art – Gator Girl Art

Medusa

Posted on June 25, 2025 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I have been working on Medusa for a few weeks. It has been cathartic to paint Medusa with the repealing of women’s rights in the US right now. As usual, when I paint something I know little about, I Google it. I also watch YouTube clips and read what’s written about it. Not a huge deep dive because I have a shortish attention span. While I was looking up Medusa, I saw what other people had painted and didn’t see my idea. That’s a win. I also found a poem by Nikita Gill that I love.

I am calling this painting, But Your Story was Always Written by Men. I was going to put on this redacted piece that I made on Canva, but I wanted something more positive.

I chose to write this part of her poem. I don’t like my hand writing. So, I found a “print to cursive” free site. I printed it and traced it. Then, I wrote over the tracing with a white ink pen.

I have 2 of these frames. My mother got them at an estate sale or garage sale, maybe 40 years ago. I finally decided I could use them. Blick Art Materials had the perfect size board. I thought that would be best to use because it is hard wood, smooth and not cut crooked. Painting on wood is different than canvas. One of the pros of using wood is that I can write with a regular ink pen. One of the cons for me was that I wasn’t used to painting on wood. When I figured out to just lay the paint on instead of scrubbing several layers on, it worked like a dream. Kind of like a dream. It took quite a long time and I don’t think her face is exactly like I pictured. Her expression is for sure what I had in mind. She looks to me like she knows so much about life and just deals with it. Skeptical for good reason.

I am pretty happy about her. I am also happy about having an idea that I wanted to follow through on.

In rage and resistance,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Cityscape

Posted on June 8, 2025 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I hope you are doing well. Life can be tricky to navigate. My strategy has been to act locally. I try to make something better in my community when I can. It saves me from feeling like I should help the world. It is out of my abilities to save the world, so it mostly saddens me. Someone told me recently that my paintings made them happy. It got me thinking about painting again.

I started this painting last summer. I got bogged down in the minutia of painting so many windows. So it sat. I didn’t start another painting, because I always like to finish what I start first. And probably, I have been a little depressed since November. I started watching a free journaling video and the woman was making a messy collage of a city street. https://courses.karenstampercollage.com/collage-the-street I finished the painting in 3 days and I had fun.

Last summer, I started painting this with no thought as to why. The person turned out to look a little British, a little like my first husband, and maybe non-binary. The city in the background reminds me of New York or London with the old buildings and little parks throughout. I think the tightrope person is addressing my fear of heights. Everything that I wanted to collage was in one Somerset magazine, except for the old photos that I used for people in the windows.

Before this gets too long, if I’m not too late for that…

Now for some closeups.

I found these photos in an album that someone gave my mother. She had no living relatives and had nobody to pass the album to. I think it is kind of fun that they ended up here.

These are my favorite people. The woman has some cocky attitude and the man in the elevator because he is in an elevator.

I lost the head of this woman. I looked everywhere. I can only assume that she didn’t want to be in the painting. I know she wasn’t happy with her dress.

See you in the streets. Stay cool.

love, Gator Girl

Mermaids

Taking Up Space

Posted on October 29, 2023October 30, 2023 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I am excited about this painting. I feel like it is gorgeous in the way The Kiss is gorgeous. I have carried this frame all around the country for more than 20 years. I think my mom picked it up in an estate sale. It seems very old.

One of the reasons that the painting turned out well is because I planned the painting. I know, wild, right?

I chose thin plywood, painted on 2 coats of black gesso, then marked the solder lines with chalk. I think this preplanning is key to the painting’s success.

The second reason I believe it turned out well is some kind of painting magic. I have had this painting in my head for a while. I knew I wanted her arms and hands out stretched. I wanted her strong with a few visible muscles and not super thin. The colors were important.

The magic part seemed to happen with the colors in her tail. They kind of painted themselves. I like how her hair floats with a tiny suggestion of light and a few bubbles.

Well, that is a lot of description.

Not the best photographs, but trust me.

I put words on the painting under her outstretched arms, “Take Up Space”. It’s a message to women who were never taught that it is OK to take up space. It is necessary to consciously think about this if it seems hard to do. Do you step to the side when people pass you on the sidewalk or is it mutual respect? Do you become small in a group?

This painting was fun. I have loved this frame for quite a while.

Take care. Remember to vote.

Gator Girl

Winny the Boxer

Maharaja Booker

Posted on July 28, 2023 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

The last (for a while) Winny the Boxer painting is finished. After the six paintings are photographed, I am putting them in an old 6 pane window that we took out of our house. I don’t have anywhere to hang the window in our house right now, so if you have been looking into ordering a large painting, hit me up.

Just like the other 5 paintings, she is painted on canvas paper and glued onto the background. I downloaded the background from Canva using their free service. I have to change the quality of the print in Photoshop because it is the free version on Canva. It is a fun program. If I were doing more of this style, I would definitely subscribe.

Have a great rest of your day!

Gator Girl

Winny the Boxer

2 More Winifreds

Posted on July 18, 2023 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

We have been driving the US for a month, and I am home now. I guess I needed a lot of visual stimuli to feel like creating again. I have had a productive week of Winny art.

Amish Winny

I am doing a series of Boxers with photographs as part of the background. I love the look of the combined media. I am going to incorporate my own photos into my art in the near future. I am excited about it.

Mademoiselle Winny

I am pretty happy with the way her beret looks like cashmere.

One more Winny to go. I think it might be Whistler’s Boxer.

Love. best wishes, and believe in climate change,

Gator Girl

alligators

Shopping in the French Quarter for Pretty Things

Posted on May 17, 2022 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I just finished, sealed and varnished a new painting. I got my idea from a photo on line of Ruthie the Duck Girl. She is a New Orleans icon. When she was a child, her mother put her hair in ringlets to look like Shirley Temple. She sent her out on roller skates with her pet duck and charged for photos. Ruthie continued to walk/roll around the Quarter all of her life often in a wedding dress. She sold postcards and posed for photos. She was born in 1934 and passed away in 2008. I love this story and that people in New Orleans supported her and her eccentric behavior.

So, I was looking at photos of Ruthie and wanted to paint her. I thought to myself or maybe out loud, “I wish I liked to paint ducks.”.

Shopping reminds me of going to a parade or to a girls lunch on a warm, humidish Saturday. They are both fixed up and wearing their pink nail polish. Best friends excited to be out during a pandemic lull.

The painting is 24 x 30 inches, acrylic paint, charcoal and varnish.

My favorite thing about this painting is the plaster wall. I think I nailed it. My next favorite thing is their relationship.

Wishing you all the best! Stay safe.

Gator Girl

alligators

A Girl and Her Gator

Posted on May 7, 2022 by gatorgirlart

Good Afternoon all y’all!

Remember me? It’s been a year since I painted anything to share. I think it was a combination of painting too many commissions and the world wide pandemic. Painting started to feel less creative and more like work. The never leaving my house part of the pandemic was not stimulating.

I feel like painting again and also feel like sharing.

Jazz Fest is going on in New Orleans right now. It is especially wonderful because it has been 2 years. Everyone is so happy to be out eating great food, seeing excellent art and watching amazing musicians. It’s hot. Sometimes very hot. If you pace yourself, rest and hydrate, it is all enjoyable.

When in doubt, I paint an alligator. This one is a happy baby. I love his baby teeth. I am not sure why the girl is a little startled. Maybe she is surprised by her new pet.

I am close to finishing another painting. I will share it as soon as next week. It’s called, Shopping for Pretty Things in the French Quarter.

All the best. Pray for Ukraine, Roe Vs. Wade, our world any way that you do.

Love, Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Yemaya

Posted on December 27, 2018 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

This is my most recent painting. Yemaya, Goddess of the Ocean and the New Year. Click on the link and read all about her.

The Pussyfooters were invited to a Second Line and ceremony for Yemaya about 2 months ago (Fresh Johnson narrates the Second Line video and is a Pussyfooter). This was the first I had heard of Yemaya. We raised money by selling raffle tickets. It was the kind of raffle where you split the pot. Part of the money went for our police escort. You need to have a permit and police to close the streets for the Second Line. Part of the money went for the brass band. Part of the money went for women in Orleans Parish Prison who cannot post bail. Sometimes a woman is sent to the prison because of a traffic ticket that she cannot pay. She doesn’t have any money for bail, her kids are put in foster care, she loses her job, and she waits. Part of the money goes to the lucky winner whose name is drawn. In this case the lucky winner put her winnings in with the bail money. We raised $800.

We had a Second Line to the river where the leader said a beautiful prayer to Yemaya and made offerings of fruit. Eli Mergel took photos.

I wanted to paint Yemaya immediately. I love to paint women. I also like a goddess. I am donating the original painting to the raffle table at Blush Ball. Blush Ball is where the Pussyfooters raise the most money. Anyone can go to the Blush Ball. It costs $40 or $60 a ticket. With the $60 ticket you get in an hour early and drink for free for that hour. It is really fun. The Pussyfooters perform. There is a band and a DJ. And a raffle table where you will find an original Yemaya.

FYI, the Pussyfooters raise money all year for women and children. We usually raise between $20,000 and $30,000 in the year.

That took a lot of words to share my painting. I hope you like her.

Sincerely trying my best,

Gator Girl

Mardi Gras Indians

Big Chief David Montana to Paris

Posted on October 17, 2018 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

Big Chief David Montana is on his way to Paris this morning. He is there to talk about a new documentary that is being filmed in France called Black Indians. (The link takes you to the film’s introduction.)

He is taking 20 prints of Flamingo Madness with him. I am so excited to have the prints traveling to France!

Derrick Hemphill of the Daily Commune has made all of this possible. If you go to his website, then “print services” you can buy a print. He does his own printing on beautiful paper. If you want to have him print something, I do recommend him. Derrick is the only one printing Flamingo Madness.

The Big Chief is also taking a sample piece of the flamingo suit to Paris for collectors. It is the same design as his original flamingo suit. I bought one to frame.

Here is a photo of the Big Chief in his pink flamingo suit. My friend Laura took the photo. She has a blog you might be interested in called L.A. to N.O.L.A. – Carnival, Concerts, Cuisine, Culture.

That is my big news for the day. Thanks for tuning in.

All of my love,

Gator Girl

Uncategorized

Cool Cat

Posted on April 12, 2018April 12, 2018 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

It’s a beautiful day here in New Orleans. Just a quick post to share the companion piece to James Booker. Cool Cat.

Cool Cat is 16 x 20 inches. I used the same color pallet as for James Booker, but went heavier on the reds and yellows.

James Booker is much larger at 30 x 40 inches.

Tonight is the opening for Art of Flavor at the Old No. 77. It is beautiful there. The Old No. 77 is a restaurant, bar, hotel and gallery. Where Y’Art and the Old No. 77 do a top-notch job putting it all together. Nina Compton, Chef at Compère Lapin and Abigail Gullo, bartender at Compère Lapin are curating. I’m excited.