Illustration Friday: Tranquility

My illustration for this week's Illustration Friday. Topic: tranquility. This piece is entitled "Peaceful Crane" and is done in watercolor and mixed media. I love the Daniel Smith watercolors , which I used for this. Like my contribution for last week, it was inspired by Tibetan Buddhist imagery.

Visiting Artist

I'll be the visiting artist at the Blue Hill Farmer's Market this Saturday, July 23, from 9am-11:30 am (on the Blue Hill fairgrounds, Blue Hill, Maine). It's a chance for me to get out and just have fun showing my work in a public setting.

I'm bringing all kinds of fun stuff...from most to least expensive:
Framed Still Lives • Framed Animal Paintings (including the "5 Friends" in the post below) • Handpuppets • Beaded Jewelry • Small Works on Paper • Fingerpuppets • Cards • Felted Ornaments • Felted Carrot Pens • Mini Paintings on a Clothesline

Illustration Friday: Karma

Here's my image for Illustration Friday...theme- Karma:



Perhaps this could use a little explanation? It's my spin on a traditional image from Tibetan Buddhism. "The Four Dharma Friends"(the elephant, monkey, rabbit and bird) symbolize harmony and cooperation. It's said by Lamas that hanging this image in one's home will bring harmony and peace to it. The karmic message: work together, cooperate and all will be harmonious and much good karma will arise for all.

This is my take on The Four Friends, done in my style of drawing animals and using dots and bright colors (the colors as reproduced here not so nice compared to the original). I call it "The Four Dharma Friends...Plus One" because I added an extra bird to round out the composition.

The very first thing I thought of when reading this topic was the wonderful Tibetan Buddhist Dharma teacher, Thrangu Rinpoche, who teaches all us unenlightened regular people at my Dharma Center. Here's a picture of him giving what we affectionately call "the sparkler transmission". So may you have a wonderful karmic connection with this teacher by seeing this photo:

Just Us Owls

As I cruise the internet and see more and more of what independent designers and craftspeople are making, I've found that there are themes that seem to overlap with things I'm doing, and have been doing for years.

It's bit uncanny. Like the Circle thing .

And then, there's...Owls. Come to find out, they are a popular character in lots of people's work.

I've been including owls for in my artwork years. As a matter of fact, my owl designs are inspired by this stuffed owl from England that my mom got before I was even born (in the 60's), and which was one of my first, and always most beloved, toys.



I think you can see the inspiration when you compare it to this owl puppet I just sold out of my studio:



Well there's lots of great owl things being created out there. One of my favorites is this nightlight by Happy Owl Glassworks (I hope to get one of these for my niece soon.)

And Faythe at Flying Fish Design makes the coolest owl messenger bags!

I love this owl notecard set by Boy Girl Party. She's got lots of great owl illustrations & things on her site!


Speaking of owl cards, I've got a new owl card on my site! (it's the image at the top of this post)

It's hard to stop here, because there are so many great owls out there, but, well, Happy owl shopping... And let me know if you've got any owl favorites out there..I'd love to see them!

Hancock • Sullivan • Sorrento Studio & Gallery Tour

My boyfriend, Philip Frey and I are organizing an Open Studio and Gallery Tour of Hancock, Sullivan and Sorrento. It's happening August 7th from 1:00-6:00pm.

Works will be shown by Ragna Bruno-Torkanowsky (in Hancock), Gifford Ewing (in Sorrento), and in Sullivan: Philip Frey, Christina Heiniger (I will have my work at Philip's studio), The Barter Family Gallery (Philip & Matthew Barter), Art & Old Things Gallery, Ann, Paul & Robert Breeden at Spring Woods Gallery, Wildfire Run Quilt Boutique - Peg McAloon & Obadiah Buell at Bourne Design Studio. Each of the artists show in various Maine galleries and are in private collections throughout the U.S.A

Please contact me for a tour map or more info.

Hope you can make it!

The Sampler

I'm sending off my things for the August edition of The Sampler today. In Marie's, the proprietor's words, "The Sampler is a promotional/distribution tool for indie businesses. Each month, indie crafters, shops, zines and record labels who run web-based businesses send samples and promotional materials to a contribution pool. I portion out the goodies, put them in little packages, then send them off to Sampler Subscribers and back to Contributors."

I sent her some mini paintings, and also some cards. One of the mini paintings:


They are neat because each is unique.

Crafty Stuff

Have you seen these cool hairties by momo of Candlelight fame ? They're at her Etsy Shop She has such a nice way of photographing her things, too. (if I had long hair, I'd jump at one of these --only $8.00)

There's so much cool crafty stuff out there on the web! One of my favorite sites is I'm Smitten. I love her quirky cards-- the seal one is shown here. She used to make these cool handfelted bags. I actually was lucky to get the last one she made. She had a rush over Christmas time and had to make so many bags she never wanted to see one again. I know how she feels, occupatioal hazard of the crafter!

Win a Painting

There's still an chance to win one of my paintings at MainelyKids.com magazine:
Sign up here. It's my "Three Friends" painting, all framed and everything (a $125 value). MainelyKids.com is a sweet online magazine for families that love, live in and visit Maine.

I love it when people say nice things to me

I just go this sweet email from Jackie, the winner of June's monthly card drawing-- It made my day:

Hi Christina -

I just wanted to let you know that I received the cards today and they are beautiful. Thank you, also, for including the extra "goodies." I've visited some of the sights and enjoyed browsing.

Thanks again for choosing me as your June winner. I'll be sure to recommend your site to friends.

Have a great weekend!

Jackie

You know, it's small kindnesses like this that make living in our unpredictable and sometimes scary world not only bearable, but happy. Think about it.

New small works on paper

I Hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July. Welcome back!

• I'm pleased to announce there's a new "small works on paper" section at my website. See it on the art page of my site and scroll down the page to the bottom*.

These are small very affordable ($40 and less) gems of little paintings that give a glimpse into the creative process.

Every time I update this section (about every 2 weeks), I'll add one "steal"--a specially priced one... so there's one there now at only $15.00. First person to get it in their cart and checked out gets it. ***SORRY THIS PIECE HAS BEEN SOLD--CHECK BACK IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS FOR THE NEXT ONE*** It's kind of a shell game--you have to look around the small works section to find the steal. People reading this post get first dibs. I wanted to offer this as opportunity to own a "Christina Heiniger Original" at an affordable price because I don't yet offer less expensive prints.

Here's an example of one of the acrylic and oil pastel ones:


(* If you've been to my site before & don't see the updates when you go there, just "refresh" your browser or "reload the page" -- 2 terms for the same thing, which is getting your browser to reload the current page instead of using the cached version from the last time you visited.*)

• Have you seen the new section at Craftster.org where you can post ads for your site? It's a fun place to browse if you're in the market for some neat handmade stuff. Also an excellent place to post an ad (for free) if you have a website of art, craft or other handmade things.

Card Winner! & Puppet Stuff, too

Happy 4th of July holiday to everyone...I hope it's fun and safe for all.

• Congratulations to Jackie of New Jersey for winning our monthly card drawing for a free pack of Fern House Studio cards. Yay Jackie! Sign up for our card drawing here and you might be our next winner.

Just a couple of links you might find fun:

• My boyfriend Phil sent me this link to Store Wars , a very funny streaming movie that's a parody of Star Wars to promote organic foods. It's a riot and has a good message, too. Features some way cool veggie & food puppets like "Cuke Skywalker" "Darth 'Tater" and "Obi Wan Canoli". (You'll never look at a canoli the same way again!)

• I've got an owl puppet up at Luminant Studio's Creature Exchange . It's neat...check it out... a place to barter for handmade creatures.

• Speaking of puppets, my finger puppets are selling like crazy. The peacock and the squirrel are sold out and and will be marked so this week on my site. If you want a fingerpuppet, I suggest ordering soon, because I won't get to making more until mid-August or so (at best!).

Commissions

Despite the fact that I can barely spell the word, sometimes I do take commissions. Here's two that I just finished. The woman who ordered these had an acorn squash that I painted, and wanted a red onion and a tomato to go with it. Viola!

Illustration Friday: heroes

Here's my post for illustration Friday's theme of "Heroes".

This is a watercolor I did several years ago. At the time, I was watching Joseph Campbell's "Power of Myth" videos (from the Bill Moyer's PBS series). I guess some images from the "hero's quest" show got into my unconscious. This picture has the flavor of images of Hindu Deities that were shown in that series. But most of it is from my own quirky brain.

I love Paul Klee

I've been very influenced by Paul Klee. I got to see a lot of this Swiss artist's work over the years, as my family is from Switzerland. My parents lived in Bern, Switzerland for many years while I was in College. The KunstMuseum Bern had a wonderful, huge collection of Paul Klee's work that I used to visit often. His puppets, especially, inspired my own puppet-making ventures.

My aunt just brought me a bunch of postcards of Klee's puppets from the NEW Paul Klee Museum in Bern. Here's one entitled "Big Eared Clown" from about 1925:


He started making these for his son, Felix, when the boy was about 9 years old. Definately not your average 9-year-old's toys from a modern day perspective ( I wonder if Felix needed therapy later?)! As artwork, however, they're delightful-- funny, strange & fearless; some are kind of dark and many of them have the characteristic elongated Paul Klee eyes.

Ok, art history lesson is over. If you want to see more, you can visit the Klee Museum site. But unless you can read German, it'll be a feast for the eyes more than an informational visit.

Circle Circle Dot Dot

Here's to the the circle, the most playful of shapes.

I started working with circles in my artwork around 1987, when I was still in college. Robert Delaunay's lovely circle paintings really inspired me originally, as well as a show of outsider art & synchronicity I saw in 1987 or 88 (around then) at the Kunstmseum, Bern (Switzerland).

Well , since then, I've noticed that circles have become hugely popular in commercial design and graphic art, as well as in the craft community.

Target aside, here are some great "Circle (and dot) Inspired" sites: Superhero Designs Makes wonderful use of the circle in their colorful website design that really showcases their jewelry.

This circle tote from
One Good Bumblebee makes cheerful use of the circle.

The Cute Little Dot has a dot story every week. Plain Mabel has a lot of circle and dot design...including these
All About Mod cards.

That's just the tippy tip of the iceberg for circles in craft cyberspace right now.

I'll leave you with my own circle-based fruit sticker paintings. These are watercolor paintings around those stickers you find on fruit and veggies. They'll be for sale on my site soon.

Illustration Friday: Black & White

Here's my second drawing for Illustration Friday. This week the subject is "Black & White". This is a special little drawing for me, because it's of my dog Zeke. He was such a wonderful friend and companion for 14 years, and just passed away this last April.

"Zeke on the Lion & Tiger Rug, Under the Couch"

This rug was one of Zeke's favorite places to hang out. Here's a photo of him on the Lion and Tiger Rug, (a beautiful Tibetan rug I am fortunate to own)


Zeke was the inspiration behind alot of my animal artwork. The dog in this painting was based on him, as well as the one in this painting. Every year I used to do a Holiday Zeke card around Christmastime, too.

Well, I'm getting choked up. Better stop here.

beads, trips and where to find my work

I've had many people ask me about my summer galleries and shows. Here's a couple of links to give you more information about those: My website and this entry on my blog should give you some good information. Also, there are other entries in May & April that preview a bit of the work I have out at galleries (so browse this blog).

Well, it was a busy weekend. Phil & I took a trip to Western Mass. for the wedding of a friend of mine, which was very lovely. It was a long trip, so we broke it up by staying with a friend in Portland overnight on the way. Fortunately, there was a cool bead store right nearby: Caravan Beads & Fibers . I had just enough time there to make another necklace and pick up some more neat beads. They also have yarn and knitting supplies. I didn't realize that some bead stores offer things like birthday parties. I thought that was pretty cool, to be able to have a birthday party at a bead store (hmmm... next year!).

Speaking of beads, here are pictures of the beaded necklaces and earrings I made at Aboca Beads the previous weekend, which may make it up on my website. This one is an orange/light blue color combo...very unique. I love these orange leaf shaped beads--they were new at the store.
The colors don't really come through here in all their true loveliness for this blue and green necklace and earrings: It has a real Asian sensibility with the flower beads. Again, I love these semi-transparent green leaf beads! I used a lot of their newest beads at Aboca, just because I was so drawn to them. This jewelry is for sale, so inquire if you are interested and I'll get back to you right away.

I've really been sidetracked with all this handmade stuff lately, and it's time to turn my attention back to painting. Which I will do this week. I have 2 commissions to complete, as well as several watercolor stillives and landscapes that I plan to get done by August for my open studio with Philip. So my plate is very full! But it's all very yummy.

Illustration Friday

Here's my illustration for Illustration Friday. The topic this week is "summer". Sorry for the slightly blurry picture. I did this piece several years ago (and this is the only photo I have). If this lady looks familiar, it's because she's a take-off on Botticelli's Venus, with a spotted bathing suit and flippers, however.


"Our Lady of the Ocean"

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Have you ever noticed that things look better lined up in rainbow order? Maybe it's the kid in me, but it's not just a childish thing, the artists of the Bauhaus school often used the spectrum to bring... well... order to their work. Here are all 12 handpuppets I brought over to Island Artisans in Northeast Harbor last Friday, in rainbow order:



And, here's a photo of the amazingly gorgeous rainbow fleece I got from Grafton Fibers at the Maine Fiber Frolic.


I think that's all the eye candy anyone can take for one day.

More stories about fiber and felt

Despite the melting heat and humidity (very unusual for Maine, especially this time of year), I had the most wonderful time at the Maine Fiber Frolic this weekend. I spent way too much money and bought some absolutely delicious-looking fleece for felting. I'll post a bunch of pictures on Wednesday or so, as I don't own a digital camera (shocking, isn't it!). So the film is off to be processed, and pictures are to come.

But in the meantime, here are some amazing vendors I met:
Grafton Fibers is in Grafton, Vermont. I cannot reccommend their website enough! The carded fibers are just stunning, and there's a great links page to all kinds of fiber artists. Here's a photo of some of Grafton Fiber's carded fleece is from their website.
I bought a stunning rainbow colored one, which isn't pictured on their site.

The other just amazing vendor was The Fiber Fetish from New Hampshire. She also has a great website. Her specialty is multi-colored blended fleece (and she makes handmade soap, too). I got the sage merino: and a dark green blend. The sage looks a little weird here...the colors are much nicer in the real thing. Anyway, she makes really special stuff.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for my fiber purchases! I've already begun making felted things with it. My next project is felted buttons, so if you sew, check back because I'll post pictures of them at some point.

I did manange to get 2 necklaces and 3 pairs of earrings made at Aboca Bead, as well this weekend. So those pictures will go up this week. I am planning to add another page to my website for jewelry, felted things, small paintings and other affordable, smaller things that I make. More later on this...

Until my next post, happy crafting, and keep enjoying art!