Honor the Creative Spirit

 "Honor" by Jim Carpenter, Acrylic on Paper, 9 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Painting #4 in my day 7 of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.

When I looked at the finish my first thought was "this is about honor." So I titled it "Honor" and see it as a logical sequence in a line of titles: Seek, Pause, Endure, and now Honor.  I always make an effort not to box a painting in with a title because I want the viewers to be free to create their own story from what they see.  In that sense visual art is collaborative.

As I look at the painting now I see that I pulled the composition out of my theatre bag.  I really didn't think about it at all when I was in the midst of the creative process.  But, I spent decades directing plays and exploring story-telling by moving people from one place to another in a big empty space, and so I shouldn't be surprised to see that experience informing me now.  They say, "Paint what you know" and I say, "If you paint intuitively, you have no choice but to paint what you know.  You cannot do otherwise.  In fact, you may discover what you know by simply painting from the heart."

I've said previously that I believe in "not knowing" and perhaps that is why I view my paintings as vehicles for informing me about the stories that really matter to me and would remain untold were I not to paint.

I sometimes will look at a painting long after I'm done and I say, "Oh, so that's what matters to me!"

Do you find yourself creating meaning when you look at the figures in this painting?  What is going on in the scene?  I'd love to hear your stories.

Endurance: It Is About Time

"Endurance" by Jim Carpenter, Acrylic on Paper, 7 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Time past and time future


What might have been and what has been


Point to one end, which is always present. - TS Elliot, Burnt Norton

"Endurance" is my painting #3 in Leslie Saeta's 30-30 Challenge.  Once again the painting and the title seem to be related in someway to the experience of the challenge itself.  I didn't plan it this way, but as I wrote earlier, planning the outcome of putting paint on paper is not a big part of my process.  I titled the painting "Endurance" because the figures appear hardened, literally stone-like, and in the case of the figure on the right, encased or embedded in stone like a fossil.  One of the roots of the word comes from Old French word endurer which means "to continue in existence"  and from the Latin durare which means "to harden."

My first thoughts as I looked at the finished painting were that it is about time and the ways in which we travel through it, leaving remnants of ourselves behind and thereby always being present.  We pause. We observe.  We endure.

The 30 day challenge is already teaching me lessons.  My usual format is a full sheet - 22" x 30" - of water color paper.   I was not expecting that creating small works could nearly as satisfying as it is right now.  The creative spirit continues to teach no matter what the size of the canvas.

Pause to Paint: Paint to Pause

"Pause" by Jim Carpenter, Acrylic on Crescent Illustration Board, 9 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Is it a certain madness that drives 417 artists to agree to making 30 paintings in 30 days and to blog about them?  Is this just another opportunity to race with the clock?   

I recognized that hopping onto a challenge that seems to hold a promise of working, working, working, might be a bit crazy for me to attempt right now, given all that I have on my schedule.  But, underlying this rush of productivity is the current of creation, of self- expression, of dis-covery of self and of what is around us.  It's essentially an opportunity to "pause."  

It may seem at first glance a bit ironic that the painting that came along on day 2 for me in a 30 day challenge of productivity is one that reflects the importance of taking time to pause, but I find it surprisingly appropriate.  To take pause in the journey, to be curious, to read the text and interpret the symbols that surround us, to wonder at the mystery and to become fully engaged with it -- all of that is what making art is about.  

Here is the "start" that  led me to pause. Can you see the figure pausing in there, waiting for me to dis-cover it?  

Start Seeking: Find a Start, Dis-Cover Art

"Seek" by Jim Carpenter, Acyrlic on Crescent Illustration Board, 9 1/2 " x 6 1/2"

Seek and ye shall find!  It would seem that all of my time in the studio and in the creative process is pretty much "seeking" in order to find or to dis-cover.  First I have find an appropriate "start." Somedays I only create "starts" that will be put aside for future use.   But a start, which is a great warm up activity because you get to play as much as you want with the paint, is just a start and it can remain a start for a few days or a few weeks or months or even years.  For my first painting of the challenge I selected one of several starts on crescent illustration board.  Better now than never.

The Start for "Seek"

I'm into "not knowing," so, there is no such thing as a detailed concept when I begin. I create some chaos on the paper and then seek out the painting.  I do have some trusted guides to help me though the journey.  For the most part, I work with the same pigments and generally stick to a limited palette using a red, a blue and a yellow, and several opaque whites.  I also have a favorite violet that I use occasionally and some metallics.

But it really is this process of just put paint down, making marks, stirring things up and then looking for the images to emerge from the chaos that challenges and juices me.  I am always amazed at where the paint leads me and know that if I had tried to imagine the painting before hand that I would never have imagined what I end up with.

The quest for knowledge, for guidance, for wisdom, for any worthwhile goal is as old - and as new - as mankind.  We are all about seeking.  And now I wonder if this painting - which I've titled "Seek" emerged for the express purpose of reminding me that we are all seeking something, looking for the clues, looking for the blessings, asking for guidance to help us un-cover something regarding the mystery that surrounds us.

The Challenge of Finishing What One Starts

My studio is full of "starts" -  the beginnings of paintings left unfinished. What can bring me back to them?  

Leslie Saeta has invited artists to join her in a 30 day challenge for the month of September - a painting a day posted on one's blog.  Having just finished the Whole 30 recently I've learned that one really can make a change in one's habits in 30 days.  So, I am going to accept Leslie's challenge to do 30 paintings in 30 days, and to post them on my blog.  That means I also have to write on my blog for 30 days.   Hmmm.  I’m already three days late on this, but we are assured that if we fall behind we can just catch up. 

I have not spilled many beans about my creative process, but let’s just say that the painting I begin is not often the one that ends up being in the frame.   I do a lot of covering and uncovering before I find the painting.  Sometimes that means erasing as much of the original painting, either by trying to remove the paint from the paper or by covering the paper with new layers of paint. 

Since I’m gearing up for a show in October, I think that for me to take on a challenge such as this would be a crazy.  But I do have a lot of “unfinished” paintings, many of them 5” x 7” just waiting to be addressed. So, I’ve decided to accept the challenge of 30 paintings in 30 days by taking the many starts and near finishes I have in my studio and finishing them. One day at a time.   

I will on occasion post the starting point of the painting so you can get a sense of where I begin and where it all ends.   

More of my "starts" ...

Re-Turning Early Work On Loan

"Yellow Roses"
Watercolor - 15" x 11"

                                                              

A number of years ago I lent a painting to a friend who was just starting out in a new apartment.    As the years passed he lived with and loved the painting, but now he was moving to a new city and opening a new business, and establishing a truly minimalist lifestyle, and so he returned the painting to me.  I was happy to see it again – to see it with fresh eyes – and to remember what it was like to paint it.  “Yellow Roses” was the first of a series of five paintings of the same bouquet of yellow roses, capturing the various stages of the bouquet’s life.  I remember noticing that even as I painted the buds in this bouquet they were opening.   So by the time the painting was completed at the end of the session, neither the canvas nor the buds were as they had been hours earlier. But that is to be expected, isn’t it?  Buds open.  The paper gets paint on it.  And I was not attempting to capture a moment on paper; I was just trying to understand the beauty before me.

As I look at the painting now, with the hindsight of the paintings that followed, I am struck by the fact that they are just buds beginning to open.  Now I can see them as an apt metaphor for the creative process. 

An Invitation to Share Art-Love

by Jim Carpenter

Artist Nanci Hersh invited me to be a guest blogger in her “Artist as Collector Series.”  I like the idea of it – inviting another artist to write about another artist.  The gesture is generous, allowing for a rush of gratitude from everyone involved.   I chose to write about one of my favorite artists, Sandra J. Hadley, and one of my favorite paintings by her, seen below.  Here is the link to the blog post.  

Artist: Sandra J. Hadley

Title: It’s All About Me

Medium: Charcoal on Paper

Size: 20” x 16” matted and framed