Lola Jovan Art Musings and Random Thoughts

An Invitation You Can't Decline

11/27/2023

"An Invitation You Can't Decline" - oil on paper, 18 x 27.5. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

She keeps her Moët et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
"Let them eat cake, " she says
Just like Marie Antoinette
A built-in remedy
For Khrushchev and Kennedy
At anytime an invitation
You can't decline

- from KILLER QUEEN by QUEEN

Guess who is the new studio boss? She's got the random rabbits hiding in the corners. She's big, she's bad, and you can't argue with her.

An Invitation You Can't Decline

As the last month of the year nearly lands in my lap and demands an examination of all the months leading up to it, I realize this was the year I stopped trying to move mountains. All the years leading up to this one, I pushed on things that were never going to move. This year, I let go of those things and turned toward the very, very small pile of moveables, which really consists only of myself - my actions, my choices and my state of mind.

What surprises me is how very full my hands are. How on earth did I ever try to do any more than this?

Ultimately, I hope to become queen of my own tiny kingdom. And you can bet if (when!) that happens I am gonna want a big-ass crown. :)

It's the last three days of the ONCE-A-YEAR SAVE-THE-ART-FROM-THE-GESSO sale!
Two paintings have already succumbed to the lure of the gesso. Get your favorites here!

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The Witness

11/20/2023

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The Witness

"The Witness" - oil on cradled wood panel, 12 x 24 x 1.5 inches. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

Through our eyes,
the universe is perceiving itself.
Through our ears,
the universe is listening to its harmonies.
We are the witnesses through which
the universe becomes conscious of its glory,
of its magnificence. - ALAN WATTS

This piece is the final culmination of a roundabout kind of journey.

It began with a collector's suggestion - "paint the Lola version of Leda and the Swan" (a daunting task, but I am always up for a challenge). The suggestion prompted a visual exploration of the many ways this myth has been represented. And another exploration of the myth itself, the controversy surrounding it and the ways its original meaning has often been softened and blurred from an act of assault to one of seduction. And then a lot of mulling over how to Lola-fy this tangled subject (both visual subject and story subject).

Ultimately, as I attempt to do in my own life, I incorporated the event into the subject's own person and looked for the strength and resiliency (and, in the case of wings, freedom) that may come from having faced something and lived a life beyond it.

The Watts quote landed after the painting was completed, and gave me a fresh view of the piece independent of Leda's mythology. She is transformed.

And once again the process of creating leaves me with goosebumps and gladness. :)

Congratulations to Michaela and Natalee! Wonder Mike chose your names at random as winners of the November Reader Giveaway! Email your mailing address to t[email protected] and your prizes will be on the way! Woot!

The once-a-year save-the-art-from-the-gesso sale is ON! Save up to 75% and get free shipping! Now through November 30th.

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Approximating the Landscape of Truth

11/12/2023

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"Approximating the Landscape of Truth" - oil on linen canvas, 26 x 32 x 1.5 inches. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

Question your maps and models of the universe, both inner and outer, and continually test them against the raw input of reality. Our maps are still maps, approximating the landscape of truth from the territories of the knowable — incomplete representational models that always leave more to map, more to fathom, because the selfsame forces that made the universe also made the figuring instrument with which we try to comprehend it.
- from THE MARGINALIAN

We're going diving into AI today. How can we use it as a constructive tool?

It turns out the AI bot can be a pretty good art critique group. It is willing to point you in a direction without apology or beating around the bush. And then it will point you in a new direction without apologizing for the first one. Ha ha!

Approximating the Landscape of Truth

Let's dive!

For the initial painting, I began with a photo from one of our forest wanders, and asked the AI bot to give me an abstracted landscape interpretation of it. After wading through a few dozen images, I found one I liked pretty well and painted a version of it.

my original painting from an AI interpretation of my photo

It hung in the studio for a month - I looked at it in every light and just shrugged. Ho hum, I thought. I wanted something more abstracted, more textured and gritty. Normally I would just attack it with paint, but I decided to ask the AI bot - what now? And told it "textured, gritty, abstracted". After a few dozen suggestions, it came up with this: (grid lines added with PicSplit)

Thoughts: seeing the various versions suggested by the AI bot helped me really see what was working, what was not, and what could work much better - along with what would not work better, because the bot's suggestions can be kitschy and overly commercial looking sometimes.

AI's suggestion

I then attacked my original piece with paint.

Adding some grid lines to keep things organized, then blocking in the darks based on the revised composition.

Thoughts: the bot kept the composition fairly similar in the suggestions, which made transforming this piece pretty simple. This helped me see how some minor adjustments could really make a good painting, without starting again from scratch.

blocking in the new darks

The revised inspiration image was much softer, so most of my time was spent softening everything with layers of thinned paint, rubber wedges, brushes, paper towels and fingers. Ghost images left behind from the original painting add depth and interest to the background. Adding paint, then removing some to reveal hints of the past.

Thoughts: the shapes suggested in the revised image were much simpler. It was easier to see where things in the original painting had become fussy as I worked at whittling away many of the small shapes.

softening all the hard lines

The suggested color pop was tricky - it appeared to lay upon the painting in parts, and was a part of the scene in others. This took a few layers, with the final one added with brisk passes of a laden rubber wedge - resisting the urge to blend that final layer in.

After that, refining some of the shapes, adding warmth to the sky and texture with chopsticks and paint, dripping paint and flicks of a paper towel.

Thoughts: the final revised piece tics all of the boxes I was hoping for in the first piece. Things I should have known from experience (simpler shapes, softer transitions, hints and suggestions instead of obvious forms) were much easier to recognize when viewing a dozen variations of the original painting.

adding the color pop

Finished piece, in situ

AI causes many of us to wince, cringe, shrink, fear, feel disheartened (its product can be very, very good). For artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, game designers and so many other professions, it can feel overwhelming. As with most new technology, I tend to try it and see if it fits anywhere in the toolbox.

What are your thoughts on AI as a creative tool? Leave a comment below. One (or more) lucky commenter will be selected at random to win an original piece of art!

COMING NEXT WEEKEND! The once-a-year-save-the-paintings-from-the-gesso sale! It only happens once per year - paintings will fly the coop or be fully vandalized by the artist. Muwahaha!

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Double Dutch and Double Dare You

11/9/2023

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"Double Dutch" - oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 12 x 1.5 inches. Ready to hang. Available here and at Artfinder.

Mabel and Max were the local double dutch champions. Unbeatable, unstoppable jump ropers. When they were interviewed for the neighborhood newsletter and asked what their secret was, they just stared. Intimidating. Oh!

Double Dutch

Double Dare You

"Double Dare You" - oil on yupo, 22 x 21.5. Available here and at Artfinder.

Eleanor was absolutely positive that Milo was a big chicken. Afraid of his own shadow, hiding behind the curtains, nervous about every little noise - it was ridiculous. So she double dared him every day to come out and do something brave. She was known for her determination and grit. What could Milo do? He had to say yes. Eleanor was scary!

A double dose of malarkey today, as the last random rabbit and a new monster make their debut. I can't seem to stay away from these youngsters and their monstrous playmates - it feels cheeky and slightly beyond the pale.

Many thanks to all who have used the READERPERKS50 coupon to grab art, art cards and books! There are just two more days to use your coupon - then the shop will open for the ONCE A YEAR GET EM WHILE YOU CAN BEFORE I GO WILD WITH THE GESSO sale. Last year dozens of paintings flew the coop, and another bunch got vandalized with gesso -I can hardly wait!

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Rabbit Fighter

11/6/2023

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Rabbit Fighter

"Rabbit Fighter" - oil on canvas, 15 x 30 x .75 inches. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Blue Thumb.

Shady politician in my bed
Tying bolts of lightning to his head
Call me Rabbit Fighter you know its true
'Cause babe I'll Rabbit fight all over you

Tramp king of the city he's my friend
Moondog's just a prophet to the end
Call me Rabbit Fighter you know its true
'Cause babe I'll Rabbit fight all over you
- from RABBIT FIGHTER by T. REX

Random rabbits continue to multiply in the studio, including this guy, who surely can hold his own in any altercation. I'm pretty sure he just clobbered a few villains down the road. Rabbits as home security?

For all of us who are feeling a bit feisty, prickly and provoked by the state of things in the news, it is a good idea to have a rabbit fighter in which to park our inner brawler. Each morning I enter the studio, give him my growing stack of grievances and let him go to work. He never reports back to me, so I'm not quite sure what he has done. But I feel better and he doesn't seem to mind. :)

I can't swear to it, but it is entirely possible he has grown a bit larger each day. Hmmmmmm.

work in process

About the art: beginning with one of Valerie Erichsen Thomson's partially completed canvases (which provides an underpainting of rich, deep colors) and sketching with colored pencil. Slowly adding layers of thinned paint (I am now using walnut oil instead of Liquin, better for the environment and less toxic for the artist) and carving back through with a chopstick or rubber wedge to reveal hints of that rich underpainting.

80 million layers or so later, a final coat of thick paint with a palette knife on the rabbit's garment and body to add texture. Once dried, a coat of Gamvar varnish to bring out the darks and make the fiery colors sing.

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An Invitation You Can't Decline

The Witness

Approximating the Landscape of Truth

Double Dutch and Double Dare You

Rabbit Fighter

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