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"Weary of Captivity" - oil on cradled wood panel, 18 x 24 x 1.5 inches. This item is unframed but ready to hang. (click on the image to purchase) LISTEN to the blog by clicking the DOWNLOAD link below
I don't have the answers. Just a growing sense of unease and concern. And a willingness to be there for anyone who needs/wants to commiserate. For the past year, as I process my own experiences I've been increasingly drawn to create ballgown-bots. Largely faceless, masked cyborgian females with fancy garb. At first they were cheeky, haunting, peculiar. But now they have taken on a larger, societal meaning and a mission of their own. Are they faceless because they are afraid and unseen? Or because they are armored and shielded? And so I am wondering - what do they mean to you, dear readers? About the art: this is a paint-over (oil over oil) of an existing piece, which adds a lovely depth of color and texture. On a recent playdate with the AI bot, I wrote "pink backpack" and let it run. There were many, many delightfully cheeky monsters and odd humans with backpacks of all sizes. The whole session left me grinning! One of them was more of a mash-up of victorian schoolgirl and cyberpunk ballgown-bot, which inspired this piece. The goal here was the lovely limited palette and high contrast with loose, painterly brushstrokes. The December Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered. One (or more) lucky commenters will receive an original piece of art in the mail - free!
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 "A Formula For The Future" - oil on canvas, 30 x 10 x .75 inches. This is unframed but ready to hang. (click on the image to purchase) LISTEN to the blog by clicking the DOWNLOAD link above
About the art: this canvas has been murdered many times. Layers and layers of overly precious brush strokes, dabs and do-das. Each time I dragged the squeegee across it and said NO NO NO, that just won't do. And finally, letting the feelings direct the painting, I allowed the darkness to hover, the drama and big strokes to take over, and the tiny bit of light to emerge. And (drum roll please) - the winners of the November Reader Giveaway! Congratulations to Nance F. and Emma F. - Wonder Mike chose your names at random from the pool of this month's commenters. Send your mailing address to thewanderingsoflola!gmail.com and your original artworks will be in the mail to you! Big thanks to everyone who participated. A new contest begins next month!
About the art: beginning with a well-gesso'd linen wrapped canvas and a long brush laden with thinned paint, I made a rough sketch of the figure, leaving the wing feathers mostly undefined. To achieve a super dark background, I worked first from the outside-in, laying down a wash of darks and cutting in to the edges of the figure. Then working from the inside outward and allowing the edges to blend in places with the wet darks. A dance of back and forth between the inside to the outside and then the reverse to keep the darks building in intensity and some of the edges wispy. The requisite 80 million layers on the wings and dress. A month of drying time before coming in with a thin, wet brush to create the ball of "twine" and have it stand out from the rest of the piece. The inspiration for this one came from the psilocybin journey I took over the summer, where I could "see" a feathery presence gently protecting my heart and spirit. Perhaps we all have wings... The November Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered.
And the Once-a-Year Sale is ON NOW! Get your original art while it lasts - the artist has murderous intentions with gesso!
About the art: another inspiration image from the AI bot that launched me into another world of paint exploration. I asked for one thing, received another and then created something further afield than that. Beginning with a very old acrylic painting on arches watercolor paper, I sketched the figure and began laying in the background colors loosely, allowing one color to blend into the next for an ombre effect. Using light washes thinned with walnut oil, it takes a LOT of layers. I embraced some hard shadows on the figure - skeletal? Cyborg? Alien? Who knows? But she likes her fancy clothes and isn't afraid to wear them with a helmet. Using a small rubber wedge, I carved back into the wet paint layers in the dress to expose a bit of the underpainting. I cannot help but wonder what she's thinking... The October Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on any of this month's blog posts to be automatically entered. One (or more) lucky commenters will win a piece of original artwork - FREE! Now that's a treat for your Halloween bag. :)
About the art: Wonderland is never far from my imagination. It was just a matter of time before the Queen of Hearts made another appearance. And in this one, her voice VERY LOUD, she asks for (nay, DEMANDS) exactly what she wants. This is one of those pieces that happened easily, relatively swiftly and without much gnashing of teeth. A neutral underpainting, a quick sketch with brush and dark paint, layers of walnut-oil thinned paint on skin and clothing. A little extra care with the focal point (her open mouth) and a full RESIST RESIST RESIST when I wanted to keep fussing with it. I mean, if you get what you ask for, stop and enjoy it - don't keep fussing at it. Sheesh. Artists are troublesome. :) The September Reader Giveaway has begun! Leave a comment on a blog post this month and be automatically entered. Leave multiple comments to be entered as many times! The winner will be drawn at random at the end of the month, and will receive a piece of original art - free! Hooray!
 Dolores on Tuesday "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?
Think of DNA, Seaton writes. Oh, I do. The things that make a person odd are odd themselves. Oddly, 50% of my DNA is mysterious, of unknown origin, vague shadows of Turkey and Italy and other unexpected lands. An unknown father. A story that died with my mother, before it was ever told. It remains her secret. It's odd to come back to life, says Seaton. And yet we do, cycling through seasons of turning within and blossoming without, coming back to life when we rediscover lost parts of ourselves and when we discover new parts we perhaps never knew existed. Seaton's words take us down into that dark valley, hinting at the irreversible and then suddenly resurrecting us with a single sentence - she came back to life. Oh! About the art: beginning with black gesso over an old acrylic painting and carving through the gesso while wet to expose some of the original colors. Once dry, a loose figure sketch in white. Working from the outside-in to further define the figure by using a rubber wedge and walnut oil thinned paint. For the figure and the moon, many layers of thinned paint with broad strokes, keeping it loose. Blending with fingers and a soft cloth. Allowing some edges to remain crisp while blurring others. Carving through the wet paint with a small rubber edge to create texture in the "fabric". Standing (or sitting) ten feet back periodically to keep from losing the gesture of the piece. I've got a small sofa at a set distance from the work in process now. Sitting there and contemplating each piece daily has helped me see better where a painting works and doesn't.
About the art: the AI bot is learning my innermost ballgown bot dreams. It has begun layering my reference images with dripping fabric and paint, spring pastels and the soft hint of wings. Oh oh and OH! Beginning with a cradled wood panel gesso'd in white and drawing the form shapes with colored pencil. Working from the outside in for the base layers to keep the form edges crisp, then from the inside out to allow the oil-thinned paint at the bottom of her gown to drip and mix with the background underpainting. Brushes, rubber wedges, fingers and a soft cloth were used in creating this piece. Allowing the thickness of final paint layers to create texture and fabric folds. As always, resisting the urge to perfect, walking away and looking back from a distance to see her essence. I think she's quite content.
In the midst of a breakdown, we often wonder whether we have gone mad. We have not. We’re behaving oddly, no doubt, but beneath the agitation we are on a hidden yet logical search for health. We haven’t become ill; we were ill already. Our crisis, if we can get through it, is an attempt to dislodge us from a toxic status quo and constitutes an insistent call to rebuild our lives on a more authentic and sincere basis. It belongs, in the most acute and panicked way, to the search for self-knowledge. - Alain de Botton The School of Life: An Emotional Education
It can begin with a fear of public speaking, or heights, or social situations or something seemingly silly and benign. It may be based on a frightening or painful past experience, or it may not. The why does not matter to the Honey Badger. You can waste a lot of time asking why. The real question is: what? What is your body experiencing, what was the situation before hand, what can you do to feel better?
Congratulations, Candis and Thea! Wonder Mike chose your names at random as winners of the March Reader Giveaway! Email your mailing address to [email protected] and your free art will be on its way to you. Thank you for sharing your super powers with us. xo
About the art: at this point, I have hundreds of inspiration images for this series of ballgown-bots. It becomes easier to see what poses, fabrics, colors and compositions grab my attention - like this one, which I loved immediately. Beginning with unprimed Yupo, I sketched the rough outline of the figure and painted the first wash of the background first. Building layers on the figure, then carving into wet paint with a rubber wedge to "draw" the pleats and folds of the fabric. Rubbing away paint in highlight areas and to expose the now stained Yupo. More layers to the background to deepen the darks. After several days of drying time, a thinned layer of white applied with a large rubber wedge in a circular pattern to soften the "poufs" and give weightlessness to the fabric trim. If only I could wave a paint-laden wedge over my wardrobe...
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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