Today in the Studio
Just for fun.
Moons Over Hen House
Susan Lobb Porter
Oil on Canvas
Keeping Busy
I’m sitting on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table. Big exhale…I’m tired, a good tired. Been a good day, spent a lot of hours in the studio. I stocked up on canvases last year. They were on sale locally, 70% off if you bought a case. SEVENTY PERCENT. So I bought them by the case. All different sizes, from 3X4 feet to 5X7 inches. Big fat gallery wrapped canvases. CASES of ‘EM.
Ahhh…
And then I spent the summer and fall painting on wood. That’s just a little bit of it, up above. Plaster and wax (both hot and cold) need a solid substrate. Something that won’t flex and crack. So I built cradled panels, so many I can’t even tell you. I almost sorta forgot about all that canvas. The elephant in the room.
Not any more. The studio is chaos right now. So many works in progress. They’re all in acrylic. Not my favorite medium, not after the juicy lusciousness of oil or the richness of beeswax. And plaster is just plain old fun. But then acrylics mixed into glaze medium and layered and layered and layered and then turned into something magical…ah, I can handle that.
So I spent the day painting backgrounds. Just backgrounds. Random strokes, random colors. Filling the canvas. It’s fun, really. No ego involved, just me and the music. And with all the canvases I have, I could be doing this for the next month. Eventually the paintings will come to me. And when they do, I’ll be ready to go.
For a look at how a painting evolves, check out my recent post ‘Making Peace’.
Artistic Distractions
Today I’d like to share more art with you, pieces created at the same time as the two previous ones featured in Flying. These two are what would’ve been the dip in the diptych of those others had I not let nature take its course and…distract me.
The palettes are similar because I tend to mix too much paint, especially when using the cold wax. And since I can’t see wasting it…TaTa! A series is born!
And now, without further ado….
Free Flight, oil and cold wax. 12″x24″
This one is special for me. I look at it and see a soul breaking free from its earthly ties. I see Mama just drifting away. Floating.
Grounded. Oil, cold wax and plaster. 12″x24″
This is the opposite. Weighty. Solid. Like a rock, or the earth. The plaster underneath adds to the texture.
I really enjoy working this way. With brayers and squeegies and bare hands steeped in the buttery oils stiffened with wax. Pushing and pulling the paint along in layers upon layers. Scraping it back. Scribbling with pencil. With pigment sticks. Losing myself in the process until the muse whispers…it’s done.
Flying
Spent the morning with my nose buried in a book. An e-book to be exact. One I bought from Kelly Rae Roberts a while back and promptly stuck in the virtual I’ll get to this later pile, AKA downloads. It’s called Flying Lessons . I’m only on part 1 but I’m flying. Already.
It’s about goals and blogging and selling your creative work online. Imagine that... It’s about knowing your passion, facing your fears and going for it. And it’s written by a woman whose done ALL that and more.
And then it’s about the nitty gritty DETAILS. But I’m not there yet. I’m only on page 33 after spending half the day on it. Because it’s the sort of thing you have to think about. Ponder upon. I can tell you one thing…I’m very excited by what I’ve read so far.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile, I finally photographed a few more of the oil and cold wax pieces I made for the show in November. These aren’t the final photos but are good enough to post here.
Beneath the Surface. Oil and cold wax on cradled board. 2’x2′
Crop Circles, oil, cold wax and plaster on cradled board, 2’x2′
I can’t remember the name of this one. Calling it Crop Circles for now. Because it’s late and I’m tired. The right name will come.
More tomorrow.
Yesterday, Part 2
OK, got the photos from yesterday. Remember–said I was on fire. Said I nailed it in the studio. But I didn’t have my camera. You had to trust me because I wasn’t going to brave the wild beasties and things that go bump in the night just to snag a few photos.
So here they are, oils on cradled panels. Some cradles plastered. They’re the under-paintings for encaustics so technically they’re works-in-progress. Which is a fancy way of saying not done. I can’t wax them till they’re dry. Or almost dry. That gives me time to figure out what I want to do.
Then there were the little ones, three 6X6. They didn’t make the photo shoot. Probably napping.
Got this thing going on about doors…or are they windows? In my mind I’ve been calling them ‘portals’. Mama had a thing about red doors. We had one on our house when I was growing up.
This is something I worked on tonight. I think it’s 20X24. The plaster was heavily textured. Too much, felt like I was fighting a texture I didn’t want. Did a lot of scraping. My favorite tool tonight was a paint scraper that had to be 6 inches wide. Got it at the hardware store, one of my favorite places for art supplies.
Didn’t have much studio time today because life got in the way. I’ll have to look at it tomorrow and see what I think. Tomorrow…when I can spend ALL DAY in Studio Grande.