by Susan Lobb Porter | Life, Porterosa |
Last night, while I was sleeping, something special happened.
I woke up, looked out the window and said, “Holy crap!” The sky was gray. And the leaves were tumbling down.
Mother Nature snapped her fingers and Just. Like. That… Said, Yo, listen up, it’s fall. Oatmeal weather. Flannel shirts. Apple pie.
The colors around our place are subtle.
And just starting to turn.
I’m loving the textures. And the colors.
Reds. More reds.
But not every leaf is flashy. I photographed quite a few on the ground. I think these are my favorite. Quiet. Subtle. The colors elegant. Inspiration for a painting, perhaps?
And then there’s the meadow, the grass brown since summer. And trampled where the deer bed down.
After the rains come this week, I’ll light a fire. I’ll hunker down in front of the wood stove in the evening. Maybe I’ll read. Or write. Or draw. Or maybe I’ll just stare into the flames and dream.
Someone once asked me what my favorite season was. My answer…the beginning of each of them. I love the change from heat to cool. From sun to rain. From rain to snow. From snow to spring. And all around the cycle again.
So in a month or so if I start whining about the dreary rain and lack of daylight just remind me the next season is right around the corner. And there’s ALWAYS something to look forward to.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art
Santa came early today. Four boxes on the porch when I came home. FOUR. Like we hit the gift box lottery or something.
Two were for Mr. Spouse. Just who is sending my husband gifts? Not I. Certainly not I. I’m making the man beef jerkey. Enough jerkey to keep him chewing for quite some time. And the promise of a steady supply of tough ‘n tasty dead cow for a whole year. I’ll even make a fancy coupon so he knows it’s for real.
And I’m going to clean our closet. What man wouldn’t swoon over that??? I’m telling you, he’ll be thrilled–THRILLED–that he will finally be able to walk into the walk-in. I’ll make a coupon for that, too. Which will buy me some time for actually doing the deed. Because really, if I had the time in the first place, the closet would never have reached the board-of-health-red-alert-stage.
I’m big on coupons.
But back to the packages on the porch. We’ve established now that two were for Mr. Spouse.
The third was for the horses. Ten pounds of pony supplements. Omega 3s for shiny coats and strong hooves. Works like magic. Maybe I should sprinkle some on my oatmeal.
The fourth package was for ME! YAY!!! I LOVE you Santa, especially when you stay up late on the computer ordering art supplies.
Like these. Pan Pastels. According to the manufacturer “These smooth, rich pastel colors are loaded with pure artists’ pigments and are made with a unique manufacturing process requiring minimal binder and fillers, resulting in rich, ultra soft and low dust formulation.” They’re professional quality, lightfast and all sorts of amazingly wonderful artsy stuff.
And they mix with everything. Can’t wait to fuse them into some wax. But I’ll have to wait. Don’t see any studio time before New Years. Just the way it is, kids coming and all. Trust me, when I’m building sofa forts with Missy B I won’t miss the studio at all.
Well, maybe just a little…
All these colors came in the four stacks in the box. This particular combination is the 20 Color Set Shades. Don’t you just love ’em?
Oh yeah…oh yeah.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Everyday Ordinary, Food, Photography
I likes me my veggies. Like ’em a lot. So I spend a lot of time in the produce aisle checkin’ things out. The other day I wrote about the newest item in my holy crap! that’s amazing!!! dept. Broccoli Romanesco. Check Produce Art, Part 1 if you missed it. Because it’s cool. Really. Especially if you’re into patterns.
Today it’s all about color. About things so pretty you just want to eat them. It’s about finding beauty wherever you are–in this case, the produce dept. of the local co-op.
Winter squash. What’s your favorite way of cooking it? My friend Dieter makes a lot of butternut squash soup. I grew up with acorn squash baked with butter and brown sugar. Now that I’m all grown up I like it best with butter, a little salt and pepper. The Delicata Squash, the narrow one with yellow stripes, is easy to saute like zucchini. But it doesn’t taste like zucchini, it’s still the winter squash sweet.
Right next to the squash were the persimmons.
Fat luscious orange orbs. Then came the pears.
Gorgeous red pears that probably go by another name. Look at that pallet. I did some paintings recently using those colors. Love love love the orange and dark red combination. Not to mention the lime green zing. Oolala–another painting positively screaming to be made.
There were lots of pears. my favorite fruit for a still life. Or basic drawing lessons with charcoal. Form and volume. Light and shadow. Remind me of luscious fat bottomed women, the best kind to draw.
