by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Mr. Spouse |
Little studio in the big woods is coming along.
Look at that. Mr. Spouse had a busy weekend. Got to love that man. Oh, I do…imagine that!
Got the windows in. Skylights in a week or two when the roof happens.
The start of the wiring. Now I have to figure out the lay of the under counter cabinets exactly and uber precise so Mr. Spouse knows just where to put the outlet boxes.
I alway love this view from the front door. Now that the gussets are up it looks even more like a little chapel. Because this is a sacred space you know. At least it is for me.
And that’s it for this week’s Construction Update.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art |
Well my sweetums, if you read yesterday’s poor excuse of a post you will recall I PROMISED you pictures today.
And you shall have them!
First are the eagerly awaited evidence of studio construction.
This is the back wall, the one opposite the door. The only plywood still to go up is the triangle above the windows. Is that the eves? Well, it was too high because it’s on a hill and Mr. Spouse decided next week will do.
And this is the front. With Bean sniffing around. Probably tinkled on something because he’s a dog and this is quasi-outdoor territory.
The wall of windows to the south. They will never be this clean again. Oh, that’s right, they’re not up yet. Ohhh…look at those boxes of skylights!
Okay, so now I’ll show you some paintings. Almost done. Not quite ready but close enough for show and tell.
I’m calling this one Family Tree. There will be more detail. More gold accents. It’s acrylic on canvas.
This one I’m calling River Rocks. Acrylic on canvas. Needs more layers. Stones need more work. Everything does. But I like to show works-in-progress because I think it’s cool to see where it’s been and what it becomes.
Reminder: If you are participating in Random Acts of Art Wednesday (RAAW) and don’t have a blog to link to, send me your photos TODAY and I’ll post them along with mine. If there are too many for the post I’ll make a gallery. There will be a place for links tomorrow. I hope to see LOTS of links and photos!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art
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’.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Life, Mr. Spouse |
Sunday night as I write this. You know what that means–CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS! YAY!!!
Mr. Spouse got all the plywood up on the roof this weekend. And the skylights cut.
I do not like seeing Mr. Spouse on the roof. It’s a long way down, you know. And I don’t like it when he gets cranky up there and gets further distracted swearing at inanimate objects. He swears loudly. But no matter how loud, no matter how choice his vocabulary, the objects can’t hear him. Which is a good thing. Because if they responded and began dancing around like things do in Disney movies, it would distract him even more.
Did I mention it’s a long way down….
When the plywood first went up, it was sad not seeing the trees through the roof.
But I can see them now. This is the north side.
This is the south. This is also the wall with lots of windows.
It’s raining now. Might snow tonight. Everything is buttoned up until next weekend.
To the left you can see one of two wood cribs (AKA Fuel Pavilions) Mr. Spouse built earlier. Notice the stone facing. Mr. Spouse is fond of rocks. That’s because we can trace his lineage back to Fred Flintstone. The two sides of the studio visible here will be rocked. But not until AFTER I’m in it and working.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Dogs, Life, Mr. Spouse |
There is only so much HGTV a body can stand before they willingly–willingly, I say–turn over the TV to the Super Bowl half of the family.
And I reached that point. I believe it was after the ‘is-there-really-any-chicken-in-here’ soup. The stuff that comes in the red and white cans. The stuff no adult eats and I never have in the house. The stuff I CRAVED after a night of violently purging from my system EVERYTHING that was not tied down by ligaments. I swear, even my EARS were puking. And when I came to, when I was remotely conscious, all I wanted was Campbell’s.
And a shock collar for the dogs. I wanted to send them flipping over backwards every time they barked. Which was every three minutes seconds. Because Mom was in bed and they had to guard her. From everything. And my little darlin’s have fierce imaginations when it comes to danger. Squirrels! BARK! BARK! Trees! BARK! BARK! BARK! Mr. Spouse checking to see if I’m still alive! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!!!
I sent Mr. Spouse on a mercy run. He came home with the soup. Two cans. WHAT was he thinking??? Really, I’ve got a LOT of empty inside me, more than two cans’ worth. And he ignored my suggestion for the dogs. Totally. Like he thought I was kidding or something.
Awww geeze…
But while my day was spent snoozing on the sofa, drifting in and out as people bought apartments in Sweden and Scotland and directing BAD thoughts at my best beloved puppies, Mr. Spouse was outside working on the new studio.
I need to come up with a name for this new studio, by the way. Or I can transfer Studio Grande. I’m open to suggestions.
Look at that. Got some plywood up. And it’s starting to look real. The little puddle on the concrete lower right? Sophie and Bean saying hello. They don’t realize this is almost an indoor place now. And they sure don’t know that this will be Studio Quat’s domain.
Now that will piss ’em off.
This is the hobbit door. Mr. Spouse REALLY wanted this. And since his labor is free, I agreed. But I’m going to paint it RED.
So that was the weekend around here. Me? Not so much. Mr. Spouse? Good Job!
