gator – Gator Girl Art

Swamp Girl, A Collaborative Book

Posted on June 7, 2017 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

It has been 2 months since I have blogged or done much of anything. I have had this monster brace on my right hand for that long. I can take it off for a short time now to do something easy like typing. I still have to wear it for almost everything else. It has been hard not to paint much or very well.

I had a cooking mishap. It was a big iron skillet full of zucchini. I was dumping the zucchini into a bowl with one hand because I felt invincible. I twisted my wrist and hurt the tendon.

I have been able to work on Maggie’s and my book for short stretches of time. It is pretty painful to hold the brush.

We don’t have the whole story yet. That will be our next step. We are thinking that I will paint the swamp girl and the alligator for continuity. Maggie will paint the manatee, turtle, nutria, etc. We are not sure who all will be in the book.

He offered to stretch his tail as high as he could to help her down out of the Cypress tree.

The idea so far is that Swamp Girl will wander into the swamp, become lost, and find a new friend.

I am ready to paint something to hang on the wall and sell. I like the idea of my paintings in people’s houses. It is a little isolating to paint pages in a future book.

I hope you enjoyed the preview. More to come.

Best Wishes and unending love,

Gator Girl

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Artist I adore… Annie Hamman

Posted on September 18, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

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.

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 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.

That’s it for now.

In love and gratitude,

Gator Girl (click here for my website:)

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Moonlit Walk

Posted on June 30, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

Heading into 4th of July weekend. I hope y’all are having a nice summer. I think it is pretty much hot in the United States now, with a few exceptions.

My ginger-haired girl is helping her friend embark on an adventure that leads them out of the swamp. It is the first time for the little gator to see something of the world beyond his home.

On a moonlit night, she hiked up her dress, and together they walked out of the swamp.

The painting is large, 24 x 36 inches, acrylic paint and varnish on canvas.

Best wishes for a fun and safe 4th!

All my love,

Gator Girl

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Alligators have dreams, too.

Posted on May 29, 2015November 6, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

I hope you are enjoying the first days of summer. I know it isn’t really summer, but the kids are getting out of school around here and we are starting to get the air heating up followed by the afternoon thunder storms.

Some people have mentioned that I am painting more or faster now. The paintings are just smaller. They are smaller for the same reason I sell prints of my art. If someone likes my work, I want them to be able to afford something. These next two paintings go together (or not). They are 11 x 14 on canvas (smallish). I will sell them for $120 each or both for $225. I like a larger painting because it tells a bigger story. It took a little adjustment in my thoughts to go smaller.

I painted the canvas dark reddish-pink. Then I scraped gesso over the walls with a plastic motel key. Lastly, I “aged” the walls with some Titan Buff paint. I wanted the walls to look like old plaster.

The alligator has always had a dream of performing in a ballet. It looks like it was a huge success.

When I was growing up, I had two small paintings in my bedroom of young ballerinas. I am sure this influenced me.

This is the girl who made the gator’s dreams come true. Sometimes it is nice to share the stage.

May has been very busy. My youngest daughter moved back to New Orleans. My niece from California visited for a week. My oldest daughter graduated from Tulane Law. Maggie turned 7. Now Maggie and Raffi are both between school and summer camp. My sweet darlin’ is basically absent from home because it is the end of his school year.

If you are visiting New Orleans, I think you should make time to go on one of the tours that Christine Miller of Two Chicks Walking Tours offers. My favorite is Drop Dead Sexy. It meets at the visitor center… Marie Laveau’s tomb in St. Louis #1… and hits a bit of Storyville. She will also designs any tour that suits your fancy. Christine is both entertaining and knowledgeable.

Until next time,

Gator Girl

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New Paintings Available

Posted on April 11, 2015April 11, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I am here to share my most recent paintings. I am showing them in a group, because I paint 4-6 paintings and have them photographed before I sell them. I also share them on Facebook, but not everyone follows me on Facebook.

The original Distracted and Distraction are sold together. The prints and giclee’s can be sold separately.

You can purchase my paintings on-line in my Etsy shop and Where Y’Art (an artist collective).

My paintings are also in Covington at the Whimmsey Shoppe and on the corner of Julia and Baronne at the M Studio in New Orleans.

I sell prints and giclee’s of all my originals.

There ya go.

Wishing you all the best in everything!

Gator Girl

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The Whimmsey Shoppe Opening

Posted on October 29, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

The Whimmsey Shoppe is at 828 Rutland Street in Covington, Louisana. Covington is an artsy town across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.

Cool fact. The bridge is 24 miles long. It is the longest bridge over water in the world.

The Whimmsey Shoppe will be open starting November 1. The hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11-7 and Sunday 12-4.

The owner is Kathleen Peterson.

We just met and you can already tell we are BFF’s.

Cool fact #2: Our birthdays are 4 days apart and our favorite color is green.

This is the place where art meets antiques. Gator Girl Art is here with prints, giclee’s and original works of art. In downtown Covington there is no sales tax on original art. Win/Win.

Kathleen finds great stuff and makes it better. She has lots of mid-century furniture and cool new items. This can be your one stop shopping for eclectic gifts.

I hope you do everyone a favor and stop by.

With holiday cheer and unbridled optimism,

Gator Girl

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Gator in the Hen House

Posted on April 9, 2014April 9, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

I wanted to finish Gator in the Hen House before I wrote to you this week. I am taking 4 paintings to Dorka to photograph this morning. This is my photograph of the finished painting. I am going to frame it with some wood I have saved under the house.

This is pretty large, 24 x 36 inches. My favorite part is the alligator. My second favorite part is the chicken wire.

My goal was to make the gator the center of attention with a smug and cavalier attitude. The chickens are a riot of color and feathers. They each have their own personality.

I raised the chicken wire with molding paste, then lightly brushed some Golden Green Gold and Cobalt Teal back in.

The rooster was painted with Golden’s Permanent Violet Dark, then Carbon Black and more colors. The shiny parts are Silk’s Acrylic Glaze.

This rooster is standing as straight as he can on his tiptoes trying to look invisible.

This hen's eyes are starting to roll back in her head. She thinks she might faint. — This hen’s eyes are starting to roll back in her head. She thinks she might faint.

I used Golden’s molding paste and Liquitex heavy body acrylic on the white chicken. I said “used” because I painted with a brush, my fingers and a palette knife.

I loved this chicken when she was pure green, but I wanted her to be a more realistic color and contrast with the gator.

So I changed her to..

Mama chicken is yelling, "Get outa here!" — Mama chicken is yelling, “Get outa here!”

On Mama Chicken I painted with acrylic paint and Dylusions Postbox Red Ink Spray. I painted with it, not sprayed it. I love how it saturates. I had to seal the hen with varnish and then paint the white bits back in. When you paint with ink it keeps soaking through.

I made the floor of the hen-house dirty, by putting broken toothpicks and beads in black and tan paint, putting them on the floor of the hen-house and pulling the pieces off with tweezers. I knew I would have a hard time making the dirt look random, otherwise.

One of the challenges of this painting was to keep the chickens in the background as supporting actors. They really wanted to take over.

I bought this cart at IKEA. I love it more every day.

Each day I have to trust again that I am on the right path. For me, right now, it seems like the only one. So I am putting one foot in front of the other and going on.

Loving you unconditionally,

Gator Girl

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Life in Progress

Posted on March 25, 2014March 25, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I have a to do list as long as my arm, but my studio is quiet and here I am.

Just a little update today.

Company is coming to New Orleans in waves. And why not? New Orleans in the Spring is the best.

Raffi is beginning a large painting of his pets. He wants it to go with his 3-year-old painting of his family.

I gave him some student quality paints for the first layer. Besides the color, the paints themselves look drab. I ordered him some Liquitex paints for the next layers. They aren’t Golden, but they are nice.

My Gator in the Hen House is still in progress. I have spent many hours on this. I will continue to paint it until I am happy with every inch.