Hurricane – Gator Girl Art

Hi all y’all!

We’ve had a lot of rain here. Even after living in New Orleans for 6 years, I expect the rain to be cold. In California most of the rain happens in the winter. Sometimes, in New Orleans, I make hot chocolate in my air-conditioned house and don’t realize it is 90 degrees outside.

This is “Tropical Storm”.

I like a tropical storm if I can stay inside. A tropical storm can mean a lot of wind and rain. We bring things inside that might blow around the yard.

The unsettling thing about a tropical storm is that it can turn into a hurricane. I live near a lot of people with Hurricane Katrina PTSD, with good reason.

This makes the tension rise.

I painted this during Tropical Storm Cindy. She did not develop further.

Here is some storm information…

In a tropical depression the winds start to circulate. When the winds exceed 38 mph, it turns into a Tropical Storm. The maximum wind speed in a tropical storm is 73 mph. A hurricane has wind rotation with speeds of 74 mph and above.

Hurricanes are rated 1 through 5.

1 is 74-95 mph

2 is 96-110 mph

3 is 111-129 mph

4 is 130-156 mph

5 is greater than 156 mph

Almost all hurricanes happen during hurricane season. Where I live, the season is from June 1 through November 30. Most hurricanes happen in August and September and rarely in November.

I changed the starry sky in the most recent Swamp Girl painting. Looking at the painting close-up, the sky looked ragged. I smoothed it out and added some tiny dots for stars. Painting some stars blue and leaving some stars silver made some stars look farther away.

So far, so good.

Looking forward to a sunny tomorrow,

Gator Girl

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Hi all y’all,

I will start with the good news. It seems like everyone had a fun time at our party. We got to meet some new people. A few of the new people live in our neighborhood. Some were soccer buddies of my son-in-law or people he builds for. Teachers from Harriet Tubman “represented” (as they like to say). Many of the guests were friends and family. My 80 year old uncle Anthony drove in from St. Gabriel. He looked at every picture for a long time and left me a check for a Giclee of Heart of the Hurricane. He is such a sweet man.

I painted this picture for Ashley Hansen unsolicited. I was happy to hear she likes it.

picture2life_72467_original — A collage of the party.

If you picture if not here, I apologize. This is just a sampling and I didn’t get pictures of everyone. Katy darling, you are not here because you stuck your tongue out at the camera.

Miss Michelle is in the bottom right. She made everyone’s night fun. She entertained the 3 and under crowd at my daughter Angela’s house. The little ones were thrilled to have their own party. Michelle is an angel.

If you couldn’t make it to our house. There is always next time. I hope to see you then, if not before.

OK. The not so great news for us, but great news for Harris Park. The Allstate Foundation and the Drew Brees Foundation in collaboration with the Injury Free Coalition for Kids chose Harris Park in the Gentilly Woods for the park grant. This wasn’t the first time Harris Park applied for the grant. Two schools and a church will also use the playground. Since Angela and I have already written the grant, it will be easy to tweak for the next round of applications. Friends of Samuel Square Park had great support from the community in letters, money and the promise of volunteers. It is just a matter of time.

Sincerely,

With a heart full of gratitude.

Gator Girl