Oops, forgot the photos of my piece

All but about two of the fabrics were sunpainted and then some were stamped with carved images, painted, stamped with foam cut-outs, etc. There is fabric with chalices, baseball bats, golf clubs, children, the Angels logo. The minister is a big fan of all of these.

Commissioned piece is finished! And, happy dance for acceptance!

Hi!

Hope everyone is enjoying your summer. Mine is flying by too fast! I've had a busy month and am glad to be coming to somewhat of a close on many things. I finished a commissioned piece that will be given as a gift tomorrow to my minister who is leaving my church. Here is a photo. It was made using all of the sunprinted, painted and stamped fabric from my sunprinting day a few weeks ago. I'm really pleased with it. I hope everyone in the congregation (it's a gift from the whole community) is happy with it too.

Also, I received a rejection to Art Quilts Lowell, and an acceptance (well acceptance for 1 piece and declined 2 other pieces) to the National Small Art Quilts Exhibit in Groton, NY at The Main Street Gallery. I also submitted images for a show in Dalton, GA (my home town), both their indoor exhibit and their outdoor arts festival. No word yet. I sent in 2 pieces for A World of Beauty 2007. No word yet on that one either. Wow, I've been busier than I even realized!!


In addition to all of that I helped teach a couple of days of summer art camp this week to some 5 year olds and it went okay I think. We felted some balls, did some flat felting and some sunprinting. I hope they enjoyed it. I also taught a session of my local fiber group on using watercolor crayons on fabric and paper. It was a ton of fun and I think I was able to convey at least some of how I work and achieve the results that I do. I'm thinking I would enjoy more adult teaching so if anyone is looking for someone to teach water media on fabric I'm available (wink-wink).

I've got some biostatistical consulting work that I keep trying to focus on. Hopefully the next few weeks will bring some quiet time where I can concentrate (and try to stop thinking about art!).

So, now on to a piece for August and for my Journal Quilt. Maybe even something by Friday for the East Cobb Quilt Guild. Not sure if I can make that happen. Lots of works in progress but not really in the mood to rush any to completion. We'll see. I may change my mind tomorrow. Right now I'm tired.

July we will be camping with the in-laws in Minnesota. Kids will have a blast. I will hopefully have some time to sit and stitch and sketch. Maybe a trip to Destin, FL with my family.

Had a nice little get together for my birthday this evening. Well, actually a combination bday and Youth advisor meeting for my church. It was nice to socialize. I've been pretty withdrawn with art this last year.

Well, that's all that is new for now.

Sleep well.

Heidi

Sunprinting, so fun!!!!

Hi everyone,

I had a blast sunprinting yesterday. Here are some pics.

I overpainted on some that didn't turn out as well. I used Setacolor Transparent paints for the sunprinting and then painted with Lumiere (love the silver), Pearlescent Acrylic Inks, a gold spider writer paint pen. I also used salt on most of the pieces. On a few I stamped images using home-made carved and foam stamps.

Would love to hear comments! I was disappointed that I didn't have more luck with the bamboo. I'll have to try it again. It may have been to dry to lay flat. It's also hard to make stay down just because the leaves are so small there are no good places to lay rocks on top. Anyone had any success with bamboo sunprinting?

Heidi

Let me clarify something.....

Oops, I didn't mean to sound so serious in my last post. I know it's how things are for everyone. I just thought folks might get tired of reading, hey, here is another photo of my art. Just trying to be "real" but not pessimistic. Yes, it's life. Life of the stay-at-home/work-at-home Mom, the work-away-from-home MOm and most women in general. Just saying I'm right there with ya! Sometimes I get asked how I do so much (art) and I wanted to let folks out there know I don't really do it all, something falls to the way side. It has too. :)

Have a great day!

Heidi

How can you do it all?

Hi everyone,

Well, I'm falling way behind in updating my website so my blog seems to be my way to keep posting my artwork. Here are two pieces, both of which I've shown on my blog before but are now actually completed. The tree was submitted for Art Quilts Lowell so keep your fingers crossed. The felt piece was submitted to a local juried art exhibit. We'll see what happens. Just plugging along here.

Tomorrow (or today) I'm starting work on a commissioned piece. I'm trying out sunprinting using Setacolor Transparent paints. I'll post photos when it's completed.

I'm finding it hard to put my art "business" and creative endeavors aside to enjoy the time with my kids and get out to the pool. I'm hoping to complete a commissioned piece and one more entry in the next 2 weeks and then take the rest of the summer mostly off. How does one do it all? Be a good Mom, take care of yourself, etc., etc., etc. I know a lot of it is that I take on too much but I haven't figured out how to stop doing that. It seems I want to or need to. This morning I started one of my infamous lists (I make several a day) which started with begin and complete commission piece (by June 23rd), begin and complete a piece for IQA Beauty (June 15th), work on statistical consulting work (been dragging on for 2 years now), help complete banner for GAy pride parade for my church (June 29th), work on notes for teaching watercolor crayon techniques to my local fiber group (June 12th), make doctor appointments for my Dad, get tickets for summer trip, and then here is where I start degenerating and becoming totally overwhelmed. I added potty train my daughter, feed my kids something other than cheese sticks and orange juice, put my daughters clothes on today (yes, she is still in her pajamas and is watching Dora at 1:30, wearing a very wet diaper that she refuses to take off), get out to the pool or the park, go to JoAnn's for some fabric and art supplies, cook a real meal for dinner. Ugh. Makes me want to go back to bed. Or paint!:)

So, what am I doing here sitting at my desk writing on my blog. Lying to myself that I am "working" and accomplishing something. Just my way of coping with life.

Hope you guys are enjoying your summer.

Heidi

Pictures of my booth

Hi everyone,

Well, I finally did it. Here are a few photos of my recent work and my booth at the Cherokee Arts Festival this past weekend. It was a lot of hard work but I'm glad I did it. A learning experience for sure. Now I have an inventory if I want to do it again so there won't be so much pressure to have so many pieces done at the same time. I'm hoping to do a couple of more this year so if you missed this one, don't worry I'll be out there again soon.

A friend of mine won first place for her watercolor batiks and I was super happy for her. Her work is beautiful, she certainly deserved it. I bought one for my self and can't wait to hang my Mary Akers original on my wall.

Many of the photos show some of my fiber work mounted on canvas. A recent discussion has been going on the quiltart.net group email list, so I wanted to show some examples. I am really liking the look of fiber art mounted on painted canvas. Let me know what you think.

That's it for now.

(Most of my work on my blog and website are for sale. Contact me if you would like pricing information.)

Happy creating,

Heidi

Cherokee Festival of the Arts-THIS WEEKEND!!

Hello everyone,

Well I've been a little under the weather for about a month (wisdom teeth removed, root canal redone, allergies, sinus infection) putting be pretty far behind in my art. But now I am on the mend and the Cherokee Festival of the Arts is this weekend and I am gearing up to have a great show. I'll be posting lots of photos soon (here and hopefully by website too) of all the work I've been doing. Here are a few things I worked on the last few days. I think they are cute. :)



















OH, and other good news. One of my pieces in the ArtQuilt Markings exhibit in NC sold yesterday. Yippee!!

If you live in the area and want to come out to the festival, it is in downtown Canton. There is more information about the artists and the festival on the Cherokee Festival website: www.cherokeearts.org/festival.htm

And, here is the flyer for the event (see the sunflower, that's mine, hee-hee):












I'll be taking almost everything so if there is a piece on my website you have been eyeing, now is the time to speak up. :)


Happy weekend everyone,

Heidi

Celebrate Yonis!

Hi everyone,

I'm working on completing as many pieces for an art show on Saturday and another on in May. I thought I'd take a break to post some photos of my entries to the Yoni Quilt Art Challenge. It was quite empowering to work on these pieces. They have been quite the conversation pieces, especially with my family. "Now, why did you make these?" They think I'm a bit strange, well, they thought I was strange already.


Have a great week,

Heidi

Some paintings

Hi!

It's a beautiful spring day. I've got my ArtQuilts Markings pieces ready to ship today. So I can mark that of my list. Yea! I am completing as many of the projects that I have started over the last few months getting ready for some Art Festivals. Here are a few paintings I'm working on. Not great photos, glare and such. But wanted to share.

Have a great day!

Heidi

Felting Rocks!

Hi everyone,

So, I took a wet felting class with Sharon Ahmed at Fiber on a Whim last week and I am totally hooked. I have been needle felting by hand and with my embellisher but really love the texture and look I can get with wet felting. And,I love the combination of needle and wet felting.

Last week I made felted eggs with my son's kindergarten class and it was so much fun and they turned out really well! The kids had a blast. I'll post a picture soon. I am still making them at home and also some felted balls and beads. Haven't completed perfected the technique quite yet. I will be doing it as an Easter craft at my church on Sunday so if anyone reading this has experience with felting balls or eggs and has any advice I would gladly take it!

I've been working on some wallhangings and scanned one. It's not done but wanted to post something. I had a hard time getting the color right. It's too saturated here. It's all done with wet felting, needle felting (by machine) and machine stitching. I'm really struggling with some carpal tunnel inflammatory issues with my right hand so I have had to cut way down on my drawing and my hand stitching. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to normal after a bit of a rest.

I've also been painting a lot with some success. I don't have the camera this weekend so pictures will come later.

Hope you are all enjoying spring and creating wonderful things.

Heidi

She Made Her Mark Too Entry

Hello everyone,

My entry for the She Made Her Mark exhibit made it into a second show, She Made Her Mark Too and will be traveling with the Mancuso shows to California, Chicago, IL and Harrisburg, PA. It will also be in a gallery in the Los Angeles area. I am very excited to be included in this amazing exhibit.

Her is my tribute to Dorothea Dix.


If you would like to see the full catalog for the SMHM exhibit or SMHMT exhibit go to the Fiberarts of Southern California webpage and you may download the beautiful catalogs for a small fee.

Thanks for looking!

Heidi

A few more

Hi guys,

Here are a few of my recent drawing/watercolor favorites. And, yes, I am still doing fiber art. Mostly finishing up pieces I had started. I sent in a few to the ArtMarkings exhibit through PAQA. Cross your fingers that one of them gets in! And, I am hoping to complete my Yoni quilt for the QuiltArt challenge. It's been extended by a week so there is still time. I do get a few quizzical looks from my 6 and 2 year old whenever I am working on it. :)

Enjoy!









Heidi

Still drawing

Hello again,

I have a ton of new drawings, ink and ink/watercolor, but no time to put a new gallery on the webpage. So, for now, I'll post a few to my blog as I can.

The first one below is a character (or set of characters) I have starting drawing when I was very young, 6 maybe. I called them pusyplats because it was the best word I could come up with for an animal with characteristics of several other animals put together. I decided to try one again the other day and I'm still in love with them. They are eggs, wearing jeans, with butterfly wings and chicken feet. Hope they make you smile. :)

enjoy!

heidi

FiberArt for a Cause 2007 Invitational Reverse Auction almost here!

Hello,

Well, it's been the busiest month ever but I did manage to finish my piece for Virginia Spiegel's upcoming fundraiser, the Fiberart for a Cause Reverse Auction. Here is the piece I donated for the event. I titled it "Content in Her Own Skin". I had fun making her and I hope she finds a happy home or a home to make happy. 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. There will be pre-sale day on March 9. The auction dates are March 12 through the 16th. For details on how to participate, see the information on Virginia's webpage (http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACS/ReverseAuction2007.html). Hoping to finish a piece tonight to send in for the ArtMarkings exhibit through PAQA!













Take care,

Heidi

Drawing again! And, my piece accepted to SMHM Too!

Hello,

Well, the Art event was a huge success, thanks to so many hardworking Moms and to so many talented artists willing to share their gifts with our kids. Thank you to everyone!!!!!

I have been drawing like crazy the past couple of days and am now stuck on some more "big head" people as I call them. Unfortunately, my computer died so I don't have the ability to add them here (or to my website, but a new gallery should be coming very soon!!!!) for now.

I need to finish my Reverse Auction piece (almost done) and a piece for a QuiltArt challenge.

Oh, and I almost forgot, my big news! I had a piece accepted into the "She Made Her Mark, Too" exhibit. I'll post details on my website soon. It is a piece on Dorothea Dix.

Take care,

Heidi

Tonight's Doodle

For some reason, these long neck girls are still in my brain. Here is the latest. Now to bed.

Heidi