Raffi finished his BIG painting. It is 30 by 40 inches.
This is his sequel to “Family”. It is Pet Parade because when he finished painting all of his pets he noticed they were facing the same direction.
Pet Parade
“What is special about this painting is that all of my pets are going the same direction. Kenobi, Lacy, John Jones Nixon Pokorn. They all have Pokorn in their name. Albert Pokorn.” -Raffi Pokorn
The snails have one goggly eye on the tentacle
“The snails are Shelly Pokorn, Shirley Pokorn, Killer Snail Pokorn and also Kriller Snail Pokorn. One snail’s name is Crush Pokorn.”- Raffi
I met Kathy at Pinchapalooza in April. Recently she called me and said that she would like to have Gator Girl Art in her shop. The Whimmsey Shoppe is having a Grand Opening October 30th, but will be open this Saturday as a preview during Covington’s Fall for Art event.
Whimmsey Shoppe, 828 Rutland Street, Covington, LA
In February 2013 I painted Justice in honor of marriage equality. I felt strongly that these two women existed out in the world. I put it out there over and over, “Does anyone know a couple that looks like this painting?” I offered a print in exchange for a photo.
Here they are.
Amy and Rene
I saw this photo and thought, “Wow! Except for the blonde hair this is them!”.
Rene (short for Irene) said, “How did you know Amy’s original hair color is red?”.
The quote that I have on my painting is, “The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice”- Theodore Parker. We see this is true when we watch state after state passing marriage equality laws. The full title of the painting is And Justice for All. Kind of gives me chills.
It has been a while. I think I had a virus. I hope you are doing well. I am much better.
October is the beginning of the time of year when we have to start choosing activities. Things begin to over-lap… This weekend we are choosing the Louisiana Seafood Festival in City Park.
It is much easier to make something to sell or give away. When someone has pre-ordered, I always worry if they will like it. This one has nice depth and texture. I felt bold with the colors. So far, I am not tired of Grace. I love to spend a couple of days with her.
I am taking a little jump-start class with Cosmic Cowgirls, called Spark. We make a plan for the month. It is something we want to accomplish that takes 10 or 15 minutes a day. They offer it every month, but I haven’t signed up for about a year. My goal in October is to live my art. With a side note of using powertools. I have a habit of waiting until I can ask my sweet darlin’ to hang pictures, drill holes, cut wood… I am perusing my house, moving paintings, and using power tools to build and improve things. It has been a physical 8 days.
I made this frame from wood I bought at the salvage place.
Framed Turtle
Those mitered corners are hard. I think I did a good job.
I am re-visiting Magnolia. I hope I will be happy with her soon.
Working on Magnolia
She looks much more alive. I am going to bring her hair forward over her ears a little and add magnolia earrings. I cropped and resized the two magnolia flowers on the left and printed them on paper to make her earrings.
More power tool use…
Cabinet doors before sanding.
I wish I took a photo of the doors when I brought them home. They looked like they had sat in dirt of years. I washed them outside with dish soap and a sponge. Then I put them in the bathtub for a day soaking in Charlie Soap and washing them over and over.
I sanded them with my Craftsman Mouse Sander. The sandpaper is peel and stick. The sander has a little nose that gets into corners. I am going to paint on the panels. I plan on them hanging together. Maybe a woman and her flowers or a woman looking at another woman. I don’t know yet.
I bought some Canva-Paper from Canson. It came in a tablet with 10 sheets, 9 x 12 inches. The paper was going to be just for fun and practice. I had an idea to paint a woman’s face and separately prepare a board, cut out the woman and gel her to the board. The canvas paper is a nice weight and easy to cut. Because of the weight the paper adheres smoothly to a roughly textured board.
I used a spatula and gesso on the board. Then I sanded it so it wouldn’t be quite so textured.
Board behind Garden Fairy
I started painting the woman. My favorite way to paint is to have no idea when I start and just see what happens. It is time-consuming to keep adjusting the image. If I were in a position to solely support myself through my art, I wouldn’t be able to approach this way. I worked most of a week on a painting that I will sell for $150.
Beginning Woman with Flower Hat
I only know she is happy and wearing flowers.
Having Fun with Color
I am starting to see her, but don’t know who she is.
Garden Fairy
Between this last photo and the one before it, I changed her ears to fairy ears.
I look at every inch of the painting and see where I am happy. I didn’t like the top left corner, so I put tissue paper in layers on with gel. I like the transparency. You can see glimpses of words and music. Then I painted large leaves on top of the tissue. It makes the fairy look smaller. I think in real life, she is about 11 inches tall. Quite tall for a fairy.
I wish you could see her in person. There is a lot of texture.
texture
You can’t see this close-up too well, but I love when I don’t like an area, then later it is my favorite part.
I picked up the frame at an estate sale. I stained it with the same color I used as the last coat on her face. It is Golden Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold. After I applied the color on the frame, I rubbed some of it off with a damp paper towel.
I feel happy that I finished her on the first day of Fall.
I revisited an old friend this week. That’s what it seemed like when I worked on Expecting Grace again.
The original Expecting Grace
I enjoyed painting a giclee’more than I thought I would. The same woman who bought the original of Feathered Friends asked me to embellish a giclee’ of Expecting Grace. She asked for bubble paper on the hair and pieces of paper in the background like the original.
Feathered Friends
We both looked for months for the same bubble paper. If I find it again, I will buy a ream. We settled for a similar paper, a little heavier, and not as bubbly. I used the tiny bit of the original paper that I had left over. On the paper background I put a tissue butterfly because the new owner is always going through huge changes brought on by extreme bravery. I added an old stamp from Israel and sheet music. You can’t see any of that any more. I like that it is there.
Embellishing Giclee’Giclee of Expecting Grace Embellished
I can still tone down the background, but I like it bright today. It is not as white as it looks. It is more of a cream.
I cannot get a picture that looks clear. The necklaces are small prints (30 mm square/ 1.18 inches) of my art. 19/52 of the original paintings made into necklaces. I have been selling necklaces out of my studio and at festivals for $20. A few Pussyfooters have asked for them. This is why I decided to put them on-line. They are easy to put in a padded envelope and stick in the mail.
I started beading. It is taking longer than painting. I can see why it takes a year to make a costume. I started on the front of the headdress with sequins.
Sequined Headdress
I like the seed beads better. Because they are smaller than the sequins, they are more forgiving. I think they look more traditionally Native American.
Beginning to bead the breast
On the lower part of his suit I am going to bead a design with seed beads on another piece of material and attach it to the painting with gel medium. I like sewing directly on the canvas, but it is awkward and thick. I can’t sew on the bottom of the canvas because of the stretcher bars. Mardi Gras Indians usually sew the beads on a separate piece of material and attach it to their suit. By the end of this project, I will know what works best for me.
Raffi hasn’t started pre-school yet. While he was over here this week, he worked on his big painting. It is 30 x 40 inches. It is not finished yet. For sure he is going to put a little more paint on Lacy. When he is all finished, he will add goggly eyes.
Raffi’s pets
Lacy is a cat that has a “tail like a raccoon”. Alberta is a Guinea pig. Kenobi is a mix of Great Dane, Lab and maybe Pitbull. The crawfish is John Jones Nixon. When Raffi finishes his painting, I will post photos of the animals.
Welcome to the dog days of summer. It is hot in New Orleans in August.
I finished Magnolia. Magnolia is blending with the tree by the same name. If you look closely, she has little dots on her tissue crown and in the iris of her eyes, representing the seeds in the magnolia blossom. She is glistening a little from the August heat. She is in the middle of being framed in a dark green recycled screen door. I want to get a photo before I frame her. The magnificent Dorka is back in New Orleans and available to photograph this week!
Magnolia
I started a fun painting inspired by the Waterbeams and their advertisement for new members. I already like the woman on the right edging away from the blissful gator.
Synchro Swim Accepting New Members
I am ready to bead the Mardi Gras Indian. I have some apprehension, because I don’t want to make a mistake. I looked at some photos my sweet darlin’ took on Super Sunday last Mardi Gras.
Super Sunday 2013Mardi Gras Indian Children
I looked at many photos on-line. I went to Jefferson Variety to buy gems, beads and talk to the helpful staff. The women showed me photos and told me what they knew about costuming. I talked to a Mardi Gras Indian buying sequins for her costume. She told me that Downtown Indians use more sequins and pin feathers and Uptown Indians used more beads, gems and plume feathers. Now I really didn’t want to blow it.
From there, I was directed to the Backstreet Cultural Museum. I looked at the costumes closely and took my time. It is OK to take pictures at the museum. Here are two. Notice on the first photo, there are sequins, beads and gems.
Detail of suit
In this example, the scene is entirely beaded.
Details of suit
At the Backstreet Cultural Museum, I learned the only rule is to start fresh every year. You are not allowed to use part of last years costume.
In my painting, I am going to sew beads, sequins and gems on the parts of the costume that are pinkish red. I cannot sew on the very bottom because of the wood bracing in the back. I am not sure what I am doing there yet.
Mardi Gras Indian in progress
I have also been making necklaces of my art. I will share that next time.
I appreciate all your support. Thank you for reading my blog.
I just heard some great news when dropped off Shotgun Angel at the gallery for White Linen Night.
#1 It is a beautiful gallery in a great location. #2 Shotgun Angel gets to stay there for 6 weeks or until it sells, whichever comes first. #3 The Where Y’Art miracle women have it set up so that you can scan something by my painting and see my entire body of work on your phone… connecting the gallery to our on-line presence.
I am super excited. The energy in the gallery is amazing.
Gator Girl Art 