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 …
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?
Gone Painting
June 18, 2010 by Janice · 3 Comments
Kremer Pan Colors, Series 7 Sable Brush, Janice Cartier, June 2010
Thinking I just want to exhale some paint onto paper today. I want to feel it squish. Chrome oxide, and ochre and orange. Maybe some blue. Let it be that simple.
Like a child jumping a rope and rattling off an artist’s count of colors.
That simple.
And look with a beginner’s mind. No further.
I want to fill a glass with water and dip my brush. Like I would my toe into a brook.
And have the water flow.
Giggling, with the freshness of that first quenching sip.
I want it to tickle.
And I want to smile when I see the puddles spread. Perhaps find some hidden creatures there, some surprises of discovery. Some, “Wow, I didn’t see that before.”
I want to see the brightness.
And lightness.
Of this patch of marsh.
The pine filled bottomlands.
With pungent needles on the ground.
Random puddles of oasis.
A nearby splash at the river, a fish
I hope,
the artist smiles,
and not an alligator.
A distant boat motor heading to the gulf,
Birds chirruping as I pass.
And anoles sunning on a branch.
Yes. that’s it.
So.
I think I’ll pack a lunch.
Some lemonade.
And find a visored hat.
And pretend.
That it is that simple.
Maybe the scent of sunscreen on my face..
will fool me.
whatever it takes…
I’ve gone painting.
In a place…
that I’ll pretend…
Still exists
As I love it.
And then come out to join you later for a Naughty Margarita?
Skin Simple
August 14, 2009 by Janice · 3 Comments
Yesterday a friend asked me how I was doing. He’d read my recent posts and liked them. Well, actually he said they were “hot.” Yes, I am laughing here. But I ‘ll take that, especially from him. He’s a writer. And a man of good taste, obviously.
Here was my response:
“I seem to have let go a little bit. Feel kind of simple really. Skin simple, in a physical world. Breezes on it seem highly important. Kind of basic. You know? “
He said, “See that’s hot too.”
I laughed.
That may be, but it’s true.
And he knew.
He always gets it.
Gets me.
And right now, I seem to be very enamoured of water. And walking. And simple puddles of paint. And feeling that breeze on my skin. Enjoying each breath that isn’t a struggle. And how my hair kind of shines in the sunlight. And I even like sweat.
That’s what being brought to the edge will do.
It’s not the first time. There have been countless other times.
But each close experience like that. Makes simple things seem like a great gift.
Something to be cherished.
And even work that had to be put aside, looks like treasure…that I get to do.
So catch up is not the phrase I am using.
Relish. Enjoy. Feel.
Those are closer allies.
It’s that skin simple to me.
Now, about those Naughty Magaritas? It’s Friday isn’t it? Don’t they sound like just the thing?
Hope you have a good weekend.
Mistakes Were Made
August 10, 2009 by Janice · 3 Comments
Yes, yesterday mistakes were made. From a viridian green that overshot its banks to way over doing my power walk, there were plenty of oops sprinkled over my afternoon. But it did not start out that way. I wanted a “regular” day. A day to be. A good pause between the rest of the week . You know, a Sunday, to set a rhythm for the week.
It started beautifully. Poems and pictures and resonant sounds…all good centering things. Lovely and worth taking into my week as I paint. All from this creative clan that is building on line. Here are some of the gifts of yesterday morning:
From the lovely Joanna Young The Art of Paying Attention. Wildflowers from Scotland and her own blossoming. Having A Little Faith, from the multi-talented Amy Palko. The picture here is one of my favorite things of all things and as usual the words go just right with it. Visions of magical dragons in a Sunday poem by the truly magical HiroBoga. Everyone should have a Hiro in their lives. Remembering Through Resonance uniquely Fabeku’s walk through our sense of sound to bring us back to our essential self. Big on my to buy list.
So Sunday morning , even before tea and my paper, started off very nicely, with small chats with some of my favorite creative people. It seemed like a day made for walking through all of my senses, and to paint just a little on the new piece while I felt so mellow and strong. Felt more myself. And my breathing more relaxed.
Until the afternoon. As I painted gently on the unopened blossoms, greens of all sorts ran amok. Including that staining viridian green, down it drizzled when I shifted the paper. Oops. I held my breath.
No worries. That’s the beauty of 300 pound paper and off wiped most of it.
See that sunlight on the unopened blooms above? That is 93 degrees or better sunlight. Hot. Instead of the one mile I had been doing, (I wanted to gain some distance, increase my strength), I went a little further. “Just up to the next big stoplight”, I thought to myself. Round trip 4 miles I found out later. In almost 100 degree weather.
I ran out of water. The sun beat down. “Shade. Need Shade.” My brain was saying.
“Just five minutes more” every five minutes on the last half mile. Talking myself home.
I blame Santana. I had worn my ipod thinking it would increase my stride, HAH it increased my idiocy. Note to self, maybe walk in the mornings or at dusk. Not in the hottest part of the day.
So this morning I am surveying the wreakage of my “regular ” day. My yesterday. Rubbing moisturizer on my sunburned nose. Re-hydrating my entire body. Noticing the oops is all gone on the painting. Wiped off or covered over by the greens that followed.
My relaxing Sunday. Hm…not bad actually. When all is said and done.
Here’s my Organizing thought this Monday. Keep the poems and pictures close. Paint. Walk stronger ( but smarter) and add on 5 more “regular” days. Mistakes will be made. But gifts will be had.
And that is not bad at all.
How about you? Any thoughts guiding you this week?
Best Laid Plans
August 3, 2009 by Janice · 12 Comments
“Flowers and fruits are always fit presents: flowers because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do I remember how to post? Are the rhythms there waiting for me, just lying dormant waiting to be picked up again and played? I hope so. It feels creaky and stiff and rusted like an old bicycle covered in the garage. Dark under a tarpoleon, stored for awhile.
I have to admit straight off that my break went no way like anything I envisioned. You know, renewal achieved, giant blocks of tasks put to rest, lots of new progress on paintings. Nope. Did not go like that. And as I type this morning I am really playing it by ear.
So yesterday, Emerson spoke to me with those words about beauty and flowers. And I thought, “Well now isn’t that always true.” So I thought I ‘ll just bring flowers. The new series, the passion blooms, are the only thing that I have actually been drawn to in Texas to paint. A simple little vine that runs along the hedge near by. And I have somehow managed to work up several new sketches for paintings of them to do.
Simple. Vines of lines and unfolding greens, and deep mysterious blues in a radius when they open. Can these open to a way forward? Can these be my much needed renewal? Can these anchor me once more?
Well, we’ll just have to see won’t we?
I spent most of my hiatus trying to keep my lungs open and air flowing in and out as it should. Simple. Something most everyone does without even thinking. When I went out to gather, to soak in the Texas sun, the mold count here was on the rise and for me that is not good. So my hiatus was a bit of a nightmare. More walls closing in, not freedom found.
So flowers. Flowers are very appealing and it is with these I am picking my way through and taking nothing, not even breath as a given. Once again. But we are pushing through, pushing through to paint, to write, to be…they found me just as much as I found them. So that’s where I am going, one breath and one bloom at a time. I thought maybe Texans are fond of them too. And that’s where I am. In Texas, very much hoping that passion blooms.
So the cover comes back off of my stiff and unused bike, the paint is flowing gently a little at a time, and the medicine is working, although it comes with it’s own set of goofiness and problems, scattering thoughts I’d rather keep whole. But the flowers, I think they’ll see me through. I hope you will bear with me. Already, it feels less stiff , less foreign, more me.
Yes, it is an Organizing Monday. I have organized these words. The artist smiles to herself. And that is good enough.
How have you all been?
Real Time Texas
July 3, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
Summers in Texas are hot. 100 degrees (and more) hot. I don’t know how the cowboys do it. Or how those oil field workers keep from turning into one big puddle. Maybe that’s why cottonwoods grow so broad. Just to give them a little shade. It seems some Texans thrive in this heat. Look forward to it. They have those hats too you know. Wide brimmed. For shade. And sudden rains.
Hmph. I still say it’s way too hot. And I should be way used to heat. And humidity. But this, this is relentless.
I took this photo on Sunday. I wanted to catch these blooms before they faded in this Texas sun. And I want to do a painting. Connect some dots all the way from Bermuda and New Orleans to this hot, hot Texas summertime.
This blooms a few steps from my door. And I need to go explore it. These vines spiral twist and turn, I need to draw them. These colors and this sun, I need to paint them. I need to spend some time underneath these trees, see about these shapes. This sky. This place.
Yes, I need some gathering time.
So amid all the “Across the Tracks Blues” series work and the snail mail art project ( the cards are coming in), and the many everything elses, I need to take this break, as I mentioned on Monday. I’ll be around. Not far away. Tracing some connections…filling in some color… but for now passion flowers have crept into the story…hm, maybe I’ll even wear a cowboy hat.
For sure there will be…
Some Naughty Margaritas. Yes, after all it’s Friday. You can drop me a line, send me a tweet, I will love hearing from you. Seeing how your summer is going. But I am on a posting hiatus until… maybe August. Yes, that feels about right. So…
How about you? Had a break? Need one? Is it hot where you are too? What are you doing?
Tea Trots, Hemingway and Paris
June 29, 2009 by Janice · 6 Comments
A Movable Feast has been reedited by Sean Hemingway, Papa’s grandson, and is soon to be released. He says it will be more in line with the order and intent of his grandfather’s wishes. Sean is an associate curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has edited other works by his legendary grandfather. He wants this to reflect less bias, more this is the way it really was in his grandfather’s mind.
I can’t wait to read this one.
Because you see, I have always wondered about the particular perfumed air of Paris that seduced so many of the Moderns. That time between the wars. A world in flux. And I have been thinking about pivot points. Times turning from one thing to another. There is a moment, a becoming moment that stretches for awhile . Until that thing it becomes is released.
Pivot points. And movable feasts. And storms.
Those are on my mind. But the picture from the paper that stayed with me, more than all the others was the one in the photo of all those parasols, and the colorful dresses.The kind of party Brooke Astor would have loved. They took a free five minute ferry ride over to Governor’s Island to a tea, to stroll, to have some fun, and look we have blocks and blocks of color, each one a summer’s dance. Look at all the parasols turning in the sun….a summer moment stretched…suspended in the air…
Summer moments. I think I need some of those.
I took a walk yesterday to snap some photos for a brand new piece…passion blooms, the flowers are round, turning in the Texas sun..like parasols suspended on a summer hedge…yes, they might work, they made me smile…think of moveable feasts… not so much of storms….
So, on this Organizing Monday, I am thinking I am organizing some time in July to just be with these blooms and the paint, not so much with words. I think I need a break. To take the time it takes to be upon an island. To breathe some perfumed air right here. To see what this one brings while it is becoming. And to maybe read some more about Hemingway’s Paris. Do some private writing.
So not right now, but real soon. In about a week. I think I’ll take a posting hiatus until maybe August.
How about you? Do you need some summer moments?
Time
June 1, 2009 by Janice · 2 Comments
Funny thing about time. We all have the same amount of it in a day. The artist is paused, looking at the photo. Summer reading, the Travel section and an exploded very chic watch from Hermes. sigh. And that little orange Rhodia pad. Sigh again.
I would like to be drifting through those sections of the Sunday paper again, but I will be “drifting” through the contents of that pad. And that’s good too. It has adventures and stories and interesting designs.
So I am going to get to it.
If you are in our smail mail project don’t forget to send me your address. I’ll be sending you an email to remind you it is time. And don’t worry there’s plenty of time to do these.
Now it is time for me to hit publish and Organize this Monday’s worth of time.
Sigh….could really drift today…but no…one more cup of coffee and we’re good… must be that it is June…and summer is stretching out before us.
How about you? What are you packing into today’s worth of time for yourself? Wouldn’t some drifting time be good?
Yes, some toes wriggling in the water time…just saying.