What are your thoughts about boxes and boundaries in art? What is the role of the artist in redrawing those lines? How do you push outside of your "normal" and into the more unexpected? I'd love to hear! About the art: I have a digital folder of inspiration ideas and images for days when I feel confident, adventurous and mischievous. This piece was inspired by one of a dozen or so concepts the AI bot and I worked on for several days. The AI bot loves (LOVES) tentacles and octopods. And female faces. Beginning with gesso'd oil painting paper, I drew a rough sketch with a wet brush and blocked in the darks. Oil painting paper wants many layers of glazing to get the color to pop, which works well with a rough sketch, as there are a lot of refining moves required to get the angles and proportions just right. The requisite 80 million layers of paint followed. Funny enough, the hardest thing to resist was the urge to whiten/brighten all the teeth, which are meant to be a bit yellowed and dingy to add a bit of the horrific. I settled for something in the middle. It makes me rub my hands together and say "muhwahahahahah". It's the last week to enter the July Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment and automatically be entered in this month's random drawing for a free piece of original art. Thanks so much for your participation!
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About the art: Yupo loves pen and ink. I use a Rotring Tikky Graphic pen with pigmented ink, which glides easily and has a consistent output (no unexpected blops or skips). In general, I design a pen and ink piece around a small square or rectangle, resisting the urge to expand the scene or add too many details. I want the feeling of intimacy - a spotlight on the figure(s) and the moment. I don't pre sketch on the Yupo, which is a throwback to the wabi-sabi of my early days of doodling. I do measure out the critical parts - size of a face, proximity to edges, etc., but then it's a free for all. Often, this means a few failed attempts (no erasing here, no painting over! a trust-fall with ink!) but it does force me to be present and to contemplate every stroke of the pen. Pen and ink meditation, anyone?
It's the July Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment (or more than one - each comment counts as an entry!) on any of this month's blog posts. At the end of the month, one (or more) lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a free piece of art. Huzzah!
It's time for the July Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment on a blog post this month and be automatically entered in the drawing for FREE ART! Woot! Your participation helps me, helps others and adds some sparkle to the universe. Thank you!!
I see you there, creative human. Yes, YOU! I see you wondering and seeking. I see you finding new ways of seeing, being, thinking and knowing. These acts of devotion are sacred, somehow. A living meditation. A prayer spoken with hands, eyes, ears and feet. A daily pilgrimage to the holy place. This space here, this tiny (teeny tiny hardly a spec on the internet) blog is where I seek your stories and share my own. A place to pause for brief moments and allow words and art to infuse us with their magic. A place where the complexities, sorrows and joys of life might be illuminated - just for a second. And most of all, a place to enjoy the connectedness of art-hearted humans and their own sacredness. In case I don't say it enough (or have not mentioned it recently), I am extraordinarily grateful to each and every one of you who visits here, who reads, who may share a story or a thought, who reaches out to me privately to share how something has touched you. It never fails to surprise and delight me that this space exists at all, let alone attracts stellar sparkle-humans to participate in it. Whoa. Wowowowowowow. Thank you. A little something that makes me smile - the podcast genius of Thea Fiore-Bloom (https://the-charmed-studio.simplecast.com/). I've been listening to these podcasts in the studio while painting and planning. And let me say this: at the end of each one, I've both learned something helpful AND feel like I've been seen and hugged. How does she DO that? Check it out!
"Dolores on Tuesday" - oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 12 x 1.25. Ready to hang. (click on the image to purchase) “I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.”― C.S. Lewis Sometimes, when we peel back the onion of anger, we find deep sorrow, grief and mourning. Anger feels purposeful, feisty, empowered, action-oriented and (often) satisfying. Grief, on the other hand, feels all of the opposite things - weak, low-energy, motionless, heavy. It is so much easier to be mad than to be sad. And so I am learning to be with my grief. To let the feelings wash over and through me, buffeting me about a bit, seeping into all the nooks and crannies. I am learning to be uncomfortable without pushing it away. The more I practice this, the easier it gets. And somehow, it is expansive. I feel larger inside, instead of tense and tight and retracted. Dolores relaxes into her grief and oddly manages to make it look cool. Who knew?
About the art: this is a large piece created over top of another murdered painting. I fussed with the original piece until it just felt hopeless, dark and unsatisfying. What's the fix for that? Heaps of softer, brighter colors and some groooooooovy texture (thank you, failed underpainting!) along with a hint of whimsy (the heart just revealed itself - not planned at all). I lost count of the layers, and it took months (not weeks) to dry.
It's time for the JUNE READER GIVEAWAY! This month's reader question is: what do YOU do to refill your creative tank? Leave a comment below. One (or more) lucky readers will be selected at random and win an original piece of art - FREE!
Blogger and blog will be on an adventure for the remainder of the month, recharging and refilling the reservoir of inspiration. Look for a bevy of new work in June, the return of the monthly Reader Giveaway, and an announcement of one stellar show coming this summer!
About the art: beginning with an old acrylic painting and a tub of black gesso, murdering the old painting to make room for the new. Carving back through the wet gesso to reveal a spot or two of the underpainting color. For this piece, I used no inspiration image. Just a color palette and my Planes of the Head mannequin - https://planesofthehead.com/products.php. I sketched a basic shape and features with a small brush and some thinned oil paint. Then the requisite 80 million layers of thin washes - darkening the background, highlighting the face, the flower petals, the hair. Allowing the texture of the original painting to create a kind of old-world crackling of the skin. OH! A walnut-oil laden brush over wet petals to create the dripping effect. A final layer of Gamvar gloss over the dried painting to make the darks sing. Congratulations to Sara V.H.! Wonder Mike selected your name at random as winner of the April Reader Giveaway. Be on the lookout for your prize package in the mail. And thanks to all who participated! Hooray!
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AuthorLola Jovan |