by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process |
Or…This is How I Do It
Holy creative FREEEEAK-OUT, Batman! A BLANK canvas!!! Oh noooooooooooooo!
I am blinded by the whiteness. Blinded. I need to scuff it up like a new pair of sneakers. But first…
MUSIC! I need MUSIC!!! Loud and rockin’. Something to take my mind off the ARTIC artistic purity before me. Because it’s too precious. Paralyzingly so.
Must. Be…heh heh heh (rub hands together here) … defiled.
With paint! Caran d’ache! Mindless SCRIBBLES!!! Rockin’ to da Boss, dancing the colors. Making marks.
Eventually I’ve got layers. And a bare wall because I get a little…rambunctious while painting. But I think I wrote about that before.
And more layers. This is where it sits for a few weeks because it’s NOT talking to me. Not telling me where it wants to go.
Until the day it says Tone. Me. Down. So I do, with more layers and collage. And then it starts talking. I see a tree in the upper left.
So I work it. Go with the tree theme.
And then I see a bear, lower left.
This is where it’s at now. Not quite finished but almost there. Definitely influenced by where I live. The river is just a few miles down the road, the forest wraps itself around our house. And bears? Chit, I’ve written about ’em.
By the way, this puppy is 40 x 40 inches, gallery wrapped canvas.
Now all I have to do is come up with a name. Any suggestions?
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
I’m stretched out on the sofa after a long day in the studio. Sophie is licking my feet. And I like it. Maybe too much.
Umm…is that TMI?
Sophie is a dog, by the way. Does that make it better? Or worse…
Open Studios Tour is the next two weekends. I’ve been so busy doing other stuff, getting ready stuff, that art, painting, has been on the back burner. But today was ART. ALL. DAY.
Oh my, it was heaven. Pure heaven. I believe Jesus said that very thing. In fact, I KNOW he did. Give a girl a painting, she hangs it on the wall. Teach a girl to paint and she feeds her creative soul, if not her body, for EV-AH. He said that, really. Or he would’ve if he wasn’t so busy doing miracles and pissing off the Pharisees.
But back to MY day, here now in the 21st century. In a word or three it was LALALALALA!!! Wonderful!!! Happy happy time in Studio Grande. First, there was MUSIC. Hours and hours of uninterrupted rockin’ out with the iTunes library. Springsteen! Umm…and other guys!!! And Springsteen!!! LOUD.
The new! improved! Studio Grande has GREAT acoustics. Oh my, yes! Concrete and high ceilings, doesn’t get any better than that.
I started out with this. 40×40 inches of pure possibilities.
And ended up with this. 40×40 inches of work in progress. Layers. More possibilities.
But what else did I do? Oh, thank you for asking. Because I work on multiple canvasses at the same time. A combination of making good use of paint drying time and a short attention span.
This canvas has been hanging out for years. Literally, years. I made a trip upstairs this afternoon, the land where I rarely venture because it was and still is inhabited by offspring. Went upstairs and discovered this hiding out behind a dresser in the hall. Pretty good size, I think 36×40 inches.
I had to dust it off before painting. Imagine that. And notice the empty wall to the left? Not in the top photo now, is it? That’s because I get a little … enthusiastic while mark making. Paint flies EVERYWHERE. I decided it was prudent to remove paintings from the direct line o’fire.
This one needed more paint and dribbles. Here’s where I left it. Don’t know where it’s going but I SEE PEOPLE.
My daughter says me and no one else. She says seeing things like that is creepy.
She’s moving out soon.
And remember the journal page I flashed everywhere? Well, I decided to do it bigger on canvas. Played with it today. Still not done but almost.
So that’s why I’m sitting here letting the dog lick my feet. Those poor tootsies were dancing around on concrete all day. They worked hard and they’re tired. Good tired. Now I’m going to make some popcorn and call it dinner. I think that’s perfectly acceptable, don’t you?
Remember, if you’re remotely local, i.e., the western hemisphere, north of the equator, I hope to see you during Open Studios.
Love to hear from you in the comments below. If you’re a blogger and check the Comment Luv box, the magic CL Fairy will run and fetch the link to your latest post. How cool is that?
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Studio |
Coyotes are back. They summered elsewhere with the kids. Not that they sent a postcard or anything. Hello Porters. We’re dining on tastier bunnies down the hill. See ya in September. Love Wiley E. and Fam.
No. One day there were here and then one day they weren’t. Sure was easier to sleep. But now they’re back hunting in the woods and fields around the house. Waking us up in the middle of the night. Not a gentle dreams interruptus, more like the soundtrack from a horror movie. I wrote a post about them last year, complete with a few photos. You can see them here.
When I finally did get up, I had a leisurely breakfast, alienated a number of people on FaceBook (there’s an election coming up, remember) and then headed out to the studio where I cranked up the music.
And painted.
And collaged.
And scribbled.
'Sophie' by Susan Lobb-Porter
And ended up with this.
And these. Although they were all (and some still are) works-in-progress.
And at the end of the day… a tired girl. Happy girl. It was a good day and I can’t complain about that!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Studio |
I don’t need to buy Exacto blades ever again. Or India ink. Or any kind of eraser. Ever ever NEVER again.
It’s one of the benefits of moving the studio. Drawers that hadn’t been opened in years proved to be treasure troves. Like Captain Jack Sparrow or his arty cousin hid their booty in my drawers. Which somehow sounds wrong…but at the same time, sooooo right.
Which reminds me, I need to invite Johnny Depp to the new! improved! Studio Grande. He would be impressed with my new drawers. I’m sure. They’re organized. His doubloons would feel right at home.
So, now that things are getting unpacked and put away…or thrown away…or given away, it’s beginning to feel normal. Like a real studio. It doesn’t echo any more. It’s…substantial. Because of all my stuff. The walls are covered with art, the windows allow the breeze to flow through.
I’m LOVIN’ it!!!
In a few days I’ll drag up Mama’s wonderful red leather chair for the comfy corner. Because every studio needs a place to sit and exhale. And Mama would like that, like that her final gift to me was a place for art to happen.
And now, speaking about art….
Oh my sweetums, I have discovered my NEW favorite arty tools. The BFF of arty tools! I MUST share them with you. Look! (arrow pointing down)
Markers? Oh, but these are NOT ordinary markers. Oh no indeed! These are acrylic markers! ACRYLIC. Jump up and down time for sure. Go ahead. Do it. Because look at how much fun they are. Check out the arty journal pages I’ve been flashing all over FaceBook this week. Acrylic paint. Acrylic markers.
The journal is inspired by the daily prompts from Michele Morton Bergh’s e-class Prosperity Blooms. If you want to see more pages from the journal, check out SLPorter Mixed Media on FaceBook. I’m posting journal entries there every couple of days.
And if you haven’t checked out my new blog, Big Bold Beautiful YES!!! oh my absolute GOODNESS…where have you been??? Check it out here. Right now. And then come back and tell me how much you love it. And tell all your friends. Because I’m not desperate for attention or anything, I just like to have my, umm…ego stroked.
And if you’re a pirate, that makes it even better!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Arty Inspiration, Everyday Ordinary, Photography |
When I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10, Mama came home one day and said she’d run into her friend Marion at the grocery store. Or some other mom hangout. She knew Marion from Girl Scouts. They were both leaders. Cookie chairmen. Badge honkers. District council mucky-mucks.
A chance meeting where Marion mentioned she was an artist and was teaching classes out of her home. A chance meeting that turned into years of Saturday mornings in Marion’s magical rambling arty house.
Saturday morning lessons with sister Marjorie Ellen. Because in the beginning it was really about her. She was the blazing art star, I was the tag along little sister. But those Saturday mornings with the Dunkin Donuts and the comaradarie, the kneaded erasers and the charcoal smudged fingers…those Saturday mornings set me on my life path.
Because Marion taught me how to SEE.
How to narrow my focus down to a piece of the whole, And expand my world in the doing. How to find elements of design and beauty in what others would pass off as mundane. The quality of a line. Or light. The indefinable something that sets one square inch off against another.
It’s a lesson I’ve taken with me. A lesson I’ve done my best to impart to my own students over the years. Look. Look look LOOK around you.
SQUINT!
I keep a camera with me most all the time. You never know when you’re going to come across the perfect crack in the sidewalk. Or a tree root.
Or an old rusty Ford truck. I could parcel this baby into at least three paintings.
And this stack of crates, funky old weathered things that once held fruit…this will be the inspiration for an oil and cold wax piece, I just know it. The finished painting won’t be a photo replica. It may not look anything like the photo at all. But there will be elements. Texture. Color. Something…
My absolute favorite from this particular day’s photos, another painting waiting to happen…screaming to happen when I put aside the acrylics and dive back into the oils…
The potential in this one takes my breath away. Where, WHERE could I have stumbled across such beauty???
In a restaurant parking lot, that’s where. A stucco wall surrounding the dumpster. A green SUV parked next to it, the light from the sun reflecting through the windows, tinting the wall.
Adding mystery. And richness.
The wall around a dumpster….
Because once upon a time Mama’s friend Marion taught a little girl to open her eyes and see.
