Noticing Texture: Scribbles in 3D

by Susan Lobb Porter

I’m unpacking groceries and go—WHOA.

Stopped in my tracks by an onion with a head full of roots.

I know. Not exactly like standing in a museum in hushed awe in front of a Rembrandt.

But it was pretty darn close.

Dried, grassy strands in a wild, tangled, beautiful mess right there on my kitchen counter.

The Cy Twombly of produce.

And I was in love.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I’m a little obsessed with scribbles (more on that here).

Who knew nature could scribble like that—much less in 3D?

So I took photos.

Because sooner or later I’m going to chop that onion up and throw it in a stew. Or something equally final.

Those roots will end up in the compost.

But the scribbles? Yeah, those are coming with me.

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Noticing Texture in Everyday Objects

What stopped me wasn’t the onion.

It was those roots.

That wiry, tangled mess doing whatever it wanted—no plan, no order, just chaos. Not pretty. Not arranged. Not trying.

Just doing its thing.

And now I want to go make some scribbles.

Because that’s what I’m looking at.

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Why Texture Matters in Art (aka… what this has to do with anything)

Once I started my paintings with random marks and scribbles, everything shifted.

I stopped reaching for ideas and started responding to what was already there.

Marks got more interesting. Layers got more intentional. The work started to feel alive instead of constructed.

Because I wasn’t inventing something out of thin air.

I was translating what I saw—and building from there.

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The Click

It all came together for me when I was standing there holding that onion:

Those roots are texture. But they’re also marks—lines looping and tangling and crossing over each other.

Scribbles in 3D.

And the scribbles I make on canvas?

That’s texture too. Just flattened out. Same energy. Same chaos. Same life.

Texture in 2D

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Creative Prompt: Go Find the Chaos

Go find something textural.

Not pretty. Not styled. Not “worthy.”

Something you’d normally ignore, use up, or toss away.

Now stop.

Look closer than you usually do.

Where’s the chaos? Where’s the pattern? Where’s the part that makes you pause?

Then start.

Sketch it. Photograph it. Paint it. Tear it into collage.

Don’t wait for it to become a good idea.

It already is.

Thanks for being here and noticing along with me–

See you next week.

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