by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Life, Photography |
If I took a selfie right now you’d see that I’m wearing my barn jacket over a hoodie. Real attractive, like a pale blob of Playdough. Or an albino bear. You’ll have to trust me on this ’cause I’m NOT gonna take that selfie. And if I did, I wouldn’t show it to anyone.
Did I mention I’m wearing this designer outfit indoors? Yep, sitting in on the sofa in the living room, dog by my side. One dog. The other is shunning me for the comfy chair.
Got a fire going in the woodstove and even tho it’s chilly outside, it’s actually quite warm in here. But I’m dressed for the wild winter because, well…because it’s THAT time of year… Daylight Savings Time.
The dark side of the calendar…November.
What can you expect from a month that STARTS by celebrating dead people. I mean, like on the very first day??? Besides face paint and partying, that is.
Come to think of it, that part, the party and dress up part, was pretty cool.
November really isn’t that bad. It’s got a bright side. Instead of salads I’m making soups. Got persimmons on the counter. And apples and pears. Winter squash. Root vegetables. Think cinnamon and ginger. And pots of beef stew.
Hand moves. Art Happens.
SLPorter
Short days, long nights…psssft. No problem.
I’ll just go in my studio and paint. Call me when it’s spring.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Arty Inspiration, Girlfriends, Inspiration, Photography |
If you read my blog last week, and I sincerely hope you did, you will recall that I was in Texas. There are not many reasons a fresh veggie lovin’ liberal from northern California would visit the land of everything-deep-fried-including-Oreos, certainly not for the foot long corndogs or the politics–no, no–NOT the politics, but I had a VALID reason to go to the lonestar state, the BEST reason of all … I’m a grandma.
Now go read that post so you can see how seriously I take this grandma stuff. You have to do that so you can understand how leaving the munchkin would’ve been hard, would’ve been devastating, would’ve broken my heart in a thousand little bitty pieces…if I didn’t have something to look forward to…
A side trip to Las Vegas to visit an old friend. A friend who knows me well enough to know that rocks and sun and light and big sky would feed my soul. Feed hers as well.
It was a quick visit, 48 hours, nearly every one of which–when we weren’t sleeping—involved driving around the desert.
Chasing the sun.
And falling in love with a landscape stripped down to the basics. A landscape that makes you reach deep inside and pull something out you didn’t know was there. Something...holy.
Long before the gamblers, the silicon titties, the wild and frantic seven deadly sins check-list that is the Vegas strip, long before that, THIS was here.
And the ancient ones who painted their lives, their gods, their hunts, their stories on the walls of rock were here.
I’ll be back. I HAVE to go back. Have to experience this more deeply. I want to camp. And hike. Take photographs. Make art. And I want to share this with you. The seeds of a workshop have been planted.
Now I just have to figure out the logistics.
And listen to da muse who was WAY inspired. Inspired enough to play with charcoal on a whole ‘nother level.
Primal # 1. Susan Lobb Porter. Charcoal on paper
Primal # 2 Susan Lobb Porter. Charcoal on paper
You up for joining me? It will be quite the arty adventure! Promise, really. Pinky swear even.
As always, would love to hear what you have to say in the comments below.
xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Arty Inspiration, Work in Progress |
Oh my sweetums, I have a confession, indeed I do. Your favorite-best-beloved-kale-swigging artist, AKA Moi, has been dining on Reese’s for the better part of the day. But not because I WANTED to or gained ANY pleasure from doing so at all. No no no!!! I was taking one for the art team, you see. It’s all considered Open Studios prep, a quick source of protein nutrition, something to tide me over while painting–no, NOT JUST PAINTING, painting my hiney into the arty frenzy that comes before a show.
Which is a grand and glorious way to impress you with my creative productivity, as opposed to leaving you shaking your head and tsk tsking at the thought of paint smeared gobs of peanut butter and chocolate finding their way straight from my mouth to the aforementioned hiney. Because that’s the way these things work.
In the end it’s not sugar and fat, it’s body sculpture.
And Muse Magic. Because I’ve been on FIRE. Oh yes, FIRE all day. All week. Got so many works-in-progress going right now I can’t even guestimate the number. Lots. Not your average lots. We’re talkin’ the kind of lots that really means LOTS.
It’s so exciting!!!
I’m going to show you a couple of ’em right now. Remember last week’s post, Between the House and the Barn. I posted some photos I took that I considered to be inspiration for paintings.
Disclaimer: Inspiration DOES NOT DICTATE creativity, it merely kick starts it.
So don’t expect my paintings to look anything like the original photos. Just sayin’…
Original photos:
Works in progress derived from above photos:
Work in progress
SLPorter
This one is oil on top of other things. Acrylic. Collage. We’ll call it mixed media. Small. 8×8 inches. Maybe 10×10.
This one is oil and cold wax on top of collage and acrylic. I believe it’s 24×30 inches. They’re both on cradled panels.
Work in progress
oil and cold wax
SLPorter
Not the best photo in the world, color is a bit off. I’m thinking I might experiment with some shellac on this. Maybe. Get some nice honey drips going. That’s something from sister Marjorie Ellen’s bag o’tricks.
We’ll see….
Hey, thanks for dropping by. As always, let me know what you think in the comments below. And if you like what you see, please share with your friends. xoxo
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Inspiration, Photography |
Look what I found between the house and the barn today.
All sorts of stuff, stuff BEAUTIFUL STUFF!!!
None of this suddenly appeared. It’s been there all along. But today I had my eyes open. Today I was LOOKING. NOTICING. APPRECIATING.
And now I’m positively jumping up and down because I’m all fired up EXCITED about the POTENTIAL here.
Potential paintings! Which will look nothing like the photos, by the way.
And now I’m off to the studio. Check back tomorrow or later in the week. At the very least there’ll be some works-in-progress to show you.
And now I have a contest, my best best BEST beloveds! Indeed I do. It’s called What the Hell is That Stuff? The first person who correctly guesses what ALL six of these photos are (besides inspiring) wins a pony! And the person who makes up the most interesting answers wins a dinosaur. I’m SERIOUS about this so leave your answers in the comments below.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Life, Portraits |
This is a true story. As right and true as all those years of remembering can make it.
The only thing I recall about that day, that year, that godawful time in my life, was the portrait of the old man. He was a refugee from a war or famine, maybe a flood… I don’t recall. I guess you could say it was a godawful time in his life too. Anyway, I found his photo in the newspaper and knew I NEEDED to sketch it, because that was what I did back then. I sketched. I drew. I made art whenever I could. Which wasn’t too often.
Because I was in school, taking classes that sucked me dry like bones left out too long in the sun. Sensible classes. Mandatory classes. And when I wasn’t in school I was studying or waiting tables at a diner in the mall. Working late into the night, telling men twice my age I wasn’t interested. Then going home and doing the same thing the next day. School. Work. Assignments. And when I was lucky, when I could fit it in, the occasional soul liberating drawing.
But not often enough.
Pause here for the violins.
The portrait of the old man was pinned to the wall by the front door of the crappy duplex in the crappier neighborhood. A pencil sketch really, on cheap paper. I was on my way out to work, maybe school, but I stopped and studied it. And then I surprised myself and said with my real voice, not the voice inside my head that was always telling me bad things, “This is good. This really is good.”
And the boy slouched on the sofa, the handsome boy who spent his hours, his days smoking dope and not doing much else said, “Yes it is.”
The light went on inside my head, sparks, and I said, “I could be an art major.”
The boy who’d been sucking the life out of me for way too long sucked the weed deep into his lungs, holding it there and saying in a strangled voice as he tried not to exhale, “Yes you can.”
And I KNEW I was right. And he was right. And that was HUGE because we never agreed about anything.
So I became an art major. The joy came back into my life.
And the boy went out of it. Eventually.
As near as I remember that’s the way it went. Except I left out the drama. Because I was twenty years old, there was plenty of drama.
Until I learned to exhale.
Now because this is an art blog and I’m an artist I suppose you want to see a picture. Even one that has nothing to do with the story. So here’s a sketch I happen to have on my camera roll.
from the sketchbook
SLPorter
We’ll call it Portrait of Me If I Looked Like That. But it’s really Random Sketch While Watching TV.
Here’s what I really look like these days.
Self Portrait
Susan Lobb Porter
As always, would LOVE to hear from you in the comments below.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Photography, Portraits |
Shadow.
Shadows. Mystery of light. My airy doppleganger.
Shadow Portrait, Hay Shed
Susan Lobb Porter
Moi, captured against the wall of the hay shed. Rough wood in the glare of a single compact fluorescent bulb.
Shadow Portrait with Trees
Susan Lobb Porter
Moi again. Striking the cameo pose against the late afternoon sun.
I am becoming emboldened by these shadow portraits, by these images of me-not-me. I’ll be sharing more with you from time to time.
Technical info: These were created on my iphone 4s while enrolled in Catherine Just‘s online class, In Plain Sight. Do yourself a favor, check out her classes. It’s not photography, it’s transformation.
