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.
I have been living my alternate dream lately. I have been spending a lot of time with my grand babies. They are growing up so fast, I have to slow everything down and observe the wonder of it all.
For a while I had trouble switching gears from creating art to child care. Then an epiphany. When my girls were growing up, I had to work. I wanted to stay home. Now I want to work, but my grandkids need me. I just needed to switch gears in my mind and realize my timing is off. All in good time. (I am becoming quiet fond of old-timey sayings lately.)
2013 is around the corner. My word for the coming year is visibility. This is the year, I put my art out into the world. Fly Be Free Art. I am thinking restaurants, galleries…
My Gator Agents will be an integral part of the plan.
Gator Agent Anne-Claire
Gator Agent KatyGator Agent JoeGator Mascot Buddy
I have 3 main agents. (One is remaining incognito at this time.) I have an up and coming star-agent as one of my east coast representatives. So far I have two agents based in Los Angeles and two agents in Philadelphia. I am not sure what kind of role Buddy will play at this time. That is why he is pictured here as a mascot.
Really, the sky is the limit at Gator Girl Art, LLC. If you would like to become an agent for Gator Girl Art, please email me at nancy@gatorgirlart.com or fbfgator@gmail.com. Give me a brief description of what you plan to offer. All emails will be read and replied to.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2012 has started off ridiculously wonderful for everyone I have talked to. My sister-in-law is a brand new citizen of the United States. My daughters both got great LSAT scores. Katy got two job offers and free health care. I hope that 2012 is going the same for you. This will be one of the few times that I might have trouble keeping the blog short and sweet.
The opening of Gator Girl art was a ginormous success. I wanted a reverse retirement party. I wanted to feel viable in the world of art. I believe that celebrations and rituals are important. The act of ritual begins or ends something. I am going to tell you what worked, so you can have your own celebration of whatever you want to begin.
My sister and her boyfriend came from California to New Orleans to help. My brother coincidentally flew from Argentina for a job out of Houma the day before. So already it was amazing. We went to the Green Project to find some reclaimed wood to make frames for 3 of the paintings.
Angie, Jan and me looking at a shutter frame.Framing in my pajamas. An artist perk.Framed Gator in Entry
The above picture is of the entry table. On the right is my bio and artist statement. I put postcards by each painting that talk about the subject. On the piece of wood, sitting on a tiny easel, is a statement saying that 10% of all proceeds from the sale of Gator Girl Art goes to rebuilding parks and green spaces in New Orleans. Next to that is a bamboo box with my business cards. On a pink clipboard is a sign-in sheet for names and emails. Last but not least, is the painting Laughing Out Loud, framed in water-damaged, reclaimed wood. I am happy to say that this gator has a new home in New Orleans. I think it is important to have original art available for sale, so I learned from Shiloh Sophia to offer my original paintings for 1/3 down and you can take it home and pay $100 a month. I like the energy that comes with original art.
We had red beans and rice, seafood gumbo, drinks, king cake and chocolate chip cookies. I bought this really cool cheddar cheese that had sage running through it and made it look like an alligator. There was more food, but this is what I would serve again.
I am working on a new painting to donate to the Pussy Footer’s Ball. I am having so much fun painting it. I will show you very soon, because I am working on a deadline.
Waiting for Dinner, another piece we framedWere You There
I am including Were You There to show how important placement is. I didn’t like this painting as much before I put it up over the fireplace on a light-colored wall. I really like it now. I am going to frame most or all the art that I still have since the launch. I like how the frames look and I think people here, versus people in California like and maybe expect a frame.
That is all for now. I hope if you are celebrating something in your life that you would like to share with the world, this was helpful. If you came to my opening, thank you so much for supporting me. If you are following my blog, it warms my heart.