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Musings
‘Musing in the am begins before the hens begin to squawk. It is the best time for my mind to simmer thoughts and images. I like the essay form because it feels like a written sketch - an impression of something or someone, brief and concentrated.
My subjects are real - not invented, but like my art, they have been interpreted, enhanced or mitigated. My memory serves my current reality, and freedom of interpretation is my artist’s prerogative.
In 2025 and 2026, I have taken a break from writing as the call to paint is more powerful, but stay tuned, there are more essays to come’
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MORNING MUSINGS: August 16th, 2025
For those of you who were not able to visit Shelburne, NS this summer, here is a short video to give you a sense of my exhibition: I hope to resume painting and writing in October, back home in Arundel. A bientôt.
joannanashart
Aug 16, 20251 min read
MORNING MUSINGS: MARCH 28, 2025
It has been a while since I have written anything - I have been busy painting.I began the “Ice Stations” paintings in the summer of 2024 at the Cox warehouse in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and continued working over the winter in my studio in Arundel, Québec. My marks attest to the traces and remains of human and scientific excursions to the Arctic. The detritus embedded in the frozen surroundings represents a testament to departed human exploration and the nebulous effect of
joannanashart
Mar 28, 20251 min read
Morning musings: May, 2024
"M" He waited patiently in the hallway until the last student left, then quietly entered the studio. Speaking formally and slowly, he introduced himself as an experienced life model, newly arrived in Montreal and seeking work. He was a tall man with hair pulled back into a short ponytail, and his facial features were starkly linear and geometric. I hired him to pose for me, and noticed that he: - was punctual (one star); - appeared natural and at ease with his
joannanashart
May 1, 20244 min read
Morning musings: April, 2024
Morning Exercises: Informal Gomez Formal Gomez The Journal of Hairy Friends For Mr. Gomez, getting into the garden early in the morning...
joannanashart
Apr 6, 20243 min read
Morning musings: March, 2024
Tante Simone Each Christmas for years, Simone and I spoke over the phone and caught up on our friendship. ALLO jo -A- na, she would...
joannanashart
Mar 3, 20247 min read
Morning musings: february, 2024
Those special people: Kina Reusch Kina was born in British Guyana to a Quebequoise mother(Dede, a weaver)and an older Norwegian architect...
joannanashart
Jan 28, 20246 min read
Morning musings: January, 2024
Those special people: Michael and the Wagon-Nomads I lived in the Mile End district of Montreal from the 1970s to the 1990s and loved it....
joannanashart
Jan 8, 20245 min read
Morning musings: December, 2023
Part 2: The Exiles: Chinese Bill. We rented the Lake Bevan farmhouse for five summers and Mme S soon fell under the charm of C-B since...
joannanashart
Dec 10, 20236 min read
Morning Musings: November, 2023
photo credit(Kina Reusch): young nash painting at the lake...... Part 1: The Exiles: Mme Jadwiga Sosnkowska It was 1973 or 1974 and I...
joannanashart
Nov 18, 20235 min read
Morning musings: october, 2023
Those Special People: Vicki Healy (nee Holden), Shelburn, 2023. At 76, Vicky has a slim, wiry frame - evidence of an active, athletic...
joannanashart
Oct 25, 20234 min read
Morning Musings: September, 2023
Those Special People: Carl (Arundel 2001) I want you girls to see this property, it’ll come up for sale soon, a rough voice said, then,...
joannanashart
Sep 24, 20235 min read
Morning Musings: August, 2023
Jobs: Part 2 (chastity belt).....I thought it was a hat. (1967) Waxing poetic chez Mme Tousseau The World’s Fair was in Montreal, and...
joannanashart
Aug 17, 20235 min read
Morning Musings: July, 2023
The Jobs: Part 1 (1965) Strikebreaker At 16, I considered becoming a private detective or painter, but because I couldn’t find summer...
joannanashart
Jul 10, 20234 min read
MORNING MUSINGS, JUNE 2023
Adventures in the Beauce(1979): Part 2: lobster-boys, eau-de-porcine, an eye-full, and imbroglio in the Beauce Mid-February and I was...
joannanashart
Jun 2, 20237 min read
Morning musings, May, 2023
Adventures in the Beauce (1979) After 10 years of teaching art at the Visual Arts Center in Montreal, I decided to make a change in my...
joannanashart
May 24, 20236 min read
Morning musings: April, 2023
Images and Words: I have admired art critics who shared a deep understanding of the painter’s craft, and felt genuine sorrow when Robert...
joannanashart
Apr 6, 20232 min read
Morning musings: march.2023
I have been touched over the years by the kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness of a number of the models I worked with, and like to...
joannanashart
Mar 14, 20238 min read
Morning musings: Feb. 2023
I heard from a number of you that you enjoyed the essays about life models. So, I have included a few more. The solitude that many...
joannanashart
Feb 8, 20238 min read
Morning musings: Jan. 2023
What I chose to share today are some essays about a small group of special life models. Making and teaching art meant learning - who,...
joannanashart
Jan 2, 202310 min read
Time, whine, and shine....
(time to call the honeywagon....) Morning mutterings.... I postponed the subject of ‘time’ for 2-3 months, but now I am ready to write...
joannanashart
Nov 29, 20224 min read
mood, mindset and methods: what I bring into the studio....
This morning I gave myself a legitimate reason not to paint - at least that’s what I am telling myself. My paintings are about 75%...
joannanashart
Nov 5, 20224 min read
Morning musings: speaking the ‘unspeakable’(the non-verbal activity of painting)
"so what kind of painting do you do?" Homestead from the series “Landscape under Fire”, mixed media and oil, on Belgian linen. W = 110...
joannanashart
Oct 4, 20224 min read
Is it a 'smoosh' or a 'schmear'?
AFTERNOON AFTERTHOUGHTS: finding words to describe the non-verbal… As my 4 improvised paintings progress, my vague, general ideas are...
joannanashart
Sep 20, 20223 min read
morning musings......sept. 7/22
After a 3 month sojourn in Newfoundland (with tempting rough sketches for new works), I came home to address what I had left off. I am at...
joannanashart
Sep 7, 20222 min read
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