Tessera

Lola Jovan

@lolajovan.com

Artist, author, wanderer, sparkle-seeker. Married to my soulmate❤️ Democrat! Liberal! Blue 💙 🚫porn 🚫crypto 🚫DMs 🚫MAGA Art home at www.lolajovan.com Blog at www.lolajovan.com/blog #art #fantasyart #pdxartist #oilpainting #inclementweatherhikingsociety

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Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 5h ago

Coming Aug 9 to an online event! Outrun My Rex 11.5 x 19 Oil on paper All the other girls in the ballgown dresses better run better run outrun my dino All the other girls in the fancy dress better run better run outrun my rex - Inspired by PUMPED UP KICKS by FOSTER THE PEOPLE #art Story-ALTtext⬇️

An oil painting of a woman in a ballgown with a T-rex behind her.

This piece will be available Sunday, August 9 at Artistic Souls Gallery on Facebook. It is free to join the group and browse!

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 9h ago

Blessed Silence And Peace At Last pen and ink on Yupo 7 x 11 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p876/s... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #fantasyart #penandink #art #fairytales #monstrous #spider #spiderart

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS, depicting a spider reading a book.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 21h ago

A little wave beauty for your Tuesday… #waves #ocean #oregoncoast #beachhike #photography #love

All the blues and greens of the Pacific ocean

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · yesterday

The First Burdenometers Were Rather Large And Unwieldy oil on paper 14 x 18.5 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p883/W... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #art #fantasyart #fairytales #monstrous #newrelease

An oil painting of a woman in a bathrobe holding a large measuring device.

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2d ago

Some small views of the few remaining creatures in the tide pool area of our favorite beach last week. Tenacious life! #tidepools #marinelife #oregoncoast #barnacles #seastars #beachhike

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2d ago

Rock, Old As Eons oil on Yupo 18.75 x 11.5 thick-skinned gloves like armor they bend but do not give gloved hands grasp rock, sharp rock, unyielding rock, old as eons Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p955/a... #art #painting #oilpainting #landscape #abstractart #abstraction Story-ALTtext⬇️

An abstracted landscape suggesting rock

The poem continues:
“I climb
not as a goat
but as a hesitant human
can I? should I?
will I?

probably
I should not
but I can
and I will.”

It is one month away. Our annual hiking boot-camp on the border of California and Oregon, where we test our mettle against rocks, briars, tides, sand and sun.

And so my head is filled with memories of what we did the last time, and the time before that - oh, and the others before that. Including the equipment epiphany that was climbing gloves. Don't get me wrong - we are not rock climbers, per se. We are scrambling over giant boulders to get to the next cove. And those gloves? They make old, arthritic hands better. And the woman wearing them more confident.

And what the heck does this have to do with art?

Well, I am glad you asked. The right tool can be transformative. Put a rubber wedge in my hands and things I thought I could never do are right there - easy peasy. A rough chopstick makes organic texture like a precise instrument never could. That new primer I mentioned recently? Depth of color right there at my fingertips. If things aren't working despite your many attempts, a different tool (brush, pen, paint, substrate, paper - anything, really!) might just be the tipping point you need.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 3d ago

Our fly-by crow feeder is busy these days! The family and its ravenous fledgling clean the bowl every day. #crows #corvids #portlandcrows #portland #corvidae #ourhouse #dining #love

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 3d ago

The Machine Clicked And Whirred pen and ink on Yupo 8 x 10 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p867/t... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #fantasyart #penandink #art #fairytales #monstrous #art #machine

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS. This is a pen and ink drawing of a fururistic machine.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 4d ago

Most of tide pools at our favorite beach have been filled with sand by the unrelenting, tempestuous sea. It is hard to witness this, but the cycle of things is what it is. The tide pools will return…In the meantime, it was a beautiful day.❤️ #oregoncoast #tidepools #rockhounds #beachday #photography

One of the few remaining uncovered rocks in the tide pool area

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 4d ago

Coming Aug 9 to an online event! The Ever Free 8 x 8 THE SEA! the sea! the open sea! The blue, the fresh, the ever free! - BRYAN WALLER PROCTER DM me for details about the event. #art #seascape #abstractseascape #abstractart #sunsetart #painting #oilpainting #smallworks Story-ALTtext⬇️

An oil painting suggesting ocean, rocks and sky

The poem excerpt continues:

“Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth’s wide regions round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies. “

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 5d ago

Hot as hades in Portland today. A good day to run away to the coast with your love and watch the waves… #oregoncoast #waves #beachday #slomo #getaway #escapetheheat

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 5d ago

A Dozen Of The Little Darlings oil on cradled wood panel 11 x 14 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p891/l... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #art #fantasyart #fairytales #monstrous #newrelease #waywordbooks

An illustration from the new release, MonstroUS. An oil painting depicting babies in a field under the moon.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 6d ago

Your daily dose of crows… #crow #crows #corvids #corvidae #portland #portlandcrows #ourhouse

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 6d ago

The Well-Woven Magic of the Witch pen and ink on Yupo 6 x 10 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p872/w... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #fantasyart#penandink #art #fairytales #monstrous #witch #witches

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS. This is a pen and ink drawing of a witch.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 7d ago

Tumbler day! This week’s finished stones from our army of rock tumblers. #rocktumbling #rockhound #rocks #agates #oregoncoast

Some transluscent agates from the tumbler

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

She Wore Weighted Boots To Keep From Floating Away oil on paper 13 x 18.75 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p881/w... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #art #fantasyart #fairytales #monstrous #newrelease

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS. An oil painting depicting a woman in tall boots wearing a very surprised expression as she floats off of the ground.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Coming to an online event Aug 9 Gray Phantom 13 x 19 Oil on paper He haunts the borders of the settled space, A gray, elusive phantom of the wild, Untamed and restless, ever unbeguiled, An outcast of a long-forgotten race. - FRANCIS BRET HARTE #art #painting #coyote #crow Story-ALTtext⬇️

An oil painting of a coyote and a crow.

Channeling two of my favorite wild spirits for an online art event opening August 9. DM me for details if you are interested in checking it out!😊

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Although my insanely talented artist husband is retired now, he still makes art every day just because he loves to. This piece is his birthday gift to me, and I cannot stop grinning! We watch a lot of noir detective stuff, and now we get to BE those detectives (we call ourselves The Watsons). #art

Art by Malcolm McClinton - my insanely talented husband

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

A gesture of love I treasure…my talented husband making a rhubarb pie for my birthday. Can you smell it? The whole house is awash in the scent of pie… love you, Malcolm. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #pie #rhubarb #homemade #birthday #love

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

No Trouble Here pen and ink on Yupo 8 x 10 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p864/R... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #fantasyart #penandink #art #fairytales #monstrous #wolf #redridinghood

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS, featuring a wolf in a cape from the story “RED”.

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Crows heading to roost for the night. Sunset over Portland in the distance. #portland #sunset #crows #goodnight

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Fearless pen and ink on Yupo 9 x 11 (plus a wide border for framing) Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. – Mary Shelley Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p954/f... #fantasyart #penandink #art #graphicart #comix #gunslinger #strongfemale

A pen and ink drawing of a female gunslinger

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Sustainable Waiting (an exercise in patience) 26 x 32 oil on linen canvas Who would have guessed it possible that waiting is sustainable— a place with its own harvests. - KAY RYAN Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p953/s... #art #landscapeArt #oilpainting #pastoralArt #painting Story-ALTtext⬇️

A landscape painting of hills, sky and small buildings.

My relationship with patience has been, for the most part, adversarial. Patience interferred with productivity, with meeting metrics, with getting things done. And patience made it more likely I would recognize the monstrousness around me. I was always in a hurry.

But when the life I had so fiercely and energetically cultivated fell to pieces some years ago, I thought hmmmm. Maybe I could slow down. And so I left space. I embraced unknowns. I waited to see what would happen if I did, well, nothing at all.

And those empty spaces (in my life, in my career, in my home, in conversations, in friendships, in love) began to slowly, magically fill with just the right people and things (including my husband, who is the emperor of positive procrastination and the grand wizard of patience - from him I learned how waiting to take action often allows everything to resolve on its own.)

As in life, it is in art. I recall the incredible artist Stan Kurth saying something like "art is 50% doing and 50% looking." I began to slow down and look. At the art of others, at my own art, at dance and sculpture and whittling and metalwork and fiber art - just looking. Which requires patience. Especially when looking at things I may not appreciate and asking questions - like why? Why do others like this? Why don't I?

When I fell into oil painting a few years ago, the brakes were put on with a grinding (can you hear them? Train brakes on the tracks? Screeching and scraping, metal on metal?) HALT. Oil painting takes time. Patience. Endless, exhausting patience. Layers upon layers and no hurrying that drying time with a hair dryer, no sir! Slow curing. Slow hardening. Slow.

Something happened while I was waiting. I began to see what Kurth meant. When I looked (really looked) at the art sitting around just drying (the nerve! doing NOTHING BUT DRYING) I began to see what the art needed (and did not need).

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

We have a beautiful grapevine growing around our front porch…the fruit is just beginning to take shape, softly glowing in the morning light. Soon the porch will become a fast food highway for raccoons, possums and squirrels (much to the dismay of our chihuahua) #photography #portland #grapes

Tiny grapes glowing in the morning light

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

A little animation of s pen and ink drawing, just for fun! The 2D piece will be available August 9 at an online gallery event. DM me for details! #art #animation #penandink #fantasyart

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · last wk.

Foraging Day oil on cradled wood panel 11 x 14 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p890/f... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #art #fantasyart #fairytales #monstrous #newrelease #waywordbooks #mustread #bookaddict

An ool painting of a giant holding a baby in a flower pot. An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2w ago

Cloud progression toward sunset…colored by wildfire smoke haze. Beautiful and ominous. #eveningwalks #portland #clouds #sunset #moon #photograpjy

The first patch of color as sunset approaches

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2w ago

He Was Of The Land pen and ink on Yupo 9 x 10 A piece of original art from the book MONSTROUS, by Lola Jovan. Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p903/c... Get the book: waywordbooks.com/product/mons... #art #fantasyart #fairytales #penandink #monstrous #caribou

An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2w ago

Morning walk to the Willamette River and beautiful Portland just waling up…not even a train yet! #portland #morningwalks #riverwalk #cityscape #urbanphotography #photography

Lola Jovan @lolajovan.com · 2w ago

Coming to an online event Aug 9 Unruly 11 x 14 Pen and Ink on wood panel Look at you, you savage woman You, hair untamed, hands calloused woman. You, go-ahead-and-pull-me-down woman You, “I’ll just rise again, and again, and again.” - L. E. Bowman #art #fantasyart #penandink Story-ALTtext⬇️

A pen and ink drawing of a wildling woman.

This piece will be available August 9th at an online gallery event called “Nature’s Spirits” - DM me if you’d like details on the event. 😁