Lola Jovan

@lolajovan.com

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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

Sunset from the top floor of our house
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS. This piece depicts two women on a sofa, talking, from the story “Burdensome”
Sunset from the top flor of our house
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS, featuring Red Riding Hood and the Wolf
Close up rose
A graphic of the book MonstroUS and its publisher, WayWord Books
An abstract landscape suggesting towering rocks, water, sky The poem continues: “a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful” ​I am always moved by the kind stranger. By the bird, by the loved child. By poetry that hits me hard and paintings which cause me to catch my breath. But I am so very aware of the other fifty percent. Smith's words are, unfortunately, all too true. Especially now, in these dire days. And yet. (AND YET!) When I turn my attention toward those who see the good bones in things - those who do something incredible with those good bones​, I have deep, resounding hope. This week I want to tell you the story of someone who saw good bones and created a world out of them. A sanctuary of safety and love. A place for second chances, for hope, for joy and a long, happy life. Ally Remington works tirelessly every day (sometimes 24 hours a day) for the lives of farm animals who need a rescue, a rehabilitation, a second chance. I had the opportunity to interview Remington recently and, honestly, her story moved me to tears. The struggles, the celebrations, the hard work and the continued need for more. Here is the link to the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gv_X45bM54c?is=qEMyIyAa9GDDw8Sr
Yellow roses
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS featuring an old well
Beautiful sunset clouds
A wood altar featuring a pen and ink drawing of a man in a tutu and ballet shoes. The quote continues: “He listens, nurtures, expresses, and heals. He is soft – not weak, but open. Not passive, but deeply self-aware. In a world that long taught men to hide their tenderness, the emergence of the “soft man” is not just a cultural shift – it’s a revolution.” There is nothing more beautiful than a man who is comfortable being vulnerable, compassionate, moved by the world around him. This isn’t weakness at all. It is strength and confidence and openness.
Morning view of Portland across the Willamette River
An illustration of Dr Anansi, a beer-drinking spider therapist, from the new book release, MonstroUS
The pirate flag on our house, enjoying the evening breeze
An advance review of the new book release, MonstroUS!
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS
Beau, our fledgling crow, in the window feeder
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS in which a man named Smith turns the devil into a giant grouper
A pop-up bike parade in Portland
A video of me thanking all of YOU! Grab your kit while they still have them: https://www.waywordbooks.com/product/monstorus-there-will-be-blood-by-lola-jovan-total-experience/
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS. In this story, a girl and a bear have adventures and fight a battle agains a cyborg army.
Giant sunflowers in the neighborhood
A photo of the book, MonstroUS, along with one of the book’s characters, GD Fortune
An portrait of a female angel in oils. The poem continues: for wildflowers for poetry for reaching instead of defending and maybe that is what safety is remembering who you were before the battle Do any of you feel like you have been carrying the sword ? Whether we are fighting the monsters on the outside, in the world, or tackling those we carry within, it can become such a habit to be hypervigilant that we forget how to put the damn sword down. Our hands form into permanent grips; they have to be coaxed into relaxing so we can trail them through the water, hold them out of the car window to surf the wind. Who were we before the battle? Light of heart, curiosity-filled, poetic and reaching. Perhaps singing in the shower, dancing in the moonlight, scribbling silliness and thoughts in notebooks. ​Our hands were made for gentler things
Our chichi being a little bit pouty.
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS
A training running under the street in Portland
An animation small oil paintings (4 x 6) of outrageous characters! They come with signs and sign holders.😁
An oil painting depicting a king, a queen and a prince. These are characters from the new release, MonstroUS.
Three crows in the window feeder. The baby crying for food while he is feeding himself!
A montage of art from a collection opening Sunday on Facebook
One of the early reader reviews of the new book release, MonstroUS!
An illustration from the new book release, MonstroUS
A large mixed materil agate
A portrait of one of the characters in the new book release, MonstroUS
A large tumbled agate
An oil painting of a weary possum wearing goggles on his head. He slumps over the handlebars of a scooter. This item is coming July 13 to the event at Artistic Souls Gallery on Facebook. This is a public event. Please feel free to pop over and join in the fun! Event runs July 12 - July 13.
Wonder Mike in a sling pack carried by Malcolm ❤️
Animation of an original oil painting of a female gunslinger
A pen and ink drawing of a scene in the new book release, MonstroUS
Wonder Mike in the afternoon sun
An oil painting of a female gunslinger in mid-air. The excerpt continues: “The best artists are culprits Chiseling our school desks, Scraping our bathroom stalls, Doodling our notebooks” There is something deeply symbolic about guns. I don't own one and don't want to. I have had guns pointed at me - twice. It isn't anything I want to revisit ever again. But the people with guns have power. There are other kinds of power - words, images, silence. I like to think my own "guns" are the images I make and the words I put with those images. In the world of gunslingers and outlaws, there aren't a lot of women. It is generally (but not always), men depicted with the gun in their hands, and thus the power. More contemporary fantasy and sci-fi includes more badass women, and I think this particular outlaw fits well there. She's every woman who has had enough. Every female whose rights are being eroded. Every woman who has suffered at the hands of the patriarchy. Each woman who wished, even for a moment, the power was in her two hands. Maybe she is carrying bubble guns, squirt guns, nerf guns or just guns loaded with powerful words. She demands attention. And by golly she is gonna have it. The artist in me knows that I must also be an outlaw (vandal, culprit) in the world. It might be a controversial image, or words that rub some folks the wrong way, but my job is to put it out there; to stir up conversation and maybe cause some notebook doodling. Whether it is powerful women with weapons, monsters lurking in the shadows or books about the monstrousness in all of us, I'm gonna do it.
Venus over the city skyline in Portland
A portrait of one of the characters in the new book release, MonstroUS
A pop up bike parade in Portland
A pen and ink drawing on a wood altar featuring a sleeping dog. This piece will be available July 12 at a facebook event online - go to Artistic Souls Gallery on facebook to participate. 😊
Wonder Mike looking regal
A portrait of Red in her hooded cape. From the very first story in the new release, MonstroUS
Apricots on our tree
Pen and ink drawing in a comic style featuring a crow and a small dog. The wild isn’t as scary if you explore it with a friend.
A sign posted on a utility pole in Portland
An oil painting of a young woman beachcombing, along with a few ideas for framing. This piece will be available at Artistic Souls Gallery on Facebook July 12.
Portrait of a young girl from the sea. The full color pieces in the two Golem stories were created with acrylic paint pens on sealed wood panels. It created a mood that felt right for Inuit-inspired fairytales, incorporating the natural element of the wood grain. Paint pens are a real delight to use. They can be blended while the paint is wet, painted over when they are dry, smudged with fingers or rags. The variety of nibs allow large or small line work and a level of control that is more difficult to achieve with brushes and oil paint.
Our new fledgling crow in the birdbath
Animation of an oil painting illustration from the new book MonstroUS
A pen and ink drawing of a woman writing. The devil watches from behind. In this story, I focused primarily on a very high contrast graphic novel style of pen and ink drawings on Yupo. The broad strokes, gestures and stark black and white of these images gave me so much satisfaction that I have continued to use this style for some of my pen and ink work. The odd angles, wonky borders, scribbles and suggestions of this style really make me grin
Amygdule in a large rock
Animation of a pen and ink illustration from the book MonstroUS!
An oil painting of a startled woman on a green sofa. On of the illustrations in the new book, MonstroUS. For the painted pieces in this story, I was inspired by the art of Rober McGinnis - the book covers, movie posters, the magazine pages. His ultra feminine females, saturated colors and the way his art evokes a certain time from the past in our culture. This piece began with a well saturated undercoat of green. A rough sketch of the figure and the sofa, and then many layers to create the contrast and highlights. Resisting the urge to overly refine the details - a large piece made very small in the book, which perfectly gives the effect of being ten feet away from the art (the ideal distance at which to view a painting.
A big starfish and my boot for reference