- Published on
"A Preponderance of Pondering" - oil on Yupo, 19.75 x 25 inches. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
Tis the season for pondering.
Brisk, blustery, overcast, drizzly and growing darker as the days shorten. The monsters have left the studio to hang out at the pub, and here at Malarkey Central there remain some random rabbits and this painted lady, who claims to be the spokesperson for contemplation.
Ponderers of the world, do you feel the fall? Are your thoughts deeper, richer, more velvety as winter approaches? Are your reveries more reflective? Do you roll and ruminate, cerebrate and speculate?
A Preponderance of Pondering
Sometimes, my cogitation causes agitation. Deliberation and examination makes a conflagration of my harmoniousness. Yup, over-thinking can make a fine mess.
But channel it down the right rabbit hole and you might just find the lyrics to an as yet unwritten musical about rabbits. Which might lead to painting a passel of lagomorphs. All of whom are quite excited to meet you, dear reader. Just as soon as we complete this particular ponder.
But channel it down the right rabbit hole and you might just find the lyrics to an as yet unwritten musical about rabbits. Which might lead to painting a passel of lagomorphs. All of whom are quite excited to meet you, dear reader. Just as soon as we complete this particular ponder.
About the art: If I haven't gushed enough about oil on Yupo, let me gush a little more. Building layers on Yupo is delicious. And carving back through those wet layers with a small rubber wedge creates the most satisfying textures and lines (for example, the highlights in her headpiece) I wanted to build the background layers to suggest but not define, to provide a slightly abstracted setting and incorporate the figure. Dragging a wide rubber wedge through the wet paint created just the right amount of line, and a little massaging of the paint with the wedge smoothed out unwanted hard edges easily. A few blops (that's a technical term, right?) of liquin-thinned red for the drips as the final touch.
There is still time to check out The Downside of Lycanthropy online and at Unlimited IPA in Portland. This guy has had a particularly hard go of it. He'd love a. hug...just as soon as he washes away the evidence. :)
- Published on
Devouring Grief
"Devouring Grief" - oil on canvas, 15 x 30 x .75 inches. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
Crow, devouring grief,
grows broader feathers, wide wings,
strong to soar with hope. - MARY W. COX
Our crow family at home has welcomed back Nicola (we think he is a fledgling from an earlier season), who was shunned over this year's breeding season. And the interloper (as we call a new crow) is being more and more tolerated by Rocky and Natasha. The interloper doesn't have a name yet - we shall see if they let him stick around.
In the studio, this crow was waiting for a poet. Insisting on pinks in his beak and a stark blue eye, despite my many attempts to make him fierce and monstrous. Cox's poem arrived shortly after our Lilly departed, and just after this crow was completed. I have goosebumps. Her words, this painting - a little nod and nudge from the universe.
Mary, you and the universe were in cahoots!
Crow, devouring grief,
grows broader feathers, wide wings,
strong to soar with hope. - MARY W. COX
Our crow family at home has welcomed back Nicola (we think he is a fledgling from an earlier season), who was shunned over this year's breeding season. And the interloper (as we call a new crow) is being more and more tolerated by Rocky and Natasha. The interloper doesn't have a name yet - we shall see if they let him stick around.
In the studio, this crow was waiting for a poet. Insisting on pinks in his beak and a stark blue eye, despite my many attempts to make him fierce and monstrous. Cox's poem arrived shortly after our Lilly departed, and just after this crow was completed. I have goosebumps. Her words, this painting - a little nod and nudge from the universe.
Mary, you and the universe were in cahoots!
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.
Broader feathers, wide wings - oh yes. And some big ol' feet and long legs, please. Now you're talking.
The Downside of Lycanthropy is in full swing at Unlimited IPA in Portland, OR and right here on the website. A month of monsters, werewolves and the challenges of being very different in the modern world.
Take a gander! Add a werewolf to your own peculiar collection. I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)
Self-Control is Eclipsed By the Moon
- Published on
The Werewolf Often Dines Alone
"The Werewolf Often Dines Alone" - oil on cradled panel, 18 x 24 x .75 inches. Ready to hang. Available here and at Unlimited IPA through the end of October.
He's not proud of his table manners. He can't help the mess at mealtime. If you're not particular about these things, there is a werewolf who would love your company at dinner.
October, the month of monsters, has arrived.
Here in the studio, the summer was overrun with the creation of monstrosities for this month's show at Unlimited IPA, where the owners asked me to show something a little...peculiar. Oh yes. Please and thank you.
He's not proud of his table manners. He can't help the mess at mealtime. If you're not particular about these things, there is a werewolf who would love your company at dinner.
October, the month of monsters, has arrived.
Here in the studio, the summer was overrun with the creation of monstrosities for this month's show at Unlimited IPA, where the owners asked me to show something a little...peculiar. Oh yes. Please and thank you.
Traditionally, monsters (werewolves, vampires, ghouls, zombies - OH MY!) are something to be frightened of, to run from - things that make you scream.
But what if, just for a change, we walk in the shoes of a monster? Do they have feelings? Are they lonely? Are they sad? Do they find joy in simple things? Are they worried about how they look, what others think, how to find friends?
The show explores the pitfalls of being a werewolf, the romantic interests of monsters and the joys of making a monster your friend. I hope it leaves you looking under your bed with a smile. :)
The Downside of Lycanthropy runs through October 31 at Unlimited IPA in Portland, Oregon and right here. Comments, feedback and goosebumps are welcome.
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"The Thing With Feathers (One and Two)", oil on plywood, each 16 x 15 x .25 inches. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
“Moving on, as a concept, is for stupid people, because any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project. I refuse to rush. - MAX PORTER, Grief is the Thing With Feathers
“Moving on, as a concept, is for stupid people, because any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project. I refuse to rush. - MAX PORTER, Grief is the Thing With Feathers
Both hope and grief are things with feathers.
In Porter's book, a crow represents grief, the thing with feathers, and the thing which landed in our home this week. Our sweet girl, Lilly, is gone, and our tiny tribe of four is now three.
In Porter's book, a crow represents grief, the thing with feathers, and the thing which landed in our home this week. Our sweet girl, Lilly, is gone, and our tiny tribe of four is now three.
The Thing With Feathers (One)
The Thing With Feathers (Two)
I didn't know if or how the art could help.
Silly me.
These two paintings have been watching me, waiting for their moment, which is apparently now. Wild things with feathers, each a set of hope and grief, encouraging and comforting. They are odd birds which began as exaggerations of crows, and then became their own things entirely. Which hope and grief can do, as well.
Porter writes: “Perfect devices:...crows. [They] can do things other characters can't, like eat sorrow, un-birth secrets and have theatrical battles with language and God.” Oh. The power of feathers.
Silly me.
These two paintings have been watching me, waiting for their moment, which is apparently now. Wild things with feathers, each a set of hope and grief, encouraging and comforting. They are odd birds which began as exaggerations of crows, and then became their own things entirely. Which hope and grief can do, as well.
Porter writes: “Perfect devices:...crows. [They] can do things other characters can't, like eat sorrow, un-birth secrets and have theatrical battles with language and God.” Oh. The power of feathers.
Congratulations to Carl S! Wonder Mike selected your name at random to win the September Reader Giveaway! Email your shipping address to thewanderingsoflola@gmail.com and your prize will be on the way! Thank you to everyone who participated. :)
Something monstrous is coming in October!
THE DOWNSIDE OF LYCANTHROPY
opens Oct 1 here and at Unlimited IPA in Portland, Oregon
Werewolves, vampires, monsters and more.
Just in time for the spookiest month of all.
- Published on
Simply Understanding
"Simply Understanding" - oil on Yupo, 19.5 x 24.5. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
What’s one area of your life that you keep trying to “solve” instead of simply understanding? This doesn’t have to necessarily be a relationship either. People try to “solve” their health problems with fad diets, when often they first need to develop an awareness of the emotions that enable the problems in the first place.
In my own life, I’ve often tried to “solve” my creativity by over-planning books and projects, when really I just needed to sit down and create and understand what I was feeling. - MARK MANSON
What’s one area of your life that you keep trying to “solve” instead of simply understanding? This doesn’t have to necessarily be a relationship either. People try to “solve” their health problems with fad diets, when often they first need to develop an awareness of the emotions that enable the problems in the first place.
In my own life, I’ve often tried to “solve” my creativity by over-planning books and projects, when really I just needed to sit down and create and understand what I was feeling. - MARK MANSON
Here in the studio, the love affair with pink continues. This time bouncing off the pink in an abstractscape form.
And Manson's words arrived in my in-box right on time - I am a "solver" - I throw my efforts at solving things before I even truly understand them. In my creative life, yes, but also in my regular life and in relationships. Trying to solve something feels active, empowered, strong. Trying to sit with it and feel it feels risky, vulnerable, exposed, naked.
Manson encourages us to listen to others more instead of attempting to provide solutions, but also (and more importantly) to listen to ourselves. To not fix, to not push away, to just feel it and understand why it is there in the first place.
And so I practice this in the paint, hoping it will ooze out into the rest of my world.
How about you, dear reader? Are you a solver? Or do you sit with and understand things? Leave a comment below. One lucky reader will win a small original piece of art, just for being vulnerable. Yay!
Manson encourages us to listen to others more instead of attempting to provide solutions, but also (and more importantly) to listen to ourselves. To not fix, to not push away, to just feel it and understand why it is there in the first place.
And so I practice this in the paint, hoping it will ooze out into the rest of my world.
How about you, dear reader? Are you a solver? Or do you sit with and understand things? Leave a comment below. One lucky reader will win a small original piece of art, just for being vulnerable. Yay!
Simply Understanding
About the art - beginning with white, white WHITE Yupo and a colored pencil. Lightly sketching some large shapes. Blending neutrals for sky and foreground and loosely adding them with an extra large rubber wedge. Moving the liquin-thinned paint on the Yupo is gloriously tactile and creates lovely textures. Adding pinks, then adding color to the pinks to create hot and cool zones. Using a small brush and some dark darks with restraint. Gamsol-thinned dripping paint added as a final touch. This piece feels like candy. Yum.
- Published on
"Cowboy Pink" - oil on canvas panel, 20 x 24. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
“Why were you feeling low?’ ‘Why does anyone? It creeps up on you from time to time.”
― Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers
“Why were you feeling low?’ ‘Why does anyone? It creeps up on you from time to time.”
― Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers
Here at Malarkey Central, there is a lot of pink going on.
It began with a vague idea of things with pink balloons. Which led to all sorts of shenanigans. And then appeared the cowboys. Isn't there a color called cowboy pink?
Color can surprise us - pink can be sorrowful as well as syrupy. It can be scary as well as soothing. And because we don't expect it to be anything other than sweet, in these other contexts it opens something in the heart before we can begin to put up our defenses. The ultimate in sneaky.
It began with a vague idea of things with pink balloons. Which led to all sorts of shenanigans. And then appeared the cowboys. Isn't there a color called cowboy pink?
Color can surprise us - pink can be sorrowful as well as syrupy. It can be scary as well as soothing. And because we don't expect it to be anything other than sweet, in these other contexts it opens something in the heart before we can begin to put up our defenses. The ultimate in sneaky.
Cowboy Pink
As it often happens with the art, this piece remained silent until we were reading The Sisters Brothers (for the second time), and I knew there was a thread connecting that couple of hit-men-for-hire in the old west with this contemplative cowboy.
Sorrow creeps up on everyone from time to time.
About the art: the AI bot loves pink. I could spend hours just instructing it to make outlandish scenes in shades of pink. This piece is inspired by a series of cowboy images, all dripping in pink. Beginning with a canvas panel and applying layers of liquin-thinned pinks, alternating between rubber wedge and brush to create texture. A rough figure sketch in the middle, keeping the hot spots of pink close to the cowboy and letting it "cool" toward the edges. Alternating layers of darks and lights to create shadows and folds in the clothing. Creating "flowers" with loose brush strokes and resisting the urge to perfect them. A final touch of the lightest lights with a palette knife.
- Published on
The Past Claws Its Way Out
"The Past Claws Its Way Out" - oil on canvas, 15 x 30 x .75. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
This painting has been sitting here for months, waiting for its story to be revealed. And it came to me on the first cold, rainy day in a good long while, sipping coffee in the studio and listening to the soft sound of water. Thanks to Hosseini, I have the scaffolding to deconstruct it.
I became what I am today at the age of ten, on a rainy day in Alabama in 1972. I remember the moment as if I were standing there now, my dad asking me out on the patio of our townhouse to have a talk, through the sliding door and onto the cement pad which had no furniture or adornment. It was the day I was tasked with finding and confiscating my mother's many hidden bottles, and, in a sense, I am still looking today.
I became what I am today at the age of ten, on a rainy day in Alabama in 1972. I remember the moment as if I were standing there now, my dad asking me out on the patio of our townhouse to have a talk, through the sliding door and onto the cement pad which had no furniture or adornment. It was the day I was tasked with finding and confiscating my mother's many hidden bottles, and, in a sense, I am still looking today.
There is a lot of information about how art helps the viewer, allowing access to emotions through a visual catalyst which may help reveal questions or truths which are otherwise hard to reach. But really, art heals the artist.
It heals by reaching in and pulling out the guts of things - letting the creator examine them from safe perches. It heals by being slow to reveal - teasing, tickling, suggesting, nudging before dropping the veil. And it heals by allowing the artist to speak about the art as if it isn't their own innards in the paint. A little distance from the subject allowing the act of vulnerability to feel less unclothed.
Thank you, dear reader, for listening. Have you had a revealing art experience? I'd love to hear your story.
It heals by reaching in and pulling out the guts of things - letting the creator examine them from safe perches. It heals by being slow to reveal - teasing, tickling, suggesting, nudging before dropping the veil. And it heals by allowing the artist to speak about the art as if it isn't their own innards in the paint. A little distance from the subject allowing the act of vulnerability to feel less unclothed.
Thank you, dear reader, for listening. Have you had a revealing art experience? I'd love to hear your story.
About the art: This piece was inspired by a very surreal and abstracted session with the AI bot, where I asked for wolves and women and Edgar Degas and Edvard Munch and Gustav Klimt. The resulting flurry of images was startling and impactful. I chose some elements of the images and decided on a vertical orientation with a couple of hot color edges to "frame" the action - there is distance between the malevolent character and the seemingly unaware human, yet they are forced into a confined space by the color. Thinned oil paint layers were used almost exclusively, with exception of the hair and hot edges. As always, resisting the urge to overly define, letting the paint whisper and nudge.
- Published on
Under the Morning Moon
"Under the Morning Moon" - oil on canvas, 26 x 31.5 x 1. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
“The main thing is this — when you get up in the morning you must take your heart in your two hands. You must do this every morning.” - GRACE PALEY on growing older.
“The main thing is this — when you get up in the morning you must take your heart in your two hands. You must do this every morning.” - GRACE PALEY on growing older.
I suppose I am at an age where I spend a bit of time thinking about, well, age.
Time seems to run faster the older I get. And quite a few people who once were are no longer. It isn't a morbid dwelling or preoccupation that I have, just a recognition of what time it is (in my life) along with a sense of preciousness.
When Paley's quote crossed my path, a part of me sighed and thought "THIS!" Yes, holding my own heart in my two hands in the morning - it sets me on a path of cherishing the day and myself within it. Mostly. But it is an excellent start to things.
Time seems to run faster the older I get. And quite a few people who once were are no longer. It isn't a morbid dwelling or preoccupation that I have, just a recognition of what time it is (in my life) along with a sense of preciousness.
When Paley's quote crossed my path, a part of me sighed and thought "THIS!" Yes, holding my own heart in my two hands in the morning - it sets me on a path of cherishing the day and myself within it. Mostly. But it is an excellent start to things.
About the art: inspired by some very stylized and abstracted figure suggestions from the AI bot and then rendered with my own particular twist. Beginning with a toned stretched canvas and sketching with loose, liquin-thinned oil paint. Working from the faces outward and using color and highlights to draw the eye to the intimate moment in the center. Carving through wet paint with a very small rubber wedge to create movement in the clothing and background. Resisting the urge to overly define - letting the paint abstract slightly as it moves away from the figures.
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"Whither Shall We Wander?" - oil on paper, 20.5 x 20.5. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
If you simply do what everyone else has already done, you will be rewarded with the same mediocre results everyone else has already gotten. The only model for success is to avoid most of the world’s models for success. - MARK MANSON
If you simply do what everyone else has already done, you will be rewarded with the same mediocre results everyone else has already gotten. The only model for success is to avoid most of the world’s models for success. - MARK MANSON
Here we go a'wandering...but which way shall we go? Manson gives us a clue - NOT the way everyone else says to go. NOT the way others go. NOT the way the books say, the articles advise, the neighbors nudge. Which means, of course, go the other way.
It is a massive trust fall to go the other way. A risk! A dare! A danger! But there lie the rewards. Things unexpected, something hitherto unseen.
It is a massive trust fall to go the other way. A risk! A dare! A danger! But there lie the rewards. Things unexpected, something hitherto unseen.
Whither Shall We Wander?
Whether it is the direction you point the art you are creating, your professional life, your personal life or your feet on the path every day, going the other way from everyone else is not the easiest route. There may be catcalls, heckling, judging, name-calling, intentional sabotage or tossed tomatoes. Once you're standing in the place of wonder, you may no longer even care what the naysayers are up to. Let's go there.
About the art: This piece was inspired by the AI bot, which very much loves to give this view of characters - from behind, silhouetted, wondering what they're thinking, seeing, feeling. It grabs me, this view, which leaves me with more questions than answers.
Choosing a color palette inspired by the artist Fritz Scholder and an illustrative style more like Möbius (Jean Geraud) (I am a big fan of mash-ups, in art and in music) and beginning with a light pencil sketch to delineate the horizon line and the figures. Working from the horizon line outward with a rubber wedge and liquin-thinned oil paint, adding layers until colors begin to pop off of one another. Making the darks darker, and darker, and darker even while allowing tiny highlights to remain. As always, resisting the urge to define exactly what is out there on the horizon, allowing the viewer's imagination to complete the painting.
Choosing a color palette inspired by the artist Fritz Scholder and an illustrative style more like Möbius (Jean Geraud) (I am a big fan of mash-ups, in art and in music) and beginning with a light pencil sketch to delineate the horizon line and the figures. Working from the horizon line outward with a rubber wedge and liquin-thinned oil paint, adding layers until colors begin to pop off of one another. Making the darks darker, and darker, and darker even while allowing tiny highlights to remain. As always, resisting the urge to define exactly what is out there on the horizon, allowing the viewer's imagination to complete the painting.
Big congratulations to Kyle J and Liz W! Wonder Mike and Lilly drew your names as winners of the August Reader Giveaway! Huzzah!
Email your address to the shipping team at thewanderingsoflola@gmail.com to claim your prize! Thanks for participating - look for a new giveaway at the end of September!
- Published on
The Landscape of Our Perceptions
"The Landscape of Our Perceptions" - oil on linen canvas, 26 x 32 x .75. Ready to hang. Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
“... art has an effect on our general cognitive state that goes beyond how much we enjoy it, to change the way we perceive events and make decisions.” - Daphna Shohamy
There is a new study out which suggests that viewing abstract art can cause measurable mental changes in the viewer. Wait - what? A little abstract art immersion to nudge your perceptions and influence your decision making - view two paintings and call me in the morning, says the art doctor.
I know how much an abstract painting can influence my emotions. Some cause me to feel extreme tension and unsettledness, others instigate an expansive sense of awe.
“... art has an effect on our general cognitive state that goes beyond how much we enjoy it, to change the way we perceive events and make decisions.” - Daphna Shohamy
There is a new study out which suggests that viewing abstract art can cause measurable mental changes in the viewer. Wait - what? A little abstract art immersion to nudge your perceptions and influence your decision making - view two paintings and call me in the morning, says the art doctor.
I know how much an abstract painting can influence my emotions. Some cause me to feel extreme tension and unsettledness, others instigate an expansive sense of awe.
What I did not know was that we tend to place psychological distance between ourselves and abstract art, associating it with things in the future or things far away. I was unaware that art viewers tend to take in the entirety of an abstract painting in a search for meaning, while focusing on the details in more representational works.
I'd be curious to know how you experience abstract art. Leave a comment below - one (or more) lucky commenters will be entered in this month's Reader Giveaway, and get a little something free in the mail from me. Woot!
I'd be curious to know how you experience abstract art. Leave a comment below - one (or more) lucky commenters will be entered in this month's Reader Giveaway, and get a little something free in the mail from me. Woot!
About the art: beginning with a primed linen canvas and thinned oil paint, marking the darks with loose strokes with a rubber wedge and dragging the paint. Building layers working dark into light, blending with a soft brush, paper towels and fingers. Adding more dark washes of glaze and dragging them to create movement. Ending with lights and hot spots using a palette knife and a small rubber wedge. This piece is inspired by both our adventures in the wilderness and our wanderings in reading books, combining the misty mystery of mountains hiked with the unpredictable tempest that is the ocean of seafaring adventures.
