The holidays are here. Soon to say good-bye to 2013.
I have been thinking back on the year. It was a good year for me. I tried to work hard. Be kind. Practice gratitude. My sweet darlin’ aways says that you can only control your own attitude and effort. I tried.
Vision Board 2013
On my vision board from last year I see that NOLA Groundswell is now a non-profit business. That’s it so far. I applied for a few grants, but I think money is a little tight. No grants yet. I do love Maggie’s input…Good Luck, celebrations and love. My word for the year was VISIBLE. I am heading in that direction.
My last painting for 2013 is competed.
I wanted to paint the love between a mother and daughter. I like the words because they can be spoken by either person. I used a few of my favorite icons… the blue bird of happiness, the home, daisies and a sun. I like the fanciful childlike renderings.
I have some Shasta daisies in my front yard that I planted 30 years ago in Sacramento at our first home. Every time we moved I divided a few plants and moved them with us. 5 moves. I think that is why I put daisies in so many of my paintings.
The sky and the sun are tissue paper, decroative paper and paint. The words are chip board that I painted white.
I hope you like it.
I am off to visit the in-laws in California.
Have you been thinking about your 2013? I would love to hear.
Here is some music to listen to as you read my blog this morning. I love this song.
Here Come the Girls is one of the songs we march to during Carnival. Sometimes, my sweet darlin’ acts as a Pussy Handler and sweeps the beads off of the street, straddles horse poop, and holds the crowds back. He says the parade watchers see us coming and start shouting, “The Pussyfooters are coming!”. This is a rather fantastic explanation. Even hard for me to believe. The entirety of this explanation is the motivation for my painting. And I just wanted to say, “Pussy Handler”.
Here Come the Girls
The Blush Ball is put on by the Pussyfooters. We are raising $30,000 this year for the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children. I am donating the original painting to the raffle.
Blush Ball Flyer
I always donate when asked. I usually donate prints and giclee’s. For tax purposes, you can only write off the painting supplies that you used. Time and talent are not considered. Crazy. For the Ball, I am making an exception.
Writing the blog this morning is clearing something up for me. In the beginning of October, I decided I wanted to take my art to a festival or two. This idea and the following actions threw me into a head spin. I am starting to recover. I made jewelry with images of my paintings. I ordered extra prints, many extra prints, and some giclee’s. My inventory was starting to overwhelm me. I started to lose faith. I went into a mind cave.
Danielle Laporte whispered to me through my Kindle, “You’ve never been where you are going. You’ll figure it out. You’re the only one who can.”
Crawling out, I see the light. I am back on my path.
Here are the finished flags for my booth. My supportive sister sewed them together.
Hansen’s closed for the season yesterday. The last snoball of 2013 feels like a passage. It is walking through a doorway from Summer to Fall.
Saying good-bye to summer is bitter-sweet. The light is softer. The air is cooling down.
Things are picking up. Everyone is discussing Halloween costumes. Halloween costumes are either put together at a costume shop, ETSY shops, or are handmade. That is one reason when October 1 rolls around, you have to be on it.
My talented and beautiful friend, Mimi, made her family’s costumes.
Peacock family.
The list of festivities grows. Now we have to choose, because there are choices.
Pussyfooter practice starts in October with mandatory attendance. We all look toward the Carnival season with anticipation.
You can feel the Saints victories as palatable, like a physical happiness in the air we breathe… breathe in 4, breathe out 0.
Everything seems possible.
Today, I am sharing the completion of Friends.
Friends (completed)
The frame is old. I bought it at the estate sale of an artist. Accidentally, the colors of the pelican and the colors of the frame are amazing together. I painted this on a board cut to fit inside this frame. Maybe the color matching was subconscious, but I gasped when I saw the painting in the frame.
There is only about a quarter-inch of the painting covered up by the frame. Unfortunately it covered up the cat tail along the side.
There is plenty of carbon black and bone black in the painting lest we forget the oil spill. The gold near the top is the hope we hold for the future.
While I am impatiently waiting for a delivery of art supplies, I started a fun painting.
Girl Power in chalk
I used a free-cycle canvas (the background was already on the canvas) and a photo of Maggie in California for inspiration. I made grid lines with chalk to get an idea of proportion.
Girl Power in progress
I Googled “bubbles” to see how other people painted bubbles. I combined a couple of ideas.
Painting bubbles with cups
This idea came from a one minute videothat I found on You Tube. I went to Home Depot and bought some spray paint. I went to the grocery and bought some paper cups.
Bubbles in progress
OK…
First, I cut the bottom off of the cups.
2. I sprayed a small amount of silver spray paint in the cup, aiming at one edge.
3. I took that same cup and ran the rim through some white acrylic paint. I used this to make a whiter edge.
4. I didn’t like the whiter edge and muted it with LuminArte’ paint. Now looking at the photos, I think the white edge makes it look more 3 D. I am going to add some white back in. I am also going to add some white highlights where the light is hitting. My highlights are too subtle.
5. I looked at photos of bubbles on Google as a reference and added some colors that were already in the painting. I usedLuminArte’ because it is so delicate and luminous.
What is working for me:
the topic, Girl Power
the childhood symbols of bubbles, a marble circle, and hopscotch
the brilliant colors.
I want her hair more flow-y, add shoelaces, and darken some of her features, because the background is so dark.
Incase you are wondering what happened to the other cups…
I hope this blog finds you in perfect health and enjoying the best life has to offer.
Today, I want to share my process of painting this angel.
Angel in progress
I grabbed my favorite portrait size canvas, with all belief that I was going to paint a woman. The only mysteries that I was expecting to have revealed were her message, the color of her skin and hair, and her attitude.
I applied 8 to 10 layers of background. Sometimes, I think this step is too much, but I like the texture and depth it creates. Also, it is fun to experiment with colors and shapes that will most likely be covered by the subject.
I started painting and knew it was male.
Shocked in disbelief. I painted on some short hair. Not right.
I painted a skeleton. No again.
Zombie, walking dead? Not the message I was feeling.
I added wings. The fullness and redness of the lips increased. This is when I saw the androgynous angel appear.
This is the part of the painting where I fall in love. I am just sitting with this feeling for a couple of days.
Love is usually followed. Maybe always followed by the part where I think I have ruined it. Followed by feeling that I have given it my best and seeing the painting as completed. (I fall in love again, but not the love at first sight love.)
One thing I get about painting… Trust your instincts. Let go of control. The harder part is applying that philosophy to life.
Updates to follow.
We have a new family member. Desdemona was giving to us by friends who can’t take her on their move to Hawaii. It turns out that Desi is the perfect dog for us. She is 9 years old, playful, smart and independent.
Desi on the Kayak
36 pounds of joy.
We gave her a Mohawk for summer. She looks like a Disney wildebeest.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for supporting my dream.
I have been wanting to connect with y’all on-line, but the universe has been conspiring against me. Maybe it is all this retrograde talk or maybe my blog was just not ready to be birthed.
Crows on a wire has been a difficult painting.
#1 I painted a tree without really knowing how to paint a tree, so I painted the tree 20 times before I was happy with it.
#2 The question occurred, “Why are the crows dressing up?”
#3 “Why are they all wearing random costumes?”
I don’t usually paint with massive amounts of detail. I usually know basically where the painting is going. I am trying to just remain open.
I am getting to know these quirky birds.
I have a million women inside of me wanting to be painted. I do not know how the crows took precedent.
July 1st version of Crows on a Wire
I love how the background showed up in the roof.
I now know the crows are dressing for Mardi Gras.
The 2 black capes on a black bird were getting lost. I tried something new with the judge’s robe. I colored the robe with a black oil pastel. Then I melted the pastel with a heat gun. I like the feeling and the denseness. On the vampire’s cape, I streaked silver ink, let it dry and colored in with black oil pastel. I am going to paint with acrylics on top of all that.
Magnificent Maggie, who I am certain is going to be the next Rodrigue, told me something interesting.
She said, “Nena, there is one really, really important rule you need to know about painting.”
I replied, “What is that, Mag Pie?”
“The one really, really important rule is toNever quit painting until you are happy with it.”
The weather is heating up here. It gets really muggy and then the thunder showers start. I love the south unreasonably.
I have some pictures to share today.
Chandelier
I bought this chandelier at an estate sale in the Marigny. The man who died was an old artist. Maggie showed me the chandelier. I told her I was busy and needed to look quickly because there were so many people there buying his treasures. She insisted I come with her and she showed me this chandelier for $25.
I took the bead strings off and soaked them in vinegar for 48 hours, and then in vinegar and dish soap. 60 years of grime floated off. I painted the chandelier with two coats of gold craft paint that I had sitting around. On the underside of the horizontal parts when you look up from underneath, I added brown glitter flakes and gold glitter.
Close up of Chandelier
I wrapped the candles in washi tape. They came out super nice. You can’t even tell it is washi tape. It cost me $75 to have it installed above my desk. As an added bonus that I didn’t expect, all of those lightbulbs made it much brighter in here.
Maggie and Raffi’s dresser for art storage.
I bought this dresser at the estate sale, too. It is IKEA and it cost $20. I had some cans of paint from other projects that I wanted to use up. I also wanted the dresser mainly black to go with my mainly black and white studio. The black part is gloss enamel. I love the shine and resilience of enamel.
Maggie’s bees
The blue and yellow parts are latex paint. I wanted Maggie’s bees to adhere. She drew the bees with Montana paint pens. The pens are filled with acrylic paint, but are easy to control, like a pen.
Crows on a Wire
I wanted to see what would happen if I painted a wild background with many colors and shapes as the base of my painting.
#2
How much do I cover up of the original painting? I love all the colors, but it is so busy.
#3
The little houses got larger. The crows are dressing up. The tree is turning into a magnolia tree.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday! We have the honor of hosting the game here in New Orleans. It is still pre-game and everyone is happy.
I completed Justice.
Justice
I don’t know how the idea for a painting comes to me. It must be a muse. I just have a flash of an idea and I need to get it on canvas. I do not know any two women who look like these women. For the life of me, I could not get the dark-haired woman on the right to smile. Maybe she is a bit upset with our government.
I am also upset with our government. I choose to remain hopeful. I believe in the wise words of Theodore Parker, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
Now the fun part.
If you and your partner look like these women, send a photo to me, nancy@gatorgirlart.com and I will send you a print. I really hope to see a photo or 10.
Carnival is upon us. 7 days until I sashay down St. Charles with the Pussyfooters. I am so lucky to be a part of this fabulous group of women.
Today, I am sharing a process. I painted this on Bristol paper. It was a little frustrating for me because I usually paint, paint again, paint over… I had to be a little more gentle with the paper. There are aspects that I like, and things I want to change.
I am painting a version of this same idea on a canvas.
Justice in Progress
What I wanted originally were hearts. It is a painting about love and our justice system. The new painting is making me happy with so many hearts. You might not see any hearts in the completed painting. It is important that they are there. I especially like the heart that the two women make with their bodies.
I found this quote, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” —Theodore Parker. Mr. Parker was an abolitionist who lived and died in the 19th century. I think he would be honored to be a proponent of marriage equality.
I will somehow put his quote on the painting. Right now, I am imagining it written on the arc of the rainbow.
I just wanted to check in. I don’t like to miss a week.
Next time I post, it will be my vision board for 2013. Miss Maggie is helping me with it. Her words are perfect.
I feel like I am finally back after the holidays and the flu. It might seem like a crazy thing to say, but being ill and sleeping 12 hours a day, does give a person time to reflect.
My word for 2013 is VISIBILITY. This word by itself might have thrown me back in bed for a few days. I plan on making my art visible to the public. I am thinking restaurants and a gallery. On the first of January, I was totally freaked out by this word until I realized 2013 is a whole year. I am currently making myself visible in my fish nets and corset. Pussyfooters is turning out to be a fun way to give back to the community. We make events sparkly and pink.
Orpheus 13th Night
I found out at this event that the Pussyfooter women are totally nice. After this picture Miss Camille and Miss Becky tightened my corset until I looked like Miss Scarlet (in my mind). I was grateful. I had no idea you weren’t suppose to breathe.
I am nearly finished with Shotgun Angel.
The first thing I did was spray the canvas with Ink Spray Dylusions London Blue. If you want to try this, it gives a nice continuity to the painting, but be forewarned, the blue bleeds through as many layers of paint that you put on. At some point you might want to stop the bleed by painting some parts in clear gesso. Otherwise, your yellow house will keep turning green.
Next, I dropped paint on the background, straight from the bottle: white, yellow and purple. Then I sprayed alcohol on the paint drops and walked away.
I put layers of paint, drops of paint, sprayed more alcohol until I liked the background.
I drew the wings on the painting with white chalk. Then I laid the cellophane on top of the chalk outline. I drew the wings on the cellophane with a black sharpie a little bit bigger than what I wanted.
I painted her wings by spraying a mixture of glue, Pearl Ex violet powder, and alcohol on the underside for sparkle. I learned this from Bonnie Rose Bryan on Lifebook 2012. On the front of the wings, I painted featherish stuff with Golden Acrylic Titanium White. As an added bonus, the cellophane glows in the dark. Cellophane adds just the right amount of transparency for wings and lays totally flat.
I cut the wings out mostly inside the black lines. They are adhered with Golden Gel Medium.
When I look at the photo of my painting, I don’t like her dress outlined in white.
I do love how the stoops turned out.
I had to resist adding tiny details like birds and cats.
I am planning to frame this in old wood from an old shotgun house.
If there is anything that I left out, that you would like to know… just ask.
Shotgun Angel
I was listening to Billie Holliday Pandora when I painted this. The angel must have been listening, too.
I have my next painting in mind. It is a political statement.
Thanks for checking out my blog. It makes me feel grounded and happy to connect with you.
Gator Girl Art 