Looking Back on 2013, and Lots of Hand-Made Gifts

It's the first day of a new year.  Nothing has changed but the number on the calendar, and yet we use this as a time to reflect and to look forward.  We use it to easily separate the memories and landmarks of our lives.  We use it as an opportunity for improvement.  However, I really don't think we need to wait for an arbitrary date on the calendar to make resolutions.  We are in control of ourselves the whole year round.  So I have no resolutions for this new year.  I'm currently embarking on a new and unknown path that brings me so many moments of joy, beauty, and good health.  Soon enough I hope to be able to share some of those experiences with others.

I will take this chance to reflect on my art life of this past year.  Note-worthy moments of 2013:

• 'Cut It Out' solo exhibit at the Bay County Public Library
• Published a book, "Heather Clements Art: Cut Paper'
• Full-page article and images in Panama City Life Magazine
• Artwork and article as the front page for 'First Cut' (international) magazine
• 'Cut It Out' solo exhibit featured as an article in the News Herald
• Gave an artist talk about my work at 'Cut It Out', with a professional video of it, too
• Learned how to make paper out of my paper scraps, incorporated hand-made paper into my art
• Started teaching adult semi-private art lessons
• Taught a paper cutting workshop for Panama City Artists
• Taught a paper cutting workshop for the Arts and Design Society of Fort Walton
• Won 'Best of Show' for 'Embrace II' at the Central Panhandle Fair
• Won a merit award and 2nd place in people's choice for 'Embrace I' at Central Panhandle Fair
• My art was featured twice in the Guild of American Papercutters Annual
• Won a cash merit award for 'Emerge' at the Visual Arts Center's Bay Annual
• Volunteered for World Paddle for the Planet Day, held kids eco-art tent
• More than doubled my Facebook page fans, now at 600
• Made art that I am proud of

Now that the holidays are over, I think it's safe to share a couple of the commissions I was working on.

This is Charlie, (not my Charlie.)  He was commissioned by someone in Arizona who wanted a special gift of her best friend's dog to give to her for Christmas.

 This is Buddy.  He was a gift from a mother to a daughter, who is Buddy's owner.

This was a gift from a husband to his wife, of their two beautiful children, adorned with the things that they love.

And speaking of gifts, I thought I would share a few of the gifts that I made for the holidays.

This first one was actually for Madeline's birthday.  (Madeline is my step-daughter, for those of you who may not know.)

She loves little toys she can carry around, so I made her a little monster.  Look at that face when she opened it!  She soon named him 'Muscapeep' because he's purple like muscadine grapes, and peep because… he's small.

That wasn't the end of my monster sewing.  I made this guy below for my cousin's 2 1/2 year old son, Declan.  I couldn't have asked for a better reaction when he opened him, either.  He threw his arms up and said, "Pumpkin!" (because he's orange, duh) and then hugged and squeezed Pumpkin tight.

But wait, there's more sewing!  (All of which was done by hand, by the way.)  I saw on Pinterest a Harry Potter Kindle case and I knew Madeline was getting a Nook for Christmas… so I just had to make her this:

For my parents I made a drawing from our trip to Italy last year.  The reference was a photo I took from our hotel window in Florence.

And last, but not least, Mat and I both made several paper lanterns for gifts.  This is a photo of one that we made with a candle inside.  I didn't even need to edit the photo at all.

 Inspiration Source #21: You.  You're kind of amazing, aren't you?  You're awesome at one thing, at least.  If you're not awesome yet, I promise you, after enough hours of practice, you can be.  Be proud of that awesomeness.  Expand on it.  Share it.  It may sound corny, but it's important to recognize your own awesomeness.  Chances are, if you don't, nobody else will either.  If you love to do something, give it your all, including appreciating your own creations.  So write, draw, love, dance, fail, succeed, make something, sing, and play.  Be awesome!


Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  Happy New Year!!!

-Heather

Top 10 Reasons To Go To My Opening!

Sooooo I had the idea to make a little video promoting my opening and then 3 seconds later this happened:



So come!

**Please note the time change!  Originally I had the opening from 4-6pm, but it's actually 2-4pm!

Hibiscus Silkscreen Print and A Commitment Celebration

For a while I have wanted to create a silkscreen print of one of my papercuts.  The stark black and white lends itself well to crossing over to the medium of printmaking.  I chose to make prints of the image of "Hibiscus: Delicate Beauty."  This was a small run, each print is 11"x14", and just $35.  Contact me if you would like one!

For this print, I used drawing fluid to paint the image onto the screen.  Here is a shot of the process:

On a more personal note, Mat and I had our Commitment Celebration!  All the decorations were made out of.... you guessed it, paper cuts!  We were fortunate enough to have gorgeous weather.  That day was absolutely beautiful, and truly one of the happiest days of my life.  Really.  We were so happy to be able to share our love with our closest friends and family.  Here are just a few photos:

 

Photo by Desiree Gardner

Photo by Jef Logsdon

Photo by Desiree Gardner

Photo by Desiree Gardner

Photo by Desiree Gardner

Photo by Desiree Gardner

Thank you for stopping by!

-Heather

Using Art Powers for Good

My superpower is art.  But 'with great power comes great responsibility.'  (I think that's from Spiderman... but originally from Voltaire.)  I choose to use my powers for good.

Tony Simmons, a great local writer and promoter of all things local and awesome, came into CityArts and asked if any of our artists would be willing to create a bra for PanamaCity.com's 'Making Strides Against Breast Cancer' team to enter into next week’s “Battle of the Bras.”  The deadline was fast approaching, but Heather Parker and myself, said yes.

Not exactly a surprise, but I have never made an art bra before.  I was afraid and excited by the challenge.  I won't go into all the details because you can read the full article about our art bras here.

Here is photographer Andrew Wardlow taking the amazing shots for the cover of PanamaCity.com's print version in the News Herald from last Friday.

Our models were the lovely Jamie Sasser (left, modeling Heather Parker's bra) and Samantha Neeley (right, modeling my bra.)

And here it is in print!

And don't miss the video where I am completely caught off guard and attempt to say something at least somewhat intelligent for the camera.

                      

As you can tell from the many links above, a lot of people are involved in this - all for a good cause.

My bra was chosen to be the official bra for PanamaCity.com in the Battle of the Bras that will take place September 6th at the Grand Theatre in Pier Park.   A 6:30 p.m. presentation in the theater will be followed by the battle, when a member of each team will strut the catwalk in a 15-minute fashion show, showing off each bedazzling entry. Survivors of the disease will decide which team created the best looking bra.  More info on that here.

The bras will then be auctioned to raise money for the American Cancer Society during the CityArts annual half-off sale, which coincides with our artists’ reception for the current “Clothing Optional” exhibit. The reception is 4-6 p.m. Sept. 15, and the auction will be at 5 p.m.


Green Tip #7:  Ditch paper sticky notes, and just use your   computer.  Most of us have to-do lists, quick phone numbers, dates, and other little reminders that we need to write down quickly and then keep for the near future.  Why waste paper when your computer is probably right in front of you?  Most computers have a notepad or sticky note program.  You can leave them on your desktop so they won't go away and be forgotten.  Think of how many trees are cut down for sticky notes.  One of the benefits of technology is less paper, take advantage of it.


Thank you for reading!

-Heather

Italy and Austria - An Inspirational Kick in the Butt

I have returned!  WOW what an amazing trip that was.  We did SO MUCH in such a short period of time.  I actually just wrote down all the major places we went and I just can't believe how many fantastic things we did and saw.  My feet, however, can definitely believe it.  We did an insane amount of walking and by the end of every day we were all sore and exhausted.  Somehow adrenaline kept us moving to see the next breath-taking site, day after day.  And all that walking allowed us all to eat LOTS of delicious Italian food.


Here is where we went:


Rome (2 1/2 days)
Pantheon
Piazza Navona
Chiostro del Bramante (Contemporary Art Museum)
The Vatican
The Sistine Chapel
St. Peter's Basilica
Ancient Rome tour of countless ruins
The Colosseum
The Tiber River at night, a happenin' scene
The Trevi Fountain
Galleria Borghese


-train to Florence


Florence (2 days)
Michelangelo Piazza, quite the trek to reach
The Artist District
Ufizzi Gallery
Best of Florence tour
Accademia
Duomo
Da Vinci Museum
Gallileo Museum
Bicycle rickshaw tour, so fun!


-train to Venice


Venice (only 3 hours!)
Water Bus tour of the River
A crazy brisk walk through the city


-overnight train to Vienna (the worst part of the trip.  It was HOT, stuffy, and small)


Vienna (1 day)
Historical City Bus Tour
Schönbrunn Palace
Museums Quarter
Mozart's House and Museum
Leopold Museum - Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele!


-3 hour bus to Salzburg
Austrian Lake District
Foothills of the Alps
Lake Mondsee


Salzburg (1 day)
Historic Walking Tour
Mozart's Birthplace and Museum


Whew, my head is still spinning.  I took a few photos (somewhere around 2,000) and made a 'Best Of' folder with just 370 photos.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Sant'Agnese in Agone at the Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy.  I swear I didn't edit this photo AT ALL.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

The Pantheon at night, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Inside the Pantheon, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Beautiful colors and Textures, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Ancient Ruins in the middle of Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

The Tiber River at night, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Inside the Colosseum, Rome, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Halfway up to Piazza Michelangelo, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

The whole family! Left to right: Dad (Marc), Mom (Melanie), Nina (my brother's girlfriend), Ian (my brother), me, and Mat (my life partner.)  At Michelangelo Piazza, Florence, Italy.

Wonderfully hilarious street clown in front of Ufizzi Gallery, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Duomo, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

View from Torre Guelfa Hotel tower, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

View from Torre Guelfa Hotel tower, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

The Arno River, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Windows, Florence, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Venice, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Venice, Italy.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Lake Mondsee in the Lake District, Austria.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Castle at Salzburg, Austria.  Photo by Heather Clements.

Egon Schiele exhibit at Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria.

Museums Quarter, Vienna, Austria.

Okay, so maybe that was more than a few photos.  It was hard enough narrowing it down to just these. To see more, go to my Facebook album here.

I want to publicly thank my parents for taking us to Europe.  It was unforgettable and I am forever grateful for all that you have done for me.

There was hardly a moment to sit still, but whenever there was, I sketched.  Hence, hardly any sketches, and most sketches I could only work on for less than 5 or 10 minutes.  I took an accordion sketchbook so that all the drawings could be seen at once.

Sketches of Italy, by Heather Clements.  Click to a view larger version.

View from Torre Guelfa Hotel tower, Florence, Italy.  By Heather Clements.

As I allow it all to sink in, I know that the inspirational experience will feed into my art.

Thank you for joining me on this re-cap of my trip!