Doodle Bean.

The End of a Certain Period of Time

2010-07-22T12:26:00.003-05:00

I've been blogging sporadically for almost five years, beginning with little doodles done on my PDA and ending with carved paint artworks. As I've hidden behind the alias Doodle Been, I've also developed as an artist.

It's now time to focus on my fine art and come out as myself, Jill Kolva.

I've created a fine art website, JillKolva.com, and want to direct you to that site.

What I'm trying to say is that I doubt I'll update this blog much in future. At some point, I'll make a redirect to JillKolva.com, where I am posting photos of new work and upcoming events and exhibitions. In the meantime, change your bookmarks to my new site.

Thanks to all my fans!

:o)

Works for Sale at Gateway Galleries Summer Salon!

2010-07-05T00:30:00.006-05:00

The Gateway Summer Salon offers you the opportunity to buy art right off the wall and take it home with you. The Salon is at 60-62 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA. Go here for more information about the Salon and to JillKolva.com for the schedule of my upcoming shows and sales.

Go here for a peek at one of my works, Cave Art, in the Salon. Here's the other, Ordered Chaos:

It's Going to be a Busy Summer!

2010-06-23T10:03:00.004-05:00

I've been accepted into two juried and one open show this summer, so mark your calendars!

Wednesday, July 21st, 10 am - 3:00 pm: Artists Beyond Challenges Show at South Station, Boston, MA.

August 12 - August 26: Art and Ability Show, Martin Lawrence Galleries. The gallery is inside Saks Fifth Avenue in The Galleria, 13350 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, TX.

Saturday, September 11th, 10 am - 5:30 pm: Art in the Park, City Square Park, Chelsea St and Rutherford Ave, Charlestown, MA. Rain date is Sunday, September 12th.

Also, go to JillKolva.com for another view of the schedule and updates.

I Painted the Charles River!

2010-06-17T13:04:00.009-05:00

Last Saturday was the 2nd Annual Waltham, MA Riverfest and I participated in an Arts Event and Auction called "Paint the River". Here's the artwork I created on the banks of the Charles River just below the Moody Street Bridge.

It was a challenging day because it rained for about half of the 6-hour long event, but I am pleased with the result. And my work sold at auction that evening for a very satisfactory amount!

Telling details:

"Paint the River - 2010"
12" x 16"
acrylic and latex paint on canvas

I'll Be Painting the River on June 12th!

2010-06-04T19:26:00.005-05:00

The second annual Waltham, MA Riverfest is on June 11th & 12th and includes a fun event called "Paint the River" on Saturday the 12th. Artists will spend the day creating artworks along the Charles River and then the brand spanking new works will be auctioned off in the evening.

Look for me along the Riverwalk downstream of the Moody Street Dam. Go here for more information about the Fest!

New Works with a New Technique

2010-04-21T16:07:00.007-05:00

Spring Flood

A Note from the Heavens

Ordered Chaos

Demented

Two Views of "Clouds"

2010-01-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

It changes as you move, although that effect is almost impossible to photograph!

My New Paintbox

2009-12-24T23:51:00.002-05:00

Pond Series

2009-12-21T14:19:00.005-05:00

Some recent non-digital works watercolor and pen on paper.

Detail from New Painting

2009-12-19T20:51:00.003-05:00

About 3 square inches worth. Psychedelicious!

Mark Your Calendars! Art Opening on Dec 8th in Brookline, MA!

2009-11-28T00:24:00.007-05:00

I am excited to announce that I will be in a group show called "Visual Feast"! It is at the Webster House Gallery, 20 Webster Place, Brookline, MA 02445. (617-739-5461 for information)

The opening reception is Wednesday, December 8th from 4:00 - 6:30 pm and the show runs from December 8th, 2009 - February 8th, 2010.

The works on display include my "Embryo" and "Storm" (above). Come out and check out the work of this exciting new group of artists!

Unknowns

2009-11-07T22:13:00.003-05:00

Unknowns. As in more unknowns than knowns. That makes an equation harder to solve, yet perhaps more interesting!

In Process... and Done! [updated]

2009-09-26T17:54:00.006-05:00

I've gone back to drawing on paper since it is more calming somehow. I understand that effect is due to the stronger tactile sensations. It is true that there is something quite sensuous about fine cotton rag drawing paper!

Here is a rare shot of a work in process: I need to finish filling in the background, but the overall composition is starting to come to life.

...[much later] and here it is in finished form. Sorry for the glare; I only have my cell phone camera right now.

And here is a detail of the 'sky':

Light III

2009-09-11T07:40:00.004-05:00

Coming out of the dark into some chaos, of course. Yet the important part is there is now light.

Monolith

2009-09-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

Not as monolithic as it seems!

Healthcare Reform Debate

2009-08-29T10:22:00.007-05:00

It's a tough slog to recover. And I know that I am one of the lucky ones: I have disability insurance, I have a good health plan which has covered the cost of almost everything, and I have access to excellent health care providers. But what if those things weren't true?

They're not true for tens of millions of our fellow citizens here in the United States, and that makes our country weaker.

Sick people can't participate in work, family, or service. Bankrupt people can't pay taxes to support their communities. People who don't have easy access to providers spend all their time and energy getting care and can't be creative and productive.

So, next time some nut tells you that health care is a privilege and not a right, ask them why they want our great nation to be weak!

To Jeanne, Mrs. Perception!

2009-08-23T18:45:00.002-05:00

Good to talk to you. Things are slowly getting sorted out.

To Andre Who is Always Right

2009-08-23T18:40:00.001-05:00

Gawdamintalltohellandback! Things are becoming less murky, so thank you.

Getting Unstuck Despite this Sore Throat

2009-08-16T00:00:00.001-05:00

I'm Facing the Wrong Way, Apparently

2009-08-12T22:12:00.003-05:00

So why'dya put the chair that way?

Incompetent "Facilitator"

2009-08-11T14:15:00.003-05:00

This one's for you, Jeb, for allowing illness to run amok and fights to break out. All unremarked. All pointless.

Nausea

2009-08-11T02:36:00.002-05:00

Yeah, it sucks. Yet a purring cat snuggled into your side makes it a bit more bearable.

The Point

2009-05-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

The Wonders of Technology

2009-05-13T17:28:00.003-05:00

I'm blogging, watching a video and riding home on the commuter rail... all at the same time!

Back Now

2009-05-11T19:49:00.005-05:00

The problems have been work stress, some long-delayed elective surgery (which should have been done 32 years ago, frankly) and my ongoing dental saga.

And yet, there are bigger problems in the world. For example, just today we found out about the death of a work colleague. My condolences to his widow and infant son.

Opposition

2008-12-18T17:47:00.000-05:00

Blue

2008-12-18T17:45:00.000-05:00

Electricity #20,000

2008-12-16T17:50:00.002-05:00

Froth

2008-12-15T18:55:00.003-05:00

Pretty easy day today...

Thigh Doodle

2008-12-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

Yellow Stripe

2008-12-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

In Flames

2008-12-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

...but not going down!

Dark

2008-12-09T20:43:00.004-05:00

Brace yourself. As we in the Northern Hemisphere head toward the Winter Solstice, I'll become increasingly focused on dark, darkness, the absence of sunlight, black skies, navy blue skies, tiny pinpricks of light twinkling in the night sky...

You get the idea. December 22nd, here I come!!

Lamp Light

2008-12-06T10:06:00.003-05:00

During this dark time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, any source of light is a pleasure -- especially those high intensity full-spectrum bulbs!

(can you tell I'm a bit of a nerd?)

Crawling Along

2008-12-03T22:35:00.001-05:00

Crazy Wind

2008-12-03T22:30:00.001-05:00

Conga Line

2008-12-02T20:41:00.001-05:00

Clouds, City, Rainbow

2008-11-30T17:44:00.000-05:00

Apple

2008-11-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T21:56:00.002-05:00

(pattern inspired by wild turkey feathers)

Included

2008-11-27T21:53:00.001-05:00

Nightmares

2008-11-25T21:30:00.002-05:00

One of those days...

Blue Moon

2008-11-25T21:30:00.001-05:00

Autumn

2008-11-25T21:28:00.001-05:00

Planet

2008-11-22T18:37:00.001-05:00

Leopard

2008-11-22T16:48:00.000-05:00

Outlined

2008-11-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

Crack in the Earth

2008-11-10T18:33:00.001-05:00

Aztec Mother

2008-11-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

Hope

2008-11-04T19:49:00.000-05:00

Let's hope it's not dashed...

Galaxies #20,000

2008-11-03T20:36:00.000-05:00

Night Ocean

2008-10-30T19:35:00.000-05:00

City Swirl

2008-10-29T19:29:00.005-05:00

I'm back with a great new job and after a summer of gardening. I've been creating, just not posting.

Here's an example...

He's Terrified of Something Not Even There

2008-04-27T13:36:00.003-05:00

S Hayes Wicker of Naples, Florida.

Update: Sadly, the measure passed in Florida, making it one of the few states which has enshrined bigotry in its Constitution as well as in many of its laws.

What else can we expect from the ding-dong of our nation?

Where I Want To Be

2008-04-14T18:23:00.000-05:00

Hope

2008-04-03T20:07:00.005-05:00

"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out."

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Torture: Still Wrong No Matter What John Yoo Says!

2008-04-02T19:30:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, one of the torture memos written by John Yoo of the U.S. Justice* Department was declassified and released. It uses reprehensible language and misreasoning to justify torture. For example, mistreatment of prisoners is justified by some weird form of proactive self-defense where harming an Al-Qaeda member was being done to prevent attacks to the U.S.

So, just forget about 'innocent until proven guilty'! That's as quaint a notion as the Geneva Convention!

The memo also renames torture as "...to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition..."

So, that's all right then! Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

It's hard to pick out the worst bit, although this one comes close:

"Whether conduct is conscience-shocking turns in part on whether it is without any justification," Yoo wrote, explaining, for example, that it would have to be inspired by malice or sadism before it could be prosecuted.

So, according to Yoo, as long as the torturer is nonplussed and/or doesn't enjoy it, he or she can do whatever they want. D'ya think there's a connection between that misreasoning and this kind of thing?

My drawing recycled from here. Torture is still unacceptable.

UPDATE: What looseheadprop says.

Eschacon '08

2008-03-31T11:03:00.008-05:00

I spent the weekend in Philadelphia in the midst of a gathering of Atriots and I'm glad I did. They are a group of creative, intelligent and well-educated people who care deeply about our nation (well, except maybe for NTodd). They should be the ones on the Sunday morning talk shows, on the Op-Ed pages and on the 24-hour-a-day cable networks instead of the same old pundits puking out the same old neocon talking points.

Let's work to make that happen! Read them! Comment! Get involved!

Atrios
Jane Hamsher
Scott Horton
Digby
Ted Rall
Watertiger
Echidne of the Snakes
Paul Krugman
Susie Madrak
Thers
KagroX / DailyKos
Douglas K. Smith
Athenae
Will Bunch
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters
Lambert of the Mighty Corrente Building

Some photos here, although none of me, thank goodness! Sinfonian did me a favor in exchange for my doodling all over his conference ID!

(Artwork by the handsome, talented, and charming Atriot known as Walter Neff)

UPDATE: Mithras liked his doodle! Aw, shucks!

Cutout

2008-02-24T17:21:00.003-05:00

My humble homage to Matisse.

Conduits

2008-02-24T17:21:00.001-05:00

Blue Skies and...

2008-02-24T17:20:00.002-05:00

What the heck are those?!?!?!?!?

Black Sheep

2008-02-24T17:19:00.001-05:00

Riding the Frickin' T

2008-02-24T17:15:00.002-05:00

Now that I've dealt with the Malignant Narcissist*, riding the T (public transport in Boston area), is the biggest stressor in my life. Hmmmm... What to do? What to do?

*Well, except for the inevitable retailiation, that is!

Disturbances

2008-02-17T17:55:00.004-05:00

You know how there are some people in your life who are narcisstic and not at all nice? They do nasty stuff, then weep and whine that they are the real victims and why are you treating them so badly you are the real problem you horrible, horrible person you?

Yeah, I've got one in my life right now. Reminds me of the villian in a Sherlock Holmes episode* I saw recently who whines something like, "Don't turn me in! Please don't turn me in! I'll have to go to court! I've been branded a thief and I don't think I can bear the strain!!!!"

Boo frickin' hoo!

*Jeremy Brett version, natch!

Wreckage --- Stuck

2008-02-17T17:54:00.002-05:00

Want to Escape

2008-02-17T17:52:00.002-05:00

Bermuda would do it. Bermuda or Barbados or the Caymans or the Virgin Islands or...

Meandering Thoughts

2008-01-21T10:38:00.001-05:00

You know how you lie in bed in the morning, not wanting to go to work? So, you hit that snooze button one more time and think about sunlight, life, politics and purple? Yeah, that's it.

Unintended Absence

2008-01-20T17:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Between the waning of the light, focus on writing and illness, I've been otherwise occupied. I'll be steadier from now on. I do have a backlog after all...

Dreaming Intensely

2007-10-25T19:01:00.003-05:00

Nightmare

2007-10-25T19:01:00.001-05:00

Unstable, Hard Turns

2007-10-25T19:00:00.001-05:00

I've been taking the bus a lot lately. The commuter rail is a lot more comfortable!

Too Busy

2007-10-25T18:59:00.001-05:00

(click to enlarge radically)

Passion

2007-10-25T18:58:00.001-05:00

(click to enlarge radically)

Heart

2007-10-25T18:55:00.001-05:00

Stab

2007-10-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

(click to enlarge radically)

The Ancient Map of the Netherlands

2007-10-19T12:06:00.000-05:00

(click to enlarge)

Inverted

2007-10-10T20:03:00.001-05:00

Twisted X-Ray

2007-10-10T20:02:00.001-05:00

Purple Explosion

2007-10-10T20:01:00.001-05:00

Conceptual

2007-10-10T19:37:00.000-05:00

Time To Go To Bed

2007-10-09T00:21:00.000-05:00

Particle Tracks

2007-10-08T22:22:00.000-05:00

So, the Republicans Have Unveiled Their 2008 Convention Logo...

2007-10-04T20:52:00.001-05:00

And, yes, it does look as if that elephant is stoned... and perhaps humping the 2008.

I couldn't resist adding my commentary:

hat tip to Sadly, No!

Playing 5

2007-09-26T19:40:00.001-05:00

Looks like chalk on construction paper...

Chit-Chat

2007-09-26T19:39:00.000-05:00

Chit-chat rules the world, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it.

9-11 Memorium

2007-09-26T19:35:00.002-05:00

9-11 was a terrible day in our nation's history. Here's to hoping that we finally find constructive ways to recover from it and clean up the mess we've made.

In the meantime, read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine.

Number Three in the "Whatever" Series

2007-09-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

Test 5

2007-09-26T19:32:00.001-05:00

Still playing around. Always will be, I suppose.

How Dare I Sit in HER Seat?!?!?!?

2007-09-26T19:17:00.000-05:00

I ride the train four days a week in order to work my day job and, if I sit in the front car, I am exposed to a group of very dumb, very nasty people who call themselves Christians. I call them the "Gaggling Geese", or GG's for short.

They are like geese because they are constantly gabbling and often get quite upset over trivial things. Plus, like geese, they can get quite aggressive and do not hesitate to squawk when something is not to their liking. Also, they have a very definite pecking order and are quite suspicious of anyone who doesn't operate that way.

I usually avoid them by sitting in the second car. But one day earlier this month, the only comfortable seat for me was in the heart of GG territory. I got dirty looks from the GG's for daring to sit in one of 'their' seats, but just ignored them. Now, one of the GG's is a woman who has stepped on my feet more than once**. This particular goose got on the train one stop after I did and proceeded to stand in between my legs. I said, "You could stand over there. You have stepped on my feet before, as you may recall". She shifted slightly, but was still within that zone of personal space which reasonable people usually respect.

I was sitting next to one of the GG's in a two person seat and, when he got up to leave, I slid over so I was closer to the door*. One would have thought I had committed murder!

"She's in my seat!" the foot-stepper exclaimed. "Look at what she did! She. Slid. Over!!!" The other geese started gabbling and squawking and making a lot of noise.

I smiled, looked right at the foot-stepping goose and said, "You can always sit right here" indicating the side of the seat I had just vacated.

"I wouldn't sit next to you!!" she spit out. "Good!" I replied, and went back to my work.

* The most convenient car for me. Sitting in the first car increases my chances of making my subway connection.
**I sit with my legs extended to ease the pain in my hips and knees. The GG's know this. They think I am faking it***, so often try to get me to draw them in by various means.
*** I'm not kidding. I limp. I'm slow on stairs. I have a constant look of pain on my face according to my friends. But the GG's think I'm faking it! Nice Christians, eh?

Harlequin Hovers Nearby

2007-09-10T19:38:00.001-05:00

I've been listening to a lot of music while working hard to improve my drawing tools. Now that I have them up and running, I'll try to actually use the new tools to produce art!

Ain't No Fairytale

2007-09-10T19:37:00.001-05:00

Monday

2007-09-10T19:36:00.001-05:00

Black and Blue Heart

2007-09-03T06:57:00.003-05:00

Blue Painted Door

2007-09-03T06:57:00.001-05:00

Fragmented Yet Functional

2007-09-03T06:38:00.001-05:00

You know when you feel blasted-apart yet still continue to move on? Yeah.

Test 10 - How the Tools Change the Doodle

2007-09-03T06:36:00.000-05:00

I have a new tablet computer and did this in MS Paint as a test. So, how do you think drawing directly onto a large screen will change my doodles?

Big Yellow Taxi

2007-08-26T11:53:00.000-05:00

You never know what you've got 'til it's gone.

War. What Is It Good For?

2007-08-24T20:20:00.001-05:00

Go here before the summer is over and do something about it!

Or follow the antics of a flock of pro-war bird brains on my new blog, A Gathering of Bird Brains.

Gravel and Granite

2007-08-24T20:19:00.001-05:00

The Cheerful Fat Woman Brags About Stifling Her Son's Curiousity...

2007-08-24T20:15:00.000-05:00

This drawing was done on the train on morning. I've heard a lot of dumb conversations on the train: long descriptions of favorite breakfasts, excrutiating details about taking a car to the garage for an oil change, the difference in feel between two pairs of shoes. But this one took the cake.

One woman talked at length about how her son had been asking her questions she couldn't answer. She decided to tell him that god did it or made it or wanted it that way. For everything.

Why the sky is blue to why people kill each other... well, maybe not that last one. But she was proud to be making her son ignorant. She really thought she had come up with a clever solution to what she saw as a problem

...and America becomes dumber and dumber.