LolaJovan.com
  • Home
  • ART
  • BLOG
  • Exhibits
    • The Downside of Lycanthropy
    • A Song for the Hunted
    • The Wild God
    • NUDGE - SHOVE
  • BOOKS

Sorrow is the True Wild

7/3/2023

3 Comments

 
"Sorrow is the True Wild" - oil on Yupo, 17 x 24.  Available here and at Artfinder.

Is sorrow the true wild?
And if it is -and if we join them - your wild to mine - what's that?
For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation.
What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying.
I'm saying: What if that is joy?
- ROSS GAY, The Book of Delights
​
We leave Alice exploring in the background for a bit as we dive into the wild-er-ness.  Wilder than Alice?  Oh, indeed.

This month, mixed-media mosaic artist Helaine Abramson and I explore wolves, women and art in A Song For The Hunted.  When creating a show like this, there are a lot of things that end up on the cutting room floor, as they say.
Picture
Sorrow is the True Wild
Picture
We give ourselves a restricted number of pieces for these shows, but the muse doesn't care for rules or guidelines, so there are stacks of wolves and women who appeared along the way.  And threads of thought and inspiration less explored, like this one - sharing sorrow, joining wilds, creating joy.

If the "wild" is the sorrow and the sorrow is the wolf, then my wolf looms large and feisty behind me.  Hovering, coloring what I see, shadowing.  But that very thing, shared with another, does, indeed create a visceral JOY - a connection unexpected and energetic and healing.  Oh yes. 

About the art:  for this one, I used myself as a model for the AI bot, uploading my own photo and asking for woman and wolf in a sepia-toned sketch.   Six degrees of separation from my photo later, the bot landed on a series of woman and wolf sketches that had my inner muse beaming.

Beginning with a light wash of  thinned oil paint on Yupo and a very sketchy charcoal sketch, slowly adding varied values.  Carving back through the wet paint with chopstick, rubber wedge, paintbrush handles to create a scratch, sketchy textured feel to the paint.  As always, resisting the urge to overly define, letting the wildness remain.

Picture

Picture
We've launched softly this month...little fanfare, a few cheeky adverts.  We are so incredibly grateful for the hundreds of you who have already stopped in on opening weekend, left comments on Facebook and Instagram, sent emails and encouragement.

The show is open through July 31.  Pop in as often as you'd like!  And who knows?  One (or more!) visitors and commenters this month may win a little something from us. Woot!  Or should we say "awoooooooooooooo"?
3 Comments
Carol Edan link
7/4/2023 10:47:17 am

Love your muted palette, the expressions, the eyes, and the tangles of the hair! Who is shielding who?

Reply
lola
7/5/2023 02:26:32 pm

Carol - OMG! Now you've got me thinking...whoa.

Reply
Dotty Seiter gmail link
7/7/2023 09:30:21 am

My eyes to the woman's eyes; such a compelling pull. Then, to her mouth, also compelling. Framed by her hair, eyes and mouth together so much more than either without the other, eyes and mouth together—hard-hitting as they may be—create something unwavering but with an inner softness.

A favorite stopping place: the woman's implied shoulder. Masterfully suggested.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lola Jovan

    Picture

    Get Mail!

    * indicates required
    /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

    Intuit Mailchimp

    Categories

    All
    An Unexpected Life
    Bones
    Bossy Pants
    Mischief And Malarkey
    Rewilding
    The Art Of Seeing
    The Inner Landscape
    The Weight Of Words

contact lola
Picture
Here's the blue wild, where
tiny dreamers ride beasts, speak
​ birdsong, hold the moon.

(by poet Mary W. Cox)
​


​Art prints available on request
  • Home
  • ART
  • BLOG
  • Exhibits
    • The Downside of Lycanthropy
    • A Song for the Hunted
    • The Wild God
    • NUDGE - SHOVE
  • BOOKS