A brilliant friend and fabulous creator (hello, Thea and thank you for being SUPER!) suggested I keep the lovely words people write or say about me and/or my art on the wall in my studio. Reminders of who and what others think I am - words my inner critic might not choose to describe me. And those words uplift, encourage, inspire and EMPOWER me to tackle things I fear, to use bold brushstrokes, to show paintings I might hide, and to clomp around in tall, clunky and punky boots in the middle of August, just because they make me feel like a badass. YOU, dear reader, are a super hero. And I want to know - what's your untapped superpower? About the art: beginning with an unprimed wood panel, I brushed on a thick layer of sealer and let it dry. While waiting for it to cure, I created both a mask and a stencil of the intended design. Using the mask first to protect the design areas, I added black gesso to ground the figure into the painting, expanding some of it into her perch. Once dry, I used the stencil and white gesso to create a brilliant contrast for the figure. Once that was also dry, a few days of meditative pen and ink to create tree branches, stones and a woman of wonder. Finally, a coat of spray sealant to keep everything in place and add a tiny bit of shine to the piece. Voila! The August Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post during this month to be automatically entered to win one of two pieces of original art - FREE! Thanks to everyone who reads, comments and shares this blog. You make this space magic-filled! XO
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That doesn't change the need to react to fire and dragons now, no no no! We must! And we do. But it does mean we can also begin to allow our curiosity about what comes afterward to blossom and grow. To make a space for something else, even if that something may take a long time in coming. About the art: this piece emerged from a call-and-response moment in the studio - this color calls me, that color responds; this movement feels right, that movement feels next; this tool wants to be used, and that tool raises its hand and yells "me next!" Maybe it is a response to all of the wildfires here in the PNW now, my heart sitting out there with the trees and creatures and willing them to safety. The unpainted edges of white Yupo feel like cooling snow, which is coming, along with the rains. Soon, so soon. The August Reader Giveaway continues! Not one but TWO lucky readers and commenters will receive a small landscape painting free! To enter, subscribe and leave a comment on any post during the month of August. The winners will be announced right here on September 1. And thanks to everyone who reads, comments and shares this site - it warms my heart. xo
About the art: beginning with a gesso'd canvas panel, I roughed in the figure with a long brush laden with thinned dark oil paint. Just a light wash to get the gist of it down. Then a base layer for the background, refining the figure proportions from the outside in, and a long drying time. As has become my habit, I then tackled the face, shoulders and hand to remove any trepidation, allowing them to dry thoroughly while working on the dress and hair. This piece has the requisite 80 million layers to achieve the color saturation and shading. More layers for the skintones, more layers for the background, more layers for the dress and then a final layer for that blush foreground. Oooooh la la! She is a powerful one!
Hikes require an entirely different set of physical accomodations, and rockhounding in the ocean yet another. But this is the price of reaching that feeling of unleashedness - like Wonder Mike feels when we're at the beach and he finally, FINALLY gets to run wildly up and down the sand, racing far away from us and then zooming back, giddy with his freedom. Oliver is so right - we need also all the good attachments to that origin (wilderness) that we can keep or restore. And so off we go, Wonder Mike, too, for another brief getaway into all that is wild and wonderful. I can hardly wait!
About the art: I often use people and pets as inspiration for fantasy images. In this one, I used Wonder Mike as a jumping off point, and ended up with this gazelle-like soulful dog, who clearly does not belong on a leash. For this one, many, MANY layers of thinned oil paint to create the bold, abstracted shapes and colors in the background, and to create the shadows and fleshtones of the dog. Alternating between wide, wet brushes and thin, dry brushes for movement and detail. Resisting the urge to define the background, allowing the dog to come forward and the leash and its shadow to feature prominantly. As with the controversial gun in a recent painting of Pippi Longstocking, the leash symbolizes so many things. What does it mean to you, dear reader?
The July Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art. The winner will be announced right here in the blog on August 4th. And thanks so much for your participation!
It isn't always easy, of course. It is, however, always messy. Werewolves just aren't that neat, and we don't expect them to be.
The July Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - free!
And thanks for reading, subscribing and sharing this blog. You, dear readers, make this little space sparkle! xo
Which sent a flood of awareness coursing over me - all the people whose benefits, jobs, housing, education, food, utilities, medical care and citizenship are at stake now. First a trickle, then the flood. But we see you, human monsters. We see you and we vote. We protest, we write letters and send emails and make phone calls. We see you.
About the art: a mad fury of paint-laden palette knives and Yupo, big gestures and small, creating the landscape even as I wandered through it. Unrelenting paint, colors melding, smashing, carving and cresting, letting the chaos both exist and get wrangled simultaneously. Walking away before getting precious with it. Congratulations to Carol E! Wonder Mike chose your name at random from this month's commenters. Hooray! Send your mailing address to [email protected] and your original art will be flying across the world in a jiffy.
Thank you to everyone who participated this month! A new giveaway begins one week from today.
About the art: I can't seem to stay away from monsters. This is a larger iteration of a guy I recently made and kind of adore. He's enthusiastic about EVERYTHING! Beginning with an unprimed cradled wood panel, I applied a sparse layer of white gesso (keeping the background a bit like a white-washed picket fence). I used black gesso to create the vertical backdrop for Marvin, masking off the areas for balloon and figure. The rest was a joyful meditation of pen and ink (Rotring Tikky Graphic Artist Pens work well on gesso'd wood) and then a black Posca pen for the ground beneath Marvin.
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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