Uncategorized – Page 18 – Gator Girl Art

Really Beyond Excited about Raven!

Good Morning!

When I wrote in my profile that I am living, working and thriving in New Orleans, I am.

I have been painting for Raven Wisdom Studio in Chico. That is my sister’s place. I kept putting Raven aside and working on it little by little. When I started looking at each area of the painting. One of my favorite parts of the painting didn’t please me any more. It looked too dark. Raven’s can be a little dark, themselves, and I didn’t want to portray that. Also, it was lacking whimsy, which I really like.

Today, I could feel the excitement of creating pumping through my veins. I ripped up paper and painted without even a sip of my coffee.

Right now the frame is drying. I don’t love framing, because I am not confident with it yet, or competent. I am too impatient to wait for help so I just push ahead. I am liking this frame.

Part 1 of Raven Wisdom — Part one of Raven Wisdom

After I cut the old wood, I scrub it with soap and water. I love old, but don’t think dirty is good in a house.

This was super fun. I painted the heart, filled it with love, turned it upside-down and sprayed it with water. When I turned it over it looked like flames.

Raven Appears Like a Shadow — Raven appears, timid at first.

I left the wood this color. It looks like old houses I remember fondly. The frame is going to have a shelf to hold Raven’s favorite trinkets.

I painted Raven with a lot of water and rolled the canvas with a roll of paper towels. I learned this technique from Effy Wild. It left the outline dark, and picked up the paint in the middle. Nice effect.

I painted Raven bigger, to be more of the focal point. Along his back is part of a Rumi quote, “be the soul of that place”.

I tried a new technique. I painted black, sparkly embossing powder mixed with acrylic varnish and melted it with a heat gun. It made a nice, black texture. You can see where I added it on the blackest parts of Raven.

The nest is made with corrugated cardboard that my sister insisted I needed to pack when I moved to New Orleans, lichen from the Lake of the Woods, Oregon (our favorite place), a red thread for the sisterhood, a fortune about friendship, and a flaming heart from Mexico.

There are other things making up the nest, like sheet music and journal paper. I added gold, brown, red and black paint for depth and mystery.

I am so sorry that the words do not stay put when I hit “publish”. I will keep working on this.

Thank you for reading about my process. Painting is pretty solitary business if you don’t count spirits chiming in. I appreciate the togetherness of my on-line family.

Where are your thriving in your life? What makes you lose track of time? Where do you feel your heart expand? I would love to hear.

Lovingly,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Maggie the Magnificent

Posted on May 9, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning!

Miss Maggie’s teacher, calls her Maggie the Magnificent. That right there is a sign of an awesome teacher.

Today, I want to share the development Maggie’s painting of Tim Burton‘s Jack Skellington and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

I asked Maggie to finish this while she was still 3 years old. It is almost done, except for glitter and other adornments. She has been patiently waiting to add glitter from the beginning.

Since the last posting, Maggie added a beard on Jack and eyelashes on Sally. She gave Sally a peachy colored face with a purple chin. Her hair is long, purple and teal. There is a purple vine circling them both. On Sally’s side there is a crimson sun in front of her body contraption. On Jack’s side, there is a white sun to his left.

I hope you enjoy following Maggie’s painting. My part has been to hold her palate and ask her to tell me what she is going to do next. Most times she draws it in chalk first so she stays with the concept of product. When she is playing, it is all about process with her. It must be super fun to be 3.

Right here… X… I tried to add a picture of Maggie at Jazz Fest. Uploading didn’t work. I am happy that the main picture uploaded.

With abundant love,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Input Invited

Posted on May 9, 2012May 9, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi all ya’ll,

I hope I can actually blog today with pictures and all, but my computer is feeling her age. I thought my PC was about 3 years old, but it turns out I bought it in 2005, so that makes 7 years flying by in a flash.

I ordered a flash drive so I can save everything I value on this computer, in the event that it terminally crashes.

Well, Gator friends and agents, you probably guessed it. What computer would you buy today if you needed a new computer?

With loving regards,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Life in Progress

Posted on April 20, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning all y’all!

I hope this Friday finds you well.

I need your help.

I am so excited about the painting that I am doing and am just waiting for some words to find me. I started looking for words and realized that I just need patience.

I started 2 new paintings this week. And the one I am going to show you is the one that grabbed me yesterday and I painted like fire all day.

I started out painting on an old canvas of MMMM’s from when she was one. It is 16 x 20 inches. I printed out mostly black and white photos of my past and applied them with Golden Gel. The pictures are a little random. I have my grandmother and parents which would be expected. But then I have a golden chipmunk from our cabin in Lake of the Woods, Oregon. The catholic church in Red Bluff, because I have wanted to be Catholic since I was 5 when my best friend Carol got to go to catechism classes on Saturday and I had to stay home.

I just went with my intuition and as you will see, it doesn’t matter in the end, because I cover it all up.

When I really got excited and couldn’t paint fast enough was when I saw this bubbly paper in my paper drawer and saw her hair. I cut it into strips, put it on with gel medium and voilà! I love it.

I painted her hair with my favorite Golden Mars Black. It is such a rich and mat color. She has a small nose, because in the beginning, she was a child.

I covered the pictures with paper. Some ripped and some cut with scissors.

The skin color is equal parts cadmium red and yellow oxide, with a little blue to make it a richer brown.

She is almost done. Just a little tending and she is waiting for words. You can see she is waiting expectantly.

And she is willing to make a deal.

If I use your words on the painting, I will send you a free print from my ETSY site.

With exuberant love and anxious expectancy,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Gator Girl Art is on Etsy!

Posted on April 12, 2012April 12, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning all y’all,

If you would like an original Gator Girl painting, but need to wait a while for the opportunity, there are prints available on Etsy. My prints start at $30 and there is a special going on for the month of April. Go ahead and check it out. You can also send me your email address through my email account at nancy@gatorgirlart.com and I will send you an email when I have a new painting, OR you can also see all my paintings in progress by following my blog.

And thank you, thank you for reading my blog!

I have completed 3 paintings.

The original of Monsieur Gator was painted on commission and is not available.

The collector asked for a French Gator. Painted in French around the outside edge of the canvas are the words “Strolling at Sunset, Dreaming of z Camembert”.

I listened to Chante France on the Internet. M. Gator loved the music. It seemed to put him in the mood for a portrait. What an attitude he has!

La Femme Fatal is mixed media, 12 x 36 inches painted on wood. She is standing on the street in the French Quarter after the parades have passed. She still has “it” after all these years. She sells for $800.

The Mardi Gras Muse or as MMMM calls her, Princess Masketier is mixed media on reclaimed wood, with a reclaimed wooden frame. The original is $800. The frame is part of the painting, so a small portion of the frame was also photographed.*

There are words about Mardi Gras running through her hair, and a 3 dimensional king cake baby. She is wearing a raven mask for my sister who owns Raven Wisdom Studio in Chico, California. (She is a clay artist.) The music is from the song “Mardi Gras Mambo”.

Mardi Gras Muse started out clearly in my mind’s eye, but took over a month to complete.

Now that these 3 paintings are complete, I will be starting a new painting from scratch. The options are swirling around me as I type.

Please stay tuned,

All my love from an ever-opening heart,

Gator Girl

*The photography is by the amazing Dorka Photography in New Orleans.

Uncategorized

Moving Forward

Posted on March 29, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

My spiritual journey at the moment is working on trusting my intuition, listening to what is being said around me, including my dreams, and being grateful for everything. I have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning in preparation for 2 weeks of fabulous company that starts arriving tomorrow morning. All the time being grateful for my furniture that I can dust, my floors that I can vacuum, and trying to be thankful for the toilets I can scrub. So far my spiritual plan is working like a charm.

Two new things are on the horizon. I donated The Heart of the Hurricane to the Easter Parade. They are raising money for music education in New Orleans. My sister met Miss Kitsy, who is in charge of the Easter Parade, on an airplane going to California. They hit it off and one thing led to another…

My youngest daughter is going to start selling Gator Girl Art prints and cards on Etsy. It seems like a win-win situation. With Etsy I will be able to sell at a bargain price and Katy will handle the mailing and correspondence so I can paint. While I was listening, I heard “Etsy” from three different sources in one week. I am beyond excited about this.

If you want to check out another blog, I have been reading knowthesphere.wordpress.com. Jeremiah is insightful and pairs his insights with stories. He is a freelance writer living in upstate New York.

Until next week,

With faithful, unreasonable love,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Spread the Love

Posted on March 23, 2012March 23, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Sometimes a kind gesture seems to go unnoticed, but makes a positive ripple in someone’s life. Today, I celebrate two fabulous women who do kind things every day. They both happen to be my aunts. I think aunts and grandmas are like moms only without the baggage. Unless they raised the child, they are free to just spread love.

My Aunt Ruth is in her 90’s. She is the older sister to my mother. She took the time to send me a card that someone had given her with an alligator on the front.

That simple gesture validated me as an artist.

It was double nice because Ruth is an amazing photographer and artist.

Another Aunt, Grace, lives an hour away. She came to my Gator Girl Launch Party and gave me a lamp that she bought at a garage sale. She thought it would be fun to paint. And it was.

It says, “This lamp offers no promise of enlightenment. It is only a lamp.”

I painted the shade with acrylic Mars Black. I love that black. I strung some glass Mardi Gras Beads on the shade. I love the beads, but maybe not on the shade.

I painted the words on the base, then went around them with a black paint pen to make the letters crisp.

I gave it to my husband for his bed side table. I thought the red would be good Feng Shui.

Aunt Grace and me at Gator Girl Art Launch Party. Isn't she cute!

Grace has 5 adult grandchildren and she still took the time for me.

Update on my art:

I have painted and re-painted.

From experience, I think the paintings that take a while end up being closer to my heart. I am starting to like this one.

The music is “Mardi Gras Mambo”. There are small words about Mardi Gras woven through her hair.

I started painting people from photographs for fun. I like them a little edgy, not like their photos exactly. I bordered this painting with dragonflies, because Maggie is in the dragonfly class this year. And a little crown for my princess.

Raffi looks so different now that he is 2. Such a little baby face here.

This is Katy’s Facebook picture. My husband, David, doesn’t like it because she has sunglasses on. I think she would appreciate being incognito.

All of the people paintings are about 10 x 10 inches.

I was totally long-winded today. Thank you for letting me share.

Until next time,

All my love,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Painting Your Future

Posted on March 9, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hello all y’all,

Just wondering today if you know that you can paint your future?

A few years ago, my mentor, Rev. Shiloh McCloud, needed two people to help her run her women and girls publishing company. She started painting three women, just standing together, smiling. Shortly thereafter, at the exactly right time, the perfect women showed up. One of the women, Mary, just wandered into Shiloh’s gallery and fell in love. She was visiting from Canada at the time. She packed her bags and moved straight away — been here every since.

Three years ago, when I was living in California, I started painting alligators, angels, and swamps. I was consciously painting my way to New Orleans. Everything unfolded perfectly, down to the last detail. I told anyone who cared to listen that I was retiring in three years, moving to New Orleans and becoming a full-time professional artist. Speech is undeniably powerful.

Just as I believe all religions are roadways to the same higher power, I believe any means you use to project out to the universe what your dream is will work.

Do you write? collage? paint…sing…dance…sculpt… How do YOU put yourself into your perfect life?

I am holding off sharing Mardi Gras Muse with y’all because I just bought a miter saw, installed it in my kitchen, and am making a frame before I post her next week. My idea is to make a frame out of reclaimed wood and embellish it with whatever calls to me.

Until next week my loves,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Hello March!

Posted on March 4, 2012March 4, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi friends,

La Femme Fatale finished.

I put fine silver glitter on her veil to make it stand out more. I put red chunky glitter on her roses and gold metal finish on her gold tooth. She makes me very happy now. 2 coats of varnish insure her lasting beauty.

Mardi Gras Muse or as Maggie insists Maskatier Princess (named for her mask and partial tiara), is still in process. I played with both kids all day Friday and Saturday and it threw off my painting time in a good way.

Masked Muse — Mardi Gras Muse in progress

I am having a lot of fun painting the muse. She is wild and entertaining. Her hair is a mixture of purple and pink paint in Golden Heavy Gel. I like the ridges. It gives her hair a thickness that mine has never achieved.

It seems like Spring has arrived in New Orleans, at least for today. It is a little chilly, but the sun is shining. We are having a crawfish boil in Audubon Park by the Mississippi River later today. I don’t think life gets much better.

Until next week, my loves.

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Mardi Gras

Posted on February 25, 2012February 25, 2012 by gatorgirlart

Hi y’all,

Things have been super fun and exhausting here with our first Mardi Gras. I think on Sunday there were 7 or 8 parades. It was like hanging out in a tent village. The best part for me was the parade goers. Everyone was so friendly. There are special throws that you try to catch at certain parades. Maggie got a shoe at the Muses all decorated with glitter, David got a Zulu coconut, and Will Farrell gave Maggie and David a cow bell. Pretty awesome and free fun. Y’all will just have to come see for your self.

This was walking distance from our house.

What I am sharing this week is the progression of 2 paintings that I am working on. You will have to use your imagination about what they are going to look like when I am finished or check in next week when I am done. The skeleton is finally coming along. I am going to call her La Femme Fatale. I went through a lot of names. I think it was because I started painting what I had in mind, but forgot to check in with her. A couple of names that she had for a while were Lasting Beauty and Haunting Beauty. Maggie wanted to name her “A field of Unicorns”. Apparently, the unicorns were invisible. I like La Femme Fatale because New Orleans has such a French influence and She is hanging out in the French Quarter around Mardi Gras. She is pretty fatale being beyond the flesh and blood stage of her life.

skeleton in progress — first skeleton picture

I decided that I didn’t like such small details, so I went larger.

In the second picture, I am starting to like her here, but she has a long way to go.

Fetching, I’d say, in a fatal way. Those are little crawfish fireflies in the street light, a small alligator playing a tambourine on her shoulder. She is now wearing a little hat with a veil that is so popular with the parade crowd. She had on a real Mardi Gras bead necklace, but I removed it for now. I may add it back in using an old glass bead throw that you can still catch once in a while. I put a net veil on the hat, but liked the permanence of a painted veil. I put little glitter fleur dis lis on her dress. This painting has been a labor. Some times things don’t come easily.

She is starting to look satisfied. I would say she’s almost finished.

I just want to introduce the painting I am having a lot of fun with. She is Mardi Gras Muse. If you want inspiration, paint a muse. They so love the attention.

I picked 3 colors: mars black, magenta and white. I painted these words on in gold: Mardi Gras feel the happy love. I added a big heart on the right and 2 little hearts on the left.

I am just going to have fun with her. Lots of symbols, pictures and words in her hair. She will have plenty of bling on her mask and glitter on her tiara. I see her so clearly already.

I hope you check in next week to see the progress. Life in New Orleans is a dream come true.

What we found out during Mardi Gras is that it is not a sprint, it is a marathon, so pace yourself. There is a bit of life wisdom in that.

With grateful and abundant love,

Gator Girl