Hi all y’all!
I hope this blog finds you well. Today I am sharing number 3 out of 6 versions of Winny the Boxer. This is Frida.
Have a fabulous and whimsical day!
Frida the Boxer
Tag: Gator Girl
Speakeasy Winny
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,
Not Going to Reverse Paint After All
Long story short, I could never paint well enough to be happy with my work by painting in reverse on glass. Reverse and glass are two words you won’t hear me say again.
This is my latest and last attempt.
I decided to do mixed media on canvas paper, then put it behind the glass. I am still doing 6 versions of Winny.
This is Boxer in Pearl Earring. What you see at the top is my latest attempt at crackling the background like an old Vermeer. Paint a coat of white glue, any brand, and while it is tacky, paint over it with paint. When it dries, it looks crackled, but mostly in one direction no mater how I paint the undercoat. I say good enough. This is my plan for the background.
I was thinking of an over-all name for the piece. Maybe Tiny Boxer like the Tiny Dancer song. Maybe she will be wearing Elton John sunglasses. The words for the song fit her perfectly.
Hold me closer, tiny boxer
Count the headlights on the highway (like on a road trip)
Lay me down in sheets of linen (in our bed)
You had a busy day today (watching walkers by)
That's all for now. I have a way forward that I am happy with.
May I wish that for you.
Gator Girl
Reverse Painting on Glass
Hi all y’all!
This one small plane of glass might be 2 blogs. It is interesting to try to figure this method out. Reverse Glass Painting has been used all over the world since the 1500’s. I fell into it because we replaced a 6 pane window with a door in the back of our house.
The painting has to be well thought out. I immediately did not think this through. I just figured I could learn as I go. I sort of can, but the first thing I had to learn was how to take the paint off.
This is the prototype. It’s called Boxer with Pearl Earring. I put this collage behind the glass panel. The tricky part is painting in reverse. If I make a mistake, I have to take the paint off down to the glass. It is important to look at the back of the glass often. That is cumbersome if you have a heavy, old 6 pane window. The first time I forgot her pupils.
The following image is the side of the glass that I am painting. I tried putting glass beads in the black paint to make it look crackled like an old painting. That didn’t work. I need to order some stuff called Crackle from Blick. This attempt is sort of basic, but not too bad. Just wait…
This is the viewing side. I put on so much paint to make it opaque.
This is where I am now.
I took off the most offensive paint with nail polish remover. I learned this handy information from a YouTube educator. Kayla Bame The entire research I did was watching this young woman’s video; 7 things to know about Reversed Glass Painting.
I am ordering Crackle. And I am trying to not start all the way over. Stay tuned.
XOXO, Gator Girl
Skeptical of Bird’s Advice
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
Black Girl Magic
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.
I am pretty happy with her.
I hope you are finding a way to keep cool.
Love, Gator Girl
Shopping in the French Quarter for Pretty Things
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
A Lucky Offer (First 10)
Hi all y’all!
It’s been a while.
I will be working hard for about the next 4 to 6 months. I wasn’t going to share this until I believed it myself. The people buying art for the new wing of the Children’s Hospital commissioned 30 paintings. They are giving me 10 months to finish them, but I think I will be done in 6. We’ll see.
The paintings are all 18 x 24 gallery wrapped canvas. I am painting happy paintings that tell a story and that I think the children will like. They gave me few restrictions. No flying birds, no angels, no blood or menacing teeth. I made a few of my own restrictions. I am doing only acrylic paint and not adding paper or glitter so they will be easy to clean. I am giving them an extra coat of varnish.
The first 10 are complete. I think the last 10 will be the hardest, if I run out of ideas. I painted a version of a few paintings that I have already done because the people commissioning the paintings liked them and I liked them.
Let me know what your favorite is so far and also if you have painting suggestions. Excuse the photography. Some of the colors are a little off. I don’t have professional photos yet.
It is kind of fun to paint prolifically and not wonder when and where the paintings are going. I made a bulk order of 30 canvases and bought a bunch of paint, brushes and varnish.
Accepting New Members 2 (She is not really that yellow.)
Alligator Ballerina 2
Blackberries
Cat Costume
Daydreaming Dog
Mermaid Child
Party Bear (The real colors are more vibrant.)
Swamp Girl 2
Uptown Rabbit
Walking to New Orleans 2
Feeling lucky,
Plenty of love,
The Pussyfooters have new costumes.
Hi all y’all!
My cousin, Lisa asked me to paint a new Pussyfooter painting. It seems like a reasonable request because the Pussyfooters have new costumes. We look like superheroes with a “P” on the back of our capes. Lisa is on the costume committee. She is a braver woman than I am.
You can see a pretty good picture of the cape in the first photo. Lots of people took their capes off that day because it was so hot. She has her cape tied around her waist. You can see our logo.
The second photo shows our new pieces.
The painting is in the half done ugly-ish stage. I think I will just show parts of the painting this week.
Painting the Pussyfooters this year is different from the last time I painted Pussyfooters. After 5 seasons, I can feel what it is like being in a parade while I am painting. I am tempted to have a zipper busted open or sweat riveting off a body. I choose to try and capture the joy (for now).
This is the only part I am totally happy with so far. It is a bit small. This will be an afro wig and a tinsel wig. The women are close together, but really they should be an arms length apart. I think it will be called “Let’s Dance”.
This is Here Come the Girls. I painted it 4 years ago. I can tell by the corset.
We are all a little sad about the season being over. I have to go to the rec center to exercise now… and I mean now 
With gratitude and best wishes,
Owl and Turtle
Hi all y’all!
This is the first painting I made for myself in probably 7 years. It is going to hang in the cabin at our camp in Mississippi.
Remember? I showed you photos of the camp last week.
I put all of my painting ideas on hold.
I think there might be a big project in my future. I am giving it all of my painting time.
Someone (who will remain nameless for now) asked me if I wanted to illustrate a children’s book that she has written. I am painting the first two pages and if she thinks my art works well with her words, it’s a go.
I will keep y’all in the loop.
Maggie and I are writing and illustrating a book, too. We have 3 pages so far. It is about a girl who lives in a swamp and has an alligator friend. We will finish this later. We like a long-term project. I figure the older she gets, the more help she will be.
Maggie’s Swamp Girl
Swamp Girl
I think the stories about why people buy my art are what keep me going in such a solitary job. A man messaged me on Etsy. He wanted to buy two prints of Accepting New Members because his daughter’s synchronized swim team is called Synchrogators. Cool.
What ever you are doing for Thanksgiving, I hope it is wonderful.
XOXO,
Gator Girl Art 