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I’m Back.

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I haven’t painted much lately. I have been working in the yard and out in the workshop. I have been learning stained glass. Mostly by YouTube videos and trial and error. Sometimes I phone a friend. There is definitely a learning curve. Also, if you are considering making stained glass, it is expensive, especially to start up. The learning has mostly been OK. I can see the light at the end of the journey. I feel, just like painting, it comes down to the hours of practice.

With my first piece I bought a pattern on Etsy. I wanted to learn circles and have it look mid century to go with my living room. The edges are tinned.

My second piece is part of my painting, Heading North. I made the pattern. It got a little wonky, but I persevered. I put a zinc frame on this one.

I bought a pattern for my next piece. It is going to be a crow. I am using the small bits that are cut off to make a mosaic along the side of my porch. Because I have a contrary neighbor, I am going to mosaic some stealth protection symbols along the side of the porch. It makes me feel like I am addressing the problem without addressing the problem. lol

I am painting again. I am totally in love with the painting currently on my easel. I am toying with the idea of only selling originals and giving up the print business.

Nova Colors

Anyway, that’s what’s going on over here right now. I feel like Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Boy the world feels small. I also feel hopeful for the future.

Remember to vote like your life depends on it. Somebody’s does.

Gator Girl

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Nutria, a swamp rat

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I was planning to paint a series of animals wearing glasses. I ended up liking the nutria without glasses. I feel like his orange teeth are enough. Also, he has too many problems to also deal with glasses.

Nutria are native to South America. They were sent to Louisiana (and lots of other places) as a way to monetize their pelts. As with other get rich schemes, people gave up on their nutria dream and released them into the bayous and swamps. Now they are an invasive species destroying our wetlands. If you kill a nutria (people like to say harvest) in Louisiana, you can get $6 for his tail. It is always open season. If you want to take a deep dive, there is lots of information about nutrias.

Here is a link to a short video.

I recommend the video, especially if you don’t have dinner plans.

I don’t know if any nutria have had a chance to eat watermelon, but I am sure they would like it. If I saw a nutria and had watermelon with me, I would definitely share.

Their teeth are orange because of a high concentration of iron in their tooth enamel.

Nutria Hat

Nutria Fur Fedora Hat for Sale in Brown

Stay cool,

Gator Girl

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Speakeasy Winny

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I think that I finished Speakeasy Winny. I won’t sell prints because I don’t have the rights to use the photo of the bartender. It was featured in The New Yorker, taken by Matthias Clamer, who seems quite famous.

I printed the background on Strathmore Canvas Paper. I painted Winny on a separate sheet of canvas paper. I cut out Winny and glued her to the surface. I’ve always liked photographs paired with paintings. The first time I saw this was 30 years ago in Perche No! in Chico, California. Sisko (David Sisk) was having a show. He sometimes used a photo as a billboard and painted the background or vice versa. I vividly remember showing my girls the paintings and talking about them. I think they were 2 and 4.

Speakeasy Winny is #2 of 6 paintings.

Singing those summertime blues,

Gator Girl Art

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Skeptical of Bird’s Advice

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I painted this right after the world began to open up after the first wave of the pandemic. I wasn’t quite myself after staying inside my house for so many months. My enthusiasm for painting was low. Mostly, I was painting with on line prompts using someone else’s enthusiasm to spring board off. This was the first attempt I made to paint on my own.

I liked having bird around to give me questionable advice. Today, I decided to offer her to the world. There is one caveat. Take her advice with a grain of salt, or a grain of bird seed in this case.

Skeptical of Bird’s advice is an original painting. 16 x 20 inches. Acrylic, gold leaf, and varnish on canvas. Right now, I am offering her through etsy.com/shop/gatorgirlart and Where y’Art Works.

Thanks for reading!

Wishing you all the best in this holiday season, 2023, and beyond.

XOXO, Gator Girl

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Black Girl Magic

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I’ve decided that I paint my best when I chose exactly what I want to paint and paint exactly how I want. This is Black Girl Magic.

I found a board in the garage and a frame that I got at an estate sale of a local artist who passed a few years ago. The frame had some damage to a paper coating, that I knew paint wouldn’t cover. I ordered some party napkins that were black with gold dots. I separated the layers, cut them in strips and adhered to the frame with Liquitex Gloss Medium.

I love painting on a board, because it is recycling. It is very different than canvas. It has little absorbency. Board is not as forgiving.

I am including 6 stages of the painting. First, I painted 2 layers of black gesso and 2 layers of black acrylic ink. I drew her face with chalk. I tried out some transparent brown paint. At this step, I sprayed the painting with Grumbacher Matte Varnish to hold the chalk in place.

Next, I painted layers of transparent red and transparent yellow. I didn’t mix the paint. I used transparent blue for the shadows. (I am loving transparent paint.) I highlighted with titanium white on a dry brush.

Then, more layers of red, yellow and blue. Trying out some hair and a large bead necklace. I can see her personality now.

Feeling confident. Her and I.

I thought I was finished, but decided I didn’t like the stylized highlights that worked on Booker.

Finished, probably. I might darken her eyelashes a little. I never know how far to go with lashes.

Black Girl Magic

I am pretty happy with her.

I hope you are finding a way to keep cool.

Love, Gator Girl

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Vermont

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

In an attempt to put some carefree fun into painting, I veered from the usual Louisiana art. I think I was inspired by the Bernie memes, LOL. Maybe this is the start of a journey through the states. New Orleans has been and will be my main painting focus.

Or will it?

My scanner is a little bit smaller than my paper. I will adjust for this in the future.

I’m sharing this painting because I tried some new techniques. In the top right I made the cool music notes by spraying ink through a stencil. On the left, I painted with black gesso because it is a solid, creamy black. Then I added white Posca paint pen dots.

The parts I really like are in her face and hair. There are snowflakes in her eyelashes. The blue and red combination in her face makes her look so cold.

I don’t like to bore anyone with too much detail. If you have any questions, let me know. I withhold nothing.

Better days ahead,

Gator Girl

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Playing with Ink

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I have been rekindling my love of painting with a block of Arches watercolor paper. I haven’t painted on paper in many years and have never painted on a block of paper. My goal is to start painting as a practice not as a product. My expectations for myself were out of control.

I love using the block of paper. It wasn’t the most expensive, but it was about $40. You can saturate the paper until it looks like a mess and swells a bit. The next morning it is flat and feels lovely. It feels like smooth cotton. When it is completely dry, you cut off the top piece with a palette knife.

I also have really nice Schmincke watercolors now. Both the paper and the watercolors make a world of difference.

I am using watercolors, ink, paint pens, and acrylic paint. I am loving the ink. The ink bleeds through all of the top layers. That is cool for a while, then I spray matte varnish on the painting to stop the bleed and place highlights.

The Inks are Dylusions Postbox Red and and Vibrant Turquoise. The red puddled in the hair in the shape of butterflies, so I encouraged them. In the end, there were so many layers that I decided to sand the surface. It left some scratch marks that I really like. I smoothed her face with a stiff brush and Golden Titanium White.

It seems she has a lot to think about, but I’m not sure what.

All the best. Stay safe!

Gator Girl

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Life’s a Compromise

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

We are in the process of selling our beautiful house to first time home buyers. It feels like they might be trying to be extra careful not to be taken advantage of. Or maybe super cautious compared to us. I am reaching the bottom of my ability to give, so I painted this.

I tried something new that I love for brown skin and I will definitely use this method again. I usually mix equal parts yellow and red, then add blue to make a beautiful brown. Then I add some black or white to lighten and darken it for shadows and highlights. It is a difficult method to bend it just right.

I bought some Golden High Flow Transparent colors in Hansa Yellow Medium, Naphthol Red Light and Phthalo Blue. Also, Transparent Brown Iron Oxide for the darkest shadows and regular Golden Fluid Acrylic in Titanium White for the brightest highlights. I didn’t mix any of the colors. I layered yellow, red, then blue. I added the brown and white to contour as I saw fit. I really like the outcome. I think she glows. I painted 3 coats of the red in her hair and used it again in her lips.

Those are my good pearls hanging from her ears. LOL

After all of the stressful house stuff is done, I might paint the words over in black gesso. It is kind of like chalkboard paint that way. Acrylics are so forgiving.

Take care and stay safe.

love,

Gator Girl

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2021

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

Crazy New Year. It has been quite a struggle to find my happy place. This last year, that will not be named, was difficult. Some people had it worse and some better. I think I fell somewhere in the middle. I painted 2 paintings. I didn’t love either one. Painting just felt like work. I talked to other people occasionally and heard some of the same lack of motivation for making their art.

I enrolled in one of my favorite classes, Life Book at Willowing.org. I have just started the first lesson. It is all about fun. Fun is what is what was missing in my art. I started each painting like it should be better than my best. I took myself back to the practice of art with less care about the outcome.

If you go to Tam’s website, there are 4 weeks of free lessons. You will need some supplies, but no previous experience.

Around Thanksgiving I got a Peloton. I 100 percent recommend it. I don’t know if I will ever go back to the gym and I needed some way to move my body at home. Also, it’s like having friends.

I usually scoff at New Year’s resolutions, but I have made some changes. The Peloton, every vitamin (not really) that Costco offers, and painting for fun. This has been a very serious effort to not feel sad.

Politically, there is hope. Soon, I won’t feel like I need to check the news immediately upon waking.

There is still a pandemic. New Orleans is at 10 percent Covid again. This means we are suppose to only gather with those people that we live with.

Immunization is right around the corner.

What a roller coaster.

When I write again, I plan on sharing my art. I’m hopeful. And I am taking the steps to happiness. I hear that happiness is an inside job.

I wish the best for all of you.

Stay safe,

Gator Girl

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Flowers in a family frame

Posted on by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

Here we are 33 days until the presidential election and in a pandemic. Who knew? On the brighter side, the weather is beginning to feel like Fall.

I have had a difficult time painting. I have several theories about this.

  1. I was burned out from the Children’s Hospital paintings.
  2. It is hard to find inspiration in Netflix.
  3. I was thinking I needed extra rest from the stress of Covid, but maybe it was really hot out and I am a bit lazy.

I usually paint people. I love how the face emerges. I like painting skin tones. I feel like faces tell a story.

Our family had a mirror that was about 100 years old. It fell off of the wall and broke. The frame broke, too. I loved the wood and it was very hard for me to paint over the beautiful wood, but I had no choice as I could see it. My daughter Katy cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to fit inside. Then it got tricky.

I painted this bouquet of flowers sooo many times. I only have two photos. I never thought I would finish it or blog about it.

You can see the wood frame next to the painting. I attached the broken pieces with wood putty and sanded it the best that I could with my dremel tool. I couldn’t stand this layout. There were too many colors. I thought my flowers should look like real flowers and that isn’t how I paint.

I asked my daughters and their wives what they thought a good background would be. I got so many ideas. A window, mercury glass with the flowers reflecting, stained glass because of the shape of the frame, a bright contrasting color, Katy’s face. I went with solid black just like I began. The table cloth is suppose to look like lace using some of the yellow from the sunflowers.

Finally, I like it.

I see that I need to make the stems darker on the baby’s breath. I painted this for our new house, so maybe our current house will sell now.

This is my original inspiration. I have liked this painting since I was a child. My mom painted this when she was in high school about 1936.

Maybe I can paint again now. Wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Gator Girl