About the art: continuing an exploration of a mash-up of robot and human as in the ballgown bot series, except this time exposing the vulnerable flesh of humanness with the slight augment of the cyborgian (is that a word?). The goal with this piece was to embrace the neutrality of the figure coloring and allow the background and the robotic arm pieces to be the only obvious color. As always, the Yupo allows an easy, relatively rapid layering of oil paint, and also the ability to carve back through it (the background design elements and the artist's signature) to expose a pale pink underpainting. This piece just oozes strength and bold badassery to me. Yaaaaasssss please. Congratulations to Dotty and Marta! Wonder Mike chose your names at random as winners of the August Reader Giveaway! Send your mailing addresses to Wonder Mike at [email protected] and your free art will be shipped to you lickety split! And thanks so much to all who participated. A new contest begins next month! Hooray!
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The ballgown bots are something I stumbled upon that delight me and seem to feel effortless under my hands. But it is a rarity, this sense of ease in the paint. As I gaze upon the pile of canvases and boards to be painted over (my share of duds) I am decidedly grateful for a wizardly moment with the paint. About the art: this is a paint-over of a very old acrylic piece on crescent board. Though I chose the underpainting because of its color and depth, ultimately none of it remains in this new painting. The focus of this piece is that small section of skin against the dark background - a wee bit of humanity within the monstrous. After a light pencil sketch, I began layering the darks, painting around the form until the shapes were just so. Resisting the desire to overly define the skin shadows, letting shapes speak instead. Layers and layers of pink and gold for the dress, wet into wet so the edges slightly blur into the dark background like gauzy silk. Mixing the darkest darks for bodice and underskirt (while avoiding actual black) and then a slightly gray-brown dark for the background. Playing one dark against the other. Allowing a small shape within the headpiece to say "eye" and a dark shape to say "ear" and leaving the rest to the viewer's eyes. This piece makes me smile. She's a badass for sure. It's the final week to enter the August Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art! The winner will be announced in next week's post.
Part of the art of the trapdoor is being present with where you are within it - are you in the terror and longing? Are you in surrender? Are you in the singing of the small voice of your soul? Not forcing, just accepting, having faith that it is, indeed, a process that you will move through and emerge from - you see, I know this, but doing it is something else entirely. Sigh. But I am learning to look at these experiences as I would a painting - some of them emerge from their "ugly" phase and become something radiant. Some are just practice pieces that are huge fails on their own, but teach me something that will make the next one easier, better, more. These small, incremental shifts in seeing challenging experiences just a little bit differently will one day pay off. Just watch - I'll be gliding my way through effortlessly and gracefully. Well, that's the goal, anyway. About the art: hello, Yupo - it is always nice to be on your playground, where layers build brilliantly and paint glides like butter. For this piece, the main focus was capturing the mottled tones of the main character's face, which came only after the 80 millionth layer. But at that moment - voila! Such satisfaction. The folds and lines in the clothing are created by using a small rubber wedge to carve back through the paint. Yupo is the only substrate I've found that this works so smoothly with. The August Reader Giveaway is in full swing! One (or more) lucky readers will win a free piece of art! Just subscribe, read and comment anytime in the month of August to enter. Already subscribed? Just comment to enter! Comment multiple times during the month and be entered as many times. WHOA! Wonder Mike LOVES sending free art each month. The winner will be announced here in the blog at the end of the month. Ready? Set? ENTER!
 "Number is Portal" - oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 30 x 10 x 1.5 inches.
 "Understanding is Joy" - oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 12 x .75 inches
About the art: these pieces were all painted alla prima (wet into wet), beginning with a very wet background of darks and building the layers in increasing thickness toward the lights. What I learned through many iterations is: the details get in the way with these - a hint is better than full disclosure, a clue rather than an answer. For several pieces, I fell into the mistake of overly detailed fluffy clouds, which looked, I don't know, contrived and meh. A squeegee across the wet paint immediately improved everything. After a long drying time, a final coat of varnish on the wood-based pieces added depth and deepened the darks. It's time to begin the August Reader Giveaway! Subscribe! Read! Comment! Be automatically entered to win an original artwork - FREE! The winner will be announced at the end of the month. Ready? Set? WIN!
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?
It's the July Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment (or more than one - each comment counts as an entry!) on any of this month's blog posts. At the end of the month, one (or more) lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a free piece of art. Huzzah!
It's time for the July Reader Giveaway! Leave a comment on a blog post this month and be automatically entered in the drawing for FREE ART! Woot! Your participation helps me, helps others and adds some sparkle to the universe. Thank you!!
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AuthorLola Jovan 
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