Staccato signals of constant information are overloading my brain. Keeping up with the daily chaos and search for good news, places to take action, things to be aware of, ways to protect ourselves, our finances, our friends, our neighbors, our freedoms....it is a big bundle of download complicated by a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires. Though Simon's song was intended to communicate other issues of the time, it applies now. Timeless, in a way, as so many great songs, books and works of art can be. The art of seeing one another through this miasma of information is key, I think. We have our public, social media faces and our private thoughts, sufferings and celebrations. Seeing one another, seeing past the movie versions, connecting in an authentic way whenever and wherever we safely can will help us through this. My brain is more and more often like that of a simple goldfish trapped in a helmet bowl. It is the overwhelm, the chaos, the mis- and dis-information. I'd love to hear how you're handling the information of the world, dear reader! About the art: oh, copper panel, it's so lovely, so dreamy, such a warm undertone to every new painting. This one began with a simple sketch with very thinned oil paint and a brush. I painted away the surroundings from the figure knowing the red would require many layers to achieve the depth I wanted. I then moved to the inside, spending the most time on that unknowable fish - the details, the layers, those subtle soft shadows of blue/violet. By placing the details largely in the center of the fish bowl, the eye is drawn into the painting. Helmet and figure painted more abstractly, allowing the eye to complete those details all on its own. This piece is actually a very limited color palette painting, using green, red and white to create the bulk of the colors. A bit of Gamblin Radiant Blue and a bit of Indian Yellow were added to finish out the details. The April Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - FREE!
Blogger and blog will be off on a big adventure next week! The blog will return April 28th. The winner for this month will be announced on May 5th, right here in the blog. Hooray!
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The April Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on any blog post in the month of April to be automatically entered to win an original piece of art - FREE!
Congratulations to Charlynn T.! Wonder Mike chose your name at random as winner of the March Reader Giveaway! Thank you to everyone who commented - your participation, feedback, community and encouragement are a bright light in a wild world! Thanks hugely! A new contest begins next month.
I'd love to hear what you're relentlessly pursuing! Leave a comment below. About the art: beginning with a gesso-primed gallery-wrapped canvas, I pressed leftover wet paint palettes against the canvas over a period of weeks, never mind color, consistency or pattern. This creates a lovely uncontrived texture and pops of unexpected color coming through the final piece. Once thoroughly dry, I drew a rough sketch with a wet brush covered in thinned dark paint. At this point I am not wedded to the composition, just exploring. Working top to bottom with a palette knife, I applied paint in thick layers, allowing the colors to blend in some places and making sure to preserve a thin line of the dark under sketch at the border of each shape. Once the neutral base layers were in, some drying time and then the pops of pinks and reds were added. I carved back through the nearly dry paint with a chopstick, creating trails meandering down the canvas. Walking away before my neat and tidy side can overwork the textures. It's the final week to enter the March Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment on any (or many) blog post (s) this month to be automatically entered. Someone will win a piece of original art - FREE!
Sam Yamauchi ( www.samyamauchiart.com ) said it perfectly in a recent social media post - we need to keep the door to what can be open. And Maria Popova, quoting the book Miss Leoparda, wrote shaken with disbelief but knowing that the most valiant way to complain is to create... OH! I'd love to know what you're doing to complain valiantly, to open the door to what can be. Leave a comment! About the art: beginning with a pristine piece of yupo, and setting down washes of thinned paint. I added thicker layers, then carved back through with a small rubber wedge and let those layers dry thoroughly. The layers allow some excellent textures and raised patterns, something yupo is very good at enabling. An entirely intuitive piece, painted with rubber wedge, chopsticks, fingers and paper towels. Responding to color against color, harsh lines against softness, darks against lights. Allowing the upside-downiness of it (sky below, oppressive heaviness above) to remain. This one moves me. The March Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - FREE!
About the art: copper panel makes exploration deeply satisfying, and this piece was no exception. Beginning with a rough sketch with an acrylic paint pen directly on the copper, and slowly adding thinned layers of oil paint. Working from that single eye outward and keeping the color palette very limited, I followed the paint as it moved. With my perfectionist's hand tied behind my back, I pursued scratchy, rough emotion with chopsticks, rubber wedge, fingers and dripping brush. Keeping the paint wet allows the copper to be easily exposed by dripping paint and by scratching/carving techniques. This one moves me.
The March Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art absolutely free! Winner will be announced on March 31st right here in the blog. Ready? Set? GO!
Dear reader - I'd love to hear about moments you felt seen (or unseen!) Leave a comment below. About the art: beginning with a gesso murder of an old acrylic painting, split into two vertical segments, I drew the basic figure and shroud shape with a brush loaded with thinned oil paint. Working first from the outside in, painting away the gesso with the soft background color and preserving the lower portion for a layer of dark, darks. Adding the lower dark portion and a few places near the figure. Then painting with a large, wet brush to get the shapes and movement in the garment, preserving the darks around the arm, neck and shoulder of the figure. A good long drying time before coming in with a small brush to paint the neck, arm, legs and feet. More drying. The requisite 80 million layers of pinks with a rubber wedge to create volume, folds and edges. A very wet. paint laden brush around the lower portions to allow running paint and drips. And another long, long drying time. Though the piece is emotive and emotional, the colors soften the impact and allow a lightness to relieve some of its weighty meaning. The March Reader Giveaway has begun! Leave a comment on any blog post (or more than one) this month to be automatically entered. One (or more) lucky commenters will receive a piece of original art - FREE! And thanks so much for your participation!
Because I think, perhaps, we might need a host of rascally highwaymen (and highwaywomen) to band together and take on the world soon. To fight for the squirrels, the rabbits, the owls and the cats. To brave unthinkable odds along the roadways in the darkness, finding goodness and love and light. I know just the dude to get it started. :) Congratulations to Todd and to Dotty! Wonder Mike chose your names as winners of the February Reader Giveaway! Thanks a bunch for reading and commenting. Send your mailing address to [email protected] and your free art will be in the mail right away! And thank you to everyone who participated this month, and to all of the new subscribers and readers from Bluesky!
A new giveaway begins one week from today. Leave a comment on any blog post during the month of March to be automatically entered. One (or more) lucky commenters will win a piece of original art - free!
But I have an inkling that turning inward isn't going to help us move through this fracturing (though it is necessary for serenity and balance at times). So I will keep reaching for those ropes and hope they will not fray in pursuit of understanding and connection. I might need a fancy circus outfit, but that could be mischievously fun. About the art: this piece is painted over a murdered acrylic abstract painting. For this one, I drew the composition directly on top of the prior piece using a wet brush and big, loose strokes. The heavy texture of the original piece adds quite a bit of interest to the new piece, which might have otherwise looked too flat. There are a LOT of layers in this one, all constructed with brushes. No rubber wedges on this piece, as plywood prefers brushwork. I think this house is in the perfect location for me - high on a hill with big skies and forests and rolling hills beneath. I imagine the ocean is on the other side of the piece. Oooooooh bliss! The February Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a message on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art. And thank you so much to everyone who reads, comments and shares this blog! Also, a big welcome to all the new subscribers from Bluesky. I'm just dazzled by the friendly cyber-community!
About the art: once again beginning with a large acrylic painting on 300 lb Arches watercolor paper (let's murder that piece!) and taping it off into two sections. Drawing directly on top of the acrylic painting with a brush covered in thinned oil paint to get the basic forms. I painted away the existing painting around the figures first, working from the outside in to remove the distraction of the old painting. But those layers underneath add texture and interest to the background - valuable real estate! After a good bit of drying time, working on the inside beginning with the dark sections and preserving some crisp edges to keep the figures themselves a bit mechanical and hard. I created geometric blocks of shadow and light, resisting the urge to mess with them too much. The pies were roughed in with a brush, then finished with a laden palette knife to give the texture of frosting. Finally (and most fun!) the pinks - many thinned layers painted wet into wet, then allowed to run over the edges with linseed oil-thinned light pink. A long long drying time with all that oil, but these ladies say it was worth the wait. The February Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment (or more than one) on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art. And thanks to all those who have already commented this month! Your enthusiasm and heartfelt feedback is a real treasure to me. Thank you. :)
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AuthorLola Jovan
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