Painting Like A Woman Possessed

by Susan Lobb Porter | Blogging, Process | 29 comments

Heads up, y’all. I’m giving away some art. But you’ve got to indulge me and read the post first.

Fair enough? Okay, then start reading.

Once upon a time I had this blog (yes, THIS blog) and I wrote a post every single day for something like a year. Every day. Whack me upside the head, I did little else. I wrote about art and the family and food and all sorts of crap good stuff.

And then life got in the way. Art. Web design (how many new looks has Arty Life had recently?)  Eventually I started slacking off. Three days a week. Then two. Then one. And then…(drumroll please) three weeks rolled by without ANY posts or any excuse. The site wasn’t down, the internet connection was up–I just was doing other stuff.

I was PAINTING. Like a madwoman, a woman possessed. Mornings before work. Evenings after work. Taking vacay days just to hang out in the studio and slap paint around. 

And then I painted over everything I did. More. Than. Once. I was ‘sperimentin’, going through a heckuva lot o’paint. It was all part of the learning process as I took a class with Pauline Agnew, SEE. FEEL. PAINT. Great class, great teacher and tons of challenging content. I’m not sure whether it was Pauline, the energy of the other students or the self imposed challenge to push myself but I became damn near manic.

A good creative shake-up, something every artist needs once in awhile.

I ended up with a few finished pieces, several works in progress, a whole bunch of ideas sketched out on the ipad and new life given to some old canvases. But most of all, I ended up with a passion for contemporary landscapes.

I’ll give you a sneak peek at one. Just one. The rest I’m going to dole out in future posts.

Autumn: Lake Harriet, acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches
2014 Susan Lobb Porter

This is taken from a photo I took last autumn at a little oasis in the Nevada desert. If you’re familiar with my work you’ll know that I’ve painted a lot of abstracts with a landscape feel. But I haven’t taken an actual for-real landscape and abstracted it. Much to my surprise I found out it’s entirely different.

And a whole lot harder. But I’m getting there.

And now about that arty giveaway I mentioned up above…it’s something I first read about here, via Michele Bergh’s blog. She found out about it from someone else who found out about it from someone else who found out about it from someone else. Get the picture? Here’s how it works, paraphrased from Michele (who got her info from Deborah Weber):

I promise to send a small work of art to the first five people who comment on this post and say, “YES, I want in”. You must in turn pay it forward to the first five people who comment on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, a facebook post will do. The rules are simple: it has to be your work, made by you, and the recipient must receive it before 2014 ends. It can be anything art based: a drawing/painting/photograph/knitted item or however else you express yourself creatively.

I’m going to add print to the list because maybe I’ll send a print. Or jewelry. Or something.

This will be fun! I can’t wait to send my little gifts out. Remember, if you want in you have to say so in the comments below. First five who say, “Me! Me! Pick Meeeeeeee! Pretty please!!!” will get a little something from moi.

And in case you haven’t told yourself this today—