Not exactly my 15 minutes of fame, but a welcome surprise. My niece, Maggie, from California texted me to say she sawAccepting New Membersin Apartment Therapy. You will probably love Apartment Therapy if you don’t already.
Happy Mardi Gras! I would normally be working on a Mardi Gras painting because I am moved by the seasons… Mardi Gras, Crawfish, Snoballs and Football.
I wanted to finished Rollergirls for any roller derby fans.
I love roller derby. I wish I was brave and tough enough to skate like that. This painting is loosely modeled after the Big Easy Rollergirls. The floor in the painting is more like a gym floor, but their colors are black and gold. The crowd is very close to the players and the fans from both sides are dispersed throughout. I took some artist’s prerogative. The gator is the jammer. That is why she has a star on her helmet. The other team is trying to block our star player. It is just becoming apparent to the crowd that Ms Gator has a winning move.
Every time I came back to this painting, I wanted to change someone’s expression or skin color. The 15 spectators took more time to paint than the rollergirls. I am not really this patient unless I want to complete a vision.
Can you find Brad and Dellwen from Brad and Dellwen’s Flag Party on Magazine Street in the painting? (The photo is from NOLA.com) It is a mystery to me why I choose people to paint. Many of the spectators just have the attitude of people I know, they don’t represent them physically.
I am going to the airport to pick up my friend from California for her first Mardi Gras! Muses rolls tonight! Muses is my favorite parade. I love that it is a women’s krewe. They have great throws and are generous. The Pussyfooters are dancing tonight, but I am going to be a spectator cheering my pink sisters on. I hope to see you on the Avenue.
I hope you had a nice holiday. I know the experience differs between people and year to year. This year was a good year for our family.
In New Orleans, we are rushing into an early Mardi Gras. The Pussyfooter Blush Ball is a week from today and the parades start in January. I am at a loss to explain what Mardi Gras means to New Orleanians. I think it is something like God, family, Mardi Gras.
It was probably October when I started my Rollergirls painting. Faces are one of my favorite topics, so I thought I would paint a crowd behind the skaters. I hit a wall when I felt like it was never-ending. There are 15 people in the crowd, besides the main characters. I don’t know how people paint so small.
Then, I was struck by the sadness of the Holidays for the people who are alone, or broke, or sick. So I painted a holiday painting. I wanted the painting to be generically holiday and express mixed emotions. You will see it again next year on an e-card.
Holiday CardClose-up of Card
Here it is January, and I am back to Rollergirls.
I put different shades of skin-colors on my palate, aka paper plate, and worked all day on all the faces. I had to keep moving between faces so the paint on the canvas would dry, but my palate would not. Here I was, spritzing my palate with water and going face to face. And face to face.
I started using my charcoal pencils. I have white and black. I thought it would be great to have pencils that worked like charcoal with a fine point, but with lots of colors. I wanted to work on one face until I was happy with it. I started searching on-line.
These pencils were suggested to me at one time, but I had never used them.
The pencils when dry are like bright, slightly creamy colored pencils. When you brush with water they work like ink and are permanent. When dry you can erase the pencil. I layered the colors before I added water and they mix themselves. I added white to lighten, or lifted the color off with a clean, wet brush.
With these pencils I can finish one face or at least work on one face until I want to move on. I am not tied to a palate of drying paint.
I am about half done with Rollergirls. I am not a fan of sharing unfinished work, but here it is.
I hope 2016 is a happy and healthy year for all y’all.
I made a pretty cool table top and I made a video of the process.
I have been thinking about editing videos for a long time. I like to watch instructional videos, so I bet you do, too.
This is my first attempt.
Here are the links to the things I found while making the table top that really work well. They are both on Amazon.
Foneso Tri-Pod/ Selfie Stick is 21.99 Prime Shipping. It holds my phone easily and securely. It also holds a Go Pro. it has a remote control.
Clear Epoxy Resin is 59.99 plus 9.49 shipping. This is a good price for a gallon. It costs more at Home Depot. 92% of the Amazon reviews give it 5 stars. I give it 5 stars. It has good directions and dries as clear and hard as glass. Measure carefully and keep the area as free from dust, hair and bugs as possible. Use a drop cloth.
The dragonfly painting is mine. The tiles are left over from a kitchen re-model.
I have painted The Kiss for more than a month. I chose the elements and found some reference photos in Annie Hamman’s Class. Spots, the alligator at the Audubon Zoo had just passed on and I wanted to honor his life. I didn’t rework the painting during the month, I just worked on it.
Here’s how…
Sketch of The Kiss
It started with black gesso. It has a rich, dark, mat finish. Then I added three or so coats of black acrylic ink. If you use acrylic ink (vs. India ink) it won’t bleed through into your paint. The ink made it even darker and shinier.
A little color
I doesn’t matter too much what color you start with usually, but I wanted to limit the colors this time. Spots was a white alligator and I wanted to accentuate this throughout the painting.
The Kiss, midway
I mostly paint women and alligators. Landscapes not so much. I started with what I know and like best. I think because I have spent a lot of time with my daughter’s dog, Kenobi, his personality came out in the alligator’s love for the girl.
Kenobi
I textured her shirt with a scrap piece of lace collar. I laid the collar down and stippled hard molding paste, mixed with green paint through the lace. I mixed paint with the molding paste so I could see where the pattern was going. I liked the green shirt, but I wanted white.
Lace Collar
The month-long journey included enlarging the alligators front foot, changing the angle of the girls foot, shortening the logs… and lets not even talk about the sky.
The Kiss
I plan on framing it in some reclaimed green wood that I have saved.
The original Shotgun Angel has moved to Florida. It is so exciting! (The link is for prints.)
Shotgun Angel
If you have wondered what it is like to work at home… It is mostly lovely. The usual things you hear apply. I am in the shirt I slept in, I am close to coffee and more coffee, I am doing what I love. The hard part is the pull from the house. There are always things that need doing here… laundry, dinner, bills… I like doing all of that, too, so it is hard to ignore.
Right now, I am going to go out on the porch and paint the trim. The trim is not pulling me.
The name if this painting is “And Justice for All”. Thank you to the Federal ruling, it has come true. I usually call this painting by the name “Justice”, but now the full title is fitting.
There is a story here. A beautiful love story.
And Justice for all!
I metthe woman on the right, in 2010. She posted (on Facebook) a prompt called “22 Questions for the New Year”, by Shiloh McCloud. My husband saw it on a virtual friend’s timeline and remarked, “That is my wife’s painting mentor.” The woman on the right, Rene (pronounced like Irene), Googled Shiloh, joined her class and ultimately messaged me. Tada! We were Internet friends for 5 years.
January 2013, I started this painting.
Justice, the beginning
The thing is… I had not met Rene in person. Rene had not met Amy at all. This photo is from last weekend, September 27, 2015.
I flew up to Minneapolis to attend their Jewish Wedding Celebration.
Seriously, I can’t even believe these two photos.
Rene helped me try to find two women who looked like this painting (for years). I really felt the whole time I was painting that these women were real and existed somewhere. She asked around among her friends in the bay area. I asked at a marriage equality fund-raiser. The deal was, I would exchange a print for a photo. “Do you look like these women?”.
Roughly, a year later, Rene meets Amy at choir.
May of 2015 they are married. The first time that I saw Rene in person, she was walking down the aisle to get married.
Rene and Amy walking down the aisle.Rene, Amy, and me.Amy in sunglasses. Can you believe this?
There is even more back story if you search “Justice” on this site.
Congratulations, Amy and Rene. I am so happy you met.
I am taking an on-line class from Annie Hamman. She was Kazakhstan born and has lived the past 16 years in South Africa. Here is a link to her website, Annie’s Website.
Annie
I don’t know when I have enjoyed an art class so much. I am picking up a few ideas to help me progress in my painting. For example, I use reference photos when I don’t know what something I want to paint looks like. Annie gathers all the references before she starts painting. OK that’s all. I don’t want to give her class away.
This is the beginning of the painting I am doing with the class.
The Kiss
The shiny part is black acrylic ink, the mat part is black gesso. I like the idea of starting out all black.
The alligator is Spots, the leucistic gator that just passed away at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. Spots was rescued from the wild as a baby. White alligators cannot survive unprotected from the sun and predators. He lived at the Zoo for 28 years.
I am painting him outside at night. That way he will be free from the zoo, but not baking in the sun.
Here it is September first. I think I am pretty organized, but sometimes I don’t get to my paint brushes.
Sometimes I get to my paint brushes, and I am embellishing giclées, not playing with a new painting.
Sometimes I have a million non-artistic errands.
Sometimes I look up and it is September first.
The painting that I started is Roller Girls. I have some of it blocked out. Here is a glimpse.
Roller Girls, the beginning
I listened to the soundtrack of Whip It, while I was painting. I love that movie. I love Drew Barrymore, too.
Maggie made me a paint brush out of pipe cleaners. It should come in handy. It is adjustable.
Paint Brush
One of my favorite topics about Cuba is the Medical program. Cuba will train American doctors at no cost to the USA or the students. The students are given free room and board with all of their meals prepared for them, their basic medical supplies, and basic toiletries. They are even given a stipend in their last two years when they are most valuable as a resource.
I saw 4 recent US graduates from Cuba’s six-year training program discuss their experiences. One of the recent graduates is from the 9th ward in New Orleans.
Dr. Gigi Simmons
I will tell you the highlights of the medical program, as I remember them.
The program is taught in Spanish. Most people go to Cuba without any Spanish. The first semester is Spanish immersion. All of the exams are oral, which teaches the potential doctors to think on their feet. When they are stuck on something, they are told to help each other. They spend a full semester without any equipment so they can learn to diagnose with their 5 senses. As for paying Cuba back, they are told togo home and serve.
Medicine as a public service is just the approach that drew many US graduates to ELAM,(Latin American School of Medicine).
“When I learned about Cuba’s health system—free, universal, and with a focus on public and global health—I knew this is where I wanted to study,” Dr. Veronica Flake of Philadelphia told MEDICC, (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba).
“I came to ELAM because I believe health is a human right, and so does Cuba,” said Dr. Tia Naquel Tucker of Sulphur, Louisiana. (medicc.org)
Before I went to Cuba, I would have thought a Cuban medical degree was inferior to a degree in the US. Now I can’t wait until Dr. Gigi Simmons puts her shingle out.
There is no smooth transition here.
We had a tragedy in our family. Although it is sad, I feel it needs to be said. My nephew passed on August 20th. My sweet darlin’ and I flew to California to be with the family. He was 27. It’s a sad story with a sad ending.
August. Like a warm, wet blanket. You can reach out and grab the air.
This is my audition photo to get into Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. This is my second year applying. I am on the waiting list. I am showing you this photo so you can see the wooden frames where my art is hanging. Katy made the frames from Pinterest inspiration. We wanted something easy to put up. Possible to store without a garage. And not distracting from the art.
Tent Audition
I am fixing up my studio so it will be ready for visitors. I think the easiest and most satisfying way to sell art will be to have people come to me. The first step in my master plan is making my studio stunning.
When we moved in this house 5 summers ago, I put everything in my studio without much thought and started painting. It is a long, narrow room with a lot of furniture. More furniture all the time. Also, Maggie and Raffi paint in here. And by paint, I mean build things out of piles of recycling.
When I got back from Cuba, I painted one long wall with flat white paint. I put two of the festival panels up very high on the wall. I was afraid it would be too busy, but it worked out better than I expected. I can rotate art easily and the panels draw your eye up. It makes the ceiling look very tall.
Studio Wall
This is the best photo I could get because the room is only 10 feet wide.
August 1, I was the artist at Bolden Bar. It is the most beautiful venue. The downside was that nobody came. August 1 was also White Linen Night in the Arts District. I hope to go back on a busy night. It was lovely there.
Bolden BarLarge Paintings
Shortly, I will be painting again. I am narrowing down the subject today.
Cuba continued…
My sister, Jan
Jan is standing on the balcony of Hotel Ambos Mundos in Havana. Hemingway lived for years in room 511. Behind Jan is the Cuban flag and directly behind the flag is Che Guevara’s house.
We saw Pablo Menendez perform on the roof-top patio of his home. He is originally from Oakland, California. He moved to Cuba with his mother when he was 14. It was a fabulous night.
Hi all y’all! I just got back from a week in Havana. My sister and I took the trip with Global Academic Adventures. We both had our concerns about going with a group. It turned out to be the best trip ever. Dr. Siri Briggs Brown(founder of Global Academic Adventures) led our group and packed the agenda with tried and true adventure. Every day was better than we imagined. There really was not one wasted minute. My sweet darlin’ did some extra work this summer and encouraged me to go on a sister trip. He puts the sweet in sweet darlin’. I am working on a way to go back to Cuba with David next summer. More on that later.
Most of our tour group.
Cuba is amazing. The people were the best part. I wondered what our reception would be like after a 47 year blockade. The Cubans were happy to see Americans. So happy and hopeful to have a chance to travel to the US and have the opportunity to rebuild their infrastructure. One woman cried when she saw us in a restaurant. 3.1 buildings in Cuba collapse every day.
Havana neighborhood
Cuba is picturesque, but the buildings will not last another 47 years without some supplies and money. I fell in love with Cuba. I think I could write a book… but this is a blog. I will add a little bit of Cuba to each blog for a while. I want you to know about US medical students in Cuba, the food, the cars, the economy…
This is where Hemingway stayed in HavanaOur taxi driver
He played Cuban music on the radio and honked at all the girls on the Malecón (8 km sea drive).
Hotel National de Cuba
The hotel was built in the 1930’s. There is still a bunker on the grounds with a map of the missile launching sites and targets. I found inspiration in the colors and music. I am looking forward to being with my paints.
Gator Girl Art 