Louisiana Art – Page 5 – Gator Girl Art

The Kiss

Posted on October 15, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

Lovingly,

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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Studio Revamp

Posted on August 5, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

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.

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.

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.

Shortly, I will be painting again. I am narrowing down the subject today.

Cuba continued…

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.

Until later,

Unwavering love,

Gator Girl

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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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Fleshing Out

Posted on January 15, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I am almost done with Songbird. Just a couple of touch-ups left. The bird and song are sealed in varnish. I am going to seal the rest in wax. I want the song to look bright in comparison.

It has sort of a graffiti feel. I think that is why I wanted her looking a little bit tough.

I like how the oranges and blues are working off of each other.

Until next time,

Gator Girl

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Songbird

Posted on January 6, 2015January 7, 2015 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I thought I would welcome the New Year in with a little songbird. I had a plan to paint an alligator swimming among lily pads. I prepped a large canvas for this painting before Christmas.

When I got back into the studio, I felt like playing with art. I painted a few layers of abstract strokes and my favorite symbols. The key to playing with paint like this is to stick with the same temperature of colors in each layer and let the layer dry before the next layer.

I started with yellow, orange and red.

Then blues and greens.

Back to warm colors.

The fun part really begins when I added white.

Then black. I think white and black look great side by side.

I used a BIG canvas to let the New Year know that I am allowed to use materials however I want.

I wanted a woman. So I painted a face shape with white gesso over the part of the painting that I liked least.

The rest was going to be hair, but the hair was just too big. I liked the rainbow colors in what is now the tail feathers of the bird as well as the breast area.

It was hard to paint out areas I still liked. I was happy to paint over areas that looked like big blotches.

I kind of want to keep her blue, but I might give her flesh tones. Leaning towards a natural skin tone.

I smoothed over the gesso with a plastic hotel key card.

The Blush Ball is this Friday. If you want to come, contact me. The tickets are $40 and $60 dollars. We are raising money for women with children who need to get to a safe place and start over.

You can also buy raffle tickets.

If you can’t attend, I will deliver your winnings.

All for a good cause.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you the best.

Gator Girl

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Distraction

Posted on December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

Welcome to super busy December.

Jingle Parade 2014, photo by Karen Ocker

The Jingle Parade is super fun. You can tell by how many Pussyfooter’s wanted to do it. Mr. Bingle is the snowman in the middle.

Mr. Bingle is famous in New Orleans.

Among many distractions, I finished “Distraction”, my first duo painting. The women are in a coffee shop at different tables. One woman is distracted by the humming-bird hovering over the flowers in the second woman’s hair.

Distracted

I just entered them in a mixed media competition.

I used a ton of mixed media… acrylic paint, Silks Acrylic Paint, foil, paper, lace, thread, gesso, matte gel, Gilders Paste, charcoal pencil, varnish on reclaimed cabinet doors. The competition is to tell a story with your painting. Click on the logo if you want to enter.

Here are close-ups of my favorite parts. I had this lace collar since I was maybe 12. It has been in my sewing basket for more than 40 years. I trimmed it and inserted it into her sweater using matte gel.

I painted embossed paper. Then I top-stitched it on my sewing machine. Sewing on paper is one of my all time favorite activities.

It is also a great way to mount children’s art on construction paper to make a quick frame.

The hummingbird has pieces of gold and blue foil applied with matte gel. I painted over the foil about 50% to push the foil back and make it seem more part of the bird. I painted several coats of Acrylic Silks over the humming-bird.

Now, the picture of the day. I think this would be a great cover for a coffee table book.

Pussyfooter eating cereal the morning after. Clearly not ready for the party to be over — Pussyfooter the next morning eating cereal. Clearly not ready for the party to be over.

My goal in Spark this month is to paint. The other two things I am balancing December with are getting out and enjoying New Orleans and celebrating a bit of Christmas in our house every day. Balance is sometimes difficult and Spark helps.

Spreading Christmas Joy,

Gator Girl

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Some paintings paint themselves. Some don’t.

Posted on November 14, 2014 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I am starting with a painting that is not painting herself. Maybe I am a bad listener. Like maybe I have something in mind and it is not Magnolia and we go round and round.

Sometimes my sweet darlin’ asks me what I have been working on and for weeks I have answered, “Magnolia”. My idea for Sweet Magnolia is simple. I wanted her encompassed by the Magnolia flowers. She needed to have the same coloring as the flowers and leaves.

I love this version of Magnolia, but look at her left eye.

Magnolia's eyes spaced incorrectly — Magnolia’s eyes spaced incorrectly

I fixed the left eye making her eyes too close together.

Here is Magnolia today. I wonder if she just wanted big, Southern hair. I made her earrings by photocopying the two magnolia flowers on the left, shrinking them and applying with gel medium. Her crown is made from glossy, green tissue paper.

I have a frame cut for this painting. It is dark green, made from a screen door. I need to cut a piece of wood to go on the back. This is held up by not having a table to cut on at the moment. The back yard is in limbo.

Is something in retrograde?

My new painting goes with another painting. A duo.

I took the handle off and threw it away. The hinges I soaked in vinegar, salt and dish soap for two days. They came out sparkly clean.

She will be looking at the woman on the other cabinet door. They are in a coffee shop at different tables. I was going to put a chicken on the woman’s head. Maggie thought of hummingbird drinking from the flowers on her hat. Go Maggie.

So far, this one is painting herself. I love her already. I am doing something cool with her shirt. I am painting textured paper then stitching the collar and sleeve together with my sewing machine.

I went back to the salvage store for more cabinet doors. I waited too long.

I hope you are having a great Friday.

With abundance and joy,

Gator Girl