by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process, Work in Progress |
In the beginning…
She said, “Let there be marks.”
And lo, she made all manner of marks within the paint.
While the music shook the studio, she sang. And danced. And jumped up and down on concrete playing a mean air guitar.
The marks became layers. And the layers became more. And more.
And she became sore of shoulder. Developed a knot in her back. And her knees and hips screamed quit jumping up and down on concrete!
But she arted on, saying, “I’m taking one for the (art) team.”
(Actually she said “Holy Crap! I’ve got a show in a month. I can’t stop painting now!!!”)
The photo up above is supposed to be a square. Who edited this anyway? Oh…me. My bad. 
Until the painting spoke to her and said, “Wait, I may be done now…or maybe not. Go do something else for a while and let me think about this.”
And so she did. But I won’t confuse you by showing the start of the new painting. Not in this post.
Disclaimer: Despite the size differences between the photos, these are indeed the same canvas. It’s a big puppy, 48 x 48 inches. As of yet it has no name. For now we’ll call him Red Bob. He is the first cousin to Red Dreams, a much smaller oil and cold wax I did last year. There is a strong family resemblance.
As always, my sweetums, if you like this please pass it along to your friends. And be sure to take a minute and say hi in the comments below. I will bake you a chocolate cake if you do. And I will eat it for you too, because I am your friend…and that’s what friends do.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process, Work in Progress |
Been so busy lately my head is spinning. Round and round just like a ball bearing. It’s enough to make a girl dizzy. Been finishing moving out of the old studio into the new.
But Susan, didn’t you move into the new! improved! Studio Grande six months ago?
Well, yes, I did. In a half-assed sort of way. Just the necessary stuff, you know. But stuff I had no immediate use for or didn’t know what to do with, I left behind hoping it would magically go away on it’s own.
But it didn’t. And now it’s time to rent out the cottage (ka-ching! ka-ching!) so I’ve been sorting, cleaning, donating and moving things from one place to another. Now that the old studio is nearly clean enough to rent out, the new one is TOTAL chaos. Every counter, every inch of floor is covered with S.T.U.F.F.
By this afternoon I needed a sanity break. So I stopped moving and cleaning and started stepping around and over things, poking through things, finding things… cranked up the music and began PAINTING!!!
YAY!!!
Oh, YAY!!! again.
I started with the piece I showed you last time. You can see and read about it here.
Well, the first thing I did was slap some paint on that puppy. I wanted to warm it up so I grabbed some Golden Open Acrylic in Titan Buff. I glopped it on with a palette knife and then spread it thinner using all sorts of arty tools. Brayer. Squeegie. Foam brush.
I am an equal opportunity spreader.
I began adding one of the golds. Not sure which one this is, it’s a darker one, at least straight from the bottle. Lightens up when you spread it tho.
And I continued scribbling using caran d’ache and plain old pencil. Oh, pardon me, graphite.
This is where it stands tonight. More layers still to come but I’m happy where this is headed.
As always, I would love to hear from you in the comments below. I will even blow kisses to you from afar and leave you with a happy face.
Because it’s such a grownup thing to do.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process, Work in Progress |
I spent nearly two weeks cooped up in the left side of my brain. Two weeks of computer geekiness while redesigning this blog. By the time I finally hit that publish button I was in desperate straits. I needed to loosen up. Needed to BURN OFF some creative energy.
I needed studio time!!!
I had a canvas, a huge, ginormous, badass 48×48 inch canvas. And I’m telling you, that puppy had my name ALL OVER IT. It said take me babe, I’m yours.
And so I did, accompanied by da Boss blasting from the speakers. Oh Bruce…oh Bruce…say it again, “…strap your hands across my engines…”
YEEEEOWWWWWWW!
What. A. Ride.
Marks
Drawing into Wet Gesso
Squeezing
Scratching
I’m exhausted just remembering it. And excited too. It was SO. MUCH. FUN!!! For however many hours I was in there, I was out of my head. Totally. Never once did the ego pop in and say, ummm…what are you doing?
It was just me and da Muse.
WIP, First layer
It’s still very much a work in progress. A base layer for more layers. Many more layers. I’ll post progress photos as it moves along, becoming the painting it wants to be. Right now there really isn’t any paint in this at all. Just gesso, charcoal, caran d’ache, and pencil.
And passion. The passion of music and marks and a rockin’ good time.
As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Process |
Arty Life sez:
If life was a canvas you could just slap some gesso over the poopy parts and start over again.
But don’t go squirting your husband or kids with gesso. Puh-leeze. No matter how much they misbehave. Arty Life, AKA Moi, was speaking metaphorically. Although I did gesso FirstBorn once, quite by accident. Something involving an open jar, a sudden movement and a toddler with a face full of the stuff.
Fortunately the advice nurse at Kaiser was married to a painter and understood.
But I digress. Back to painting. I often gesso over what someone else might think is a perfectly good painting. But if I feel like it sucks then it’s buh-bye. I don’t care how much time I’ve put in to it. In fact the more time I put into a painting usually means the more I’ve over thought the process. Which means the more it sucks.
Because…..Over thinking is the death of creativity. You can quote me on that. In fact, please do. Just go ahead and quote me everywhere. I’d like to be famous some day. And I promise, I’ll remember you when I am.
But don’t quote the part about the kid and the gesso, okay? He’s bigger than me now and I’d like to think he’s forgotten all about that little incident.
Back to my love of gesso and painting. It plays into why I wasn’t here last week. I was BUSY. Had a show to hang. A show that turned out to be a little more than I’d signed up for. I thought all that was needed were the two pieces I juried in with.
These two. If you’re a regular reader of Arty Life you’ve seen them before. Here. And umm…somewhere else. Top: In the Beginning. Mixed Media, 16×20 inches. Bottom: Over the River. Mixed Media 40×40 inches.
Well, guess what…turns out I had a WHOLE wall to fill. But I didn’t find that out until Christmas night when I went through my SPAM folder. Who goes through SPAM on Christmas? Really, who???
It was Christmas, y’know. And I was just checking to see if GMail thought some dude who claimed to be giving things away FREE to EVERYONE was a Spammer. Because Santa sure didn’t show his ass around here. OK, so Mr. Spouse and I agreed we didn’t need or want anything but I didn’t cut that deal with Santa. Did not did not did not!!! So there I was Christmas night, desperately seeking holiday spirit in my SPAM folder, wading through IMPORTANT!!! letters from the FBI, heartfelt financial missives from my long lost third-cousin-twice-removed-Mister George, and many many MANY helpful pharmacies promising me lots o’hair and a stiffy.
But not a hairy stiffy. Go figure.
There was also One. Very. Important. Letter.
From ten days earlier. Uh-oh…
It was… About. The. Show. And how many pieces did I plan on hanging. Because I had, like, a whole wall to fill.
Oops.
Now a visitor to my studio would see a whole lot o’ paintings. More than enough to fill a hall let alone a wall. But I got it in my arty little head that this was a challenge. Go for it Susan, create a whole new body of work in two weeks.
So I did. Sorta. I always have a number of canvases under construction. A number of them primed with layer after layer, just waiting for the Muse of Completion to arrive. Or a manic phase, whichever comes first.
I’m still not sure if it was muse or mania but I spent nearly every hour of the next two weeks rockin’ out in Studio Grande. And this is the result:
Dreaming of Bears. 40×40 inches. I’ve had a couple of bear dreams recently. They’re all over the place around here. It gets dark early and I move around the property wondering if Smokey is behind the next tree. And if he’s going to jump out and eat me or if he’ll run away when I scream like a girl. I did tree a bear once by yelling but the 105 pound dog in furious pursuit got all the credit.
If you have the time and are so inclined see if you can find the bears in the painting. Hint: there are three. I only painted one deliberately but the others acted like real bears and popped up unexpectedly. That’s bears for you.
Taking Flight. 24×24 inches. Like most of my mixed media pieces, you really need to see this in person to appreciate the depth and layers.
Feelin’ the Love. Mixed Media. 24×36 inches. This has got to be one of my all time favorites. Absolutely.
Eddy. As in, y’know, water swirling around. 40×40 inches. These were some layers, many many layers, who told me they were quite happy as is, thank you very much. And so I paid attention. I am not only the canvas whisperer, I am the canvas listener.
After the Rain #2. Mixed media 40×40 inches. This is similar in feel to an oil and cold wax I sold during the studio tour, even though this is acrylic and collage and twice the size. Another absolute favorite of mine.
But where is After the Rain #1? Well, this is where the gesso comes in. After the Rain #1 began life the usual way, via layers. And when I realized I needed to make more paintings for the show it began to take on the feel of Over the River (way up above). It was a river scene with critters and people and quite frankly, it was crap.
Contrived.
Over thought.
When the muse says this is NOT something you’re happy with, you listen. Pay attention. You being me in this case. So I slapped the gesso on before I could change my mind. And then I dove right in with the paint. Right into the wet gesso. And I rocked it. Oh man, I ROCKED it! Didn’t come up for air until it was done. And then I stood back and said holy crap, I am in luvvvvvvvv… with the painting, with the muse, with LIFE!
And that is what painting should be. Absolute sheer mindless creation.
I was on such an arty high I grabbed another so-so meh piece and did the same thing, using the same paints. That’s the one you see up above, After the Rain #2. What you don’t see in the photograph, because it’s not a great photograph, is the wonderlicious crunchy texture, the bumps and bruises from collage and scraping back collage and taking all sorts of mark making devices to it.
You also don’t see After the Rain#1 because I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH IT!!!
The only photo I have is the one down below, taken as we were setting up the show. Not a great pic but enough to give you an idea. After the Rain #1 is on top. It’s 30×40 inches.
OK, enough about me. Now it’s your turn to go out and paint. And remember, gesso is your friend.
And so am I. Always and forever, my best best BEST beloveds. So you’ll quote me, right? And hit all the social share buttons to help me grab the big brass ring of cyber famousness. Because that’s what friends do.
And while you’re doing that, I’m going to email my long lost third-cousin-twice-removed Mister George. From the Nigerian side of the family. See if I can get him to buy a painting our Uncle Pablo Picasso painted last week.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Inspiration, Life, Process |
Seems like EVERYWHERE I go in blogland people are talking about ‘the word’. Their word for the upcoming year. Something to focus on, to work towards incorporating into their life on a more profound basis. A word that has special meaning to them.
Well, I want on this train. I want my word. I want to doodle it on sticky notes and post them around my space. I want a journal devoted to MY WORD. One I go into with markers and fancy pens and arty making stuff.
But mostly I want to get a necklace with my word, like the ones Liz Lamoreux makes in her Etsy shop. I want one I want one I WANT ONE!!!
But first I have to have a word.
Oh.
There are approximately fifty-five gazillion words in the English language. How. Do. I. Pick. Just. ONE??? Especially one I will develop a close–no, no, not close, an intimate relationship with.
One I will write about. Dream about. Wear around my neck every day like I’m married to it.
Well, I’ve given it a lot of thought and have whittled the selection down to, umm…maybe a dozen or so worthy contenders. I’ll mull them over for awhile until one just pops out and says ME! Me me, pick ME! And when it does, I’ll let you know.
Or not. Maybe my word will be something I need to hold close as I nurture our relationship. I won’t know until I know.
Meanwhile, in reflecting on this past year, I realize my life word would have to be YES!!! Yes, followed by three exclamation points because one just isn’t enough. This was the year I said YES!!! to lots of things. In fact, I created a blog devoted to it.
And then neglected the blog for the entire month of December. I don’t know why. Taking a little break from enthusiasm, perhaps. Misplaced my YES!!! pompoms.
Whatever. I will get back to it. Soon.
But if I had to pick one word, ONE word, when it comes to art…well, that would be easy. LAYERS. I loves me my layers. Always have. But in 2012 I learned to embrace them. To flaunt them in all their juiciness. Because they take away the fear of a blank canvas. What’s to fear when you get to scribble? To make marks that aren’t going anywhere except under more paint.
And so we’ll begin the new year with a look at some layers and how they morphed into my very latest work-in-progress.
This is probably five or six layers in. Working on several canvases at a time, rocking out in Studio Grande.
This is where I left it tonight. Not quite finished but getting there. A few more details and it’s done. I’ve been dreaming about bears a lot lately. Checking over my shoulder as I’m out and about on the property, especially at night. They’re definitely on my mind. Scaring the crap out of me, actually. So I’m thinking the title of this one will be ‘She Dreams of Bears’. But maybe not. We’ll see.
Be sure to check my FaceBook page in a day or two for a photo of the finished painting.
In case you’re wondering about all the attribution on the photo, it’s because I’d like people to share and re-pin my work. And I also want people to know where it came from.
Uh-Oh, getting noisy outside. Sounds like midnight on New Year’s Eve, which it is. We sure know how to party here at the Porterosa. Mr. Spouse has been in bed since 10 and I’m sitting here writing my blog.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wishing you all the BEST in 2013.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Kids, Process |
I called my friend Harriet once, around the time FirstBorn was thirteen. Maybe fourteen. Whatever…he was feeling his soon-to-be manly oats and was a total, absolute pain in the ass.
I wanted to kill him.
Oh, indeed I did. But first I needed to find out if a jury of my peers, i.e, mothers of teens, would put me away for life or give me a high five and send me to a spa. Prison was out, horizontal stripes make my ass look fat. But a spa? I could handle that.
So I called Harriet and asked if it was against the law if I did away with my son. Figured her kid, a few years older than mine, was still alive. I wanted to know if it was by choice or grand design.
She told me it was perfectly alright to kill him, as long as I ATE him. She said it with conviction, without any hesitation, so I knew it must be true.
But there wasn’t enough Maalox in the world to pull that one off.
I’m kind of glad I stuck it out with FirstBorn. He turned out okay. Pretty good, actually. And now when he calls and tells me what’s going on with Princess GrandDaughter, I find myself laughing and wheezing and enjoying myself immensely.
Because grandchildren are the best payback.
And now that we’ve established that, I’m going to put on my Arty Life hat and tell you to gather ’round. Because I don’t want to shout, not on the interwebs, not where everyone can hear me. Because they might not understand when I say artists must kill their children.
No no no…don’t jump to any conclusions and call me as your defense witness. The children I’m talking about the ones that bleed paint. Or clay. The ones you’ve put your heart and soul in and then one day you look at them and think you suck. Or maybe just I can do better than this.
The number one lesson I teach my students is nothing you do is precious. You need to be free to experiment and push beyond your comfort zone in order to find your creative boundaries. And once you find them you need to push past them too.
It’s incredibly liberating to create without attachment to the outcome.
This was an assignment from Judy Wise and Stephanie Lee’s Plaster Workshop. I carved a portrait of a young girl into a plaster covered board and then painted it. There was nothing wrong with it, I’m sure someone would’ve bought it some day. But to me it was an assignment. I didn’t feel my artist voice. So after letting her hang around the studio for a couple of months, I whipped out some joint compound and had my way with her.
Looks like buttercream icing, doesn’t it? But it’s not, I assure you it was death-in-a-can for the poor dear. But her passing gave rise to this…
One of my all time favorite pieces. Something from the sweet creative spot.
The title? Portrait of a Young Girl, Revisited. Of course.
