…but it was more about process. The process itself became the topic of their work. Let’s do this, and see that, and maybe … and what if… Those basics became the painting subjects that told a story. The story behind the strokes and movements and the what of the piece.
I like that a lot.
So I am calling dibs on artistic license. That way the part of me that is screaming, “but do what everyone has always loved. Do what you know, ” will be a little quieter. I am organizing a nice little reassuring spot for that part of me. I have shown it the paper I have in reserve just for it for later. I have talked to it about all the favorite colors we are still going to use. I am even leaving the blooms of a flower in so it will have an access point. But it has to sit back for awhile, cause this me… this me, has been restless to get out.
This is no time to be playing it safe. Could be a train wreck, but then again, it could be really cool. So Organizing Monday, yes…. but suddenly, I am so very excited about what possibilities might appear.
And that, is what it is all about, isn’t it?
Do you ever have to coax yourself, bribe yourself maybe, into taking a little chance? An alternate route? Or doing something you’ve a good possibility of failing at, but an equal chance you won’t?
Magnolias, Gucci, and Talking to Aliens… Maybe
February 9, 2009 by Janice · 9 Comments
The new piece is about juxtaposition. About putting a magnolia blossom in high altitude New Mexico. In Santa Fe, you’re just as likely to see the highest of tech and the simplest of saints. So this magnolia piece needs surprises, but ones that somehow seem to be just right after all.
Enter the surprise of Golden Gucci on lavender from the paper yesterday. Those horse bit pieces look to me like the unfurling fingers on a magnolia pod, and that large Array, hm, there’s a spot for it too. And that Saint…how can I not put that in? But where? Is there room? Does it work?
Not knowing again. Just exploring.
Like I do out there. Where light kisses everything and hugs it all in. Lets an artist stretch, and be. Just being is very important. Being present. Being puzzled. Being entranced. Letting it all filter through.
Not knowing. Exploring. The parts that are really you in that place in that time.
Do I know yet what this piece is going to look like? Not quite. Do I know what it is going to feel like? Yes. Very much so. And now I am eager to begin. How fitting for this week: A love letter to a time and a place. I am smiling here. If it is Monday, then we are organizing. But this love letter is at the top of the list.
What if our to do’s were filled with love letters this week? I know, groan away guys. But polishing your ski boots is kind of a love letter don’t you think? What would you put on your list to do, if it was a love letter to yourself? And shouldn’t all to do lists be that anyway?
Today Is My Birthday!
January 31, 2009 by Janice · 15 Comments
Okay, I was Naughty Friday and delayed posting until today. I promised myself that I would begin posting from the new site, ready or not, on my birthday. And here we are. If you are here, chances are you followed the link at Paintingaday, my “starter blog”. If you somehow came from somewhere else, wow, the internet is a wonderful place.
So here we are, still a work in progress, but I couldn’t keep it under wraps a minute longer. I could have waited, delayed a goal, waited until everything was perfect…but, nah… it is my birthday and this is my gift. A new home. I hope you’ll help me celebrate .
I told Harry it is like driving a brand new gorgeous car, butterflies in my tummy and all. And it is. But in a good way. If we never leave our comfort zones, if we never decide that school’s out, if we never take what we’ve learned and make it our own, well, then, what are we about?
So time to stretch, time to grow, time to have some more fun. I hope you’ll come along.