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.
Kathleen and me
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.
Raffi finished his BIG painting. It is 30 by 40 inches.
This is his sequel to “Family”. It is Pet Parade because when he finished painting all of his pets he noticed they were facing the same direction.
Pet Parade
“What is special about this painting is that all of my pets are going the same direction. Kenobi, Lacy, John Jones Nixon Pokorn. They all have Pokorn in their name. Albert Pokorn.” -Raffi Pokorn
The snails have one goggly eye on the tentacle
“The snails are Shelly Pokorn, Shirley Pokorn, Killer Snail Pokorn and also Kriller Snail Pokorn. One snail’s name is Crush Pokorn.”- Raffi
I met Kathy at Pinchapalooza in April. Recently she called me and said that she would like to have Gator Girl Art in her shop. The Whimmsey Shoppe is having a Grand Opening October 30th, but will be open this Saturday as a preview during Covington’s Fall for Art event.
Whimmsey Shoppe, 828 Rutland Street, Covington, LA
It has been a while. I think I had a virus. I hope you are doing well. I am much better.
October is the beginning of the time of year when we have to start choosing activities. Things begin to over-lap… This weekend we are choosing the Louisiana Seafood Festival in City Park.
It is much easier to make something to sell or give away. When someone has pre-ordered, I always worry if they will like it. This one has nice depth and texture. I felt bold with the colors. So far, I am not tired of Grace. I love to spend a couple of days with her.
I am taking a little jump-start class with Cosmic Cowgirls, called Spark. We make a plan for the month. It is something we want to accomplish that takes 10 or 15 minutes a day. They offer it every month, but I haven’t signed up for about a year. My goal in October is to live my art. With a side note of using powertools. I have a habit of waiting until I can ask my sweet darlin’ to hang pictures, drill holes, cut wood… I am perusing my house, moving paintings, and using power tools to build and improve things. It has been a physical 8 days.
I made this frame from wood I bought at the salvage place.
Framed Turtle
Those mitered corners are hard. I think I did a good job.
I am re-visiting Magnolia. I hope I will be happy with her soon.
Working on Magnolia
She looks much more alive. I am going to bring her hair forward over her ears a little and add magnolia earrings. I cropped and resized the two magnolia flowers on the left and printed them on paper to make her earrings.
More power tool use…
Cabinet doors before sanding.
I wish I took a photo of the doors when I brought them home. They looked like they had sat in dirt of years. I washed them outside with dish soap and a sponge. Then I put them in the bathtub for a day soaking in Charlie Soap and washing them over and over.
I sanded them with my Craftsman Mouse Sander. The sandpaper is peel and stick. The sander has a little nose that gets into corners. I am going to paint on the panels. I plan on them hanging together. Maybe a woman and her flowers or a woman looking at another woman. I don’t know yet.
I bought some Canva-Paper from Canson. It came in a tablet with 10 sheets, 9 x 12 inches. The paper was going to be just for fun and practice. I had an idea to paint a woman’s face and separately prepare a board, cut out the woman and gel her to the board. The canvas paper is a nice weight and easy to cut. Because of the weight the paper adheres smoothly to a roughly textured board.
I used a spatula and gesso on the board. Then I sanded it so it wouldn’t be quite so textured.
Board behind Garden Fairy
I started painting the woman. My favorite way to paint is to have no idea when I start and just see what happens. It is time-consuming to keep adjusting the image. If I were in a position to solely support myself through my art, I wouldn’t be able to approach this way. I worked most of a week on a painting that I will sell for $150.
Beginning Woman with Flower Hat
I only know she is happy and wearing flowers.
Having Fun with Color
I am starting to see her, but don’t know who she is.
Garden Fairy
Between this last photo and the one before it, I changed her ears to fairy ears.
I look at every inch of the painting and see where I am happy. I didn’t like the top left corner, so I put tissue paper in layers on with gel. I like the transparency. You can see glimpses of words and music. Then I painted large leaves on top of the tissue. It makes the fairy look smaller. I think in real life, she is about 11 inches tall. Quite tall for a fairy.
I wish you could see her in person. There is a lot of texture.
texture
You can’t see this close-up too well, but I love when I don’t like an area, then later it is my favorite part.
I picked up the frame at an estate sale. I stained it with the same color I used as the last coat on her face. It is Golden Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold. After I applied the color on the frame, I rubbed some of it off with a damp paper towel.
I feel happy that I finished her on the first day of Fall.
I revisited an old friend this week. That’s what it seemed like when I worked on Expecting Grace again.
The original Expecting Grace
I enjoyed painting a giclee’more than I thought I would. The same woman who bought the original of Feathered Friends asked me to embellish a giclee’ of Expecting Grace. She asked for bubble paper on the hair and pieces of paper in the background like the original.
Feathered Friends
We both looked for months for the same bubble paper. If I find it again, I will buy a ream. We settled for a similar paper, a little heavier, and not as bubbly. I used the tiny bit of the original paper that I had left over. On the paper background I put a tissue butterfly because the new owner is always going through huge changes brought on by extreme bravery. I added an old stamp from Israel and sheet music. You can’t see any of that any more. I like that it is there.
Embellishing Giclee’Giclee of Expecting Grace Embellished
I can still tone down the background, but I like it bright today. It is not as white as it looks. It is more of a cream.
I cannot get a picture that looks clear. The necklaces are small prints (30 mm square/ 1.18 inches) of my art. 19/52 of the original paintings made into necklaces. I have been selling necklaces out of my studio and at festivals for $20. A few Pussyfooters have asked for them. This is why I decided to put them on-line. They are easy to put in a padded envelope and stick in the mail.
I started beading. It is taking longer than painting. I can see why it takes a year to make a costume. I started on the front of the headdress with sequins.
Sequined Headdress
I like the seed beads better. Because they are smaller than the sequins, they are more forgiving. I think they look more traditionally Native American.
Beginning to bead the breast
On the lower part of his suit I am going to bead a design with seed beads on another piece of material and attach it to the painting with gel medium. I like sewing directly on the canvas, but it is awkward and thick. I can’t sew on the bottom of the canvas because of the stretcher bars. Mardi Gras Indians usually sew the beads on a separate piece of material and attach it to their suit. By the end of this project, I will know what works best for me.
Raffi hasn’t started pre-school yet. While he was over here this week, he worked on his big painting. It is 30 x 40 inches. It is not finished yet. For sure he is going to put a little more paint on Lacy. When he is all finished, he will add goggly eyes.
Raffi’s pets
Lacy is a cat that has a “tail like a raccoon”. Alberta is a Guinea pig. Kenobi is a mix of Great Dane, Lab and maybe Pitbull. The crawfish is John Jones Nixon. When Raffi finishes his painting, I will post photos of the animals.
How is your summer going? We just got back from New York City. It was fabulous. We did the tourist things and were constantly amazed. This was the longest my sweet darlin’ and I have been away alone and not visiting friends or relatives ever. Prior to this trip, we have only been away for 2 nights.
Before we left, I spent an entire day with Joan of Arc.
Joan of ArcJoan of Arc side view
The flames and the clouds are on the side of the canvas, too. It is a museum wrap and is 2 inches wide. I wanted to try it, because usually paint on 3/4 inch thick wrapped canvas. I still prefer the thin wrap.
I cut zebra/ glitter paper for the flames and painted on top. Next time, I would just paint flames.
I like the dress. It is linen from my grandmother’s old table-cloth. I put burlap on the shoulders like a shawl, didn’t like the burlap, and pulled it off. I like the texture the burlap made when I removed it.
Joan of Arc, back view
I started writing on the back of my paintings. I put the size. I find often I have to look at my spread sheet or re-measure. The size is always a question.
I also write the name, date, a few notes (loyalty, courage, passion) and sign it. I will still sign the front after it is photographed.
I started buying canvas that has this structure on the back. I feel like the canvas won’t loosen up. It is like a wooden frame inside a wooden frame.
Fleur de lis jewelry
I found this piece of flour dis lis jewelry in my mom’s stuff. I wanted to incorporate it into the painting.
Joan with Fleur de Lis
It physically fits perfectly on the cross of light. I think I like it better without.
My Katy is coming in tonight from California. We are driving to Destin, Florida tomorrow so Katy can see her Godmother and hang out on the beach with Maggie and Raffi. Florida is four hours away from New Orleans and the beaches are beautiful. Five us are squishing in the Prius. Good thing we like each other. Wish us luck with the driving and the sharks.
My sweet darlin’ and I have not been away for our anniversary for a while. We decided to go big. Not Europe big, but definitely USA big.
I don’t know if other New Orleanians feel like this, but it is always hard to leave New Orleans even if the destination is fabulous.
There is so much to miss here.
Somewhere around the middle of July, I will be a full-time artist again. Right now, I am only painting enough to keep a small hold on my sanity.
Crow Questioning the Moon is almost complete. I just need to put the wire on the back and varnish it. This painting is small. 12 x 16 inches.
Crow Questioning the Moon
I am not happy with Joan of Arc yet. I think I know where it is going, so I am sticking with it. I planned to paint Joan in her father’s garden hearing the angel for the first time. Then the flames came to mind, lots of red, and words like courage, loyalty and strength.
The painting looks like heaven and hell with the flames and the cross. I like the linen dress that I made out of my grandmother’s table-cloth. I like her up-turned eyes with the sky reflecting in them.
I need to soften the sky, her nose and her chin. The cross is a combination of a sword and cross. This combination seems like too much detail. If I add more orange to the flames or green to the sky the colors will compliment each other better.
Maybe I wanted to paint her for the wrong reasons. I started painting Joan because I like to paint women and I like to paint New Orleans themes. I am not in love with leading soldiers to war. I am not sure I love Joan. I don’t like to judge, but was she crazy?
Joan of Arc in progress
The light pink areas on the Mardi Gras Indian will have sequins. I bought a variety of sequins to sew on the canvas. I have to finish the painting first. I feel like he is almost done, except for brightening the feathers. I painted a combination of 1/3 lime green acrylic paint with 2/3’s varnish on some of the feathers. I just need to do more of something like that.
Mardi Gras Indian, in progress
The Indian painted himself. I felt like I just uncovered him.
Gator Girl Art 