just a doodle

Okay, I'm trying

After posting yesterday and a week of Moms, kids and teachers I decided I did need to make some time to create. So, I took my paints out and just went at it. This is still a work in progress and not sure if it's going to be a keeper or not just yet. It's using the idea I had started before on paper using one of my carved stamps. Constructive criticism appreciated.

The photos are not very good. One has less glare but you can see the wood through the canvas and the other is very glary. I can tell I'm going to need some professional help or at least a lot of practice before I can take accurate photos of my artwork.

Have a great weekend everyone. Back to finishing my piece for the Invitational Reverse Auction. I hope.

Heidi

Kindergarten, PTA and Art at the Mill

Hello,

What is Art at the Mill? Well, it's a fantastic event that has been going on at my son's elementary school for several years now. This year, although I'm a rookie PTAer, I've taken on co-chairing this event. So, you ask, why do I write about this on my blog which is supposed to be about my art? Well, I haven't posted in awhile and I just to make sure that you don't think I'm just creatively blocked or slowing down.

So, while not quite making art, at least I've been thinking about artists and exposing the kids to as many cool people as I could find. I think it's going to be great and I had great time meeting so many different kinds of folks working in such a variety of mediums. We have a zendrum player, a gourd carver, a magician, a jazz saxophonist, several painters, a clay artist, glass bead artist, fiber and copper enamel bead artist, quilter, handspinner, thespian, metal sculptor (actually, same person as the zendrum player) and a watercolor batik artist. Don't you wish you could come?

Oh, and I almost forgot. My sisters and I (and my niece) went to the High Museum to see the Louvre exhibit and had a wonderful time. It was the first time I have been to an art museum/exhibit since I started drawing and painting. Definitely was a different kind of experience than before. I was much more interested in the details and the processes of how things were done, but still in awe of the beauty that the artists were able to create/convey.

We also saw High School Musical the night before at the Fox and then I got to spend the night in a hotel downtown with them. It's really the first time we have done something like that and it was awesome. We are hoping we can make it a yearly event.

So, still not creating, but it was definitely a weekend full of the Arts.

Hopefully I'll get back to my own art soon. For now I am satisfied with making PR posters and flyers for my son's school event.

Take care,

Heidi

Today's art

Hi!

Today's art consists of a sketch for an invitation for a friend and another long neck girl.

Gotta run. Going to see Dreamgirls tonight!!! Yea!

Heidi

Mad Woman with Crayons

Hi again,

Okay, since I finished my webpage (for now) and my piece for She Made Her Mark, I've been drawing like crazy. I think it's mostly an excuse to avoid putting away my Christmas stuff . I just look at it all and feel so overwhelmed. So, I pick up my pens and my crayons instead. I will add a new gallery of drawings very soon to the website, but it is considerably more work than posting a few here on my blog.

This girl(with the pinkish hair and folded hands) is definitely one of my all time favorites.

I think I am also using my drawing as a way to avoid my fiber art. The postcards were small and easy. The things I'm working on now are large in comparison (still small though) and require some amount of organization, focus and a somewhat clean sewing area. Well, I'll get to them eventually. I want to, I really do. But these dang crayons are just so much fun!

Take care,

Heidi

Small Drawings

Hi everyone!

I have had a lot of feedback on my website and I really appreciate it. I'm keeping a list of all the suggestions and will make them as time allows.

I bought some Fabriano Artistico hot pressed watercolor paper (previously I had only used cold pressed-rougher, and a cheaper brand) and I am in LOVE!!!! Here are a few small drawings. I'll add them to my website soon.

I also took a brave step (for me) and journaled on one of my drawings in a very open, spontaneous way. It was scary and liberating at the same time. I think it will be very helpful to me. Not sure yet whether I will put my journaling on drawings to share/sell but I will continue to do it for my own mental health.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. Celebrate MLK day!!

heidi

Carving Rules!

Hi everyone,

So tomorrow is my son's 6th birthday and instead of finishing up his Lego cake I'm playing around with paint and carved stamps at 1:00 am. I started carving a few months ago and find it totally addictive. I created this stamp and hadn't tried it out since completing it a few weeks ago (it's been buried in the mess in my car). I was so excited to see how it turned out. What do ya think? I made it while waiting at the airport to pick up some friends (hence why it's been lost in my car) and I think next time I carve something I'll take the same approach. That is, sitting somewhere with nothing else to do but stayed focus on the carving and not stop in the middle of the process to try it out.

And, taaadaaaa, I know I've said it many times and you are all tired of hearing about it, but the website is up. Yea!!! Now I can get back to more creating and less time on the computer.

See ya,

Heidi

What I'm up to now

Hello again,

I finally finished and mailed off my entry for "She Made Her Mark" today. I've got my fingers crossed.

I've also been working like crazy on my website and will have it up by Saturday (www.miracle-mcmahill.com). I can't wait to see what folks think. Please email or leave comments if you have a suggestion. After looking at it for so long it's a bit hard to tell what is working well and what is not. It may still need some tweaks but it's got all of the necessary stuff that it needs and is looking pretty good (in my humble opinion). My husband gets most of the credit and I think we could both be website publishers now after all that we have learned.

I'm still going to try and put up some old photos and new work here that is in progress.

So, here are some more pictures. A few of birthday cakes I have made for my kids. And, a couple of some recent drawings. Not sure yet if the drawings will be painted or turned into fiber art. Just having fun with pen and paper. Enjoy!

She Made Her Mark

****Sorry guys, I had to remove my post of my incomplete submission for the She Made Her Mark exhibit. I don't want to jeopardize my entrance in the exhibit. Thanks for looking!***

Hello again,

I had decided that I had run out of time (as of yesterday late afternoon) to get anything ready for the She Made Her Mark exhibit. I had been thinking about doing something with Dorothea Dix as the main focus. If you don't know, she is famous for changing the treatment of the mentally ill is this country. Anyway, I kept trying to come up with some really unique way to show the mentally ill person breaking free from the horrible conditions of the prisons they were sometimes kept in. Well, the deadline approached and all I had so far were a photograph of Dorothea and a quote. So, here it is so far. Hopefully I will finish in the next day or two so that I can get in by the 5th. Let me know what you think.

I've also been working on my piece for the FFAC Reverse Auction. It's coming along but I've hit a frustration point so I've set it aside for a few days while I am working on the Dorothea piece.

I (actually my husband and I) have made super progress on my website and it will really be up very, very shortly.

Hope your holidays are all going well.

Heidi

Hi again,

I'm trying to get a back log of some of my work up on my blog since the artwork started before my blogging skills caught up. Here are some of my commissioned pieces
this past year. It all began with donating a quilt and tote bag for an auction at my church. From that, I received an order for another wallhanging quilt with UU (Unitarian Universalist) theme, a liturgical stole for a UU minister and a wedding present from a groom (my minister) to his bride to be. I also made many tote bags for sell this last year and will post photos of some the quilted ones soon. Hope you enjoy looking. Website coming soon!!!!!



































Here are some more detailed photos of work on the stole. I included text under netting which included many words from UU principles (inherent worth, dignity, respect, love, justice, etc.),a picture of a famous baseball player (the minister is a big fan), a united states map with a heart going through it connecting dots from Atlanta, North Carolina and California (the minister was moving from Atlanta to North Carolina, originally from California, this was a gift from fellow ministers before his move), and a chalice (UU symbol). I think this was my most fun project ever. I was given freedom to make it any way I wanted as long as it had some blues and it somehow included baseball (tricky in a ministerial stole). I think I did a good job of making it attractive overall from a distance and then the details are small enough to bring you in but they are not distracting.









































This is a picture of the piece I made after taking Laura Cater-Woods class in May.



Works in progress coming soon. Check back. :)

Heidi

P.S. I'm still working on the placement of the photos. Hopefully I'll get better at this soon.

The holidays are upon us

Hi again,

I thought I'd check in and tell you what I've been up to. I had a fantastic time at the last meeting of the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance (name change may be coming soon). We had a white elephant exchange and I got some lovely hand-dyed batiked fabric and a couple of beautiful artsy tags.

I've been up to my eyeballs lately with refinancing a mortgage, phone calls and appointments for a very sick father (trying to find a nursing home that will take him, he is sort of homeless, long story), Christmas (letters, shopping, gifts, etc.) so there has not been much time for art. When I have found the time here is what I've been doing.

I'm working on a piece for the FiberArt for a cause Reverse Auction (www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html). I am soo excited to be an invited artist for this event. I haven't finished it yet and can't post it here, but my piece will most likely be a watercolor pastel nude lady on fabric with some quilting and embellishment.

I did find time to make Model Magic ornaments with my kindergartner. Here is a picture. I think they turned out really cute.












These are not recent, but since taking TWO Laura Cater-Woods classes this year (life-changing!!!) I started drawing and painting. I hadn't done this since grade school and I am having so much fun. Many of the fiberart postcards contain some of my drawings which I scanned and then printed onto fabric. Here are a few of my drawings. The first 3 are on watercolor paper and the landscape is on a small canvas and was my first commission for non-fiber art. Yippeee!!
















I have over 100 drawings and paintings and will hopefully get then all posted to my website (coming very soon! almost ready). I hope to be able to offer prints and notecards as well as the originals.

Well, I've gotta run finish making my cookie mix in a jar gifts for teachers and do some last minute Christmas shopping before I pick up my 2 year old from Mother's Morning Out.

Take care everyone and Happy Holidays,

Heidi

My First Post

Hello everyone,

This is my first post and I am sooo excited. I am hoping to primarily use my blog as a place to show a bit of my fiber and other artwork to friends and family.

My most recent work was for FiberArt for A Cause for which I made 23 fiber postcards. Each one raises $30 for cancer research for the American Cancer Society. You can read more about it www.virginia_spiegel.com. It's a fabulous fundraiser. Here are some of postcards I submitted. Sorry they are not arranged very nicely on the page. I'm still figuring this blog photo posting thing out.


Well, hope you are all busy creating!

Heidi