January 2014 – Gator Girl Art

Walking to New Orleans

Posted on January 28, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Good morning all y’all!

New to me stuff going on in New Orleans. The schools, government offices and many other businesses are closed for two days because of a storm coming in. The grocery and Red Box were crowded with people yesterday, like before a hurricane. The low tonight will be 27. It is 36 as I write this. The roads will be icy. Some bridges will be closed. For this transplanted me, this preparedness seems over the top. Maybe I will be educated.

The Blush Ball was last Saturday. There is a great video on Facebook of our dance, but I can’t get it to transfer out of Facebook. At least you can see our costumes and our awesomeness. We raised $30,000 for the Metropolitan Center of Women and Children.

That is me in the very middle in a short pink, curly wig.

Walking to New Orleans, because I have been thinking about alligators and skyline.

I have a nice old frame that I acquired at an estate sale. My sweet darlin’ cut a piece of wood to fit in the frame. It measures 15.5 x 28 inches. Usually, when I do a background, I start haphazardly, intention mixed with wild abandon. Most of it gets covered up. This time, I thought it would be cool to paint the land and sky the same colors. I started painting land and sky (with intention and abandon).

I cut out maps, music, and decorative paper for the buildings and paper that looks like French writing for the foliage. I outlined the skyline in black paint and painted a much finer line around the buildings.

I am waiting for Golden self-leveling gel to arrive in the mail. It will be shiny and totally protect the paper. I think people will be drawn to touch the buildings, so I want to protect them.

The Chinese New Year begins this Friday. The year of the horse. Symbolically, I plan to dust the house before then. I like to take a small part of another culture’s ritual and make it my own. Especially, if many cultures share the same ritual.

“Horse year is a time of fast victories, unexpected adventures, and surprising romance. Energy is high and production is rewarded. We’Moon 2014

Looking at the rain. Shaking my head. I believe we will be open again on Thursday.

Last but not least, our own Fats Domino.

Love you all,

Gator Girl

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Dandelion Prayers

Posted on January 15, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

Things are gearing up around New Orleans. The Pussyfooter’s Blush Ball is this Saturday. I am stretching my comfort zone by being very brave. I am dancing in the front row at the ball. Whew. I am not a dancer by nature.

Everyone is talking about Mardi Gras and the Jazz Fest. It feels like fun is blooming all around.

I had to stretch myself artistically. I was asked to paint a picture of my God daughter. It is way more stressful and sometimes feels more mathematical than artistic. I don’t want to make her nose to big or her ear too small. I thought I was done, but I see the jaw line is not perfect yet. I am calling the painting Dandelion Prayers. Because I think wishing is a little lame, unless wishing is backed by a lot of hard work.

The parts of the painting that I had the most fun with are the parts I made up. I added the green dress to match the meadow and her eyes. Usually, I like a lot of messier lines, but this painting is rather clean. I rubbed Dorland’s Wax Medium all over her face and hair, I sealed the rest of the painting with Golden Satin Varnish. I will post this again when I am completely done.

Effy Wild offers a lot of courses in art journaling. I decided to try her free course, Wildly Inspired. She posts on Wednesdays. I know I will probably get behind in this, but it is there for inspiration and I plan on keeping up. The two major things I tried with Effy’s first video was texturing the coat of Gesso and sealing the whole cover with Golden Self Leveling Clear Gel.

I think journaling will help me stay open in 2014. I notice on the cover that I am standing very straight and looking a little closed. That is OK, because this is just the beginning. What kind of trip would this be if I was already there? I put the card with the number 5 on the back, because in numerology, 5 invites people into your life. I used to have a “5” (just add up your house numbers) two bedroom house and at one point there were 8 people living there. We rented a port-o-potty for our second bathroom.

Peace and Love. That's my girl. — Peace and Love. That’s my girl.

Maggie's 2014 Vision Board. — Maggie’s 2014 Vision Board.

Maggie calls her board Tam (Tame) for no reason that I can decipher. The initials for her vision board are T.A.P. The initials don’t stand for words. She envisions for herself: Christmas, her 6 year old birthday and Mardi Gras.

I want to share with you, that being OPEN sounds great, but it is a little hard.

May I ask… what is your word?

In love with the adventure. And sometimes a little terrified.

Gator Girl

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OPEN (my word for 2014)

Posted on January 7, 2014January 7, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

Muy frio. Besides walking the dog, I am lucky to work inside my house.

I have taken a whole week to get myself into the new year. My word is OPEN. For some reason, it always needs capitalizing.

I used about a third of my board from last year.

I tried out some new techniques and some new products. Trying not to mind that supplies are expensive and this is old cardboard.

My board is different this year. It is mostly all painted, but still has so many rectangles.

On the Cosmic Cowgirl January phone call, I saw that the gift that I am giving to the new year is a bunch of white roses. I plan to buy them throughout the year as a reminder.

Last year’s board was a little 3D, so this board is very lumpy.

I left the board a vague on purpose. I think the year might have different plans for me than I imagine… 3 presents, a fortune, 3 spirals, 16 candles, many people, a blank canvas, and my gift of a white rose. I don’t’ know why or what the numbers mean. Running laterally through the board is my piece of the red thread. I spent the whole week, on and off, just wondering and painting layers and layers on this board.

Cosmic Cowgirls each hold one section of the red thread. It is too much to be responsible for everything, so we all commit to doing our part. That is the meaning I am going for with the thread… doing my part. The thread also keeps us connected to other people. Imagine if we were all standing in a circle, all around the world, holding that thread, connected.

So far, I am mostly aware of the people on the vision board. If I am to be open, I will have to be open to people. Hmmm.

This vision board is not about a to do list. It is about dreams and desires.

This really cool sign for my house came in the mail for my birthday.

My BFF, Jules, had it made for me. (Thank you)

I was fortunate to spend a whole day with my mini muse, Maggie. She is a funny and entertaining girl. Our day went from looking for pearls in pistachios (only the organic nuts have pearls) to thinking Rhiana wrote “Monster” just for her. These are the lyrics to the bridge…

I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy

I am so excited to watch MMM grow up.

Looking forward to 2014.

Opening to possibilities.

Gratefully in love,

Gator Girl