by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Beloved Beasties, Life, Porterosa |
I collect bird nests. Ones that have fallen to the ground and are of no use to their former tenants. I usually find them in the fall, after a storm with a lot of wind. Just lying there in the dirt or a pile of leaves, waiting for me to take it home.
Some have remnants of eggs. Pieces of shell.
One had the eggs themselves. This one was found in the spring. Poorly constructed. Barely held together. I watched it for a couple of days but no one came to claim it. I hope Mr. & Mrs. Bird built a new one and tried again.
Most of the nests around here are heavy on the horse hair.
A good swish of the tail too close to a tree…or even a good rub results in building material.
Long strands from manes and tails are woven with twigs and whatever else is handy.
Sometimes they’re made with the soft fuzzy stuff from spring shedding. Little bit of blue baling twine shredded and incorporated into the decor. Not very elegant but I’m sure it’s warm.
And then there’s my own creation. Copper wire. Polyclay eggs. Needs a TV and a fridge before I’ll be moving in.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Kids |
When my kids were little they were not allowed to use the ‘B’ word. I’m assuming you’re all grown ups and will not be terribly offended if I say it in print. If you have fair sensibilities consider this a warning–cover your eyes or skip down to the pictures.
The word in question…the gasp! cover your mouth WHAT DID YOU SAY!!!! word…was (and still is) B.O.R.E.D. As in, I’m bored. As in I’m SO bored. As in…well, you get the picture.
I would tell these brilliant little humans there was SO much in this world to do, see, think about. Adventures to make up. Things to build. Really, who had time to be bored? And they would go off and write stories. Or draw pictures. Or pound nails into a couple pieces of wood and call it a shelf.
They didn’t start with the eye rolls and the exasperated sighs until the hormones kicked in. But that’s another story.
And this is where you, dear readers, enter the picture. Let’s say you’re one of my students. Let’s say you’re desperate for inspiration. Your muse is misbehaving, filling your head with all sorts of nonsense, making you feel badly about all things art. You’re uninspired. Stuck. Quite frankly, you’re bored. You come to my class and tell me you can’t paint. And you’ll never ever be an artist because you don’t know what to paint.
And I will tell you that you are a brilliant human being. I will give you a hug. Maybe two. Then I will point to the sign that says No Whining, hand you a camera and send you outside.
With one rule. The big picture is overwhelming. Really. Your creative mind is spinning like a kid with a couple of Cokes under his belt in Toys R Us. Overstimulated. So my answer to that is tune out the distractions, tune out the BIG picture and F.O.C.U.S. Don’t go far. Don’t get distracted by the meadow. Or the horses. Stay on the walkway and focus on an area no larger than a foot square. Look for patterns in the concrete or the rocks.
Like this. See, that was easy now, wasn’t it? Oh, wait…are you saying that’s just a couple of rocks? Well yes, it is. Three, actually. And some moss. And not even a great composition. That’s because you’re looking at the BIG picture.
Look what a little cropping can do. Squint. Nice colors, eh? Compositions isn’t bad either. Imagine this with layers and layers of glazes. Imagine working the surface, scraping and painting and bringing forth all sorts of yummy texture.
Some rotation for a different look. The point is any one of these could stand on it’s on as a painting. They could also be used as background for other images. Put some blue on the upper half and call it a landscape.
Cropping another area of the original photo. Squint. See the arrow? Half an arrow. This could be a total graphic kind of painting. There are any number of possibilities. Hey, I did a post about this not long ago using the hair on my dog’s head. Really, there’s NO excuse.
So next time you’re stuck, take a deep breath and tell yourself what a BRILLIANT human being you are. In fact, do that a couple of times. Say it loudly until you believe it. Jump up and down a few times while you’re at it. Then open your eyes, look around and get painting.
By the way, you’re welcome to use any of these photos if they inspire you. And if they do, send me a picture. I’d love to share them on the blog.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
Yesterday I said there might be some new collages to show off today. Guess what–ain’t gonna happen. Umm-hmm, that’s right. I overestimated my super-human artistic capabilities when it comes to time. Tick-tock. The wheels on the clock went ’round and ’round while I was running my butt all over town.
Apologies to little children everywhere for mutilating their beloved song.
So where did I go that was more important than making stuff? How about here. The Artists’ Studios in the Foothills, AKA, As If Studios. Had never really been there before. Thought it was just a place where artists rent studio space. They do but it’s much more than that. There are classes, a gift shop, a gallery. I’d discovered their shows are not limited to resident artists and that the current one, the Small Works Holiday Show was taking new work. Because the stuff sells off the walls for Christmas and they’re constantly replenishing.
Well, turns out I had a bunch of small pieces (4X4) I made a couple years ago for the studio tour and the ones that didn’t sell were banished to the attic. Basically forgotten. I dunno why. If buyers only KNEW what was up there, they’d be banging on my door begging for a look see upstairs.
Trouble with these pieces is they don’t photograph well. Covered with gloss medium that looks great in person but sucks when it comes to reproduction. Rather than risk rejection with the photos I just stuck the pieces in a grocery bag and headed on over.
Pretty ballsy, eh? Just walking into a gallery with a sack of art and saying here I am. So unlike me. But the very nice owner/manager Amanda told me to leave the bag and she’d get back to me tomorrow. Then she saw what I had and said she’d take ten pieces for the show. Ten.
YAY!
So here’s a few of the chosen. Crappy Photo Alert.
The pieces are all based around the theme LIVE LOVE DREAM DANCE. The LIVE series consists of houses and symbols of self.
LOVE series speaks for itself.
DREAM series is full of pyramids, boats and other symbols.
And then there’s DANCE. I loves me my dancers!
So if you’re in the area come on by the AS IF Studios, 940 Idaho-Maryland Rd, Grass Valley. Lots of fun work by lots of good artists. Prices are good, just in time for Christmas!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
Sometimes a girl just gotta have STUFF. Art stuff. Yummy papers. Things to cut up. To rearrange. To make bee-you-ti-ful pretty things to hang on the wall. Preferably someone else’s wall. Someone who pays me big bucks for the privilege.
Because this is NOT a hobby.
So I got me some pretty papers. Then I rummaged around in the closet and came up with some canvases that I’d done one thing or another to at one time or another. Half finished paintings from another creative lifetime.
Acrylics. I haven’t worked in acrylics, straight acrylic on canvas, in quite some time. Oils are my passion now. And wax. Craft acrylics on plaster. But straight painting of acrylic on canvas? Been a long, long time. And the stuff I did then was so different than what I do now. Night and day different.
So I took those canvases and approached them as I do oil and wax. I decided to work the surface. Paint. Roll. Scrape. Paint. Scratch. Scribble. Over and over and over until I came up with surfaces I was pleased with. I wish I had taken some ‘before’ photos. Didn’t think of that until I was well into the ‘after stage’.
But here are the ‘afters’. Not the final afters. Because I started out with collage on the brain and these are for background. Here’s a few closeups.
I’m thinking these will morph into a collage series based on paintings I used to do of women and animals. But who knows what they’ll morph into. Tomorrow will tell. Check back in then and see what happens.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
First day back at work after two weeks vacation at the scenic Studio Grande. Hello world…back to teaching at the Neighborhood Center of the Arts, a day program for adults with developmental disabilities. I’ve been there forever, love what I do but still…coming back after vacation….
I decided to make it a productive play day. Had a whole bunch of brown craft paper sitting around the studio. I order most of my supplies online and they all come packed in this stuff. And who can throw away paper?
First thing we did was lay out the sheets on the tables.
Then we took crayons, plain old cheap crayons, and went to town SCRIBBLING. Lots of energy here. Had some salsa music on. Dancing, scribbling, nobody sat down.
Next thing we did was paint. I dribbled some acrylics in random patterns, gave the artists some rollers and let them have at it. But still, something was missing. Music at this point was North African Groove. Fun stuff.
Dots! And squiggles. Credence Clearwater Revival. Loud.
Then it’s time to hang ’em up to dry.
Hand painted wrapping paper for sale by the sheet. Just in time for the holiday show and sale opening next week.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Dogs |
Sunday night. I’m needing inspiration. When in doubt, pick up the camera. Aim it at something. Sophie was too busy but Benny, AKA Bean. AKA Precious Man Dog, was hanging out on the sofa. Been a long day for him, way too much football. He’s such a couch potato.
Just look at that face. At that ‘stache. Inspector Clouseau, no? Next thing I know he’ll be woofing with a French accent. But he is half poodle so I guess that’s to be expected.
And this is Benny’s ear, top of his head. Against the back drop of the sofa cushion. It’s a way comfy, squishy kind of sofa. I’m looking at this photo thinking there’s something arty about it. I was going to tell you to squint to imagine the painting. But I did one better. Went on photoshop and played with a couple of filters.
This is Photoshop cutout filter.
Drybrush filter. Monkeyed with the color too.
Paint daubs filter. Hard choosing the right level of squiggle on this one. Loved ’em all.
But this one is my favorite, the pallet knife filter. Played with the options to get this effect. Practically a painting, don’t you think?
