New Orleans – Page 8 – Gator Girl Art

an Angel

Posted on July 13, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

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.

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.

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.

Loving you,

Gator Girl

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The One Really, Really Important Rule About Painting

Posted on July 1, 2013July 1, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

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.

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 to Never quit painting until you are happy with it.”

Seriously, words to live by.

Unabashedly in love with life,

Gator Girl

P. S. In my next blog you will see the finished Mardi Gras Crows, as well as a, hopefully, happy story about visiting Gaza Gaza.

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Gasa Gasa

Posted on July 1, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

An interesting thing happened when I was checking out a venue today. Let me back track. A month ago, I saw a flyer about a music and art venue called Gasa Gasa opening up a few blocks from my house. The flyer looked cool, gritty and funky.

Today, I stopped by in the middle of the afternoon. It looked closed, but I tried the door. They were closed, but the owner was waiting for someone.

I think, “waiting for me?”

He thought he was waiting for someone else. Ha! Retrograde working in my favor. (Mercury retro is known to be a time of ‘fated’ events.)

I loved the place. He said he liked my art. I left my card.

Cool or what?

Gator Girl

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Crows on a Wire

Posted on June 10, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

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.

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. — 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.

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.

I wanted to see what would happen if I painted a wild background with many colors and shapes as the base of my painting.

How much do I cover up of the original painting? I love all the colors, but it is so busy.

The little houses got larger. The crows are dressing up. The tree is turning into a magnolia tree.

Where is this going?

This is a picture of one of my paintings at Urban Roots. Counting her Chickens and Bee Love are also there. I love that place.

I worked like crazy this week.

My BFF from California is coming to New Orleans tomorrow. She has never been here before. I am totally excited.

Love to you all,

Gator Girl

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In the garden.

Posted on June 2, 2013June 2, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Good Morning all y’all!

Happy June! Today is a picture sharing day.

In the garden is finished. I might frame this, but I also like the purple edge. The girl has her hands full. She is balancing her friend on her head. Girls are creative and strong that way. She doesn’t mind getting her hair a little messed up.

Cathy and Dennis sent me this picture from their home in California. It makes me so happy to see them with the painting. (The nasty voice in my head is fearful of buyer’s remorse.) They said that Heidi from Parcels and Post wrapped it so well, it could have traveled around the world.

Cathy wrote…

I call the painting WAITING FOR MOSES.
I love what you said about it in your blog when you were painting her. As I remember you were trying to show her in an unhappy place as a slave who had a hard life picking cotton on a plantation, but with the hope of a brighter future for the baby she is holding. The darker side of the painting clearly says this to me and all the brightness is on the right side as the hoped for future. It fit so perfectly for me as I had read and talked with my 3rd graders over the years of Harriet Tubman that many slaves knew and called Moses for secrecy. They called her Moses because she made numerous trips south to lead her people north to freedom. Plantation owners placed a bounty for her dead or alive.

Thank you, Cathy for liking and buying Moses.

Maggie’s teacher at the JCC taught the kids so much about art and artists this year.

Apparently, 4 year olds are little sponges.

And the JCC teachers are awesome.

Maggie said, “I was dreaming that the unicorn and me were looking for a lost toy.

The unicorn was dreaming about going to the grocery.”

Now, what’s new with me… and then I will let you go.

Acrylic paint dropped on canvas with a lot of water.

Added Kosher salt. Let dry completely. Brushed off salt into the sink.

warm colors with cool blue

Painted intuitively, whimsically, with abandon. I used brushes, my fingers, more water and a little bit of ink.

I don’t know the end version of this painting. I am hoping a crow turns up… a whimsical crow… with a friend.

I have been busy painting a dresser and a chandelier. I will show you next week. They are both going in my studio, so I am just having fun with them.

Wishing you all a fabulous summer,

filled with good luck, happy celebrations, and love.

Gator Girl

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Candle or Mirror?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

I am inspired today by a poem I found on-line. I decided to name my most recent painting after one of the lines. The poem is, “Be Strong. Be Confident. Be You.”~ Copyright: Tia Sparkles Singh, 2011. You can read it here. The line I borrowed is, “Stronger than you know.”

She was originally called, Born Hip". — She was originally called, “Born Hip”.

Maybe a third of the way finished here. It is a large canvas. 24 x 36 — She is, maybe, a third of the way finished here. It is a large canvas. 24 x 36

I don’t think I used any cool painting techniques that I haven’t written about before. This is the first time I painted a border on the canvas. I knew what I was painting when my hands touched the canvas, but not before. She wanted to wear all red, and not have any red elsewhere on the painting.

The background was red inside the border in the beginning, then I added white with a roller, then the teal with a brush.

I used Caran D’Ache water-soluble crayons for fun and for the crayony look. To make the crayons permanent, I used Golden spray varnish when I was completely done.

“Strength” was the only title I could hear.

The next painting is, “In The Garden”.

I am showing part of the easel so you can tell she is in progress. I was going to paint her with an “Oh my!” mouth, but Maggie said she is just giving her friend a ride on her head because her hands are full. I liked that better. I love chickens.

Raffi is beginning his 3 year old painting. — Raffi is beginning his 3-year-old painting.

His favorite color is blue. His next favorite is orange. His third favorite color is blue and orange.

My newest Gator Agent. This photo makes me laugh, because when she was teaching kindergarten, she dressed like this one day (without the mustache) and her students didn’t recognize her. I am thinking she is still incognito.

The King Gator original has sold. I think he sold to his soul mate.

King Gator Says Wager it All! — King Gator Says, “Wager it All!”

There are two ways of spreading light. To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it. – Edith Wharton.

With loving abundance and sparkly light (reflected or not),

Gator Girl

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Shotgun Angel framed!

Posted on April 7, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

Thanks to my daughter, Katy, Shotgun Angel is framed in the wood that I want for her. I cut one side too short and we replaced it with another piece of screen door. I thought I had wrecked the frame, but no.

I am still looking for 2 skeleton keys to hang from the door handle.

I think I might lighten the sky a little in the darker parts… sitting with that idea for a while.

In the last 2 weeks, 2 women told me that they wanted to paint, but don’t. I would like to tell anyone that wants to paint:

Show up.

Start anywhere.

Keep painting.

I have taken classes on and off through the years. I got serious about painting when I took a class from Shiloh Sophia of the Cosmic Cowgirls. She empowers women and teaches a spiritual side of painting.

I learned how to draw proportional bodies from Jane Davenport.

If I am having a problem, I sometimes watch a YouTube tutorial.

A drawing class at the local junior college helps teach you how to see objects by their lines and curves. Wherever you see your next place to grow, go there.

For inspiration, I take a class called Lifebook from Tam Laporte. It is only $99 a year and you get weekly on-line tutorials from different artists.

If you want to paint, paint.

It can save your soul.

It can save the world.

With ever-loving gratitude,

Gator Girl

P.S. It is OK to spend money on paint.

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Gator Girl Art Gone Viral

Posted on April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all!

Viral in the sense that I had more hits in one day than any other day in the history of Gator Girl on Etsy. It is all thanks to Brice and Zach at Hansen’s Sno-Bliz.

I was getting all kinds of ETSY sale notifications for my painting of a Hansen’s Snoball. I checked on Hansen’s Facebook Page and saw that they posted my painting with a link to My Etsy Shop. The stats: 232 views and 6 prints sold in one day. It was super fun.

Hansen's Sno-Bliz — Hansen’s Sno-Bliz on ETSY

Cathy and Dennis Schlais picked up “Waiting for Moses”, formerly known as “Making Amends”. Cathy always loved Harriet Tubman who was called Moses. This painting reminded her of waiting for Moses. I am happy she has a loving home. Thank you Cathy and Dennis.

I bought some paints from dreamingcolor.com. They are called Silks, acrylic glaze. They have mica in the paint for shimmer and shine. They are not very shiny, just right. I bought them for mermaid tails and alligator skin. I painted Silks on the mermaid tail so her tail would be shinier than the water.

It seems hard to tell the difference here. Trust me, there is more shine and depth in the one on the left.

I also tried to make her skin look unblemished like porcelain. I used a mixture of Golden Titan Buff, Golden Light Umber, and Liquitex Deep Portrait Pink for the last coat. I think it looks best to paint the pink on the cheeks, the darkness by the eyes, etc… before the last coat. It is kind of like the blush under the skin instead of sitting right on top.

My youngest daughter, Katy, is here from Azusa, California. She is helping me frame. I think I have it down now. I still don’t love it. I don’t hate it. It is just more like work than painting. I need frames, so there you go.

We had a lovely Easter with lots of family and lots of eating out. We are probably all a little spoiled. Raffi won’t get seafood every day now. I am happy to be back in my studio. I am happy to start another painting.

I hope you are all well and happy, too.

With never faltering love,

Gator Girl

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My friend at the IRS called.

Posted on March 22, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hallelujah and Good Morning all y’all,

We got a verbal thumbs up from the IRS for non-profit status of NOLA Groundswell! Two years of proposing and waiting. We will have our paperwork within a month and can start writing grants for Samuel Square Park. For some reason, my grant thoughts float towards Pepsi.

On a whim, I grabbed Gator Girl off of my wall and painted, repainted and painted. Now I do think there is a limit of how much paint a girl can wear. I pushed that limit.

I am happy with her sexy new look and her new hair style. I have always loved the painting except her expression. I used Effy Wild’s beautiful lips as an inspiration. (Thanks, Effy.) I still have a little skin tone to work out… maybe. Maybe I am happy. I hope she is still your favorite painting, Stacy.

I might also be finished with the Mermaid. I struggled with having the tail be a little camouflaged in the water or popping. I decided her tail should blend in. The blending is probably why we rarely see Mermaids.

Maggie thinks she needs a shell painted over her breast, but loves her tiara. I like to talk with Maggie, because we can discuss what Mermaids really wear.

I painted all day, every day this week because next week is the beginning of company coming to New Orleans. House guests will taper off sometime in June. It will be a blast.

And if you are worried that we are full up, just let that thought go. There is always room for you.

With abundant and never-ending love,

Gator Girl

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Sanding My Painting

Posted on February 22, 2013February 22, 2013 by gatorgirlart

Hi all y’all,

I am a little in the “is Mardi Gras over already?” and “really, 2 months until Jazz Fest?” slump. It is like when you are a child and you are first able to realize that on December 25th, Christmas is 364 days away.

It also feels like a time of introspection and I am not as excited to put myself out in the world right now. It would be perfect if someone wanted to stop by my house and buy art.

I am just going to sit tight and wait until the ebb of life turns to flow.

Today, I am sharing the steps of my most recent painting. I was going to blog when it was completely done, but the feathers are taking a while.

Step one: adding a little color. Spraying it with water and blending. I love this part where I set my intentions for the art.

Next, I textured it with gel medium and scraped it with a credit card. I wanted to make some raised squares like an Indian blanket.

I liked this part of the background, so I saved it for his heart area. It looks like dreaming and passion.

I used my fingers and thick white paint to make the war paint.

I made feathers with gel medium and painted them many, many times… still unhappy with how they looked. My genius sister suggested I sand the feathers to blend them into the background and make them feathery thin.

I wrote the title with my finger and thick white paint.

I added a close-up of his eyebrow because I love it.

This is a boy dreaming of being a Mardi Gras Indian Chief one day.

My husband, David, is marching on Saint Joseph’s Day in the French Quarter with the Italian American Marching Club. Since I will be in the Quarter on St. Joseph’s Day, I will have another chance to see a Big Chief.

One more thing… I am really hoping two women look like the couple that I painted entitled “Justice” (even a bit). If so, please send me a photo at nancy@gatorgirlart.com. I will send you a super nice print.

lovingly yours,

Gator Girl