Anemones, Nudibranchs, Pink and Flow
January 8, 2010 by Janice · 8 Comments
Pencil Drawings, Janice Cartier, January 7, 2010
Start at the start. I am somehow drawn to pink in January. Goes way back, but here we are. I came across this pink flower someone sent me and itched to draw it. Those tentacle like petals, the movement in them, captured my eye. I drew it. A quick sketch to see if I should pursue it any further. Then along came that cuttle fish, the one with the Serengeti-like pattern of sepia and gold on its back? Yep, did a quick doodle of him too and noticed that pattern is very linked to the big wetlands pieces I do.
Hm.
I did not stop there.
I drew a dragon-like nudibranch named “flabellina exoptata”.
And a huge Monterey sunflower-like anemone.
Remembered wading among them with a friend.
I am in a tide pool kind of mood.
The left side of the big multi-paneled painting I have underway has a huge puddle in it. In fact, several panels of puddle. Full of shapes. Granted, it is a Mississippi puddle with plenty of mud and goo, but that puddle and the Monterey tide pools are the start of it all. And those shapes are very important.
I want those shapes to be exquisite.
I want new life in them.
And I want you to see, the origins of all that makes me do what I do.
So it is to the tidepools we go.
For nudibranchs and anemones.
And snapping shrimp.
Not that they are in this puddle exactly, their cousins are there true enough, but because they are part of the big reason why.
You know, WHY.
That question we should all be able to answer.
The why. The tickle of our fancy.
What is it that sustains us?
That keeps the fascination going.
That makes us not only show up, but thrill in the very existence of being able to show up exactly where we do?
Is it as simple as anemones, nudibranchs and pink?
Well, yes.
It can be that simple.
Those are access points.
Access points and triggers.
To a larger thing.
So we are going to take a look.
At just what it is about them, that makes me want to spend hours and days playing with them. Drawing them, anticipating the squish of paint and the puddles of color. What makes them so vital?
What could be behind that?
These tiny little things.
Well, to start.
A moment of thrill.
And that is where art should start.
Don’t you think?