Cardboard, newspaper, and ink, Janice Cartier, March 2010

Color Pencil Drawings, Janice Cartier, March 2010

Ink, I am itching to play in ink today. I have tons of newspaper I’ve been saving just for this among my recycle studio materials.  And I like the shapes on those little tide pool creatures you see in the color pencil drawing.

I can see the whoop-ty do’s and curvy curves the brush can make as I chase those contours…

Nice flows and squiggles across a page of text…

It’s prep work, ground creating…material making to play with further as my random and my vision intersect.

I spent most of yesterday cutting up and pasting on, recycling and making fresh as well.

First layers.

Odd grounds.

Primitive tearing and cutting too.

Divorcing myself from the fine form of drawing meticulously,

Just one decision after another.

Quickly.

And putting them out of site until later.

Like today will be.

One mark, slow or fast, another curved or straight,

No matter,

Just responding,

Just doing as the marks dictate.

Accessing zone.

Working with intuitive energy..

to find several

ways in.

Options to take,

Tickling the explorer..

But mostly to keep honing fresh

artistic responsiveness.

That fluidity, that un-staleness

Conversion…sometimes looks just like this

In private studio.

And there..it’s thundering, and raindrops… it’s getting darkly dark outside.

Cocooned to create..how perfect.

How about you? Work going well?

Source Material, Pencil , Waterman Pen, Red Ink, Sharpener, Janice Cartier, March 2010

That’s the question my friend asked me as we ended our weekend phone call yesterday “What’s up for your week? We are kind of our own accountability bar as well as life long friends.

I glanced quickly over to my worktable , grimaced, looked at the open notebook on my desk, stifled another groan, and replied…

Lots, lots and lots of conversion.

Conversion you may ask?

Yes, converting ideas into action.

Drawings into studies or formal pieces, experiments into ah hahs…random into oh wow..

Stacks of that.

And I promised Paris Breakfasts to count some Mondays which made me take a look at how soon this first quarter of 2010 will be history. We have 4 Mondays til, zip zap it is done, done , done.

And next Saturday is the first day of spring. Rest assured it is. My allergy /”spring is upon us” head cold will vouch for that.

4.

If I looked at the huge overall of it..

well..

Let’s just say a spring break would look verra appealing, in say some remote location.

So this week, we’ve ink, and pencil and collage, more of that…

But we also have some watercolors that will be laid out. Because with spring comes more work on the huge piece underway and some works along that line and series. And work along the Across the Tracks Blues series. I am loving bringing it all along together. Which is unusual for me.

But those are merely details, it’s easy to get bogged down in details and this and that. With demands upon our time and all those unknowns..so…

So it’s a perfectly wonderful time to consider you vision and keep that in mind.

Hold that above all in the next 4 weeks….and remember the why  we do it all in the first place.

I believe that creates  decisiveness, and a decent rate of conversion…no matter how high the stacks may be…

Be willing to fight for that vision no matter what our individual details may be.

And if you don’t have a vision..

Then 4 or 12 , or 20…Mondays…won’t matter..spend the next few Mondays..working  on that.

Knowing the why , knowing what we are bringing into  being…is just as important as the bringing it is. Maybe this is not your usual first quarter conversation..but it is the most vital thing you can have in your toolkit, the why you are accessing your zone. Huge energy to be had there for conversion. Like going to the well…and then all that work…feels a bit more like  play…and aren’t we lucky to be able to access that?

Ways into the zone. That’s what artists find and explore.

And it all starts and flows from that vision.

That’s where we are this Organizing Monday. How about you? Energized this week, or no? Do you have your why firmly in place?

Collage, Scissors, Waterman Pen, Color Pencils, Janice Cartier, March 2010

I can safely say we are getting hints of spring, Even though it is still chilly and there were threats of snow this week…my allergies are rising like hyacinths sprouting to bloom. So spring is coming.

And with it excitement about the cutting up, and trying this and that within the series work.

Ironic isn’t it, that to find form, we must divorce ourselves from allegiance to form?

So cutting up,

Putting this here and that there,

responding in the moment,

is a great path to be on.

While it may feel scattered and random..

And it is,

there is one overriding thing about it that remains constant…

You and the quest..

The search..

the inquiry…

For that thing that beats within us..

That thing that we respond to

And possibly,

the meaning behind the thing.

So cutting up, playing in these random materials that I have captured in these boxes…

While they may seem like cast offs and nothing..a soap wrapper and a magazine, some mailers from a gallery…

They are actually

The very basic tools to creative adventuring…

And that is always fun..

and meaningful and

revealing..

If you’ll be there and be present

Yep, right there in that zone.

Tromping around listening for whispers, delighting in the play…let go and see where it takes you…

This is essential arriving.

Not a luxury.

It’s Friday… Naughty beverages later? They go with antihistamines  right?

Collage materials, Clementines, Janice Cartier, March 2010

There’s whole box full of collage materials, well actually two or three, waiting for me to process them. Whole lots of random. But I am not feeling my perky best today. The oranges there  are going to help me deal with that.

Yep.

Sigh.

And it’s raining outside.

I heard a a couple of birds chirping earlier and  slid the window open so the cat could hear them better. I looked out to see patches of green on the lawn as the cat pricked it’s ears to catch the direction of the chirping.

Hm…

Could that be a hint of spring.

We have more snow on the way I understand.

I slid the window closed and looked at that cat, he’s been following me this morning, Very cute kitty-ish and all. But I saw him all twitchy at just the thought of giving chase.

And he’s eyeing those boxes as well.

I think he knows I am a little off my game today, a little under the weather… he’s been sticking close.

Could be he knows I ‘m an easy mark…

But I am on to him…and I have a water squirt bottle handy…

Let the games begin.

That’s about as Organized as we can get on this Monday morning…Eat an orange, do one thing…then the next, then the next, and see what wonderful creative things can happen.

How’s your  week shaping up? Any signs of spring your way?

Schmincke pigments, Color Pencil, Somerset Paper, Janice Cartier, February 2010

Along the edges, see those vibrations there? That’s what jumped out at me when I reviewed some of yesterday’s explorations. I thought I was looking for the color of a dark winter sky, but no…I was looking for the color behind it.

And I found it.

Soft and mellow on the sides.

A gentle glowing,

If you look for it.

Sustaining color right in sight,

A lavender with yellow,

A blue against its orange…

Color, for me…is not isolated.

It isn’t simply blue or black.

But what rose doré does against a naples yellow,

Or  how chromium green changes with a glop of ultramarine right there in it.

Color alone is beautiful,

but what it does along the edges when it meets another…

Well, sometimes that’s a flash, sometimes that’s a song…

Sometimes it’s a poem,

But there,

There is where it is most estuarine,

And gives life to many forms,

Tucked into the edges, and along the this is this and that is that…

Well,

That would be where I like it best.

Insist upon,

Even when not thinking.

So…

it stays in all the work.

Befriend random. Experiment. The constant becomes you.

Today? Today, I think I’ll cut some things up…see what comes of that.

And later, bless the  good soul who ever thought of cocktails at five….We’ll share a Naughty beverage don’t you think? Phew, what a week. How was yours?

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?

Faber Castell Color Pencils, Sketches, Photos, Waterman Pen, Graded Pencils,Janice Cartier,February 2010,

Tip of the proverbial iceberg there in the picture…underneath …well…underneath is this week’s mission must accomplish.

I’ll be doing some drawings, some color studies, some experimental thumbnails that will progress into small studies and works of art..in several media.

But first they have to all go through the initial sketch process.

Why?

Because this is where I begin to choose form.

This is where I have small conversations with my initial response.

This is where what if’s

Are birthed.

So small inquiries,

Some back and forth,

Like knocking on the door to the zone,

And seeing if anyone is home.

That ’s where you will find me all this week.

It’s Organizing Monday, the last Monday of this short month, and I am organizing small inquiries across 4 series, to get them all to the next point.

So far…

it’s huge lots of fun.

Discoveries, puzzles, playfulness and ah ha’s ,

From simple basic things we do..

In private studio.

It’s work, it’s fundamentals.

And there’s way lots of it.

So please pardon me if you don’t see me too much about, being social, I’m here,

Just head down in the work…and I am liking what I see so far.

Actually,  it’s invigorating.

How about you? Need a little time in your cave when the ideas are still real small and tender?

Sennelier Soft Pastels, Janice Cartier, February 2010

Soft Marks. I feel like making soft marks today. And suspensions, like a scrumptious word and extended phrases that chase across a page…

Soft marks..

That dip down and nip, stick, then scurry on…

Soft colors in suspension…

With an occasional edge above the water.

Tips.

Marks.

Edges that hint

Of treasures just below the surface coming to the light.

Like that dream I had two nights ago

Of sea turtles swimming into land.

One by one and in abundance,

They swam in with the tide…

So many,

So strong

With tender underbellies…

I want to hold them in my thoughts…

And look for echoes…

With some phrases that I found…

There’s an oyster in it, edges and echoes there.

Some ripples.

And some soft gentle whispers like kisses on soft skin…

Suspensions

Of time,

Of place..

At my fingertips…

And soft marks

Some with an edge,

A slice right through the surface.

I want to make soft marks today…and see what they could mean.

So soft french pastels?

Oui…

And something clear and slippery…to suspend them in.

Hm.

That’s the mood I’m in.

And later, Naughty beverages all round right? Cheers at five wherever you are…

Recycled Notes with a Bow, Waterman Pen, Rhodia Pad, One Writing Notebook, Janice Cartier, February 2010

I have a note to self for this month on several active projects. It reads ” choose form” . It’s a studio thing…until I transferred it over to my desk and the accumulation there. How do I get all those notes and source material for writing processed? What’s the first action, or next action there? So I asked other writers and editors on Monday, you may have read.

And they were very helpful.

See the bow?

I was running low on notepaper ( I like paper a lot.)

And I had too many notes …

So I thought…recycle?

And:

a) I set a deadline ( thank you Fred)

b)I opened a new file in Word Notebook and starting pretending to write memos on whatever topic each page was about. ( thank you R.S. Russell )

c) I asked this question of each page I came to: “What do I want to tell you?” ( thank you Joanna)

And as I finished with each page… I cut it up.

(Hm…goes with the collage impulse I am having…)

Oh, and I ignored everybody practically, and everything..and just stayed with it, taking breaks once an hour. It isn’t easy, and some pieces I had to set aside….but now…

We have “Cut Words” my new notepaper. And a form of a gift to myself. More space, usefulness, and a wonderful by product….

The ideas and clarity are bubbling up…

about the writing…

AND some ideas  about the new paintings…

And discoveries about some older ones…

And poems are popping into my head..

And from the the looks of  how many words I have taken down…I seem to want to write and deal with questions about form this month….and I seem to jot down lots of phrases that seem poetic…hm…so many that I think perhaps, one of the answers to my question of what is the first next action in writing, like drawing is to visual art…is to capture phrases…

Great multitudes of form spring from them.

So on I go, I have promised to solve this this week.

To pare down those pages and pages..

Into a form that is  more consumable…

Lean and agile,

Fleet and sleek,

Like a gazelle that escapes a cheetah…

or a brook that burbles quietly

Like a heartbeat strong and steady…

“Cut words.”

That’s my art this week.

I promised myself to finish these..

So hand me  my scissors and a red pen…I am “choosing form” as I asked  of myself…

A digital file of memo’s by topic and a nice stack of fresh possibilites for the reverse side of the old notes.

It’s a first step…a next action..

Thank you to my  friends,

Just what  I needed.

And why not put a bow on a gift ?

The artist smiles.

Ghirardelli Chocolate, Rhodia Pad, The Forest For the Trees (tabbed), Janice Cartier, February 2010

You know what would be sweet? Yes, chocolate for a lifetime, but other than that. An editor’s mind to pop ready made into an empty brain cell or two of mine this week. That’s what.

I have two notebooks stuffed with notes. I have journals, and I have scribbled words in some field books and the few sketchbooks I have on hand.

“Content”.

Lots of content.

And yet,

Getting it into consumable form?

Meh, not so much.

How do curators, and editors do it?

Hand me a brush, a pen, a pencil…

I am good…

Give me a blank page in a journal, I can write until I am spent.

A post?

Driven by what’s going on in the studio, a rhythm that’s part of my practice…

Set these notes and archival material in front of me…

My eyes glaze over, or I get lost , reading it, tagging it, categorizing it…or getting lost in the idea of it…. and seeing ten more paintings I could do.

Ahem.

So what?

I have an extemporaneous style of speaking and writing. Sitting down to  possibly outline something, or organize it into …

What? What form?

In the studio the simplest, first step is drawing.

Easy peasy,

Back flips with that all day long.

Is the first  and simplest action with long form writing…

A paragraph, a sentence, a topic?

What’s the sorting action?

First page on the stack..this needs a paragraph , a summary, transpose this note, condense?

Choosing forms, to put them in…

I am slightly stuck.

Notes become what first?

How do you best work?

And gee, this feels like  going back to school…

Yes, it’s Organizing Monday, and the studio is tempting…teasing me… come here, just grab your brush and ink..

But I promised myself,

I would at least solve this this week..

Help… I cannot see the Forest for the Trees..

And I am trying to get unstuck, keep my tires from spinning round and round in the muck…

So far I am liking paragraphs…or looking for the lead sentence on the first page, then the next and then the next..

The artist smiles…

How do you organize your source material for writing? What “next action”  comes up first for you?