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!
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Ross talked to squirrels and rabbits. I do, too (and crows, and hummingbirds). There is good science behind the importance of getting out and experiencing a bit of awe in the world: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/awe-wonder-walk-improve-health_uk_676fd08ce4b02a171f25b1cb. Awe can be inspired by nature, by music and (of course) by art. Which may be a good thing to focus on in 2025. Awe as an antidote to wonkiness in the wide world? Well, it's a start anyway. I'd love to hear where you find awe - leave a comment below! One (or more) lucky commenters this month will win a piece of original art - free! About the art: this rabbit (the first in a series of lagomorphs) was inspired by the works of Möbius and Diebenkorn. Beginning with a rough sketch in thinned oil paint and slowly adding layers of color. Keeping a basic geometry to the background and adding texture with chopsticks, butcher paper and a squeegee. Allowing edges to be soft and hard, and letting the texture on the rabbit build up to pull him forward in the piece. Some very thinned paint for the dripping on his shirt front and a long, long drying time. I can't help but grin when I look at him. :) Congratulations to Trina T.! Wonder Mike chose your name at random as winner of the December Reader Giveaway! Send your mailing address to [email protected] and your prize will be in the post! And thanks to everyone who participated. Your comments are a great gift to me and to other blog readers.
A new contest begins today! Leave a comment on any post in January to be entered.
About the art: this piece is a paint over of an existing work, which always lends extra depth and interest to the overall effect. For this one, many layers of walnut oil-thinned paint of various colors for the border and background, then drawing through those layers with a small rubber wedge to reveal some of the underpainting and create a faux border. The crow itself is made of many layers of blues and blacks applied with a wet, thin brush in long strokes, letting the paint lay like "feathers". Lots of drying time on this majestic bird. The November Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment (or more than one) on any blog post this month to enter. The winner (or winners) will be announced on November 25, right here in the blog. Hooray!
 Don't Expect This To Be Scientifically Plausible - LISTEN to the blog by clicking the DOWNLOAD link below "Don't Expect This To Be Scientifically Plausible" oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 12 x 1.5 inches. This item is unframed but ready to hang. (click on the image to purchase) Yes, don’t expect this novella to be scientifically plausible. It’s not. It’s a totally absurd, tongue-in-cheek mishmash of the most popular time travel tropes, juggled with admirable deftness and self-awareness by the angry old man in the center of the story. Time travel serves here only as a literary vehicle for funny and sharp critique of our human foibles and vices and prejudices. And if we can get an adorable, feathered, man-eating dinosaur as a bonus, all the better. - RE-ENCHANTMENTOFTHEWORLD.BLOG
About the art: oh, you may have guessed the AI bot loves rabbits. It is fully willing and able to imagine rabbits in every possible scenario, style and genre of art. Ask it for an angry rabbit at the end of the world, and you'll get dozens of grin-inducing inspiration images. This piece is all about that black rabbit and the vivid sky. Soft paint layers here on gesso'd wood panel. I kept the setting very neutral and understated, with the color focus behind the rabbit and within his eyes and nostrils. A hint of tiny utility lines running through the sky and resisting the desire to overly define the structures was key to shining the spotlight on the rabbit. I can't look at this piece without chuckling a bit. Sometimes embracing the absurd is just the thing to soothe the spirit. It is the final week to enter the September Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment (or more than one) this month to enter. The winner will be announced right here on September 30th.
Thank you to everyone who reads, comments and shares this blog space and the art within it. Giving away a portion of what I create is my way of showing my deep gratitude for all of you, dear readers! Thank you hugely!
About the art: another piece on dreamy Yupo, involving many layers and lots of drying time. The goal with this painting was to catch that bit of light on the boy's face and forward hand, to play with fabric and folds and to amp up the value contrast. Playing the "hard" red/orange background against the soft earth-toned left side border felt really effective. And the diagonal bit at the top right gives a sense of depth and movement. Thank you to everyone who left comments this month and entered the July Reader Giveaway! Wonder Mike had a tough time choosing, and so there are THREE winners this month. Congratulations to Charlynn, Lisa C-G and Thamer! Please send your mailing address to Wonder Mike at [email protected]. A new contest begins next month! Huzzah!
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!
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?
Art is autobiographical it always means something - something about me My insides, my demons, my outsides, opinions things churning up something to see But people are not so unique our patterns repeat and persist I can see you in there You can see me in here We are all tangled up (and so often banged up) Resemblance is not to be missed. - LOLA
It's time for the FEBRUARY READER CHALLENGE! Channel your inner composer and lyricist - if your life were a musical, what would it be called? Extra points if you've got some lyrics to share. :)
The winner will be chosen at random by Wonder Mike at the end of the. month, and will receive a piece of art FREE! Woot!
At least, that's the surface, snarky description of the thing. The more vulnerable, prickly artist's intuition description is this: in the search for emotion, can it be found in the thing that has none? And even further, will a thing without emotion (the AI bot) create emotive inspiration images of those emotionless things? And are we, as humans, more than the sum of our own genetic programming and patterns? Is there free will? Or are we following a path preordained by DNA and body chemistry? I fear I've bitten off something rather large. But let's go anyway, yes?
I can hardly believe it. NO WAY! This is the last post of 2023 - where did the time go? But here we are, so let's go out with a grand finale - a series of four abstracts (a four course meal) paired with a poem that grabbed me (a deep red wine with a heady bouquet and a lingering, oaky finish). For dessert? How about some winning readers (a warmed, rich berry pie topped with ice cream). Oh, oh and OH! Now we're going to need a long winter's nap.
Thank you to everyone who participated in 2023's monthly Reader Giveaways. More than 25 parcels were delivered to lucky winners over twelve months. And the final winners of the year (selected at random by Wonder Mike) are: Dotty S. Trina T., C and Carl S. Email [email protected] with your shipping address, then watch your mailbox for a sweet surprise - and thanks so much for reading and commenting.
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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