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Lola Jovan
@lolajovan.com
4.6K followers 3.6K following 9.1K posts
Artist, wanderer, rockhound, 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 · Dec 7
Hello Bluesky humans! I’m so happy to be here in the friendly place. 😁

Art does not always speak for itself, so you’ll see words with my paintings to help illuminate. Want more words? More art? Subscribe at www.lolajovan.com

Join a great community there and enter a monthly art giveaway!

#art
lolajovan.com
The Mirror of Our Own Projections
oil on paper
18.5 x 18.5

…for in the lifelong project of understanding ourselves, we are all reluctant visitors to the dusky and desolate haunts of our own nature - MARIA POPOVA

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p817/p...

#art #painting
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An abstracted landscape suggesting sunrise or sunset over water The quote continues: “where shadows we do not want to meet dwell. But in any human association that has earned the right use the word love, we must be in relationship with both the light and the shadow in ourselves and each other. All authentic relationship is therefore a matter of clear sight — of seeing through the shining pane of the other’s self-concealment and removing the mirror of our own projections” How to see others in a world of projection and shadow, self-concealment and desolate haunts - is there a manual for that? I admit to struggling with this in recent days. My own humanity feels under attack. It becomes easier to be angry and reactive rather than contemplative and compassionate. A big sigh. A deep breath. A pause. And so we have come to the time of relationship with shadow. The shadow parts of ourselves growing monstrous as the light of the world dims, distorting our reflections. The elongated shadows of others make perceptions skewed. It is a funhouse out there, and therefore in here a bit, too. Thank goodness for you, reading this. For art, for books, for singing and for love. Sending big hugs to anyone who needs them. Thank you for being here. xo
January 12, 2026 at 3:47 PM
lolajovan.com
The Portland crows wanted to walk for peace like the monks. They settled for a walk for peanuts.😊

But it is so very lovely to be greeted this way when we head out for a walk!

(Native audio so you can enjoy their banter)

#portland #crows #portlandcrows #morningwalk #walkforpeanuts #peace #NoKings
January 12, 2026 at 1:51 AM
lolajovan.com
I Could Use The Time Alone
pen and ink on Yupo
8 x 12

Pavlov hits me with more bad news
Every time I answer the phone
So I, I play and I sing and I just let it ring
All day when I'm at home
- ANI DEFRANCO, SERPENTINE

Get the cat: www.lolajovan.com/store/p818/t...

#art #drawing

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A pen and ink drawing of a cat The lyric section continues: “A defacto choice of macro or microcosmic melancholy But baby, anyway you slice it I'm thinkin' I could just as soon use the time alone” DeFranco’s song is timeless. If you have a chance, take a listen. Written over 20 years ago, it feels pulled from today’s headlines. The pull to withdraw, go inside and avoid the chaos is strong. This solitary feline is embracing the solitude.
January 11, 2026 at 4:09 PM
lolajovan.com
A sunny morning earlier in the week. Portland is too pretty for people to be cruel here, don’tcha think?

#portland #sunrise #photography #urbanscape #morningwalks #kindness #NoKings
A city aglow in the early sun Pretty portland on the river The wide angle view
January 11, 2026 at 2:02 AM
lolajovan.com
Seemingly Most Innocent
oil on Yupo
11.5 x 17.5

On the twenty-third day of the month of September…the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p749/s...

#art #painting #monster
Story-ALTtext⬇️ pzis
A gigantic menacing plant hovers over the water near a city The quote continues: “And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places…” We live in times of existential angst, were it seems like anything could (and sometimes does) happen.
January 10, 2026 at 3:59 PM
lolajovan.com
A moment of brilliant sunlight streaming into the living room this afternoon. Illuminated rocks and a small bisque bird: stillness in a world of chaos and unrest.

#portland #ourhouse #rocks #photography #stillness
A small grouping of rocks and sculpture on a table: light and shadow
January 10, 2026 at 2:04 AM
lolajovan.com
She Who Intoxicates
pen and ink on Yupo
9 x 13

Medb (pronounced MAVE) is a queen in Irish Mythology. Sometimes known as "She Who Intoxicates", Medb is an archetypal warrior queen

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p769/s...

#art #drawing #penandink #illustration #fantasyart
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A pen and ink drawing of a warrior queen. How can we be anything but angry about the escalation of brutality and outright lies in our country? Medb’s expression captures my mood after the shootings in Portland yesterday.
January 9, 2026 at 4:14 PM
lolajovan.com
The day began with sun so bright it put a halo around downtown buildings. Which you’d think is positive sign - a sign of hope!

Now two people are hospitalized here, shot by US Customs and Border Patrol. Anger and grief, outrage and horror. We’re gonna need more than sun halos.

#portland
A bright sun reflection and halo in downtown Portland this morning
January 9, 2026 at 12:39 AM
lolajovan.com
Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky
acrylic on wood panel
30 x 40

Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

first, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart. - DAVID WHYTE

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p397/s...

#art #painting #landscapeart #abstractart

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An abstracted landscape depicting part of the Columbia River Gorge The poem continues: “Sometimes with the bones of the black sticks left when the fire has gone out someone has written something new in the ashes of your life. You are not leaving. Even as the light fades quickly now, you are arriving.” 
January 8, 2026 at 4:05 PM
lolajovan.com
A sweet new sign went up in our neighborhood this week. I am guessing this is going to be the kind of activism that gets people detained in the near future, because Portlanders are anti-litter and that’s so uncalled for.

#portland #activism #resist #NoKings
A hand-lettered anti-litter sign on a utility pole
January 8, 2026 at 1:40 AM
lolajovan.com
A little animation just for fun!

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p816/c...

#animation #penandink #catart #straycat #catandmoon #illustration #drawing
January 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
lolajovan.com
Rain and wind, cold and crows. A blustery morning walk while contemplating the surreal nature of world events.

#portland #crow #corvid #cityscape #river #morningwalk #photography
A crow making the most of some tasty trash Sunrise over the Willamette Clouds and a bit of early sun sparkle over the city The clouds are coming! The clouds are coming!
January 7, 2026 at 12:10 AM
lolajovan.com
There Is No Cure For Curiosity
pen and ink on Yupo
8 x 10 inches
(with a wide border for framing)

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. - DOROTHY PARKER

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p816/c...

#art #penandink #drawing #cat #catart #blackandwhite #curiosity
A pen and ink drawing of a cat on the prowl
January 6, 2026 at 3:57 PM
lolajovan.com
A little distraction from events in the wider world…Portland keeps moving, doing its thing. People keep moving, dogs gotta walk, life still needs to be lived. Rolling on.

#portland #NoKings #impeach #resist #protest #NoWar #morningwalks
January 6, 2026 at 1:40 AM
lolajovan.com
The Game Breaks Down
oil on Yupo
12 x 19

If all those things -trust, respect, etiquette -stop functioning, the rules clash and the game breaks down. - Haruki Murakami, Killing Commendatore

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p814/D...

#art #painting #fantasyart #animalart

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A donkey and an elephant in a sailboat. ​Society depends on a number of thin strands of tenuous agreements. For example, I won't go around killing you and yours, and you won't kill me and mine. I won't steal your stuff and you will leave my stuff alone. People don't walk unannounced into each other's homes, kidnap them, lob grenades over fences, redecorate other people's houses and so forth. Well, generally they don't. Or at least, in the past, it was a rare occurence. But the gloves seem to be off in the world. Trust, respect, etiquette have stopped functioning at all in much of the online world and even in real life. I cannot count the number of times my eyebrows have raised at what people do not hesitate to do anymore. Including killing humans in boats and kidnapping leaders of other countries. So to begin this year I am imagining a world where trust, respect, etiquette are cool again. Where we look upon each other with compassion and curiosity, seeking connection and cooperation instead of annihilation. And with that thought, a couple of unluckly passengers in the pea green boat working together to cross the stormy seas.
January 5, 2026 at 3:22 PM
lolajovan.com
Another spectacular morning of sparkly pizzazz before the rains arrived!

#portland #sunrise #morningwalk #urbanscape #photography #sunshine #soarkle
A beautiful glow under the bridge The golden city, clouds and reflections Rowers on the Willamette in the early morning A city lit up by the sun
January 5, 2026 at 1:49 AM
lolajovan.com
Alive, RIght Here, Feeling Lucky
pen and ink on wood altar
21.5 x 8 x 3.75

Say tomorrow doesn't come.
Say the moon becomes an icy pit.
Say the sweet-gum tree is petrified.
Say the sun's a foul black tire fire. - Ada Limón

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p815/c...

#art
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A pen and ink drawing of two crows on a tree branch. The quote continues: “Say the owl's eyes are pinpricks. Say the raccoon's a hot tar stain. Say the shirt's plastic ditch-litter Say the kitchen's a cow's corpse. Say we never get to see it: bright future, stuck like a bum star, never coming close, never dazzling. Say we never meet her. Never him. Say we spend our last moments staring at each other, hands knotted together, clutching the dog, watching the sky burn. Say, It doesn't matter. Say, That would be enough. Say, you'd still want this: us alive, right here, feeling lucky” Full view of the top of the altar Altar in situ with driftwood, agates and barnacles Side view of altar legs
January 4, 2026 at 4:02 PM
lolajovan.com
Another lovely Portland mural…this one by “Barksy”. And our own muse, Wonder Mike, who has had a bee in his bonnet lately - maybe he is as unsettled by world events as we are?

#streetart #portland #dogart #chihuahua #morningwalks #urbanscape #love
A mural on the side of a building depicting a dog, a girl and a runaway red balloon Our chihuahua hanging out in his hiking pack
January 4, 2026 at 2:01 AM
lolajovan.com
Smoke Trapped in a Closed Room
oil on Yupo
13.5 x 18.5

They say the past is etched in stone, but it isn’t. It’s smoke trapped in a closed room, swirling, buffeted by the passing of years and wishful thinking. - James Weasley

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p592/s...

#art
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An abstracted oil portrait of a geisha The quote continues: “But even though our perception of it changes, one thing remains constant. The past can never be completely erased. It lingers. Like the scent of burning wood.” This metaphor resonates with me - memories like smoke swirling and changing with the passage of time. Those memories, trapped behind the closed door of my own personhood, linger bit may never entirely disappear.
January 3, 2026 at 3:52 PM
lolajovan.com
Who needs a holiday tree or garland or tinsel when flowers are exquisitely festive all on their own? These beauties are still giving us “santa knows, he always knows” vibes long after the presents have been opened.

#blooms #flowers #holidays #newyear #ourhouse #interiorviews
A dazzling centerpiece of blooms created by our local florist Close up of blooms More lovely flowers Elegant blooms
January 3, 2026 at 2:04 AM
lolajovan.com
Swift And A Huntress
oil on canvas
24 x 30

But which cannot be held never be held and is no flower but is swift and a huntress and the wind itself is in terror of it and the world cannot lose it. - CORMAC McCARTHY

Get the art: www.lolajovan.com/store/p779/s...

#art #painting
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A huntress caught in mid-leap, flying through the air with her sword. The quote begins like this: “He took up her stiff head out of the leaves and held it or he reached to hold what cannot be held, what already ran among the mountains at once terrible and of a great beauty, like flowers that feed on flesh. What blood and bone are made of but can themselves not make on any altar nor by any wound of war. What we may well believe has power to cut and shape and hollow out the dark form of the world surely if wind can, if rain can. “ McCarthy is a controversial writer (given information about him as a person revealed in recent years) but there is no question of his skill. His words touch me viscerally, and I can recapture the emotions of reading The Crossing instantly. The rawness of being human. The brutal beauty of being a wolf.
January 2, 2026 at 3:53 PM
lolajovan.com
A little splishing and splashing to start the new year right!

#portland #birdbath #blackbirds #nature #puddles #ourhouse #birds #splishsplash
January 2, 2026 at 2:52 AM
lolajovan.com
Let’s talk about lemon pigs. Eaters of bad mojo, hard working dudes. The one on the left is a year old. On the right, ten months old. They have outlasted dozens of others and are still hard at work.

Bring it on 2026 - we’ve got these guys to help.

#karma #luck #lemonpig #mojo #ourhouse #love
Our two lemon pigs ushering in the new year
January 2, 2026 at 2:41 AM
lolajovan.com
Beautiful Monsters
Archival Matte Giclee Print with 1/2 inch border
16 x 19

If you’re not a beautiful monster, then you’re a villager, he said
― Stephen Graham Jones, Mongrels

Get the print: www.lolajovan.com/store/p531/b...

#art #painting #prints #monsters #fantasyart #werewolf
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A print of an oil painting depicting two modern werewolves I have a monster inside. Probably you do, too. It is the thing that makes us wild - lets us take risks, helps us imagine bigger and better and, sometimes, badder. There is a primal beauty to that monster, once you look her square in the eye and remove the veil of shadow and shame.  Not sure about your monster, but I like to think mine is werewolf-ish. Capable of appearing under the right conditions, but not always fighting for control of the steering wheel. She has saved me a time or two. I like knowing she's in there.
January 1, 2026 at 4:02 PM
lolajovan.com
The last morning of 2025…and the last day of sunshine before the rains return once more.

#portland #morningwalks #lastdayoftheyear #photography #urbanscape #sunrise
Sunrise over the Willamette River Sunrise glow under the Hawthorne Bridge
January 1, 2026 at 1:39 AM