by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Life |
Funny thing happened tonight. Not funny as in haha. Funny as in whack upside the head PAY ATTENTION. Universe does that sometimes.
And when I don’t listen, she does it again. And again and again until FINALLY the message sinks in.
Today’s message was (and you need to say this in your best Forest Gump voice because the Universe thinks it’s amusing), today’s message was your butt’s stuck, Susan.
Seriously, that’s what the Universe said. Because ever since I fell in that pothole a couple months back…fell on my butt, my tush has been getting tighter and tighter. But not in a good way. Not in a she’s-got-a-nice-tight-butt kind of way. Which I would like, really. No, it’s been getting painfully tight, like a certain celebrity’s face. Who I won’t name because that would be mean and would rain bad hiney karma down upon me.
I didn’t know how tight things were until I did an hour of yoga. Yin Yoga. Passive, restorative melt into the posture and hold it forever or until you die from boredom and/or pain yoga.
An hour where I discovered I really AM the age it says on my driver’s license. But not the weight. Or even the height.
Damn…
Yoga that used to come easy did not. But I did what I could, using props and patience and now I feel so much better. Like I’d been hit by a truck and survived. I want to do nothing more than crawl into bed, my new best friend.
But first I have to tell you about the second whack upside the head. That’s right, two in one day. TWO. And I saved the best for last because really, the first was TMI, but this…this is sooooooo cool. This time FaceBook channeled the Universe. FaceBook, without ANY prompting from me, took my timeline photo (which is loaded nowhere else) and put it out for the world to see. Just like that. Without any prompting from me. It’s a photo of one of my paintings from the last show. And in just a few hours tonight it got more likes and comments (and a share!) than anything I’ve ever posted.
And I didn’t even post it. Not officially anyway. I just wanted something that wouldn’t clash with my profile picture.
I get the hint, Universe. I FINALLY get it. There’s more than one way to stretch.
Time for some self promotion yoga.
The pieces from the last show have to be photographed. Real photos. And I have to upload them to my website. With prices and a shopping cart. Matter of fact, I have to put prices on the pieces that are already up. And I have to tell the world.
Because it’s time to come unstuck.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Photography |
What’s a girl do when it’s cold and rainy and she doesn’t want to go down to the studio and work? But she still wants to make some cool art. WHAT DOES SHE DO???
I don’t know what SHE does but as for moi, the answer was to pull out the iPhone and visit the app store. It’s like the dollar store only better because some stuff is free. Quite a lot of it, actually. And the rest of it’s pretty cheap.
And it’s a gold mine for all sorts of art and photo apps. Like Grungetastic by Jixi Pix Software. Grungetastic isn’t for when you want a pretty photo. It’s for when you want an interesting one. It’s for when you want scratches and textures and layers and you want them NOW, not after hours in Photoshop.
The basic app comes with three styles of grunge: Classic, Bleached and Pop. Each one can be manipulated to your heart’s content. Additional styles can be purchased through the app: Worn Pop, Worn Grunge, Gritty Grunge and Distressed. You can see samples of the last four on their website.
And it costs a whopping 99 cents. Gasp! Gonna break the bank…
As a mixed media artist I’m ALWAYS on the lookout for altered photos. Now I can make my own easily. Here are some samples I did tonight using the three that come with the app. I’m using the same photo in each so you can compare the different effects. I didn’t label which style is which. Sorry. And as for manipulation, I simply hit the ‘random’ button and let the app do the work.
I could’ve manipulated sliders but I was being lazy.
There’s not much distortion on this one, some, but not a lot. I figured you should have some idea of what the basic image was.
Little more in this one.
This was using the Pop style. Pop always has a posterized effect.
Classic Grunge?
You can manipulate borders too.
This is just a small sample of some of the effects you can get. A small sample. Oh man, I’m going to have a lot of fun with this… think IMAGE TRANSFERS!!!
Oh yeah….
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Life |
Got a story to tell you. It’s about my new friend Alicia. We met online. On this very blog in fact. She read my post, Yellow Bird. It was a chance meeting of kindred spirits via the magic of the world wide web.
Alicia has a dream. Her ‘dreamiest dream’ is to open a non profit art center for kids with asperger’s syndrome and autism. Not just dreaming…she’s DOING. Because as the mother of a very special, very cool little kid who happens to be somewhere on the spectrum, she knows firsthand how art changes lives. Changes focus and attention.
She’s also an accomplished mixed media artist.
Right now the kids are working on her kitchen table. As soon as she finishes remodeling her garage into a studio they’ll meet there. And she can take more of them. You can read her blog for the details.
To help finance her dream Alicia opened an extra special etsy store, Mum and Finn where she creates paintings and all sorts of other cool stuff based on her son’s descriptions. There’s a monster doll there I’d give my right arm for. Her name is Eunice who traded her right arm for George’s intestines, she survived but he did not.
Something tells me young Finn did the naming.
Here’s the cool thing…one hundred percent of the profits from Mum and Finn go to finance the art center. One hundred percent.
Alicia’s got another project in the works, the Tallest Handmade Book in the World. Attention art peeps and anyone with an ounce of creativity…make a page or two or three and join the fun. The finished book will be auctioned off for a good cause. You can read all about it here.
Starting a non-profit isn’t easy. Let’s all spread the word and help Alicia’s dream come true. Let’s change some kids’ lives with art. Facebook Like, Tweet it on…share on whatever social network platforms you can.
Some very special kids will appreciate your help.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
I really intended to have some quality time in Studio Grande today. But first I had to get a massage. Because a girl’s got to be good to herself once in awhile, you know.
And then there was the barn that needed cleaning. And a truckload of hay to buy and unload.
And OMG, I haven’t exercised in days. So I had to do that too.
And check my email. Do you have any idea how crazy full my inbox was?
Next thing I knew it was time for the five o’clock news. Umm…where did the day go?
All was not lost. Studio Quat got her lovin’ and I put in some time (damn little) painting this evening. Wasn’t in the mood to finish the one I showed you in yesterday’s post. I ended up working on one of the smaller ones instead.
And I didn’t finish that one either. But I’ve got some photos to show the progress.
This is early in the process. Just getting some color down. Some marks.
More layers of stuff. Paint. Water crayon. Just having fun.
More! More! More!
Now it’s beginning to get interesting. Stencils and stamps are involved for texture.
More layers and more layers. Glazing made the water crayon run and mute the colors. Eventually I encouraged a feather. And that’s where I left it last night.
Tonight I wanted the feather to pop. But I wasn’t happy with the colors of either the feather and the background. So stamped into the paint to make things more interesting. Then I glazed over the background to pull it all together.
This is still most definitely a work in progress but it will be a few days before I can do the studio thing again. Day job, you know. I’m planning on finishing all three over the weekend.
You can hold me to it. In fact I hope you do.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
Studio time today. YAY!!! Got to paint. Got to make ART!!!
Pause here for backflips. Handsprings. For jumping up and down and waving arms wildly.
I MADE ART TODAY! In between lumber yard runs for the new studio. In between other stuff that had to be done. I found the time. Squeezed it in. And it was lovely….
And it was different. Today I used acrylics, just because… I’m not sure what the ‘because’ was other than I wanted to play with layers and the drying time is faster than oils. And I can always add oils to acrylics later on, but not the other way around.
I worked on three pieces today. Two 10×10 clean, ripe, ready for my attention virgin canvases. The third one was 12×24 and been around the block with some charcoal. That’s the one I’m going to show you today. It’s the closest to being done of the three. Not finished yet, maybe tomorrow, but I want to show you the process.
Because it was so much fun. So liberating. Not a doodle but similar in the layers and layers of surface treatment. And relying on the random happenings of the surface to trigger the final design.
Now I’m going to let the pictures do the talking.
First I had to say goodbye to to da pony. I grabbed some acrylics and squeezed directly onto the canvas. I wasn’t concerned about color this early in the game. I just wanted coverage.
Which I got.
Many layers. More colors. Textures with stencils. I used the brayer, my fingers, water crayons. The trick here is to wait between layers for things to dry, otherwise you get mud. I still didn’t have a clue where this was heading.
I added more paint. Sprayed with water. Let it drip. This wasn’t the first spray of the day. When this dried I saw some images. So I painted around them. It’s still not finished but this is where it’s at now.
And no, those are not blue afros. Or maybe they are. Come back tomorrow and maybe we’ll both know.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Life |
The first time I walked through the doors of the Neighborhood Center of the Arts I was blown away. Totally blown away. Over the years I’ve watched other visitors have the same reaction. Because the art created there is raw. Authentic on a level you won’t find in an art school.
It is amazing.
I started working there shortly after that first visit. I teach mixed media three days each week. Been there nearly fifteen years.
I’m not there because of the money, trust me. This is a nonprofit that serves developmentally disabled adults, people who were either born with their genetic wires crossed or who suffered a life altering injury before their eighteenth birthday.
I’m there for them. Because I’ve learned to see beyond their disabilities. I’ve learned to see their abilities. I’ve learned to see them as people, like you and me.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t see them that way. The state of California sees the most vulnerable among us as the most expendable. Our budget has been slashed over and over throughout the years.
We make due without raises. We scrounge for supplies. We’ve learned to make art out of damn near anything.
But there’s one client I haven’t been able to reach. I cannot tell you her name or show you her photograph due to confidentiality restrictions. But I do want to tell you about her as best I can without stepping over the privacy line.
She’s a young woman. Autistic. She spends her time in my class on the floor, half under a table. I put paper, paint and markers next to her on the floor. Somedays she’ll write on the paper, copying words from whatever reading material is handy. Some days she’ll paint. But none of this activity lasts longer than ten minutes. And that’s on a good day.
If I’m lucky. Some days she won’t do anything.
One day, in desperation, I pulled out my iPhone. I have it loaded with art apps because, well, why not? I’m an artist. I handed it to her and she immediately began exploring the apps. I was amazed at her intuitive grasp of the programs, some of which I haven’t even figured out yet.
The iPhone kept her busy for over an hour, until it was time to go. I was amazed. Totally. These are a couple of designs she made with an app called Type Drawing. She had to type the text, pick the colors and draw.
A few weeks later I brought in my iPad. Same reaction. It was as if someone had flipped on a switch. She lit up and immediately began exploring the possibilities. She wasn’t the woman hiding out from the world, she was a young woman interacting with something outside of herself.
It was an amazing transformation, one I’d dearly love to see continue. Because something like this can change a life.
But an iPad is completely out of our budget. I know, I’ve put in the request, spoken with the powers that be. So now I’m putting the seeds out into the universe. If any of you have a connection to Apple, or belong to a service organization looking for a project or want a tax write off or just have an iPad lying around that you’re not using…well, feel free to contact my boss, Amee M. ncadirector@nccn.net (530) 272-7287.
Because you never know where you’re going to find an angel.
