On a beautiful winter day and the longest night of the year, Happy Winter Solstice.
I am painting my favorite painting. It has all the elements that I love. It is definitely New Orleans and full of magic and attitude.
Shotgun Angel in progress
It is a little know fact that Shotgun houses have their own angel. When she appeared on my canvas, I immediately fell in love. She is going to have cool cellophane wings. The nice people at Rouse’s Market gave me a cellophane sleeve without buying the flowers.
Here is Alligator Bliss in progress.
Alligator Bliss in progress
The glitter paper on his leg shows through the glass, but you can’t tell what it is with the glass on top.
This is my finished Alligator Bliss. I tried building up the background with molding paste. It made the swamp grass look pretty cool. I wanted parts of the painting raised to balance the safety glass I used for scales. That is also why I put tile along the bottom.
Alligator Bliss
Do you notice the yellow dotted paper on the alligator stomach? It is the same piece of paper I used on the curly hair of women. I am on the look out for another piece of bubble paper, now that I am hooked on its usefulness.
I made this little Christmas decoration for my daughter and her girlfriend. It is their dachshund with antlers and one of their rats. Cami, the dog, looks like a deer in headlights. The rat is quizzical. I painted it on a left-over piece of our dining room table.
Cami and rat
Wishing you all the blessings of the season. Time for this gator girl to look over the past years events and make plans for 2013. Time sure does fly.
We are having the most beautiful fall weather. Seems like it might be perfect for my first Pussyfooters parade next Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing what dancing in front of crowds is like, basically so the nightmares of being exposed in public stop. I feel compelled to do it because it has been a lifelong dream to be in a dance group. (note to parents: just let your kids live their childhood dreams in childhood. The dreams don’t just vanish with a “no”.) With the Pussyfooters, I met the requirements of having or living like I have vagina and being over 30. Yea me! I qualify. The Krewe of Jingleparade is on Canal Street.
Two more awesome reasons to join with the Pussyfooters are the service we do for the community, raising money to support and empower women, and for me to meet other women. Since I work at home now, I feel the need to get out and into the community for mental health.
I have two paintings to share today. I finished the La Virgen de Guadalupe. I just need to varnish her to protect her from dust and uv rays. I am also giving the person who commissioned her a chance to see her before I take her to be packaged and shipped.I painted the virgin how I think she would appear to the person I painted her for. I added the traditional saint card near the bottom of the canvas.
La Virgen de Guadalupe
I am starting a new painting just for fun on a piece of reclaimed wood. It is just a scrap of wood that I am going to frame in old wood from an old house. It is called Alligator Bliss.
I have some safety glass from a broken car window. It looks like the scales on an alligator’s legs and shoulders. It looks really cool to see the paint through the broken glass. The trouble I am having is the glass is raised up higher than the rest of the gator. My plan is to just continue on with the plan, hoping that it all turns out. Maybe I could put a piece of glass over the whole painting when I frame it. (Insert here any of your good ideas.)
He is not much to see yet. (Why are my alligators always men?)
Alligator Bliss in Progress
I laid some glass on the painting so you can see how cool it looks. Maybe it will be OK just to have the glass parts a little higher. Hmmm.
It is November. Traditionally a time of extra gratefulness for all of our blessings. I think it is especially important to practice gratitude when life is difficult.
I have a super great assignment. A friend wants me to paint La Virgen De Guadalupe. I am currently painting the Madonna and feeling grateful with every stroke of my paint brush. I like knowing who will receive the Blessed Mother because I can ask for blessings for her family, business, happiness, etc. while I paint.
I don’t want to post in-progress pictures today. Instead I am going to post glimpses. I will post the finished painting in two weeks. I plan to be finished for December 12th.
Madonna sneak preview
A cool thing happened by accident when I was painting. I started out spraying Ranger Ink Spray, Dylusions in London Blue, all over the canvas. I painted with acrylic paints for a few hours, and when I came back the blue was coming to the top. This happened for a few days. I really like the effect. I would just leave the painting with a bluish tinge to her complexion, but I don’t want it so blue because it is the Madonna.
Madonna sneak preview 2
It worried me that the blue ink would re-surface indefinitely, so I painted her face and neck with clear gesso as a barrier. I am going to paint some more skin tone colors over the gesso, leaving just a touch of blue.
Last glimpse
This is her neck. You can see how blue, even after 5 coats of Golden Acrylic Paint.
I am happy for the assignment. I am happy for so much to be grateful for.
We are starting the festival season here in New Orleans. There are many things to do every weekend from now until after Mardi Gras. This weekend I am lucky enough to have art in 2 locations.
I dropped Frida off while they were setting up last night. The Healing Center looked amazing. Really great art and music. I hear there will be a parade.
Miss Mandie from Downtown Chic Salon has invited me to share 10 paintings at Fall for Art.
I will be here.
I feel so fortunate and grateful for double invitations.
I finished Dancing in the Moonlight (alternately The Happy Family). I like the family. They look like New Orleans to me. I decided against button eyes and their mouths sewn shut. With the baby in the picture, it was going to look too gruesome. I just wanted them to look recently departed and back for a visit.I probably decided to paint them because of the Fall weather and Day of the Dead being just a couple of weeks away.
Dancing in the Moonlight
They are wearing many of the same colors as the night sky. You can see that the children inherited their mother’s chin. It was fun to see the family resemblances. I secretly have always liked the mother to pass down the genes.
Maggie wants another baby in their family in real life, so she asked me to paint a baby in the picture.
Dia de los Muertos is one of my favorite days. I spend time honoring and remembering loved ones that have passed over. I have a box of photos I look through that I have collected and pick a few for the altar. I don’t put everyone up because I would be too crowded, but looking through the pictures is part of the honoring and I think the departed understand.
My mom and I had a shaky relationship. She passed on several years ago.
I recently found a picture of the two of us enjoying time together. I am going to see if I like having the picture up in our house. Sometimes it takes a long time for forgiveness and understanding. At least for me it does. It turns out the altar is healing as well as honoring.
It is Saturday, the last day I allow myself to blog. I don’t know why the procrastination. I am also procrastinating finishing Dancing in the Moonlight. I am enjoying the family so much that I don’t want it to be over.
(The father’s cigarette ash is my favorite part. He is waiting almost too long to tap it off. )
Dancing in the Moonlight, nearing completion
I also call it Happy Family, but that is not the real name. I was going to sew buttons on for eyes and sew their mouths shut with embroidery thread in a cross-stitch. I am not going to do that now, because I think they would look too scary. I want the family obviously visiting from the other side, but not scary. I did put the cosmetic bag material on the mother’s dress and daughter’s tights. You can’t really tell, except for the shimmer and it feels lovely to touch. The moon has glow-in-the-dark paint as the last coat. Awesome with the lights off.
Right now, my favorite people to paint are recently dead. I like the colors better than skeletons or the living. With that in mind, it is odd that my next painting will have dragonfly wings.
My daughter and my daughter’s sister-in-law (let’s just call them Katy and Antonia) went to the Green Project and saw a lot of broken glass. They put it in a bag thinking I could make a snoball painting with it. How sweet of them. Some of the glass is from a car wreck and looks just like dragonfly wings. I am looking forward to trying it out.
We are having a little trouble decorating for Halloween this year. Maggie and Raffi don’t like anything scary. Maggie says when she has a Halloween store, she will only have unicorns and puppies. She has asked me so many times to change the hand that scares her in the candy bowl so it will give the candy instead of grabbing the hand that reaches in the bowl. Finally, I get that they don’t want to be scared.
This is the bowl that I am talking about.
I told Maggie that I had an idea. When the little kids come to the door, I will hand them some candy with my hand. She said that is a great idea.
I need to write 2 distinct blogs on this beautiful day in October. I have been consciously putting off adding Shiloh Sophia to my list of Artists I Adore. I don’t believe I can do her justice. Today, I decided to offer my best and that will be enough.
Shiloh changed my life. She helped be to discover my dream and gave me the tools to get there. Shiloh is the founder of Cosmic Cowgirls. The idea came to her when she was just a girl. She has always wanted to empower and connect women. One thing that I remember vividly is when she needed two other women to help her run her growing business, she painted 3 women standing together. The perfect women showed up in the perfect time.
When I wanted to move to New Orleans, I started painting alligators. Alligators were all I wanted to paint for 2 years. To me alligators were the symbol and the means to adventure.
One of the classes I took with Shiloh was called Leading a Legendary Life. It was a 6 month Internet course that we begged Shiloh to continue for a year. In that course, we painted the 4 directions of our life. My Southern direction was Louisiana, being an Artist and living in New Orleans. My Northern direction were my Roots and my desire to stay connected to my family. Eastern was health. In the East, I was led to a group where I released 100 pounds. My Western direction turned into Vacation and Travel as California would no longer be my home. All of the canvases came to life.
Since this is a blog and not a book, I will let you follow Shiloh’s linkto learn more.
Part II
I am painting a family from the other side of life. The happy family is dancing in the moonlight. I love celebrating Dio De Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. I will include a picture of my altar at the end of the month.
Dancing in the Moonlight, in progress
I am taking an online class from Jane Davenport. I am feeling more confident painting bodies. I am also trying some new techniques. I rolled a thick coat of Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Phthalocyanine Blue over the whole canvas. Next, I brushed in swirls. The moon is painted on dry gel medium applied with a motel key card. Swiping the card made some nice grooves. For the girl’s tights, I used a trick I learned on Pinterest. I put a nail in the eraser part of a pencil and used the head of the nail to make black polka dots. I am going to apply a shiny fabric, that used to be a gift bag for bath products, over the mother’s dress and the girls tights using acrylic varnish. I think the fabric will seem a little other worldly and add some shine and movement.
I am going to say good-bye now. I trust that if you need Shiloh in your life, you will find her. She is a genius for helping you to realize your dreams.
If you have your dream, carry it, nurture it, speak it, do something towards it every day.
I hope this Friday finds you just where you want to be.
I am nearing completion on Stand Up.
Nearing Completion on Stand Up.
I still need to whiten up her skin tone. I am going to keep the comic book outlines. I am portraying her as a shero. She is wearing an outfit like Wonder Woman. She has tiny gold stars strewn through her hair at Maggie’s suggestion. I like the tiny-ness and the 3 D-ness of the stars. I still have those wonderful words from Kitty Cavalier to add. Because it is an extra thick canvas, I am going to type the words and put them around the outside edge.
I am starting a super fun painting called Bee Love. I went to a gardening seminar, put on by the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans. I learned some fascinating bee facts. Did you know that the worker bees are female? That drones only exist for mating? And bees have certain jobs like undertaker and hive cleaner? They are amazing little insects.
Bee Love blocked out
I bought a linen canvas for Bee Love. So far I love it. It is tight and smooth. I painted the canvas with black gesso so I can start out on a black background. I haven’t ever done that before, my backgrounds are usually 3 colors. Hmm. She will be a cute little worker bee with curly pink hair.
I got into the Pussyfooters! Woot, Woot-woot! I will be marching in pink! Miss Heather nominated me. Here is a peak at her thank you card.
Thank you Miss Heather
I am taking a drawing class on-line with the fabulous Jane Davenport. Our assignment is to draw a super model. Heather sure looks like a super model to me.
I would love to stay and chat, but my paints are calling.
My mind is on a theme that is creating power within me. I want to paint about change. My reoccurring thought is… Why can’t things be better? Why should anybody go to bed hungry? Why do innocent people die in the name of war every day? Why don’t we stand up for health care and be our own advocates for our own bodies?
I am working on a new painting. I tried sketching out what I wanted to paint instead of diving right in, but I had just as many start-overs (3). This painting is a fair-skinned woman with ginger hair. Weirdly, I had a lot of trouble yesterday thinking of white women as soulful and wise. I shouldn’t even say this, but women of color come easier for me. So… I started listing in my mind the 100’s of soulful and wise women I know. I chose one strong and intelligent woman I admire to loosely model my painting after. Now I am over-the-top in love with the process.
I need to remember, and you might find this helpful… the time that seems wasted and unproductive is not ours to judge. I think the down time leading up to something is the time we need to process and see the signs, feel the intuition, and even wait for the materials to show up.
Stand Up in progress
The words say, “The time I used to spend worrying about my image, I now spend in revolution. Stand up.” I don’t ever like red and blue, except to make purple, but it is what it wants to be.
I am painting over my original words in total, so they will be only there in spirit later on. The words that I am going to put on the painting I read in another blog called, “The Diary of Kitty Cavalier”. This is the link to Kitty’s website. The words are as follows:
When a woman chooses to source her truth from within her very bones, rather than looking to a set of rules outside of herself, she is truly wise. When she can stand up and speak a truth that is boiling up inside her no matter how big a risk it is to speak it, she is claiming her wild soul, perfect and untamed. When 5,000 years of conditioning is telling her that her way is wrong, but she decides right then and there that her way is right, and in fact, always has been, she is finally free.
Let it begin with me. is done. I like the muted look of the bee’s wax around the woman. I glazed her with varnish 3 times to make her shine and be safe from the dangers of the world.
Let it begin with me. You can’t see the very bottom of the painting, but there is a little slip of paper that has the title.
I have 3 questions for you.
I might add another layer to the background to make the painting more uniform. What do you think?
Also, I am deciding if I want to sell prints and Giclee’s any more. I like the energy and the textures in the original paintings. What is driving me to continue selling reproductions is that I want people to have something affordable. Any thoughts? Do you think my Etsy prints are affordable?
Last, but not least, wise words from a 4 year old, “Nena, you might want to spend a long time on your paintings, but mine is done!” Wise beyond her years, she is already listening to her heart.
Wow. I feel like I can hardly breathe with excitement. Thanks for reading.
Hurricane Isaac is now Tropical Storm Isaac. I was a little too nervous to write before and during the storm. Mostly, I just waited him out. Everyone handles situations differently. My husband went out and cleaned the storm drains on our street when there was a break in the wind. I just waited. My daughter had everyone over for beer and board games because they still had power. I just waited. What was the best thing to do? I guess you have to follow your heart.
While I was waiting, I thought about painting. I worked on this all day yesterday. It is called, “Let it Begin with Me”. Today, I think she may be called, “Follow Your Heart”. I am sure it will all become clear when she is done.
Let it Begin With Me
Big changes during the painting. She started out looking like a white girl in the 70’s and changed to a prayerful African-American woman. She isn’t finished yet.
Maggie painted along side of me most of the day. She told me when she finishes a painting she always sings a little song. The end of it was… let your imagination sing. 4 years old is such a nice, open age … but not without concerns.
Maggie’s Girl in Progress
Maggie asked for a canvas the same shape as I was working on. I gave her a smaller canvas with the same shape.
Yesterday, Maggie asked me for some advice.
She said, “I have a feeling to stomp evil rabbits, and I don’t know why.”
I said, “Look in your heart and see how you would feel if you stomped the rabbits. What does your heart tell you?”
To my surprise, Maggie replied, ” My heart wants me to stomp evil rabbits.”
I told her, “Well, I think you should follow your heart. That is all we can do.”
… Follow your heart, because that is all we can do.
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 ofHeart of the Hurricane. He is such a sweet man.
Heart of the HurricaneSnoball for Miss Ashley
I painted this picture for Ashley Hansen unsolicited. I was happy to hear she likes it.
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.
Gator Girl Art 