Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Art/Craft show this Saturday 10am-2pm at UUCA in Atlanta


I'll have a booth with my artwork including lots of items for gifts like magnets and notecards of my original images. I'll also have notecards with UU (unitarian universalist) inspired themes.

Monday, November 26, 2007

A couple of fiber art items.

Finally took some photos of some of my fiber work i've done recently. Here ya go!
A pin, a scarve and two felted bowls.




Thursday, November 22, 2007

Sisters







are the best. I've been thinking of by 2 sisters a lot lately as we go through this journey of griefing the loss of our father. We are not alone, we have each other. Even though I drew only 2 sisters in this drawing, I was thinking of them both. I love you guys.



This image is available as prints in my etsy shop.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

SALE!!!!!!

Check out my etsy site. I've lowered prices on many of my items. I'll be reducing more items as the holidays get closer.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Art Show Tomorrow! Artisans at the Etz.






Hi,

If you are in the Atlanta area, come on out tomorrow for some holiday shopping at Artisans at the Etz at Congregation Etz Chaim, 1190 Indian Hills Parkway, Marietta, GA , 30068. Myself and some great artists friends will all have booths there.

I'm beginning to at least sketch again and have been working on Santas. Here are a few with digital coloring. The last one is my son's, alien Santa with pig nose. :) It's 30 cents if anyone is interested, hint, hint aunts and grandmas reading my blog.

I have also been making felted bowls. Tons of fun! I'll take photos soon.

Take care and have a good day tomorrow,

Heidi

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Feeling Much Better

Hello again,

I'm feeling much better with the passing of time. I have spent my days mostly at my computer doing family history/genealogy. I have discovered so much including a group of distant cousins that have online family trees with photos of my grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents, great-great uncles, etc. I even got up the nerve to call a half-brother I have never met to let him know of our father's passing. My father had nothing when he died. Literally. I had a few photos, about 4 to be exact, of him from before he was married to my Mother. Learning some of his history is easing the pain and keeping my mind occupied.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. As I said in the previous post, the shining light in all of this has been finding out how much my friends care for me.

Heidi

Monday, November 12, 2007

My Father is Gone


I've debated about writing something so personal on my blog. My blog which I try to keep related to my creative journey. But, I must write about this and share it.

My Father passed away on Tuesday, November 6th, alone in a nursing home. It was not really expected. He was 76. I am making it through but it is the hardest thing to go through. I don't think I could have ever imagined this pain. I want to go back in time for anyone who has ever lost a parent and make sure that I have been there for friends and family. My biggest comfort right now are my friends, my sisters and my kids.

Writing things down is helping. Not sure why. The day he died I jumped out of bed when my sister called at 5:20 am and got in the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Calhoun, GA. I spent the day in a rushed blur of funeral arrangements and overwhelming grief. I got home that night at about 10 pm. I hadn't seen my kids at all that day and when Maggie, my almost 3 year old awoke the next morning I was busy trying to complete the remembrance cards/bulletins for the visitation that evening. I was overwhelmed with sadness and nervous and anxious about completing this task in time to get it to the printers and back up to Dalton, GA before the visitation at 5 pm. So, I called a neighbor and walked Maggie down to their house so they could watch her while I finished the bulletins.
As we walked down the road from our house, I realized Maggie may not understand that I was going to be leaving her there instead of our usual playdate where we all stayed together. So, as we walked down the road I said, "Maggie, you are going to stay with Ms. Betty and Joey while I go home to take a shower and finish up some things for Daddy J." Well, as soon as I said that I realized it might be confusing for her. I hadn't seen her the day before, the day my Dad died, and I knew my husbad had told her but hadn't had a chance to ask him how he explained it to her. So, I turned to her ready to try and figure out what to say to an almost 3 year old when their grandfather has died. But, she beat me to it. She said so sweetly and matter of fact "No... Daddy J died." and I teared up and tried to hold it together and I said "Yes, he died."

Maggie: "He's gone."
Me: "Yes, he's gone."
Maggie: "He's not coming back."
Me: "No, he isn't coming back."
Maggie: "We need to go and get him."
Me: "No, we can't sweetie. He's not coming back. He died."
Maggie: "We need to go get a 'nutter one."
Me: "No, we can't get another Daddy J. There was only one of him. But, we have a Grandpa and a Nate."
Maggie: "Yea, Daddy J died."
Me: "Yes, he died."
Maggie: "He's not coming back."
Me: "No,he's not sweetie."

Long pause and we walked some more.
Maggie:"We need to get a 'nutter one DAddy J."

Me, tears won't stop.

Words of a 2 year old. If only we could. I want the same thing.

There are so many more things I want to write, so beware, this blog may not be the usual things you are used to for awhile. Hopefully, I will find a way to release this pain in my artwork sometime soon. For now, it is just coming in words.

In remembrance,
J.C. Miracle
We love you Daddy J
June 11, 1931-November 6, 2007

Monday, November 05, 2007

Print Gocco Rocks!!!

I made a impulse purchase recently and bought a Printo Gocco machine. What in the *(!#$ is that you say? Well, it's a little machine that allows you to make screens for screenprinting on paper, fabric and more. I tried it today and making the screen was SOOO easy. Now, I just have to master using the inks and such. I can't wait to start using the screens. I played around a little bit on paper and it worked great. It's very small and each screen is very small so it will only be for small projects but how cool is that!!!! I'll post pics soon of some Print Gocco artwork. Anyone out there with experience with this gadget, please send me some ideas!!!

Heidi

Two Upcoming Craft Shows this Month

Hi guys,

Anyone who is in the Atlanta area the next two weekends should come out and start their holiday shopping, hint, hint. I'll have a booth at the Bizarre Bazaar this Saturday, November 10th, 710 Arnold Mill Road in Woodstock at the Arnold Mill Elementary School. I've got all kinds of goodies ready to go including lots of magnets, two coloring books of my artwork, new felted items (bowls, pencil holders, small bags, pins, coasters) and all of my drawings and pastel art on paper and canvas.

The following weekend, on Sunday, November 18th, I will be at Artisans at the Etz at Congregation Etz Chaim Temple, 11am to 6 pm, 1190 Indian Hills Parkway in Marietta. There are fun things for the kids to do and I have heard great things about this show.

Hope to see you there!

Heidi

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Today's Drawing



Well, actually it is yesterday's drawing but I scanned it in today and added the digital color. Here is the original and with color. I call it A Mother's Joy.

Journal Quilt 2007





Here is my Journal Quilt, Let Them Be. It is my first time participating and this is the last year so I suppose this is my last Journal Quilt as well.

And, here is the text from my Journal Quilt statement:


Creative Quilting techniques used: water-soluble pastels on fabric (p. 72); large hand stitching (p. 72); beading (p. 72); hand-dyed fabrics (p. 79); felting (p. 150).

The text (part of a poem by Kahlil Gibran) touched me as it so fully represents my thoughts regarding children. The full text of the poem is below:

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness; for even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I began my quilt by drawing my image and the words with a Pigma pen on white cotton fabric. I then “painted” the cloth with Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels, acrylic pearlescent ink, traditional tube watercolors and Crayola spider writers. I extensively hand stitched on the piece with cotton, rayon and metallic embroidery floss. I used two layers of batting because I wanted to create texture. I needle felted the bottom and added grass blades using pieces of my hand-dyed fabric by simply stitching them down with the floss. I then beaded the wings and the antennae.

I started several journal quilts but none wanted to be finished as much as this one. I also tried several new techniques as a result of this challenge including painting on lutradur, monoprinting, dyeing fabric (first time outside of a class) and creating digital imagery using Corel Paint Pro. Although not all of these techniques were used in the final quilt, I learned so much from pushing myself to try new things. In addition, I learned it is okay to let a piece tell me what it needs and not to work too hard to include something new. There is a balance between trying new approaches but also staying true to your own artistic voice and vision.