A Rainy Day
September 8, 2010 by Janice · 1 Comment
Pencil, 80lb Paper, Janice Cartier, September 2010
Color Pencil, 80lb Paper, Janice Cartier, September 2010
Rain bands from Hermine are kicking up outdoors, heavy puddle splashing drops are what I hear. And waves of wind, gentle ( from my perspective) but enough to still be a tropical storm. It’s the bands. The rhythm and the time of year.
Kind of cozy. And more familiar. Actually soothing to my bones. A cradle rocking.
I have something for such a rainy day. These color blocks are coming out to play. The light is dark outside. The clouds are dense.
So I am going to play indoors.
Make these a little bigger.
And bring…
my empty vacant mind…
to the steady rhythms that I hear…
And the tones and colors in the boxes,
As I see if they will scale.
I think it sounds like a lovely way to spend…
And indoor cozy day.
Unleashing
Color bands and rhythms of my own.
Yes,
The artist smiles..
And listens.
Very important to listen
In private studio
How ’s your Wednesday going?
Color Canvas
August 25, 2010 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Oils, Gessoed Canvas, Janice Cartier, August 2010
Layers. These are the earliest tints of color that will go under several more. Like weathered clapboard walls and one doorway on St. Mary and Sophie Wright Place, across from the Half Moon Bar. I’ve never wanted that building painted. It is a work of art.
I seem to want patinated, tempered paint, as much as I want brand new. I want the paint to become, not just arrive ready made.
And I am keeping those raw edges.
This is cotton, not the usual fine linen that I prefer. So the surface is a little rougher. The gesso is light so the paint catches, and clings. Not smooth at all, unless the brush is totally saturated. I prefer gliding with brush and buttery paint. But this, this is presenting itself, insisting. And my hands are saying, okay. We’ll do it that way..
for now.
Let’s just see what you have to show me.
What lesson you want me to learn.
Before I have my way.
Hm…coarseness to refined?
Like an idea, finely honed…
We’ll just let you lead,
for now.
In all your roughness and your heavy weave.
But look out
I have some tickles and some buttery strokes that are appearing in my mind
and I will have them before we’re done.
Not sure who’s the boss today,
But who cares?
Choosing form, or form choosing you?
Either way, it’s a possible win.
How’s your Wednesday going?
Shadow Self
August 16, 2010 by Janice · Leave a Comment
Pencil, 80lb Paper, Janice Cartier, August 2010
So Sunday afternoon sketching netted some surprising captures. Freely sketching with an empty mind, shapes and shadings came out in an uninterrupted flow. They also came with unexpected titles: ” Ghosts and remnants deep inside”, “our shadow selves want squishy paint” ( which is my personal favorite), “siren song at night”, “sounds”, “whispers and lovers”, “gently, softly on the edge,”( another favorite) and on and on like that.
The sketches look like nothing.
And a whole lot of something.
Some of them are pretty insistent.
Ideas of paint, and swoosh and squiggle followed quickly on their tails.
One begs for assemblage.
Another asks how softly can you paint power?
Another asks me to explore a night scape as if asea among unfamiliar markers. Moonlit and welcoming though, as if all time has waited just for me to be just there.
And one is fairly empty, yet replete.
Sigh.
Scribbles on a page.
Worlds and worlds to paint.
Captured.
Emptying out is as important as taking in.
It’s like finding
Pathways…
Very close to heart.
It’s Organizing Monday and once again…my hands seem to be in charge. We’ll just let them lead by doing as they please. Sometimes it’s like that in Private Studio. We just get out of the way and listen.
How’s your Monday going?
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?
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.
Change and Little Boxes
July 5, 2010 by Janice · 3 Comments
Look inside those little boxes. Just look at all the swirly, moving goodness inside each one. And then look how contained they are. How clean the space between them.
I like them.
A lot.
Every time I look at them.
Now live in this, this excited, crazy making place of question:
How to set them free to become what I envision?
Because I love them as they are. I find that crisp clean-ness ever so thrilling.
A kind of strength if you will, harboring very delicious richness.
Structure.
Tension of containment.
Vision.
A wishing.
And I know that next comes a whole lot of possible messy.
The messiness of executing a vision.
Can get awkward.
Can be confusing.
Can be not at all what we think it is going to be.
Can be whole lots and lots of fun.
Can be scary.
and unexpected..
and exhausting,
And invigorating..
Yep.
Messy and uncertain, living in the question.
But the vision of what they want to be,
The concept the heart behind them
Sees and feels and wants
Beyond almost anything in the world
That thing they want to be..
Will help pull them
Irresistibly
Along.
It’s Organizing Monday, and I am organizing nothing, except feeling that energy in them. And looking in that heart. Yep… these.. these little boxes.. I love them dearly.
And that alone is kind of exciting.
The artist smiles.
Truly.
Silly little boxes are making me smile as if they contain a key…
Choosing Form
April 23, 2010 by Janice · 1 Comment
Watercolor, Mont Blanc Ink, Color Pencil, Graphite, Newsprint, Janice Cartier, April 2010
A couple of Fridays ago, I posted some pictures like this one. Newspapers spread on the floor, randomly and instinctively placed. They made a pattern. I’d captured some lines, some responses, played with watercolor and ink. I’d created textures. Shapes. Then responded to those as well with color pencil, and pencil lines.
I took a look.
Had an aha moment.
Saw a door burst wide open.
Then I put them away.
These are resting in a box at the moment.
Waiting for me to choose what they will become.
There are many options.
Before there would have been one.
The expected one.
That’s no longer the case.
So I am moving them to the next level of action.
Not choosing form,
Choosing action.
They’ll move into the approved studies project box along with several other sets of small inquiries.
There is something deliciously risky about not choosing form just yet.
Something luxuriously nurturing about moving it through actions only,
Not excluding yet.
Taking it through the next step of how, letting form reveal itself.
It’s like having a wonderful partner named random and an internal compass named true.
This is zone work.
This is confidence.
This is trust.
This is the artist making space for something else to come into being.
There, that tickle, that deep inside shifting I just felt?
Tells me…
Good decision.
We’ll go with that.
Thank you John Scott once again.
Now, isn’t it Friday and don’t we need a Naughty Beverage? Maybe two?
Something Or Nothing
April 2, 2010 by Janice · 8 Comments
Watercolor, Color Pencil, Collage, Moleskine, Janice Cartier, April 2010
Watercolor, Color Pencil, Collage, Moleskine, Janice Cartier April 2010,
“So what kind of art have you been doing this week”, my friend asked on the phone last night.
“Um…color as texture, little studies in a Moleskine watercolor pad.”, I replied.
“How’s that working for you?”
” Well, it’s either something, or nothing,” I sighed and chuckled.
My longstanding friend laughed with me. She’s the one who had emailed me earlier this week. She’d had a dream about me using color as language and something about leaves.
This is also a friend who will wait patiently in the car while I pick this leaf up and not that one, the pure yellow one or the rose edged one and not that other orange brown one. Those Black Mountain leaves covered the ground, but I was picking a few favorites to press in my sketchbook. She got that. Oh, she still laughs about it, but she gets it.
We were walking ground that Lawrence, Albers, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Cage had trod and played with color, tone, and just about everything else that you could do, or undo with color. Way up in the Blue Ridge. We were on one of our rambles.
It’s easy to get lost in color up in the mountains of North Carolina.
It”s easy to get lost in color, period.
I have, for two or three days now.
Mindless, scribbles of color. Layers, puddles, marks. Cut outs.
Simple tools,
Simple materials.
Simple questions.
What if I do this first?
Or this?
What if I add that over here, or do this while it’s still wet?
What if glue this on there and let it draw the line for me?
What if, what if..
What if I have a sketchbook filled with nonsense?
So my friend, listened patiently, and chuckled here and there.We talked a little bit more, just rambled.
And I took another look.
What if I have used two days filling myself with possibilities to take larger?
I glanced at the sketchbooks, and saw… hm, I still have a few pages that are blank…and smiled to myself..maybe a virtual trip back to Black Mountain would put these into perspective.
Yep, let’s just fill ourselves up. We may have something…
Or nothing…
OR some stepping stones on a path I took.
Let’s just take a few more steps…
It’s like this in private studio, when we try to break state of one kind or another. That’s why suspending judgement is so vitally important. Already, at least three or four huge images have popped into my head, of assemblages, and works pulled from these trials and errors. I even like some of the mistakes.
What’s emerging are some energized works on paper to take to the next level…and some possible maybes for paintings of a slightly different kind. I think the fear in tossing ourselves fully into process, following unknowns..is that we will come up empty handed, or that the time will be wasted without a tangible to show for it right then. Some people see this as time out, or time off, or add on time.
Pfft.
I have 47 ways already to make these into something cool. And better…
I am even more excited to do it.
You decide.
Is that something, or nothing?
If you are not regularly surrendering to process, what are you really shipping?
While you’re at it..how about shipping some Naughty Margaritas over this way? It’s Friday, Good Friday actually. So have a good Easter weekend.