by Susan Lobb Porter | Clutter challenge, Life, Studio |
Do you remember a couple months ago when I was bitten by the Tidy Fairy right on my tidy bum? Bit so hard I actually blogged about it throughout the month, showed photos of the resulting spartan simplicity of my-life-as-tidy. 
Do you remember that?
I kept up my little tidy spree until one day…LIFE happened. The Tidy Fairy was kicked in the corner with some errant dust bunnies when the it’s-not-the-flu-but-it’ll-knock-you-on-your-ass-for-a-month bug came a callin’. And as I slowly recovered from not-the-flu I found my tidy motivation was belly up under a pile of crumpled tissues.
I. Did. Not. Care. The rooms I dealt while drunk on the elixir of cleanliness have maintained–to a certain degree–their new found sense of order. But the long abandoned kids’ rooms upstairs along with my studio out back, those places the tidy fairy never made it to, remained magnets for clutter.
In fact the studio became positively frightful. Things mysteriously appeared where there was no space for them to appear. Except for things I needed, those disappeared who knows where. And then the walls closed in. Overnight. Poof! Just like that. My once spacious studio took on the proportions and feel of a gnome hole in the side of a hill. I was ready to shut the door and walk away. Seriously. Take up knitting or something. But when I heard Alyson Stanfield was running her Organize Your Art Biz class again, I took it as a sign from the Universe.
Universe: Don’t quit painting. Clean your studio. Organize your art biz.
Me: Umm…okaaaaay!
After just a few days I can honestly say this class is where I need to be right now. Not only is my desk–including drawers–organized–they even close now!!!— I had a major AHA! about the studio and how it functions…and how it can function MUCH BETTER!
Universe (via Alyson): Studio and office should be separate.
Me (thinking of the empty kids’ rooms upstairs): Riiiiiiight!
So in the next few days I’ll be moving all the non-painting, non-art making stuff out of the studio. Shipping supplies, matts, prints, books. Canvasses–yes, all those blank canvasses I buy by the case, especially those huge suckers that take up so much room. And the finished ones that aren’t sold or hanging anywhere else–all that will go to Firstborn’s room, my soon-to-be new office. Which means I have to organize that room first.
But envisioning the studio as a fully functioning work space is all the incentive I need. Room to move around. Throw paint. Teach classes. Shoot video. Ohhhhh, I am positively swooning! Come back next week to see how this goes. There will be photos. Maybe even a swoon selfie…. As always my sweetums, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments below. And by the way, has anyone told you this yet today— 
Well, you are! 
by Susan Lobb Porter | Cool Apps, Digital Art, Gardening, Photography |
Oh my sweetums, today I wandered in the garden. It was beautiful! Gorgeous! Came pretty close to being spectacular! The plants are poppin’. The temperature was perfect. And there were bunnies EVERYWHERE. Easter Jackrabbits en masse, reminding me again why it’s not a good idea to plant a vegetable garden.
Ever the multi-tasker, I had the phone with me and chatted with the kids while I was outside. Remember the days when phones were tethered to the wall, when you ALWAYS knew where it was? And when it wasn’t a camera?
Well, since I had my phone-which-is-a-camera with me, I not only noticed how the sun did magic things in the garden, I was able to snap a few shots.
And since I’m a painter I decided to throw them into a painting app and art them up a bit. Here they are:
Nothing says SPRING to me like a Dogwood in bloom. Nothing.
Except maybe Lilacs. I loves me my Lilacs.
This is my exhale spot, one of my favorite places in the garden.
Technical Info: All photos were taken on an iPhone 5C and digitally altered with Aquarella.
What’s your favorite photo app? I’m always open to playing with something new. Tell us about it in the comments below.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Work in Progress |
Oh my sweetums…last week I showed off some landscapes I created on the iPad. I said I might use them as studies for, ahem, real paintings.
Mwa-ha-ha! Squealing like a guinea pig as the tears run down my cheeks.
What I neglected to tell you is I have, ummm…difficulty doing the same thing over and over. I get bored.
Let me explain with pictures. Okay, I decided to start with this one.
Garden: View from the Patio
Susan Lobb Porter 2014
The original studies were fun, I could do them all day. But doing them again in a different medium? Meh–I couldn’t get past the ugly teenage phase. The part every painting has to go through before it turns out okay. Kids too.
The ugly teenage phase
Well if this painting has been a kid, he’d be in jail. That’s all I can say. Or I’d be in jail for killing him. Because that’s kinda sorta what I did. My heart said screw this acrylic shit…BRING ON THE OILS AND COLD WAX!!!
Ta-da! Not done but so much better in my head for this. Except why the hell am I HOLDING it for the camera?
Note to self: Don’t do that again. And clean up your language. Quit saying shit and hell and screw. Or don’t. Damned if I care.
Back to the technical stuff. I mixed up way too much color–I always do that, so I decided to slap the leftovers on another painting I didn’t like. I don’t like wasting paint and it was a sucky piece anyway. I didn’t take a ‘before’ picture. Didn’t want to embarrass myself. Let’s just say they were Aspens in Autumn. And if I was eight years old and they’d been on paper my mother would’ve hung ’em on the fridge. Maybe. If she really loved me.
Here’s the ‘after’, still a work-in-progress. I rather like where it’s going, even if I don’t know where that is yet. The painting underneath adds so much depth and texture. Makes it much richer than if I started with a clean board. These are all cradled boards by the way.
I had another board to recycle and more paint. Turquoise. All that turquoise.
Another work in progress
Another landscape. Imagine that!
So that’s all I’ve got to show you for this week. Any thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments below. I’ll give you a puppy if you do. Or a pony.
As always–
by Susan Lobb Porter | Art, Digital Art |
Today was an audaciously AWESOME spring day. Everything about it was PERFECT, perfect enough to sit out on the patio and do nothing but savor being alive. Sun on my skin, breeze in my hair, birds chirping, garden starting to pop…what more could you ask…
It was a day for landscapes. These are from my iPad. Studies for paintings? Prints? What do you think?
Garden: View from the Patio
2014 Susan Lobb Porter
I did this one today. Plein aire ipad. The sun and the shadows were intense, emboldened me. This piece has a totally different feel than the one I made yesterday (arrow pointing down).
Meadow with Pond
2014 Susan Lobb Porter
This was from a photo I’d taken a few years ago of a nearby meadow (not my meadow). The photo was washed out and I think that influenced how I approached the painting. I remember the sky and pond in real life as being quite blue. The Scotch Broom was in bloom, bright yellow and the meadow was thick with purple lupines. I think I’ll do this one again in the style of the first just to see how it comes out. Check back next week and see.
Do you have a favorite? I’d love to know…we’ll call it market research. Let me know in the comments below.
Until next week–
