Oh my sweetums…last week I showed off some landscapes I created on the iPad. I said I might use them as studies for, ahem, real paintings.
Mwa-ha-ha! Squealing like a guinea pig as the tears run down my cheeks.
What I neglected to tell you is I have, ummm…difficulty doing the same thing over and over. I get bored.
Let me explain with pictures. Okay, I decided to start with this one.
Garden: View from the Patio
Susan Lobb Porter 2014
The original studies were fun, I could do them all day. But doing them again in a different medium? Meh–I couldn’t get past the ugly teenage phase. The part every painting has to go through before it turns out okay. Kids too.
The ugly teenage phase
Well if this painting has been a kid, he’d be in jail. That’s all I can say. Or I’d be in jail for killing him. Because that’s kinda sorta what I did. My heart said screw this acrylic shit…BRING ON THE OILS AND COLD WAX!!!
Ta-da! Not done but so much better in my head for this. Except why the hell am I HOLDING it for the camera?
Note to self: Don’t do that again. And clean up your language. Quit saying shit and hell and screw. Or don’t. Damned if I care.
Back to the technical stuff. I mixed up way too much color–I always do that, so I decided to slap the leftovers on another painting I didn’t like. I don’t like wasting paint and it was a sucky piece anyway. I didn’t take a ‘before’ picture. Didn’t want to embarrass myself. Let’s just say they were Aspens in Autumn. And if I was eight years old and they’d been on paper my mother would’ve hung ’em on the fridge. Maybe. If she really loved me.
Here’s the ‘after’, still a work-in-progress. I rather like where it’s going, even if I don’t know where that is yet. The painting underneath adds so much depth and texture. Makes it much richer than if I started with a clean board. These are all cradled boards by the way.
I had another board to recycle and more paint. Turquoise. All that turquoise.
Another work in progress
Another landscape. Imagine that!
So that’s all I’ve got to show you for this week. Any thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments below. I’ll give you a puppy if you do. Or a pony.
As always–
Puppy, please. No room for a pony. 🙂
Love your process – especially the comment that arty stuff has a mind of its own. Yes, it does. I’ve noticed that also.
My favorite? The middle one with the bit of purple hanging there on the side. I keep thinking of Rothko.
And a question – what are cradled boards? I’m guessing they’re different than cradleboards, as in papooses. lol
Linda Watson recently posted..Old Friends Rediscovered
Puppy it is then, Linda. He’s waiting for you at the nearest shelter 🙂
A cradled board is a board has been nailed to a finished base so it has 4 deep sides and sticks out from the wall, in this case about 2 inches. It eliminates the need for framing. No papoose involved.
The middle one is my favorite too.
Me too – the middle one with the purple is my favorite. And I do so love how you share your process!
Happy to share, Marcie. Helps me sort through it myself 🙂
Susan recently posted..Landscapes in Progress
your process fascinates me, Susan;
you’re such an artist,
in the way I’ve always wanted to be.
You see and sort it out so well,
with so much skill and savvy.
I really admire that.
I’d love to follow you around like a puppy
for a day or two:)
maybe when I finish the next career I’m preparing for
…..between that one and the next:)
inspire me you do,
Jennifer
Jennifer Richardson recently posted..sipping gentle medicine…
Jennifer, you can come follow me around like a puppy any day! You can soak up my painting knowledge and I’ll soak up your way with words and we’ll both eat chocolate! 🙂
Susan recently posted..Landscapes in Progress
Well done! My favs are the last two….just loving the texture and colors. I started painting using oils….there is something oh so nice about all that squishy, juicy, play as long as like…. But I grew to love my acrylics and that is pretty much my medium of choice nowadays! Beautiful work!
Debbie Goode recently posted..Here….Kitty…..Kitty….
I’ve used acrylics since forever, Debbie, never liked the solvents and other stuff associated with oils. And then one day my sister (also an artist) told me I didn’t need solvents, I could cleanup with vegetable oil AND THEN THE WHOLE WORLD OPENED UP TO ME…
I loves me my oils 🙂
Seriously? You can clean up oils with vegetable oil? OMG.
This is the second time today I’ve run across a reference to oil paints not needing solvents – so weird. The other one was in a blog post where the writer talked about her love of walnut oil paints, saying that she only needed walnut oil to work with them. Who knew?!
Harmony Harrison recently posted..“I Love –> (You)”: A brand-new kitty painting-in-progress (or maybe it’s many paintings-in-progress)
I think the Universe is telling you to give oils a try, Harmony!
I can’t get past, “Screw this acrylic shit.” Ahem…but, I do love the oils and cold wax. I completely relate to “If I’d been 8 years old, and they would have been on paper, my mom would’ve hung them on the fridge.” Seems whenever I try to paint something like “other people would paint it” it looks like a 3rd grader did it. So, Susan, walk the proud path of cold wax and oils… I love the second to the last one. As for things we don’t like – how about a bond fire by the pond?
Michelle recently posted..Don’t Touch the Money!
Oh, I could’ve used stronger language, Michelle–I’m originally from New York and my son was a Marine 🙂
Speaking of vocabulary, did you know the origin of bonfire is bone fire? Maybe if marshmallows were around back in the day people wouldn’t have roasted their neighbors. Before I throw that kind of party down by the pond (damn, I don’t have a pond but I do have neighbors … ) before I do that I’m thinking of having a blowout studio clearance sale, old stuff that needs a new home.
Vegetable oil for clean up….I’ll have to give that a try. Can’t stand using solvents to clean up anything.
I love your process and love landscapes, they seem to be my medium. Could have something to do with me being a landscaper for years. My canvas, was for a long time, and still is I guess, creating a living portrait. I am however, learning more about Procreate which you turned me onto.
Love your work.!
Vegetable oil and Dawn dish soap are a great combo, Kelli. I stumbled on the Dawn after getting a huge blotch of bright orange paint on a favorite shirt (I hadn’t intended to paint, just walked into the studio one day…) I didn’t want to soak it in vegetable oil and deal with the grease. I remembered they use Dawn to degrease birds after oil spills so I gave it a try. It worked great, not a trace.
I’ve even used mayonaise in a pinch. Not only ere my brushes and hands clean, my hands we soft and smooth 🙂
So happy to hear you’re using Procreate!
Yes! Love the swearing and the painting and the fun I found here today. Well done you.
Your puppy comment reminds me of a great sign I saw yesterday in my cranberry shop. Well it’s not my cranberry shop but it’s where I buy my nonsulfate delicious cranberries. Anywho, she has a sign there that cracks me up. It’s along the lines of – “Obnoxious children will be given a puppy and several caffeinated drinks.” Have you seen it? Brilliant.
Kelly L McKenzie recently posted..The Importance of A Curious Mind
Ha! You are the only person I know who claims to have their own (but not own) cranberry shop. I loves me my nonsulfate delicious cranberries that I’m fortunate enough to buy locally in bulk. Eat those suckers nearly every day in something or other. Almond butter/cranberries/steel cut oats–YES! Cranberries tossed in a salad–YES! In cookies–YES!!!
But I digress. Should we be discussing art? Meh (I was going to say screw it (again) Cranberries and clever signs are where my head is now. I agree, that sign is brilliant. Throw ‘sugary’ in there somewhere and it would be even more perfect.
And then I would probably go to that store and be obnoxious and see if I could score another puppy 🙂 And cranberries too!
Oh wow. I live in cranberry country out here in Oregon. My neighborhood is surrounded by cranberry bogs. My friends wade out into the bogs and glean berries with their bare hands. Which is not typical. Anywho…
I love, love, love this, Susan. You’ve just shown me how much beauty can be created when we say, “Screw it,” and do something new. And these little tidbits about oil paints (and cranberries) are priceless.
Two questions:
1) What is cold wax?
2) Will you paint a puppy and/or a pony in lieu of actual gift?
Harmony Harrison recently posted..“I Love –> (You)”: A brand-new kitty painting-in-progress (or maybe it’s many paintings-in-progress)
YAY! If I’ve given you the incentive to say ‘screw it’ and leap off the cliff into the creative unknown, then this post has done its job, Harmony. I always encourage my students not to stop when they feel safe but to push on and see how far they can take a piece. The worst that can happen is they find out what ‘too far’ means but hey, they can always paint over it. More often than not they discover a whole ‘nother level of creativity that they didn’t know they were capable of.
Cold wax is a medium you can mix with oils. It’s basically encaustic medium with enough solvent to make a thick paste. If you have the right setup you can make your own on the cheap. Or you can buy the pricey stuff ready made through a good art store (not the corner hobby art mart).
I didn’t know cranberries existed outside of New England. Learn something new every day.
No paintings of puppies and ponies right now. Not to worry, the real deal is waiting for you down at the local shelter. 🙂