Going to states!

   Here are the pictures from the art show as promised, everything there was so beautiful.. I really wish that I had time to take pictures of all the work but there was just so much. The art on display was from AP studio classes across the district; they will be up for viewing through the rest of this month to the public. When I first went into the building I didn't see my sculptures anywhere, I thought that perhaps my teacher had forgotten them. But when I went into the other room I was amazed to see my bear mask standing up on a beautiful podium all by itself with lights shining down on it and next to it were my two other sculptures. I couldn't be more surprised and happy. Also, my flute choir I played in today had great success... we earned a superior rating from the judges and are going to state. My group and I put so much hard work into our piece it was really exciting to see how our playing progressed and how the music came to life, we are all on cloud nine right now. After my flute choir performed I went to play my solo, it was not perfect I made some little mistakes, but I am very proud to have finished one of the most difficult flute pieces there is to play. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done and if I had to do it all over again I would.       Best wishes as always!!  - Heidi

My three sculptures

 

Here's a painting another student did, the detail is just incredible..

I love it.

A sculpture another student did, this one was my favorite.

These sculptures were done by another girl in my AP art class

A statue that was in front of the lake

A mask sculpture that another student made

A student from another school drew this, the background

took my breath away, she must have spent hours on it.

I loved the colors this student used

This piece was titled "screwed up teenagers" .. my parents

found it funny at least lol

Here is a sketch I just started working on , our next

project in art is to create a clay figure involving figures

of speech. More details in the next post :)

Waiting for my solo with my accompanist. She is the

best piano player out there! So amazing that she was able to

follow me and catch me even in the places I faltered.

Concerts and an art show

     It has been a little while since I have gotten the chance to sit down and write, I have been busy preparing for an art show this weekend where three of my works will be displayed. I am so excited and honored to have my art shown to the public and I cannot wait to see all the cool things other people have made, I will be sure to take lots of pictures for the blog! Saturday afternoon I am also performing a flute solo (the song is called Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise by Doppler) and then I am playing in a flute choir with other kids who are in my band class at school.  Even more exciting, Sunday evening the orchestra I am in is doing a combined concert with the Orlando Philharmonic; It has really been an inspirational couple of weeks for me being able to practice along side with professional musicians. Although it has been stressful at times and so much work I think it has all been worth it. Besides all of this chaos going on track season has also started (which means 9 mile trails everyday and sprints), and I have joined a Wednesday night pottery class where I am learning how to work the wheel. Hopefully I can get through the next few days and I can get some good photos to update the blog.      Best wishes! - Heidi

What a recycled bear looks like

  By recycled I don't just mean that the coat was old and reused to make a bear, I also mean that this guy ended up in the trash can. Making this real fur bear has definetly been a challange, and a learning experience for me. The fur itself and the leather backing has not really posed a problem, although I did have to take extra time to line it, circle the weak areas with black marker, and open the window up with a fan blowing just so that I don't inhale to many furs; the real issue has been with my careless errors. I'm not really sure why but I have been making a lot of beginner mistakes lately (granted this is only my 9th bear, and my first mink one at that) I have been doing silly things like sewing up the entire body of the bear and not leaving an opening to stuff. Poking to many holes in the leather is not good... so I have had to restart a couple times. It was definetly time to take a break from my little disaster and give my mom a lesson in bear making! It was fun to have some mother daughter bonding time, and in the process of creating her bear with her I gained the inspiration to continue to finish what I had started on my own. It has been so helpful for me to just step back for once and learn the basics, I never made a bear with someone elses pattern, and even though I figured out all the stitches on my own I am finally learning their names. Although this bear will be far from perfect I am going to stick with it and finish it. Enjoy!
 -Heidi

Let the transformation begin ;)

I added a thin layer of suede and a bit of leather cording (the ends cut at angles)

to make an eyelid. I then shaded them both to blend them together.

                               

                                                          Baby bear and Momma bear

He has a very happy expression I think.

The body (number 2 ) cut and pinned

Hungry for stuffing

I added a bow although I'm not sure I like it... the fabric of the

bow was made out of the linning of the coat. What do you think?

Pennsylvania

  It has been a really fun winter break for me. Last week I spent the holidays with my family who lives in Pennsylvania, this is a tradition for us. We take one day, starting at 3 AM and drive all the way up north in our mini van with our German Shepherd and weeks worth of luggage; needless to say people can get kinda grouchy. Yet the trip is all worth it once we hit the PA border and my dad plays Allentown by Billy Joel, (after 18 years you would think that song gets old, but it doesn't. By the way thank you dad for helping me fix my laptop after it got thrown around in the car, I couldn't have done this post without you!) The rest of the week we stay with my grandparents and great grandmother who is now 92 years old. This year my second oldest sister and her husband joined us so we did a little bit more site seeing than normal. My grandmother Nancy was a great tour guide, she showed us the Pennsylvania Pagoda and on the way home we took a detour past a huge waterfall and a damn. Christmas morning I gave away the last of my bears, everyone seemed to like them. It was sad to see my best ones go, and I am a little worried since I only have pictures to compare the new bears I make... I have been using the same pattern I first started with and I tweek it along the way, now that the bears are gone I don't know what I need to alter, I am not very good at analyzing in 2D. Nevertheless I made my first bear without a reference so I am sure I can do it again. And it seems like I'm going to be plenty busy making new bears, for Christmas my family gave me an old antique mink coat. At first I was hesitant to use something that was once living, but since the animal passed away long ago (and I won't be supporting mink farming since this coat was made before that was popular) I see it as a good opportunity to preserve and honor these creatures in a (hopefully) beautiful and lasting way. Here are some pictures of our adventures in PA, along with the new little bear I am working on.  Hope you have a happy new year!
 Hugs - Heidi 

 

My family and I in front of the Pagoda 

View of the city from the steps of the pagoda 

                                                                         Damn

                                                               The Pagoda all lit up!

                                                       My sister and I at the Christmas village

                                                The cool thing about giving away my bears is
                                                    that there is one everywhere I go now.
                                                   This is one of my first bears I ever made.
                                                It's interesting to see how they are evolving.

                                                          Dante really enjoys Christmas.

                                                 The new black bear cub I am working on.
                                                 I am waiting for more eyes to come in the mail..

                                               Working with real fur is very hard.. if you
                                                make the tiniest mistake it is completely ruined...
                                                not to mention theres a lot of things you can't
                                              do such as needlefelt because it weakens the leather.

Keeper of the Secrets

  Here is the mask I made in art class; it's all painted now. I think I made it a little bit scarier than I had originally intended.... but since it is my first attempt I am okay with it. I can improve more next time. I Hope you like it!  -Hugs, Heidi

The "Natural" side

The side with the Native American embellishments

"Keeper of the secrets"

My new little bear Art

 Hi everyone! It has been a good and a bad day for me. I went to the doctors today and found out some not so great news and I got a lot of blood drawn. I felt pretty sick after I came home so I decided to just sit in my chair and sew. Finishing this little bear definitely made me feel a lot better, I have worked so hard to get him done before Christmas! Little Art is made of synthetic imported fabric and filled with steel shot. He has
realistic eyes, a needle felted face, sculpted toes, and wired arms. He is only 5 inches tall, and his nose has been modge podged, sanded, and painted.. a lot of work went into this little dude! I named him Art since I've been working on him in my art class at school. He is for my grandmother for Christmas... I hope that she likes him and that you do too! :)  Thank you for looking and happy holidays!
 - Love Heidi

 

 

Over the summer my Grammy gave me some little props I could use with my bears. I think this bird looks great with Art. Thank you Grammy Nancy! :)

 

Tired

 Right now I am adding little finishing touches to the face, I sealed the nose, sanded it,painted it and I added a Santa hat and a scarf. I tried attaching little claws to the foot and I think I like it. I am going to make these permanent and do the other feet the same way. I still am not sure if I should shade the toes... I am afraid of messing up and ruining the entire bear. It's so risky when you've spent hours on everything else and I think that I would be to tired to restart. I had five and a half concerts this weekend all back to back four hours each... I have gotten pretty much no sleep and I've been waking up before the sun has even risen to go and perform. I was hoping to finish the bear this weekend but it turned out to be just impossible. Hopefully I can get him done before exams start on Friday.

   Happy Holidays! - Heidi

I really should invest in a better camera. I'm still using my phone to take pictures

 and I don't think it does this bears face any justice.

This is the first foot I finished so I signed my name on the side. Three more to go.