It is almost August, if you can believe it. Exactly two weeks until our Gator Girl Art and Friends of Samuel Square Party. If you are in or around New Orleans, I hope you come by.
Angela and I sent our application in for a huge grant to improve Samuel Square. I have a good feeling about it. It is for $75,000 and their decision is between two parks. It might be good if you picture us at the ribbon cutting of the new playground.
Today, I am going to share the finished Making Amends. I chose the name because those were the words that refused to be covered.
Making Amends Completed
I oiled and varnished the frame. I like the rich brown color. The wood is the top half of a door. The top hinge is still on the right. I couldn’t decide why the painting wasn’t finished for a while. Then I put the sun further back and voilà.
Close up of her face.
I feel like I know her.
Close up of her baby.
I think he is going to do something special for the world.
I am getting some giclee’s made, framing a print, making a menu. It is exciting to have a party. My Aunt Grace is coming with three of her childhood girlfriends, so I already know it will be fun.
You are invited to our house. So please mark your calendar. It will be a perfect night for some good food and good friends.
The Front of the Invitation
You will see what is new at Gator Girl Art.
10% of all sales go to NOLA Groundswell to renew parks and green spaces in New Orleans.
Currently, we are raising money and awareness for Samuel Square Park.
Expect to:
eat great food,
have sparkling conversations,
drink a variety of beverages,
bring your kids.
2317 General Pershing Street
August 11, 6:00 pm
My youngest daughter, Katy, will be here from California. Antonia will be visiting from Austria. This seems like the perfect time to have a party.
Update on NOLA Groundswell. We met with some people from All State on Friday at Samuel Square Park. This is a picture of me picking up the application from. I have a good feeling about our chances.
That’s me talking about our grant possibility.This is Angela talking with the people from NORD and All State.
The meeting was scheduled at the exact time a huge rain storm was coming through New Orleans from the Northshore. I think that is why many of the people coming to support us didn’t come.
Why I think people decided not to meet us at the park Friday.
One of the really great things about New Orleans is that people use their initiative to make things better for everyone. When Angela and I decided to improve the park we found several organizations that are interested in working with us. This is all very exciting.
I hope to see y’all on August 11th. I am testing out some mini pecan tarts today.
Summer is sure heating up. Record highs in so many places. I am on a road trip to Memphis. It is an extremely cool town, but I don’t have a travel blog, so I am sharing Maggie’s Blue Dog Art Camp adventure.
Maggie had an opportunity to go to a super well-staffed art camp put on by the Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. Her class had about seven 3-4 year olds. She had so much fun and learned about different media and techniques.
Maggie coloring an alligator.
I sat in the class one day to see how they ran things, secretly hoping George Rodrigue would pop in.
I like the grittiness of city life. Kids don’t get too soft or entitled when they only have 8 feet until the sidewalk.
NOLA Groundswell, our non-profit set up to rebuild the parks and green spaces in New Orleans, received an email from the New Orleans Recreational District last week. Samuel Square Park might be chosen for a big grant! I envision a refreshing water area where the kids can play, accessibility for everyone, cool climbing structures, drinking fountains… Dream big if you are going to dream. Why not?
Last, but not least, we are combining a Gator Girl Art Open House with a Nola Groundswell Party in early August. Antonia, a guest from Austria, is a video blogger. She is going to capture the evening on video. Sometimes dreams are bigger than I even dreamed possible.
Until next week,
Take care and stay cool. If you can’t’ stay cool, drink some water.
It is heating up fast here in Louisiana. I think it is going to be a hot summer. I was thinking y’all probably read my blog on your email and don’t always go to my website. Today, I am bringing a bit of my website to you. You can find this information on a tab called “Artists I Adore“. I will be adding people as I go.
I recommend that you check out Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts. She is a talented,open-hearted woman offering a 12 month on-line class with weekly lessons including 12 visiting teachers. I am taking this class. It is called Life Book. It is an art journaling class.
Of course, I like and relate to some lessons more than others, but I have learned something in each lesson. I look forward to Mondays when the new lesson is on-line. Because I am tight with the Cosmic Cowgirls, I have not taken advantage of the Willowing on-line community, but if you are looking for a tribe, Tamara has a good one you can join.
You can use MOONBEAM77 to receive a 10% discount on your first order.
Right now Tamara is offering a mini face class for summer.
If you are looking for a photographer in the New Orleans area, look no further! Dorka of Dorka Photography is wonderful. I love her as a person and as an artistic and knowledgeable photographer.
It is another gorgeous day here in New Orleans. I am having one of my favorite kind of days where I can have time to just ponder, listen and create. I think it is in my goat-nature to plan and execute. I am working on being flexible… loosely woven plans. This is really anti-goat mentality, but worth working on.
For the two or three weeks, I have been painting a picture of Frida Kahlo. She is an inspiration in her fearless portrayal of her pain. She is so obviously someone who wouldn’t have been the person she was without the pain of the polio, the bus accident and Diego. Diego hurt Frida terribly, but he also validated her as an artist. I could write about Frida all day, but there are many books that do a better job. So here is my process.
Before this roughed out painting, I wrote “July 1907 – July 1954 Frida Kahlo” on the canvas, because I wanted to make this a tribute and to feel closer to her. I just happened to have a thin canvas that fit inside the frame.
Frida Picture #2
This picture basically demonstrates that it doesn’t really matter how the painting starts out. Visualizing where the painting wants to go, staying connected, opening your heart, having fun with the paint and the colors is what happens throughout the painting, but really clear here.
Frida Finished
This painting is rich with symbols. Starting on the left is a picture reproduced from Frida’s journal. I love it, because she is a skeleton in the picture. Under her journal page are loteria cards of a skeleton and a rose. Below that it says, “mi amor” in my best Frida handwriting from studying her journal. Printed on canvas is a picture of Frida and Diego.
On all 4 corners are tiles that my sister made, just because they look Mexican. Up at the top, you can barely see a photo of Frida in the hospital and a photo of her blue house. On the right side of the painting following her clockwise from the house that she loved are the words, “Painting Saved My Life”. On this side there pictures that you can slightly see of Frida with her monkey and her parrot. Here, there is a blue butterfly symbolizing her freedom.
On the bottom is the word, “FLY”. I don’t believe Frida would want to Rest In Peace. I nailed 3 milagros under the word FLY that I bought at the mission in Carmel, California. One is her leg that caused her so much trouble, starting with polio when she was a small child and ending with amputation shortly before her death, a bird and a heart. Her initials are covered in gold glitter and paint to symbolize the gold that covered her after the bus accident.
Finally, the center of the painting. Hovering above the daisies is an orange and red butterfly symbolizing pain and eventual death that shaped Frida’s life.
I almost hate to be done. Being done with this painting is like being finished with a good book.
To all of you out there, learning and growing from your pain. It’s not in vain. Look to Frida for your strength.
When I wrote in my profile that I am living, working and thriving in New Orleans, I am.
I have been painting for Raven Wisdom Studio in Chico. That is my sister’s place. I kept putting Raven aside and working on it little by little. When I started looking at each area of the painting. One of my favorite parts of the painting didn’t please me any more. It looked too dark. Raven’s can be a little dark, themselves, and I didn’t want to portray that. Also, it was lacking whimsy, which I really like.
Today, I could feel the excitement of creating pumping through my veins. I ripped up paper and painted without even a sip of my coffee.
Right now the frame is drying. I don’t love framing, because I am not confident with it yet, or competent. I am too impatient to wait for help so I just push ahead. I am liking this frame.
Clean wood.Part one of Raven Wisdom
After I cut the old wood, I scrub it with soap and water. I love old, but don’t think dirty is good in a house.
The Frame
This was super fun. I painted the heart, filled it with love, turned it upside-down and sprayed it with water. When I turned it over it looked like flames.
Raven appears, timid at first.
I left the wood this color. It looks like old houses I remember fondly. The frame is going to have a shelf to hold Raven’s favorite trinkets.
I painted Raven with a lot of water and rolled the canvas with a roll of paper towels. I learned this technique from Effy Wild. It left the outline dark, and picked up the paint in the middle. Nice effect.
Raven Wisdom, nearly complete
I painted Raven bigger, to be more of the focal point. Along his back is part of a Rumi quote, “be the soul of that place”.
I tried a new technique. I painted black, sparkly embossing powder mixed with acrylic varnish and melted it with a heat gun. It made a nice, black texture. You can see where I added it on the blackest parts of Raven.
The nest is made with corrugated cardboard that my sister insisted I needed to pack when I moved to New Orleans, lichen from the Lake of the Woods, Oregon (our favorite place), a red thread for the sisterhood, a fortune about friendship, and a flaming heart from Mexico.
There are other things making up the nest, like sheet music and journal paper. I added gold, brown, red and black paint for depth and mystery.
I am so sorry that the words do not stay put when I hit “publish”. I will keep working on this.
Thank you for reading about my process. Painting is pretty solitary business if you don’t count spirits chiming in. I appreciate the togetherness of my on-line family.
Where are your thriving in your life? What makes you lose track of time? Where do you feel your heart expand? I would love to hear.
I am so excited about the painting that I am doing and am just waiting for some words to find me. I started looking for words and realized that I just need patience.
I started 2 new paintings this week. And the one I am going to show you is the one that grabbed me yesterday and I painted like fire all day.
girl in progress
I started out painting on an old canvas of MMMM’s from when she was one. It is 16 x 20 inches. I printed out mostly black and white photos of my past and applied them with Golden Gel. The pictures are a little random. I have my grandmother and parents which would be expected. But then I have a golden chipmunk from our cabin in Lake of the Woods, Oregon. The catholic church in Red Bluff, because I have wanted to be Catholic since I was 5 when my best friend Carol got to go to catechism classes on Saturday and I had to stay home.
I just went with my intuition and as you will see, it doesn’t matter in the end, because I cover it all up.
When I really got excited and couldn’t paint fast enough was when I saw this bubbly paper in my paper drawer and saw her hair. I cut it into strips, put it on with gel medium and voilà! I love it.
girl in progress 2
I painted her hair with my favorite Golden Mars Black. It is such a rich and mat color. She has a small nose, because in the beginning, she was a child.
I covered the pictures with paper. Some ripped and some cut with scissors.
The skin color is equal parts cadmium red and yellow oxide, with a little blue to make it a richer brown.
young woman almost done
She is almost done. Just a little tending and she is waiting for words. You can see she is waiting expectantly.
And she is willing to make a deal.
If I use your words on the painting, I will send you a free print from my ETSY site.
If you would like an original Gator Girl painting, but need to wait a while for the opportunity, there are prints available on Etsy. My prints start at $30 and there is a special going on for the month of April. Go ahead and check it out. You can also send me your email address through my email account at nancy@gatorgirlart.com and I will send you an email when I have a new painting, OR you can also see all my paintings in progress by following my blog.
And thank you, thank you for reading my blog!
I have completed 3 paintings.
The original of Monsieur Gator was painted on commission and is not available.
The collector asked for a French Gator. Painted in French around the outside edge of the canvas are the words “Strolling at Sunset, Dreaming of z Camembert”.
I listened to Chante France on the Internet. M. Gator loved the music. It seemed to put him in the mood for a portrait. What an attitude he has!
La Femme Fatal is mixed media, 12 x 36 inches painted on wood. She is standing on the street in the French Quarter after the parades have passed. She still has “it” after all these years. She sells for $800.
The Mardi Gras Muse or as MMMM calls her, Princess Masketier is mixed media on reclaimed wood, with a reclaimed wooden frame. The original is $800. The frame is part of the painting, so a small portion of the frame was also photographed.*
Mardi Gras Muse
There are words about Mardi Gras running through her hair, and a 3 dimensional king cake baby. She is wearing a raven mask for my sister who owns Raven Wisdom Studio in Chico, California. (She is a clay artist.) The music is from the song “Mardi Gras Mambo”.
Mardi Gras Muse started out clearly in my mind’s eye, but took over a month to complete.
Now that these 3 paintings are complete, I will be starting a new painting from scratch. The options are swirling around me as I type.
Please stay tuned,
All my love from an ever-opening heart,
Gator Girl
*The photography is by the amazing Dorka Photography in New Orleans.
My spiritual journey at the moment is working on trusting my intuition,listening to what is being said around me, including my dreams, and being grateful for everything. I have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning in preparation for 2 weeks of fabulous company that starts arriving tomorrow morning. All the time being grateful for my furniture that I can dust, my floors that I can vacuum, and trying to be thankful for the toilets I can scrub. So far my spiritual plan is working like a charm.
Two new things are on the horizon. I donated The Heart of the Hurricane to the Easter Parade. They are raising money for music education in New Orleans. My sister met Miss Kitsy, who is in charge of the Easter Parade, on an airplane going to California. They hit it off and one thing led to another…
Heart of the Hurricane
My youngest daughter is going to start selling Gator Girl Art prints and cards on Etsy. It seems like a win-win situation. With Etsy I will be able to sell at a bargain price and Katy will handle the mailing and correspondence so I can paint. While I was listening, I heard “Etsy” from three different sources in one week. I am beyond excited about this.
If you want to check out another blog, I have been reading knowthesphere.wordpress.com. Jeremiah is insightful and pairs his insights with stories. He is a freelance writer living in upstate New York.
Sometimes a kind gesture seems to go unnoticed, but makes a positive ripple in someone’s life. Today, I celebrate two fabulous women who do kind things every day. They both happen to be my aunts. I think aunts and grandmas are like moms only without the baggage. Unless they raised the child, they are free to just spread love.
My Aunt Ruth is in her 90’s. She is the older sister to my mother. She took the time to send me a card that someone had given her with an alligator on the front.
Card from Aunt Ruth
That simple gesture validated me as an artist.
It was double nice because Ruth is an amazing photographer and artist.
This is Ruth when she was a photographer in Arizona.
Another Aunt, Grace, lives an hour away. She came to my Gator Girl Launch Party and gave me a lamp that she bought at a garage sale. She thought it would be fun to paint. And it was.
Lamp after painting
It says, “This lamp offers no promise of enlightenment. It is only a lamp.”
I painted the shade with acrylic Mars Black. I love that black. I strung some glass Mardi Gras Beads on the shade. I love the beads, but maybe not on the shade.
I painted the words on the base, then went around them with a black paint pen to make the letters crisp.
I gave it to my husband for his bed side table. I thought the red would be good Feng Shui.
Aunt Grace and me at Gator Girl Art Launch Party. Isn't she cute!
Grace has 5 adult grandchildren and she still took the time for me.
Update on my art:
80% complete
I have painted and re-painted.
From experience, I think the paintings that take a while end up being closer to my heart. I am starting to like this one.
The music is “Mardi Gras Mambo”. There are small words about Mardi Gras woven through her hair.
Maggie last year.
I started painting people from photographs for fun. I like them a little edgy, not like their photos exactly. I bordered this painting with dragonflies, because Maggie is in the dragonfly class this year. And a little crown for my princess.
Raffi at one.
Raffi looks so different now that he is 2. Such a little baby face here.
Katy in progress, maybe done.
This is Katy’s Facebook picture. My husband, David, doesn’t like it because she has sunglasses on. I think she would appreciate being incognito.
All of the people paintings are about 10 x 10 inches.
I was totally long-winded today. Thank you for letting me share.
Gator Girl Art 