Shotgun Angel

Good Morning all y’all!

I feel like I am finally back after the holidays and the flu. It might seem like a crazy thing to say, but being ill and sleeping 12 hours a day, does give a person time to reflect.

My word for 2013 is VISIBILITY. This word by itself might have thrown me back in bed for a few days. I plan on making my art visible to the public. I am thinking restaurants and a gallery. On the first of January, I was totally freaked out by this word until I realized 2013 is a whole year.  I am currently making myself visible in my fish nets and corset. Pussyfooters is turning out to be a fun way to give back to the community. We make events sparkly and pink.

I found out at this event that the  Pussyfooter women are totally nice. After this picture Miss Camille and Miss Becky tightened my corset until I looked like Miss Scarlet (in my mind). I was grateful. I had no idea you weren’t suppose to breathe.

I am nearly finished with Shotgun Angel.

The first thing I did was spray the canvas with Ink Spray Dylusions London Blue. If you want to try this, it gives a nice continuity to the painting, but be forewarned, the blue bleeds through as many layers of paint that you put on. At some point you might want to stop the bleed by painting some parts in clear gesso. Otherwise, your yellow house will keep turning green.

Next, I dropped paint on the background, straight from the bottle: white, yellow and purple. Then I sprayed alcohol on the paint drops and walked away.

I put layers of paint, drops of paint, sprayed more alcohol until I liked the background.

I drew the wings on the painting with white chalk. Then I laid the cellophane on top of the chalk outline. I drew the wings on the cellophane with a black sharpie a little bit bigger than what I wanted.

I painted her wings by spraying a mixture of glue, Pearl Ex violet powder, and alcohol on the underside for sparkle. I learned this from Bonnie Rose Bryan on Lifebook 2012. On the front of the wings, I painted featherish stuff with Golden Acrylic Titanium White. As an added bonus, the cellophane glows in the dark. Cellophane adds just the right amount of transparency for wings and lays totally flat.

I cut the wings out mostly inside the black lines. They are adhered with Golden Gel Medium.

When I look at the photo of my painting, I don’t like her dress outlined in white.

I do love how the stoops turned out.

I had to resist adding tiny details like birds and cats.

I am planning to frame this in old wood from an old shotgun house.

If there is anything that I left out, that you would like to know… just ask.

I was listening to Billie Holliday Pandora when I painted this. The angel must have been listening, too.

I have my next painting in mind. It is a political statement.

Thanks for checking out my blog. It makes me feel grounded and happy to connect with you.

With abundant love and gratitude,

Gator Girl