by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Choices, Digital Art, Life |
But habits aren’t just for nuns.
Some reflections: 30 Paintings 30 Days
I did it. I showed up every day for 30 days and let da muse have her way with me. Whether she wanted to or not. Whether I wanted to or not. I showed up and did the work.
And it paid off in more ways than I ever expected.
You need to understand something about me to fully appreciate what I’m about to say. I’m one of those oh-look-at-that-shiny-squirrel kind of people. In other words, I’m easily distracted.
Because I find everything so darn interesting.
But for the last thirty days I’ve been consumed by the f-word. Focus. What I thought was going to be a simple (HA!) daily painting challenge evolved into, well … let’s see:
- I created art every day. EVERY day. That’s what I expected to do.
- But I didn’t expect to know more about my iPad than I did 30 days ago. Well, I guess I did but I didn’t expect to learn so much. Which is a heckuva lot compared to the previous nothing. Ditto when it comes to digital art and procreate, things I thought were A. Only good for slick tacky images. And B. Only done by geeks.
- I painted figures. And the figures evolved and became stories. And the stories are still evolving…
- I blogged every day. EVERY day. Just like the arting.
- Of the thirty images, there are a good dozen that make up a strong body of work. At this time prints are available of all the Women in Red images through my Society 6 store. This will change soon as I go through and edit the images. Some may morph into cards and posters. The best will be held back for limited editions available through my website, which is still under reconstruction because I took a month off to paint. The point is, 30 days ago none of this existed. And now I’m mulling over marketing.
- Every image I created these past 30 days, whether I’m happy with the final result or not, is a potential painting of another sort. I’m eager to get back in the studio and start smooshing paint around. OMG, yes!
Am I done with Women in Red? No, probably not. I see them as an ongoing thing. But not daily, not right now. And not strictly digital.
And now my sweetums, let me tell you about the February challenge. TA-DA, yes, February!!! Because I just now decided that EVERY MONTH THIS YEAR will have a different challenge to kick start a new habit. My creative focus for February is another twofer. January was a twofer, right? Painting every day while learning digital. So every day in February I will devote 15 minutes to de-cluttering a specific area of my house or studio. De-cluttering as in putting things where they belong, even if that means garbage or the thrift store. I will let it go. All of it. And then I’ll photograph the area that’s been cleared. Arty photos of course, showing clear, reflective zenlike surfaces. Very arty because if I’m going to be cleaning I need some inspiration to keep me going.
And I’ll report it all here on the blog because I need to be held accountable. And you’ll want to see the pretty pictures.
What about you? Got a new habit you want to start? As long as it’s legal, somewhat moral and doesn’t involve mayhem you’re welcome to share it here. Looking forward to hearing all about it in the comments below.
xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Studio, Work in Progress |
Autumn is here. Blew in a day early, when summer was just on the way out. Came in with rain and wind, lightning and thunder. She who wears flip flops all summer now wears thick socks. Hoodies. Tonight I heard the coyotes yapping somewhere out in the forest beyond the back fence. It was early. Not early as in 2 AM. Early as in 7 PM … and it was almost dark.
So long daylight, see ya next summer….
But even more than the turning leaves, more than the mice moving back into the pantry, more than the extra blanket on the bed … the biggest sign of autumn for me is Open Studios.
To be more specific, the frenzy before Open Studios.
O. M. G. Breathe…
She who has more than enough paintings always feels she needs to make more more MORE. Like da Muse is on steroids. Somehow she is not called upon to clean the studio, not until the day before last minute.
But in the end it will all come together. Paintings will be finished (or not). Prints will be printed (or not). Matted (or not). The door trim I’ve been meaning to paint since last year will be painted (or not).
Did I ever tell you this is my FAVORITE time of year?
And now for a work-in-progress peek behind the process. I almost want you to close your eyes and don’t look at this first photo because it’s so b.a.d. but that would defeat the purpose of the rest of the post. So go ahead and look at it and know we all make mistakes.
This was a sucky painting. Oh, indeed it was. That’s because my head entered the picture. Said, hey do a river scene for the Open Studios. Ka-ching. Ka-ching. A nice abstract river thing that someone will B.U.Y. Because everyone loves our river.
So I did this thing of turbulent water and boulders. Cold wax and oils and it looked like shit not what I envisioned.
So the next day I went back and eviscerated the sucker. The top layer of oil and wax was still tacky, easy enough to remove. There was no moving the earlier layers but I liked the way they stained the plaster. This is on a plastered cradled board, BTW.
I scraped it down to the nubbins. All except an arbitrary triangle of gray that said Oh no! Not meeeeeeee!
When a painting talks, you MUST listen.
This bears repeating.
When a painting talks, you MUST listen.
And then, since I had NO IDEA where this was going, I began scribbling. Pardon moi, making marks.
Because marks are my creative breathing space. This is the point where the music and the physical movement of the mark making take over. I’m singing loudly, most likely off-key. I’m dancing around and frantically scratching into the painting with pencils, skewers, a scrub brush…whatever’s handy and GET DOWN with da muse.
Sunrise Over the Mountain
Susan Lobb Porter
This is where it stands now. Is it finished? Bets me, probably not. Am I happy? Oh my sweetums, I am indeed.
Blatant Plug #1: If you’re anywhere in northern California the first two weekends of October take a nice scenic drive to the gold country. Because really, what else are you doing when you could come and see me. There’ll be chocolate. And art. Lots of art, my own and that of 73 other artists all tucked away in our mountain studios. It’s free and if you didn’t already click on the link above you can download the map here.
I can only guarantee the chocolate at my studio.
Blatant Plug #2: This January I’ll be launching my first e-class. Holy crap, YES!!! I’m doing it! YAY!!! I’ll tell you more in future posts.
As always, I’d LOVE to hear from you in the comments below.
XOXO
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Studio |
These days Studio Grande (AKA Stu-day-OH! Gran-day) smells delicious! OMG, yes!!! Smells better than fresh baked bread. Better than cookies in the oven. Better than basil and garlic.
And trust me, NOTHING smells better than basil and garlic.
Except the magical olfactory top o’the tour scentsation of…oil paints! And lindseed oil! And fresh drying plaster!
Oh. My. Yesssssssssssssss!!!
Pause here while I compose myself. Big breath. Okay, better now.
Studio Grande smells so wonderful because I’ve been cooking…positively cooking lately when it comes to making art. Believe me, nothing lights a creative fire under my butt faster than an upcoming show. And Western Nevada County Open Studios is happening the first two weekends in October. If you’re anywhere in northern California and want to have a fun weekend come on by. You can get all the info and download the map here.
Right now my focus is on oils, juicy juicy oils. So rich and delicious I just want to roll in ’em like a dog in a dead thing. But don’t worry, I haven’t given into my inner canine in quite some time, not since I got spanked for biting the mailman.
He was delicious. And so was the spanking.
Sometime this week, after I wrap up the current works-in-progress, I’ll switch to acrylics and mixed media. Things with a short drying time. And I suppose I should clean the studio as well.
Here are a few of the things I finished this week, although you know what I say, nothing is truly finished until it walks out my door. These all happen to be landscapes. All oils.
Beach
Susan Lobb Porter
This puppy is oil and cold wax on plastered cradled board. It’s 24×24 inches. It’s one of the cradled boards I wrote about last week.
Late Summer
Susan Lobb Porter
Not sure of the size of this one. Think it’s 16×20 inches. It’s on a wood panel but not cradled. The texture comes from recycled painting underneath, something I got tired of before I even finished it years ago. Recycled paintings make the best, most interesting surfaces.
Sunset
Susan Lobb Porter
Another cradled board. Smallish, 11×14 … maybe. I should write these things down before I sit down and blog about ’em. Really, you’d think I’d know.
Spring Rain
Susan Lobb Porter
And yet another landscape. I have a few more of these in the works as well as another vessel series and some abstracts. Next week, you’ll see them next week.
As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. And if you like what you see, please share with your friends. I’ll eat chocolate cake if you do. Because I’m willing to go that far to show my appreciation for my best best BEST beloved readers.
xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Arty Inspiration, Work in Progress |
Oh my sweetums, I have a confession, indeed I do. Your favorite-best-beloved-kale-swigging artist, AKA Moi, has been dining on Reese’s for the better part of the day. But not because I WANTED to or gained ANY pleasure from doing so at all. No no no!!! I was taking one for the art team, you see. It’s all considered Open Studios prep, a quick source of protein nutrition, something to tide me over while painting–no, NOT JUST PAINTING, painting my hiney into the arty frenzy that comes before a show.
Which is a grand and glorious way to impress you with my creative productivity, as opposed to leaving you shaking your head and tsk tsking at the thought of paint smeared gobs of peanut butter and chocolate finding their way straight from my mouth to the aforementioned hiney. Because that’s the way these things work.
In the end it’s not sugar and fat, it’s body sculpture.
And Muse Magic. Because I’ve been on FIRE. Oh yes, FIRE all day. All week. Got so many works-in-progress going right now I can’t even guestimate the number. Lots. Not your average lots. We’re talkin’ the kind of lots that really means LOTS.
It’s so exciting!!!
I’m going to show you a couple of ’em right now. Remember last week’s post, Between the House and the Barn. I posted some photos I took that I considered to be inspiration for paintings.
Disclaimer: Inspiration DOES NOT DICTATE creativity, it merely kick starts it.
So don’t expect my paintings to look anything like the original photos. Just sayin’…
Original photos:
Works in progress derived from above photos:
Work in progress
SLPorter
This one is oil on top of other things. Acrylic. Collage. We’ll call it mixed media. Small. 8×8 inches. Maybe 10×10.
This one is oil and cold wax on top of collage and acrylic. I believe it’s 24×30 inches. They’re both on cradled panels.
Work in progress
oil and cold wax
SLPorter
Not the best photo in the world, color is a bit off. I’m thinking I might experiment with some shellac on this. Maybe. Get some nice honey drips going. That’s something from sister Marjorie Ellen’s bag o’tricks.
We’ll see….
Hey, thanks for dropping by. As always, let me know what you think in the comments below. And if you like what you see, please share with your friends. xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
Just for fun.
Moons Over Hen House
Susan Lobb Porter
Oil on Canvas
