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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Sam Yamauchi ( www.samyamauchiart.com ) said it perfectly in a recent social media post - we need to keep the door to what can be open. And Maria Popova, quoting the book Miss Leoparda, wrote shaken with disbelief but knowing that the most valiant way to complain is to create... OH! I'd love to know what you're doing to complain valiantly, to open the door to what can be. Leave a comment! About the art: beginning with a pristine piece of yupo, and setting down washes of thinned paint. I added thicker layers, then carved back through with a small rubber wedge and let those layers dry thoroughly. The layers allow some excellent textures and raised patterns, something yupo is very good at enabling. An entirely intuitive piece, painted with rubber wedge, chopsticks, fingers and paper towels. Responding to color against color, harsh lines against softness, darks against lights. Allowing the upside-downiness of it (sky below, oppressive heaviness above) to remain. This one moves me. The March Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - FREE!
So this ballgown bot appeared at an interesting time, demanding I ponder the thoughts of others, demanding I remind myself daily of who I am, not who others say I am or what others say I am allowed to do and to be. Feisty, this one. About the art - beginning with a large acrylic painting on arches 300 lb watercolor paper, taping it off into two vertical sections and drawing directly on top of it with a thick black paint pen. Working from the outside in (many layers to get that dark, dark, dark) and then the inside out (many layers to get the shades of pink and flesh and shadows) always in thinned layers of paint (using linseed oil now instead of walnut oil). Initially working wet into wet to get softness, then a long drying time. Wet on dry for crisp edges, and then wet on the new wet for blurred edges of fabric fading into the dark. Push and pull, harden and soften, with a final layer of dark paint to be sure the face disappears entirely into the background. I cannot see her eyes, and yet I do feel her stare. The February Reader Giveaway begins today! Leave a comment on one (or more) blog posts this month to be automatically entered. The winner will be announced right here on March 3. And thanks so much for reading, sharing, commenting and supporting this space, the art and the artist. You (and you, and YOU!) make all of this mean so very much to me. xo
You may have been wondering where the abstracts have been lately. They were all tied up in this one BIG piece, which asked for weeks of work and layers (and layers and LAYERS) of paint. A departure from my more usual abstract style, but I am just tickled with it. Perhaps I've been watching too many of Brian Rutenbergs studio videos on YouTube - his works are huge! The satisfaction of laying down thick layers of paint with a massive rubber wedge and brush is pretty big, too. And carving back through thick paint with a chopstick is mmmmmmm good. This piece is part of my annual painting murder season, where a dozen or so paintings are destroyed, gesso'd and/or painted over to clear away the old and make room for the new. For this one, I flipped it and drew the new design right on top of the acrylic underpainting using a UniPosca paint pen, then commenced with the layers of oil paint. A complete transformation, I'd say!
A big welcome to the new blog readers and subscribers from Bluesky! Hooray! Your presence here makes this an even better place to be. :)
The January Reader Giveaway continues! Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered. Someone is going to win an original piece of art - free! Now that's something to celebrate!
Big thanks to everyone who rescued art from "gesso murder" (as one collector brilliantly called it) during the once-a-year save-the-art-from-the-gesso sale. My heart is full knowing all the paintings that whispered (or shouted) are heading off to the place they truly belong.
And stay tuned for the last Reader Giveaway of 2024 - the twelfth month of giving away art! Woot!
This piece is painted upon one of the many canvases given to me by the late Valerie Erichsen Thomson, and so is already a piece laden with the passage of time and the brevity of life. And yet, the tilt of this crow's head - is that a knowing smile? Broader feathers, wide wings - oh yes. And some big ol' feet and long legs, please. Now you're talking.
What has been uncovered while in the rabbit hole? The many sides of Alice, the peculiarity of life and the nonsense of trying to understand others and their realities, and the many dark shadows surrounding the creation of Alice in the real world. And as life imitates art, my own plunge into a rabbit hole has revealed nonsensical situations, people and dark shadows as well. I've got a pile of books in the studio, and I pause to read and reflect while contemplating the paintings in their various stages. Permission to Feel (recommended by blogger, reader and artist extraordinaire Dotty Seiter) has been a map through some of the more challenging parts of my own Wonderland. The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay, has me teary and grateful. Journey of the Heart, by John Welwood, has me nodding and feeling seen in the world of sensitive hearts. And now, these and others are interwoven here in the studio with Alice and all the symbolism of an extraordinary, timeless story. Let's head off together, dear reader, on the next adventure now. TTFN, Alice. I'm sure we'll be back again. xo
I'm lost in space again in the studio. It's an exhilarating place to be. Fueled by our most recent read, a delightful book in the Monk and Robot series. Filled with tea-serving traveling monks, robots who live in the wild and philosophies that just leave me weeping with delight. Life as imagined on this moon world is something to be carefully sipped and savored. What have I done this past year? I've thrown purposeful productivity to the wind in favor of a more meandering existence. I mean, I get the important things done, but maybe the most important thing is really simply existing. Just being is good enough. In fact, it's splendidly marvelous. It does result in a very random path in the studio, with no less than ten paintings in various stages of exploration. Each of them on top of a prior painting that has been recycled. And, thanks to the insightful recommendations of reader/artist Carol E, there is a huge container of cold wax and a new book of inspirational techniques waiting to become...something. Atoms arranged in the right way, perhaps? About the art - using the Afterlight app to insert an inspirational photo of a space helmet into a portrait reference photo, I created a jumping off point for a light pencil sketch on linen. Choosing an extremely narrow color palette and adding thinned layers of oil paint with rubber wedge, brush and fingers. Allowing dragged paint to become highlights and reflections. Wondering what the woman in the helmet is pondering.
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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