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Coming Home From Lonely Places
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Coming Home From Lonely Places
oil on wood panel
16 x 20 x .75
This item is unframed but ready to hang
(click on the image to purchase)
Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.― John Le Carre
Oh oh OH, you may be thinking - Lola is back in space again! Indeed I am. But it isn't my fault this time. Really! Truly! I blame it on Carl Stoveland.
You see, Carl sent some images he created with the AI bot of a new series called "geishanauts" and then challenged me to paint one. I had to! If ballgown bots and geishanauts met for tea, I am certain it would be the talk of the town. And also, I am not one to hesitate when someone throws down an art challenge.
And when the quote came across my path (we're blazing through Le Carre's George Smiley series here at home) I thought - whoa! THIS!
You see, Carl sent some images he created with the AI bot of a new series called "geishanauts" and then challenged me to paint one. I had to! If ballgown bots and geishanauts met for tea, I am certain it would be the talk of the town. And also, I am not one to hesitate when someone throws down an art challenge.
And when the quote came across my path (we're blazing through Le Carre's George Smiley series here at home) I thought - whoa! THIS!
Why? Because making art, being an artist, creating artistic pieces is largely a solitary life. It requires vast stretches of solitude and loneliness, and we may just "go a little mad" as Le Carre says, spending so much time in a world no one else sees. But there is also a sense of community - slim strings of connection and resonance - which allow a little feeling of being a bit less isolated when those strings are strummed (or twanged or plucked).
So here's to all of you out there in lonely places of creativity, making magic behind the curtain. I'm sending a geishanaut to your galaxy to check in on you. :)
So here's to all of you out there in lonely places of creativity, making magic behind the curtain. I'm sending a geishanaut to your galaxy to check in on you. :)
About the art: this is a paint over of an older oil painting. The beauty of it is the instant texture and colorful underpainting (which shows through a wee bit in the geishanaut's uniform). I jumped off from Stoveland's idea with my own AI bot session, asking for a mash-up of Diebenkorn, Moebius and Fritz Scholder as style instructions. Armed with a bevy of painterly compositions, colors and figures, I ultimately settled on this piece. I began with the background, taping off the quadrants and applying thin layers of color. Then the figure, loosely brushed in and then refined as the composition took shape. Carving back through the wet background to create some swirling movement. Adding many many glazing layers to suggest light and shadow. This quiet explorer has been most excellent company in the studio.
It's June! A new month, a new giveaway! Leave a comment on any blog post during the month of June to be automatically entered to win a piece of original art - FREE! And thanks always to everyone who reads, comments and shares this blog. It helps make this solitary artist feel a little less like a voice in the wilderness of the internet. :)
Thank your Geishanaut for looking out for me, really had a bad one today! Waking up to find someone hacked my site, posted a stupid post, which thank G_d no-one but me saw! Post deleted, user deleted, security plugin installed.
Love her serenity! Come anytime, made some great blintzes for the holiday.
BTW I still haven't found a good ai (free) to use. What does Carl use?
So sorry to hear of your hack...cyber nonsense is so frustrating! I've been getting a dozen new followers every day - all spam bots that I have to delete. Oy!
The geishanaut would love some blintzes! She will be right there!
Carl and I both use Midjourney. I am using the professional paid version so I can own the copyrights and operate in stealth mode (others cannot take the images that way). It is worth it! xo
My geishnaut is still on my mental easel. I had the best of intentions but it has not happened yet. Most of my painting has been for classes I’m teaching. I’m down to two classes a week for summer so I hope to do one or two small gouache versions. I’m traveling to California this summer and planning to take my gouache paints. So this will be great practice. Great work!! And thanks for the inspiration to circle back on this idea. BTW I love the Smiley books. I’ve read most of them a few times.
Best
Carl
I love the concept of "Coming home from very lonely places -- we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen."
Perhaps it's time for me to break out my proverbial space suit, do some interstellar travel in my mind, and arrive home, slightly mad, yet knowing...I've got this.
...and oh, the stories I will tell about it...
xoxoxoxo
PS - one day I will have the funds to purchase this piece <3
P.S. I'd be honored for this piece to live with you. xoxoxo
Just reading this after a huge drive back from a national park, and wow, now I can see that drive as a time I was "inhabiting a world no one has ever seen."
Deep! I want to see myself on the drive as a mental astronaut of sorts, floating over a stream of road thoughts.
You always make me think.
xo