by Susan Lobb Porter | Life |
Must Come Down…
Night before Halloween I was toolin’ along in the back yard chasing after one of the dogs. It was late. Dark. Almost midnight when Gravity stepped out from the shadows.
I said, “Hey, what’s up, Gravity.”
And he said, “Not you, babe.”
Then he had his way with me and I fell for him. Hard.
Right on my face. SPLAT with a side of KA-BOING as I bounced off my nose. On concrete. Of course it was concrete…with all the acres and acres of dirt and grass around here I had to land on the hard stuff.
Oh, the trauma. And the drama. Because there was blood. Lots of blood. And since no one told me not to, I cried. Because everything hurt and I thought I would soon be spitting out my teeth…which thankfully I did not.
But it was quite the OMG factor none the less.
The next day I went to work looking like this. People I work with said, “What happened?”
‘Bikers and bar fights,” I told them. “Pirates.”
They rolled their eyes, said I was a dork (affectionately so) and told me to go home. So I did. But first I went to the co-op for people food. And the feed store for pony food. And this is when I discovered something VERY interesting.
No one made eye contact. No one said a word except for strained chit-chat as they went out of their way not to look at my face. Even people I knew well enough to know by name. But not well enough for them to know my husband didn’t beat me or I’m not dying from some flesh eating bacteria.
The fact that I looked different made them uncomfortable.
Which made me uncomfortable.
Think about that. And remember it next time you have one of those awkward moments with a stranger, someone who looks a little…different.
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 | Life, Porterosa |
Last night, while I was sleeping, something special happened.
I woke up, looked out the window and said, “Holy crap!” The sky was gray. And the leaves were tumbling down.
Mother Nature snapped her fingers and Just. Like. That… Said, Yo, listen up, it’s fall. Oatmeal weather. Flannel shirts. Apple pie.
The colors around our place are subtle.
And just starting to turn.
I’m loving the textures. And the colors.
Reds. More reds.
But not every leaf is flashy. I photographed quite a few on the ground. I think these are my favorite. Quiet. Subtle. The colors elegant. Inspiration for a painting, perhaps?
And then there’s the meadow, the grass brown since summer. And trampled where the deer bed down.
After the rains come this week, I’ll light a fire. I’ll hunker down in front of the wood stove in the evening. Maybe I’ll read. Or write. Or draw. Or maybe I’ll just stare into the flames and dream.
Someone once asked me what my favorite season was. My answer…the beginning of each of them. I love the change from heat to cool. From sun to rain. From rain to snow. From snow to spring. And all around the cycle again.
So in a month or so if I start whining about the dreary rain and lack of daylight just remind me the next season is right around the corner. And there’s ALWAYS something to look forward to.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Food, Studio |
Oh my sweetums, I am recovering, RECOVERING, from Open Studios…by killing myself with COOKIES.
But they are very GOOD cookies. Filled with things like butter, eggs and flour. Walnuts!!! And oatmeal! Raisins! Cranberries! And CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!
And I’m storing them for safe keeping in my tummy. Tomorrow they will meander over to my hiney where they will stay until I put on a Village People CD and dance them off.
Unless I exploded before that. BOOM!!! Because there’s only so much sugar and carbs a belly can hold until they take on qualities similar to that of military grade weapons. And if the rumblings are any indication, I’m reaching critical mass right now.
If I survive the night, if the house doesn’t fall down around our ears while we sleep, I. Will. Repent.
But that’s tomorrow. Let me tell you about Open Studios. Which was today and last weekend.
Well, it was my first OS in years and years and YEARS. And it was a pretty good one. Sold a couple of big ticket paintings as well as some little stuff.
'Dunes' by Susan Lobb Porter
'Summer' by Susan Lobb Porter
Crappy photo alert for ‘Summer’. Sorry about that, the good photo is in the other computer and I’m too bloated with cookies to properly fetch it for you.
Back to OS…I raised some money for the local animal shelter with some prints. Met some nice people, got a couple pages of names for my list. In between customers I experimented with my new printer. Found the perfect paper to reproduce my encaustic paintings. Perfection. Absolute Perfection. I would tell you except the notes are out in the studio and I’m not running out there right now. You’ll have to trust me on this. The encaustic is reproduced so well you’ll want to EAT them. I’ll be posting more info on those prints on my FB page. If you haven’t like my FaceBook page yet, oh my goodness, do it RIGHT NOW so you won’t miss out on all the excitement.
Oh, speaking of my FaceBook page, October 15 is the date for the ‘Red Door Challenge’. A couple weeks ago I posted a photo for anyone and everyone to use as inspiration for a painting. If you’ve done anything be sure to post it on my FB page wall (link up above). I’ll be posting my own creation as well. Be sure to share on your own wall, tag and all that stuff. I would love to get lots of people to take part in this.
And be sure to keep your eye out for the next challenge!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process |
Remember this? My first attempt at a concrete orb. The one that b.r.o.k.e.
Well, that was THEN.
This is NOW. A bowl of succulent goodness.
A learning curve, so I tried again.
THEN: Second attempt. Clean hands. Clean clothes. Great manicure, NOT.
More THEN.
Ahhhh, but NOW: My very own double orb planter. The first of what will be many. Someday…. Many thanks to Deborah Bridges for sharing her knowledge.
Remember these layers? Well that was then, maybe a week or two ago.
This is NOW. Is it finished? I dunno. But it’s different. Calmer.
And THEN, there’s Studio Grande. Two weeks ago.
NOW, like today. Holy crap, pinch me! Am I dreaming? Guess I’ll find out for sure tomorrow when I wake up.
But I’m pretty sure it’s real. Heart emoticons here. Lots of ’em.
