Halloween – Gator Girl Art

Good Morning all y’all,

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.

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.

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.

I swear this will make you cry. (Just click on the blue sentence.)

In abundance and gratitude,

Holding hope for our future,

Gator Girl

Hi all y’all,

I love Halloween and I loved it a lot more before I found out that pretty much all the popular Halloween candy has been genetically modified. Really, I mean what the hell are we doing to the children?

I am wondering what would be a good alternative is for this candy. Any ideas? I know the very least we can do is vote for labeling.

What I love more than Halloween is Dia de los Muertos. It makes all kind of sense to me to remember and honor those who passed on. Good and bad, they gave us everything.

I am celebrating Thursday, November 1 through Friday, November 2, by cooking some food I think they will like and doing things they would enjoy. I will think about impermanence and what matters in this one wild and precious life.

So far this year, I have put up pictures of people I know. I will be adding more photos.

This is the picture I found where my mom and I were happy.

I put some buttons, beadwork and my mother’s thimble in front of the picture. I think the buttons are extra buttons from when she sewed 100 pearl buttons on my sister’s wedding dress. I put mom’s picture near a childhood picture of her mother. This is my mom’s first year on the altar.

My dad is easy, because I feel connected to him.

In front of dad is a cuban cigar, his ashtray, and matches from a local restaurant I think he would like. I have to refrain from putting out pastries and chocolate because for me it would be like putting crack on the altar.

I dressed up the skeleton woman in a pink boa for Halloween. I keep her on my bedroom mantle for safety. Away from little hands.

Another intriguing part of this celebration is the idea that the veil between worlds thins at this time and makes communication easier with the departed. I’m just going to stay open to it.

My son-in-law, Christian, built the shelves for this altar in the hallway for me. He was building a closet in the bedroom and left room for a painting and shelves in the hall. I love the location because I can give my respect all through the day. The altar doesn’t change a lot. I burn incense and keep it dust free. Mostly I practice gratitude.

I would love to know if you have similar rituals, pictures of your altar, whatever you want to share.

All the best and happy remembering,

With a loving heart,

Gator Girl