September 2012 – Gator Girl Art

Bee Love

Posted on September 27, 2012September 27, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

I am playing around here (I mean working) instead of doing housework. I never minded housework before I had so many better things to do. I do believe I was in the minority back then.

I am posting my results of non-stop painting this week.

I love many aspects of Bee Love. I am thinking of painting a series. My husband hates the human-looking face on the bee so much that he actually said the word “hate”. Obviously, some childhood trauma.

I think she is just too adorable to hate. She is definitely a girly girl worker bee. She is wearing a cream-colored vintage plastic bow. The letters are from a fancy set of Pairsinpears. The black polka dot tape is Washi tape that I bought on Etsy. She looks a bit like a Pussyfooter Bee with her pink striped leggings and orange hair. She is a hard-working worker bee. She feels she can dress pretty without having aspirations of being queen.

I have been trying out this fun technique. I color with Caran D’Ache watersoluble crayons over dry acrylic paint. Then I mix the crayon in as much as I want with acrylic varnish using a paint brush, making it water proof. Sometimes I leave a little crayon-look and sometimes I blend it completely in. Finally, I seal it two more times. I like the look and it is just kind of fun to color with crayons.

I just have a bit more shadowing to do on Bee Love.

Stand Up's Side View — Stand Up’s Side View

These are the words that are on the front of the painting Stand Up:

When a woman chooses to source her truth

from within her very bones, rather than

looking to a set of rules outside of herself,

she is truly wise.

These are the words typed on the side of the painting:

When she can stand up and speak a truth

that is boiling up inside her no matter how

big a risk it is to speak it, she is claiming her

wild soul, perfect and untamed.

When 5,000 years of conditioning is telling

her that her way is wrong, but she decides

right then and there that her way is right,

and in fact, always has been, she is finally

free.

Kitty Cavalier 2012

An odd thing about the words on the painting… I named the painting Stand Up, tentatively while I was painting. I found the words later in Kitty’s blog. I don’t know if I believe there are no accidents in life, but I do believe in synchronicity if you keep your heart open.

I have been invited to show my art at Fall for Art in Covington, Louisiana on October 20th. My art and I will be at the Downtown Chic Salon from 6-9pm. My niece, Mandi is the owner/ stylist.

salon_team — Mandi is on the right of center wearing all black.

Until next week…

My wish for you is your heart’s desire.

lovingly,

Gator Girl

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Stand Up!

Posted on September 21, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi All y’all,

I hope this Friday finds you just where you want to be.

I am nearing completion on Stand Up.

I still need to whiten up her skin tone. I am going to keep the comic book outlines. I am portraying her as a shero. She is wearing an outfit like Wonder Woman. She has tiny gold stars strewn through her hair at Maggie’s suggestion. I like the tiny-ness and the 3 D-ness of the stars. I still have those wonderful words from Kitty Cavalier to add. Because it is an extra thick canvas, I am going to type the words and put them around the outside edge.

I am starting a super fun painting called Bee Love. I went to a gardening seminar, put on by the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans. I learned some fascinating bee facts. Did you know that the worker bees are female? That drones only exist for mating? And bees have certain jobs like undertaker and hive cleaner? They are amazing little insects.

I bought a linen canvas for Bee Love. So far I love it. It is tight and smooth. I painted the canvas with black gesso so I can start out on a black background. I haven’t ever done that before, my backgrounds are usually 3 colors. Hmm. She will be a cute little worker bee with curly pink hair.

I got into the Pussyfooters! Woot, Woot-woot! I will be marching in pink! Miss Heather nominated me. Here is a peak at her thank you card.

I am taking a drawing class on-line with the fabulous Jane Davenport. Our assignment is to draw a super model. Heather sure looks like a super model to me.

I would love to stay and chat, but my paints are calling.

Until next week,

Never ending love,

Gator Girl

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Let it begin with me.

Posted on September 14, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all! It’s Friday in September.

My mind is on a theme that is creating power within me. I want to paint about change. My reoccurring thought is… Why can’t things be better? Why should anybody go to bed hungry? Why do innocent people die in the name of war every day? Why don’t we stand up for health care and be our own advocates for our own bodies?

I am working on a new painting. I tried sketching out what I wanted to paint instead of diving right in, but I had just as many start-overs (3). This painting is a fair-skinned woman with ginger hair. Weirdly, I had a lot of trouble yesterday thinking of white women as soulful and wise. I shouldn’t even say this, but women of color come easier for me. So… I started listing in my mind the 100’s of soulful and wise women I know. I chose one strong and intelligent woman I admire to loosely model my painting after. Now I am over-the-top in love with the process.

I need to remember, and you might find this helpful… the time that seems wasted and unproductive is not ours to judge. I think the down time leading up to something is the time we need to process and see the signs, feel the intuition, and even wait for the materials to show up.

stand up in progress — Stand Up in progress

The words say, “The time I used to spend worrying about my image, I now spend in revolution. Stand up.” I don’t ever like red and blue, except to make purple, but it is what it wants to be.

I am painting over my original words in total, so they will be only there in spirit later on. The words that I am going to put on the painting I read in another blog called, “The Diary of Kitty Cavalier”. This is the link to Kitty’s website. The words are as follows:

When a woman chooses to source her truth from within her very bones, rather than looking to a set of rules outside of herself, she is truly wise. When she can stand up and speak a truth that is boiling up inside her no matter how big a risk it is to speak it, she is claiming her wild soul, perfect and untamed. When 5,000 years of conditioning is telling her that her way is wrong, but she decides right then and there that her way is right, and in fact, always has been, she is finally free.

Let it begin with me. is done. I like the muted look of the bee’s wax around the woman. I glazed her with varnish 3 times to make her shine and be safe from the dangers of the world.

I have 3 questions for you.

I might add another layer to the background to make the painting more uniform. What do you think?

Also, I am deciding if I want to sell prints and Giclee’s any more. I like the energy and the textures in the original paintings. What is driving me to continue selling reproductions is that I want people to have something affordable. Any thoughts? Do you think my Etsy prints are affordable?

Last, but not least, wise words from a 4 year old, “Nena, you might want to spend a long time on your paintings, but mine is done!” Wise beyond her years, she is already listening to her heart.

Wow. I feel like I can hardly breathe with excitement. Thanks for reading.

Until next time,

All of my love,

Gator Girl

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Imagine it and you can have it… in the tangible.

Posted on September 8, 2012September 8, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning all y’all!

Either my husband is so sweet or I am risking my marriage to write to you. Time will tell. It is our 28th anniversary today and he helped me to nail on the trim to a dresser that I am reclaiming and now I am blogging about the process.

About 2 weeks ago, I was looking for a dresser on Craig’s List and found the perfect one for $20 in Mid City. I didn’t have a car that day to pick it up. By the time David got home with the car, the dresser was gone. I thought, maybe I will find one closer and less expensive. I didn’t quite believe it. Then… last weekend, our neighbors moved out and put a cheap dresser on the curb. This dresser didn’t have the same quality as the one I saw on-line. But it made me happier, like getting a dog at a shelter happier. This dresser was going straight to a landfill. Besides being cheaply made, it was missing a drawer and the front of a drawer. To me this was perfect. I needed a flat place to store my prints instead of on the top of everything And I always need more general storage.

I painted the top, framed the open drawer with molding from the neighbor’s trash, bought two baskets at Target (exactly 17 inches deep) for a grand total of $30. This total does not include painting with Golden Acrylic paints. I couldn’t wait long enough to buy less expensive paint.

Furniture ariel view — Aerial View of Dresser

I saw the idea for putting baskets in place of the drawers on Pinterest.

I am not quite done with Let it be me. I am going to try something new (to me). I am going to paint melted bees-wax around the woman to soften the background. I tried painting something small with bee’s wax before, but not one of my paintings. Wish me luck. I really operate on a combination of luck and divine intervention.

This painting is representing the moment of surrender. The giving up of self to the greater power. Big step.

I am hoping to heal the world with painting. What are you hoping today?

Sincerely,

With all my heart,

Gator Girl