by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Dogs, Process, Work in Progress |
“I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy painter.
I see by your outfit that you’re a cowboy painter too.
We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys painters.
If you get an outfit you can be a cowboy painter too!”
Smothers Brothers with a little ad libbing by moi.
Today I wore my paintin’ pants. And shirt. And sweatshirt. And because I was dressed for the occasion I painted. Or maybe I dressed for the occasion so I could paint. It’s one of those universal mysteries like the chicken and egg thing.
This is a most flattering selfie, don’t you think? It’s the real deal, complete with pockets stuffed with tissues. A boatload of tissues. No, no, more than that–a shitload of tissues, which is A LOT. Because I have a cold and I draw the line (cliche AND arty pun in one sentence, 2 points!) I draw the line at wiping my nose on my sleeve. Unless I have to.
Eeweeeee.
God bless me, I’m sneezing as I type this.
By the way, that’s Bean up there. He wants you to admire his Mom haircut. I relieved him of a good three inches of curly poodle fluff last night, proof I should not be left alone with scissors. DearDaughter says he now looks like one of those shivering waifs-in-a-cage in a 90 second Humane Society guilt-a-thon. I do believe she’s right.
I took Bean to the studio with me, along with his sister Sophie. They lasted about five minutes before I realized that was NOT a good idea. I could either paint or I could keep dogs out of trouble but I couldn’t do both. So I took them back home where they still got in trouble but I didn’t have to witness it…just clean it after the fact.
I decided to work on the piece I started last week. I wrote about it at the time and you can see the earlier work-in-progress photos here.
CONFESSION: I did NOT want to paint. I wanted to draw on the iPad. I LOVES me my iPad!
REVELATION: But once I actually began painting I remembered WHY I do this. Simple, really . . . because I can’t NOT do this. This. Is. Who. I. Am.
And this is the painting where I left it last time. FYI: It’s acrylic on canvas, 24 by 24 inches.
This is where I left it today. It’s still far from done but the open medium slows the drying time and I needed things to set up before I could do more layers. The light was changing, the painting was in the awkward middle stage and I had a cold.
It was definitely time to wash the brushes and close up shop for the day.
So I did.
We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Or maybe next week. This puppy needs to sit for a little while, till I stop whining and sneezing and get my paint mojo back.
Da Muse is telling me this might be a landscape. Who am I to argue….
What do you think? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments below. And if you say something somewhat profound, like hello, I might even come over and chop your dog’s hair off groom your dog. (Rubs hands together with a maniacal cackle)
Or I might just sit here and type a reply and eat chocolate in your honor.
xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Dogs |
Sophie is a monkey butt.
Don’t be fooled by that cute little face. Because behind it, somewhere in the ATTITUDE section of her little canine head, is a monkey butt. MONKEY BUTTTTTTTT……
I came in from the studio and caught her on the table today. The dining room table. Like a cat. But she’s not a cat, she’s a D.O.G.
It wasn’t the first time.
Disclaimer: The cat does NOT get on the table. Mostly never. Oh no, she gets on my shoulders while I’m sitting at the table. Like she’s auditioning for a future role as a fur wrap. Which she might be.
I just thought you should know.
And now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about ART!
This week was all about exhaling. About breathing deep and letting go of expectations. And commitments. About taking time for me.
I came home early from work one day, like 10 AM early. Wasn’t feeling well. I stretched out on the sofa and crashed for a couple of hours. When I woke up I put my feet on the coffee table, grabbed a notebook and started sketching.
And yes, the notebook already had notes in it but they were so…yesterday. Or maybe last year. Whatever. They had served their purpose and were talking up paper. So I drew right over them.
From the very first sketch, the one up above, I realized I had NO idea where I was going. I just began making marks. Anatomically incorrect marks involving women with interesting parts.
I’m quite fond of lady parts, especially my own. So I just let it happen as I sketched merrily along.
A day or two later I picked up the notebook again (hereafter referred to as the Art Journal because it sounds so…arty) and decided to take the little sketches further. Thought charcoal for be nice for depth. And then fixative to keep the charcoal from breeding with the other pages. Spray Fix is something I recently discovered that I have cans and cans of, proving it pays to organize the supplies once in awhile.
Well, the charcoal was fun but blah. These suckers needed some punch. So I added pastels. And more fix. And then acrylic markers because they make everything pop. And some collage because why not?
Gaia
Susan Lobb-Porter
Before I knew it these journal entries turned into mini-paintings. Or studies for future paintings that can be developed further, like maybe next week.
Surrender to Love
Susan Lobb-Porter
Oh, my best, best, BEST beloveds…I can see you scratching your heads (heads, yes, you have at least two in my world) scratching your heads and saying but Susan, this is soooo not what you usually do.
And you would be right.
So check back next week and see what happens. You might be surprised.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Dogs, Fitness, Life |
Tonight I did 70 minutes of yin yoga. I stretched parts of me that have been locked up tight for years. Stretched and held the stretches for as long as five minutes. Let my body sink into the postures as muscle and fascia loosened up.
How can something so painful feel soooooo good?
Sophie licked my feet the entire time. TMI, but that felt good too.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Dogs, Life, Ponies |
Sophie is roaming from window to window growing. Woofing softly. There’s something out there.
I was down with the ponies tonight. Went down at dusk and spent nearly half an hour with them as they ate their evening ‘bucket’. Bucket being the feed and supplements separate from the hay. Everyone gets their own specific blend of stuff, depending on their needs. I usually lock Jasmine up in the stall during this time. She gets less and tries to make up for it by stealing from the others.
She’s a pushy little ass.
Tonight I couldn’t get her near the stall. She turned up lame this evening, favoring her left front foot. Most likely another abscess. Another as in we’ve been through this before. Many times. Sigh….
Since I couldn’t convince her to come into the barn I figured I’d hang out there with them, wearing my playground monitor hat, stable edition. Dusk turned to dark as I stood out there under the pines. The moon was out, just past full. A peaceful evening interlude in the forest–
Except it was so damn NOISY!
The horses were slurping their buckets. Manners like that, you’d think they were raised in a barn.
And peepers were partying it up in the meadow. Bazillions of ’em. BAZILLIONS of froggies goin’ a courtin’. Saying, Yo Yo, babe, hey hey hey check this out in froggie speak. Amphibian lust.
And the dogs, every single dog up and down the canyon, including my own, were chatting up the puppy hotline. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark BARK. Which means, according to local lore, lion in the ‘hood.
But not in the immediate hood, the paddock or the meadow, because the ponies were chill.
Trust me, when there is something scary on the other side of the fence, they act like one of those horror movies where everyone’s crashing their cars and running away from the aliens. Since they were not the least bit concerned tonight, neither was I.
Well…maybe just a little.
And now I’m sitting here safe and sound, sipping a cuppa tea and dreaming about bed. Flannel sheets. My ancient, almost flat, favorite down pillow.
Sophie’s all settled in for the night. And so am I.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Dogs, Life, Porterosa |
I came home from work tonight and realized I really had to water the fruit trees. I planted them a couple months ago, two apples and a pear. I planted them on a terrace Mr. Spouse built last year.
Mr. Spouse does like to build things, especially when it involves stone.
We backfilled the terrace with Gucci dirt. Topped it with pony poop. Got a GREAT crop o’weeds growing between the trees. Thick and lush, waist high. Orchard grass. Rye grass. Wild peas. The biggest clover you’ve ever seen.
Umm…too green to whack just yet. Too tall to mow. But they blend in with the rest of our forest home. And yes, they will go away soon enough. A little slatted table will take their place. A couple of colorful chairs.
Meanwhile, it’s Sophie’s favorite place. She disappears in there. The weeds close over her head. She’s too busy hunting to come when called…all sorts of critters call the terrace home. Lots of rodent holes and I’ve seen a bunny or two.
Which is why I’m not bothering with a garden this year.
I had to water the trees by hand. Haul the water up the hill two buckets at a time. The hose was otherwise engaged and the irrigation isn’t in yet. So it was just me and a couple of buckets in A Little House in the Big Woods moment. Which is fitting since we DO live in the big woods.
Me and the buckets and the bees. Bazillions of big fat bees buzzing around the peas and clover. They weren’t bothered by me and I wasn’t bothered by them. By the way, do you realize how hard it is to photograph those suckers? They move faster than my auto focus.
A piece of clover caught on my shoe and followed me into the house. Told you it was big!
This time last year we woke up to snow. Ah, spring!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Dogs, Mr. Spouse, Studio |
Oh. My. So many adventures in Arty Life land the last couple of days. Brace yourself because this post is going to be skipping from one thing to the next, each topic guaranteed to make you more dizzy than the next.
First…and only because it happened minutes ago and I’m still as jumpy as a tweaker from the adrenalin rush…my brush with wildlife. There was a bear rat in the hay shed. Big sucker. But I was BRAVE. Oh, indeed I was, even with flip flops on my feet. No girly screaming like I did with the mouse. No. This time I was brave enough to stomp and shout with a very big voice like a very scary person. And bang a couple metal trash lids together like a one woman marching band. And Mr. Rat was so impressed he fell off one shelf and jumped down from another. The last I saw was his bare naked tail as it disappeared behind the hay.
Begone with you Templeton!
Now that I’ve impressed you with my wildlife management skills…you ARE impressed, aren’t you…now we can move on to Precious Man Dog (AKA Bean, AKA Benny) If you read Friday’s post, you’ll recall PMD was sorely in need of a haircut. Being a poodle mix the hair just grows. And grows. I let it grow over the winter to keep him warm. Dreadlocks happen and matts and clumps of thick, dense felt take over. Then in the spring I take to him with scissors and we start the cycle all over again.
So this was PMD last week.
This is him today, half the size he used to be. But so darn cute I can’t stand it.
Sophie is in the middle of her spring trim. I have to wait until she’s dead asleep before I can get certain spots. Like her chest. Right now she’s sporting a whole lot of chest hair. Throw a couple gold chains around her neck and she’d be a ringer for Burt Reynolds.
Okay, now it’s time to move on from critters, both wild and domestic, and get to art. Got a couple works in progress to show.
This is acrylic, 2’x2′. Don’t have a clue where it’s going but will know when it gets there. Layers and scribbles. Layers and scribbles.
This one is also acrylic, 36″x48″. Still very much a work in progress. Oh crap…as I’m writing this I’m wondering if I put the lid back on the jar of Titan Buff…well, let’s hope I did because it’s dark and I’m not heading back down to Studio Grande.
Speaking of Studio Grande, Mr. Spouse got some sheet rock up in the new! improved! Studio-Grande-to-be.
He was hoping to have it all rocked this weekend but it was slow going. Hard work indeed. But this is how Mr. Spouse relaxes from his desk job, he builds stuff. And I’m not complaining. By the way, this photo was taken after 6PM. Still good natural light, at least at this time of year. Even more when the tarps come off the skylights.
A gentle reminder that Wednesday is Random Acts of Art. I hope some of you will join me in sharing where you hide your treasures. You can send me photos before Tuesday (like, today) and I’ll post them on the blog. Or you can post the link to your own blog anytime between Wednesday and Saturday.
I’m posting art every day on my FaceBook page. Pop on over and check it out. And while you’re there, do me a GREAT BIG HUMONGOUS favor and click the ‘like’ button (for the page) if you haven’t done so already. And if you’ve already liked my page, pat yourself on the back because you are my BFF and I love you…truly love you… almost as much as I love chocolate!
