Today Is my Birthday

Today IS my birthday and I was a bit Naughty Friday, I delayed posting until today. Because I could not keep this under wraps a minute longer You'll find today's post there, in my new home. I love Paintingaday, my starter blog, and we are still in transition, so it will still be here for awhile. But it needed to become more user friendly for you all and we need some room to grow so...

So the guys at Men With Pens made me a new home. Come see. We'll have a bigger launch later. But for now , you get the first peek.

Cause it's my birthday, it's my birthday...

(editor's note: working on the link right now...new site is www.janicecartier.com)
(HAH: It wasn't me on the link snafu. It was Google! )

That Awkward Teenage Phase

Gangley arms.

Feet too big.

And voices not quite there.

There is a time in paintings that is awkward, the parts are almost there, but not quite yet. The balance is just about to be, but is slightly out of whack. The colors are present, but not totally integrated. Perhaps the cools out number the warms just a bit and need to be reconciled. Maybe the little bits are not yet soothed by some nice medium ones. But the bones are true, and the vision intact and there's still some room for it all.

It's that awkward teenage phase. It's just about done, almost what it is going to be. Almost. The painting has a logic of it's own so the white spaces, the final glazes, the detail here and there, all have a mission to make that logic work. And to capture the story. Make sure the voice is strong and true.

Here, once the marks are down they are down. So at this stage as much painting goes on in my head as on the paper. What I don't paint is as important as what I do paint. But something else can happen here, sometimes we hit upon a surprise. I found one last night.

Today, I think I'll pursue it. ( Hm, butterflies in my tummy when I saw it. That's usually a very good sign.)

But isn't that just like that teenage phase, that willingness to try new things?

Jason Wu and The Spotlight

Simple. Elegant. And Flowing. Not bad for dresses, words or brushstrokes. Even better for the artist. Can you imagine what Jason Wu's life became once that ivory gown was revealed? I saw the interviews and yesterday I read this article in the paper. He seems much like his gowns. And his workroom is spotless. He was drawn into it all as a child, with dolls to drape his dreams on. Every choice he made led him to that evening and the reveal of that gown. And what is he doing now? Why he is at work. Doing what he was meant to do. Simply, elegantly and flowing.

I bet he has his week all planned out. I am not sewing chiffon, or beading a dress, or fielding calls from the press, but it is Organizing Monday. I know what is at the top of the list, and then next, and next after that. But first, I am taping these pictures up so I can see them all week. Simple, elegant, and flowing. The yellow gown says just that.

Do you put up touchstones and reminders to keep yourself in the zone?

Places In Between

Pink Blossoms.
Blue skies.
Dark recesses.
And bits of chaos.

There is a lot to be said for staying in the present. Eckhardt Tolle builds his whole philosophy on it. So do the buddhists. But to move is to live. So one point becomes another with something in between. Those places in between are often messy. We breathe, we take a step. We begin. We endure. Those transitions, those are a blend of what was and what is to come. But how do we get from here to there?

I want this painting to be about that. So in between the beauty of blooms, is rubble, chaos. A wetland inundated. Evidence of wind. A bit of confusion. And then intertwined, the process of growth. Resurgence. And blue skies.

So there is a little bit of all three here: then, and now, and what hopefully will be. Each vital. The trick is to integrate them into some kind of logic and meaning. Add some poetic mystery.

Yes. Smiling here. No pressure there.

Now how do we get from here to Naughty? It's Friday after all.

Post Inauguration: To Work We Go

What must it be like this morning, that first day in the Oval Office? The parades have marched , the dances have been danced. That first moment behind the desk, is the firsts of many firsts today. What would you do first?

It still feels like the air is humming. That must be the sea change. It feels electric, a nation truly inspired. What would you do first?

How early did this day start, or is everyone still abed? Would you want to get up and get at it? Or savour this first day?

Are you doing anything different on this first of many days?

I'll be painting. But I am thinking, What would a painter do?

Never Ending Brilliance

"Never ending brilliance". Wouldn't that be a great thing to call your own? I love that Tiffany ads have always been page 3 upper right in the New York Times. Open the paper, there it is. My heart doesn't always go pitter pat over the jewels, but a lot of times I do admit, I sigh. But there is comfort ( no pun intended- Louis Comfort Tiffany) in consistently finding them pictured there, a little gorgeousness amid all the rest.

Consistently. I think there is a little brilliance to be said for that. Like every Monday lining up the week. Organizing it. Applying a routine. Doing the next important things: Like addressing a competition envelope while the painting is still in progress. Making a gravatar for your signature, or updating a resume to highlight your own facets. Consistently moving it forward. Toward a bracelet of dreams.

Could that get us the jewels we're after? Could "consistently" be our own little bit of brilliance?

So back to the pinks and the studio for me. How about you? Got yourself all polished and ready to go for the week?

Somerset Paper

Those white spaces you can still see are lovely Somerset paper.

It's a printmaking paper, suited to water and inks.

I am using watercolors.


I launched the Chaos series on Somerset in late fall of 2005, because at the time it was the only paper I had. I needed to paint something very personal about my experience of the storm and my altered perspective. Not only was my personal life uprooted, twisted and turned, but the wetlands I had walked, painted and advocated for, my source material, was in upheaval and devastated too. But I had to paint. It's hard for me not to do that. So I used what I had at hand: some Somerset, a brush, some pan colors, and some symbolic blossoms.

I began to explore. Fell back in love with the tooth of this paper ( It had wrapped my silks for the Ritz after all ). Found solace in the flow of the paint. I could no longer feel satisfied inside any previous lines and certainly not straight ones; images automatically appeared at the end of my brush in random places. Paint intuitively spilled onto the page. Sometimes adversity presents elegant solutions. I was hoping that would be the case here.

Hm, I thought, my reality is surreal. Well, that's what it is, so I am going with it. Me, my brush and the Somerset's softness and strength. So the Chaos Series was born.

Have you ever found the perfect thing when you thought you were just making do?

( Now go be naughty. I am right behind you there. It's Friday after all. )