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 |
Oh my sweetums…something SO ECXITING is happening in Arty Life Land. Yes, EXCITING!
It’s called Comment Luv.
Allow me to explain. Those of you who already know about CL, well…go put on a cuppa tea or something. But do come back to look at the pictures. The rest of you gather round because I have something to tell you. Important something.
It’s about sharing your luvvv on Arty Life. And building community. You know that comment box down below, the one that encourages you to share your two cents? Some of you do, some don’t. And that’s okay. I love you all, even when you read ‘n run.
But now if you write a comment and click on the Comment Love box right under the little box you write your comment in, you do that and this AMAZING little plugin will dash over to your blog, retrieve the link from your latest post and invite readers to check it out.
Comment Luv will put in a plug for you right here on my blog!!! Should I repeat that? RIGHT HERE!!! Is that a community builder or what?
So be sure to leave a comment.
And now, YO! Tea drinkers– come back and check out what I made this weekend.
I began with a work in progress that had been languishing, languishing, on a shelf. This is acrylic, by the way.
Got all finger painty until I read the label on Golden’s liquid Bone Black. The label that said blah blah blah cancer. So I washed my hands and put on gloves.
And then I cut up paper. Threw on some more color and began writing with a regular graphite pencil. Just because I could.
More paint. More writing. More stuff. This is not the final version. But you have to wait to see that. I’m writing a guest post for Michele Bergh and the painting will be part of it. I’ll let you know when it happens.
And now I think I’m going to sit back and have a cuppa tea.
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 |
Oh my sweetums, I have been away. Not away away, like needing a ticket or a boarding pass, the kind of away that would require me to bring home souvenirs like little plastic Eiffel Towers or sea shells with ‘Florida’ painted in flowery script across the smooth side. With glitter pen. By someone in China.
No. No. No. Not that kind of away. Trust me, I would’ve sent you all postcards from Paris. Or Milan. Or sweet Jesus save my soul…MIAMI.
I have been away in my mind…engrossed in every day workaday life. Tired of week after week where the temperature hit 100 degrees every day. Maxed out on fruit popsicles. In short, I was in the summer away place…August.
I do NOT like August, even though it is the birthday month for three nephews and one dearly departed dog. Oh wait, the dog died in August. Which goes to prove my point about the month. It sucks. Except for the nephews, of course.
Even my laptop went belly up in August. Last week.
But butbutbut BUT THAT’S ENOUGH WHINING!!!
It’s ten degrees cooler. I have a new computer. AND I PAINTED TODAY!!!
YAY!! Handspring time, I’m BACK!!!
So I was in the studio today and I pulled out one of my layer canvases. Think it’s 24 X 30 inches. You’ll have to trust me, I didn’t measure it.
I took a look and decided I saw a face on the right. I decided to make a painting based on the image from the art journal I showed a couple weeks ago, the one up above. It was uber popular on FaceBook. So I made a few marks, blocked in the figures and let the party begin.
Oh, having so much fun! So GOOD to be painting again. I just had to document it. Look, here I am, paint brush in one hand, camera in the other. And yes, I’m a lefty. Like Leonardo.
Another detail. Added some text which may or may not get painted over as part of the back ground.
Here’s where I left it tonight. Lot of work to do still but I probably won’t get back to it before next week. Have a day job, y’know. And this upcoming weekend is all about concrete. Friday Mr. Spouse and friends will be pouring the walkway around the new studio, which means no access for me.
But I’m doing concrete too! No, no…not concrete…cement. But close enough sez she who knows NOTHING about either one. AKA moi. Friday night, Saturday and Sunday I’m going to be learning cement sculpture at a workshop by Deborah Bridges. You have to check out her site, her work is AMAZING. We’re going to be making ‘orbs’ in this workshop. YAY! I’m so excited about that! OMG, can’t wait to show you guys. I should have something to show you Monday.
