Sunday, September 30, 2007

What do angels look like to you?


So I've been trying to move away from fairies but they keep appearing in my work. I often start off thinking of angels but they somehow always turn into fairies. So, I've been trying harder and finally am beginning to sketch some angels I'm happy with it. My 6 year old son sat down beside this morning we had a conversation:

son: "What is THAT?"
me: "An angel."
son: "No, angels don't look like that."
me: "What do they look like?"
son: "Well, they have a round halo and wear a long shirt. And, their faces are just different than that."
me: "How do you know?"
son: "That's how pictures of them look."
me: "Who drew the pictures?"

anyway, you can see where this is going. So, who really knows what an angel looks like anyway? Be creative, think outside the box! And, I don't want my angel to look like anyone else could have created her!

Heidi

Friday, September 28, 2007

I AM AN ARTIST!!!!




I realized today that I have finally become comfortable with saying "I am an artist" when someone asks me what I do. I don't mutter it or say "I want to be an artist. I am trying to be an artist." and it feels great! I don't know exactly when that happened. When I was able to say it start calling myself an artist with conviction. It might be that I have had some milestones in the last few months that have increased my confidence. Winning an award in a juried show, selling an image for a professional flyer, being invited to teach at a school for a day, being asked to teach private lessons to someone. Or maybe it was making some money at my last arts festival. I suspect it may be the last. Selling things to people who come off the street was a real rush. I try to not let my identity as an artist be tied up in my ability to make a real income with my work, but I just can't seem to escape it. I guess despite all of my other goals as an artist and ways that it feeds my life and my soul, ultimately, I want to make money and support myself. Well, my husband supports the family now. Which affords me the luxury to stay home with my kids and pursue my art both really full time. But, I have a need to know that I COULD support myself (which I could of course in other ways, as a mathematician for instance) as an artist. Many artists are very, very successful but still have to hold full or part time jobs. I don't want that. So, for now I'm holding on to my dream that if I work at it hard enough I can do this.

And, work at it hard I do. I still find the second question hard to answer after "What do you do?" . I can say "I am an artist" just fine now. But, when the next question is, "Well, is that just a hobby?" or "Do you work outside the home?" or "Do you make a living at it?" I get kind of stuck. I need to work on my answer. Maybe it should go something like this:

No, it is not a hobby. It is my job and my identity. I work as many hours or more than many do in a full time job outside of the home. I sell my work, I am beginning to teach, my work hangs in galleries in juried shows and I have won awards. I do not support my family with my art career.....YET.


How does that sound? Maybe it sounds a little to defensive. I'll work on it some more. I am working on the selling myself part. I love sharing my story, inspiring others to follow their dreams, but I don't like saying "Rah-Rah" for me.

I don't want folks to think it is all about money though. It's not because I want more stuff like cars, houses, or material things. It's really about who I am as a person. An over-achiever. My therapist recently had an ah-ha moment regarding my artistic endeavors (yes, I have a therapist and I am proud of it). She had thought my moving away from mathematics to art was a whole new me. A different kind of way of working. But, as she listened to how I approach it. Which is OBSESSED!! And, totally workaholic like. she realized, oh, this is still Heidi, she is just putting her energies in a different place.

So, what does a day look like in the life of an artist? Well, today was a day "off" meaning out of the "studio", no major deadlines looming for shows or festivals, and I wanted to get out of the house and away from the responsibilities of wife/mother. So, it started by having coffee with my husband at Border's/Starbucks after dropping off Maggie at school. This turned into reading about graphic design and copyright research. I researched how to get more of my artwork into things like magazines, book covers, gift cards, etc. Other creative ways to sell and make money doing what I love, so I can do more of it. Then, off for lunch with 2 artist friends (to pick up some of my artwork from them) which was fun but we discusses judgingj/jurying processes, how to sew a great binding, planning a show for next year, etc. Then, off to the library to return some books which turned into more research about graphic design and checking out books on some of my favorite artists (Kadinsky, Klee, Chagall). Then, finally, a pedicure. My main objective for my day off. During which I sketched about 10 drawings. Pedicures have produced some of the sketches for my best work. Now I am home. The kids are in the back yard. I am blogging in hopes to share my journey with others.

Now, say it loudly with me, I AM AN ARTIST!

Probably more than you wanted but I have been wanting to write more about my whole journey, so here it is.

Now, time to go outside and check on the kiddos, push a swing, play some tage and maybe do some more sketching. Above are a few sketches from my pedicure time.

Heidi

Thursday, September 27, 2007

What have I been up to lately?

Well, I mailed off my quilt for Journal Quilt Project 2007 yesterday. Pictures are not allowed but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. Since then I've been mostly doodling with black ink on paper and looking at lots of art online. Having fun cruising around etsy shops and "outsider" art blogs and web pages. There is so much to see and learn!!!!! And, in the mail today I received the latest issue of one of my favorite zines: Art and Life by Teesha Moore. I haven't read it yet but I have flipped through it to absorb some of the color. Beautiful as usual.

I'll post pics of something soon. Just wanted to let you all know I haven't forgotten about posting.

Take good care.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A few photos from the CAG festival











You can see some of the new artwork I completed for the show and some of my family members there to support me.

heidi

Monday, September 17, 2007

Art Show a Big Success

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say I am back home after a whirlwind weekend in Dalton, GA (my hometown). I had a booth at a local arts festival and it also turned out to be the weekend of my 20th high school reunion. I just got home literally 5 minutes ago and instead of unpacking the car, I came in to unwind with my iced latte and the computer for a few minutes.

These art festivals are a ton of work but I love getting to meet people, especially children, who like my art. I love telling my story of how this is a recent new journey and encouraging people who are just starting on their own.

My biggest hit was my coloring books (not financially, just in terms of actual items sold). It was a last minute idea and they went like hotcakes. I'm going to spruce them up a bit and make a large quantity now that I know they are a hot item.

I sold several larger items including my Stitch Frenzy piece which recently returned home to me from the National Small Art Quilt exhibit in Groton, NY. I lost a few sales since I don't take credit cards so I'm going to fix that problem before I do another show.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support. Every day I know that I have really found my true calling.

Take good care,

Heidi

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

My Hope Piece


Here is the detail image of my Hope piece. This is before I decided to stuff her face so she looks a bit different now but not much.

Heidi

Fiber Art Fusion-Hope Exhibit Opening





Hi again,

Last Thursday evening was the opening for Fiber Art Fusion's member exhibit. It turned out beautifully. A special thanks goes to Rebecca Reasons-Edwards (the beautiful blonde in the photos), President and founder of the group. Her vision led to this event after only about a year and a half as a group. I took a few photos, but forgot to take one of my own piece. I'll post more when I can. I hope to go back and take some more photos soon.

So, if you live in the area (Marietta, GA) check out the exhibit at The Art Place. I believe it runs through the 23rd.

This weekend there are several events worth checking out--The East Cobb Quilt Guild exhibit, the Creative ARts Guild Festival in DAlton, GA (I have a booth there), and the Roswell Arts FEstival. So, if you are looking for something fun to do this weekend there are plenty of choices.

Sleep well everyone,

Heidi

Corel Drawing


Hello again,

I've not been using Corel much the last few days. I've actually been painting real paintings. But, I did scan a drawn image and then "paint" it in digitally. Here is the result.

heidi

Friday, September 07, 2007

Today's Corel Experiment




So today I'm in a bit of a hurry but wanted to try pulling in some of my own artwork to Corel Paint Shop and seeing what kind of interesting things I could do with it. The first picture is a photograph (or scan, can't remember) of my original piece. The next two have been manipulated in Corel Paint Pro. Not many changes. Just working with color, saturation, half-tones and such. What do you think? Oh, the possibilities are endless!




Heidi

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Today's Digital Art


It's a bit silly but this one a day thing isn't as easy as I thought it would be. It's a great way when I am stuck creatively or am not working on other things. But, right now I am trying to get ready for the Creative Arts Guild Festival in Dalton next weekend. Which means I am actually trying hard to focus and finish all of those 90% done pieces around the house so I have enough for my booth. So, this is my 10 minute digital art inspiration for the day.

heidi

Monday, September 03, 2007

Adventures in Dyeing





Well, dyeing was fun yesterday but the results were only so-so. I didn't take the time to plan carefully enough and ended up with quite different results than planned. A few of my pieces turned out rather interesting. I scanned these so the images look a little weird. Hopefully I'll actually do something with them soon rather than just add them to my stack of unfinished projects. I'll take pics of the kids in their creations and post them soon.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Okay, here is today's Corel Painting after all


Heidi

Oops, I missed a day on my Corel Paint posting


So, here is one from a week or so ago. I am still playing around with it everyday but nothing else exciting to post just yet. I'm working this one into a quilt design. I call it jellybeans and ice cream.

Take care. Have a nice holiday weekend. My family and I are off to do some fabric and clothes dyeing in the backyard today! Yippee! Can it get any better? Art, dyeing fabric, family time. I must be in heaven.

heidi