Heidi Field-Alvarez
Mixed Media Artist

Happy New Year to you! I hope that everyone is refreshed and energized to start off a new year. I am ready to roll and am excited for a new set of classes. I am sending the reminder that I am now having a Wednesday class from 3:30-4:30 in addition to the Friday class 3:30-4:30. Like always, you do not have to worry about bringing anything to class but might want to dress the children in clothes you are not to worried about. I am making a slight adjustment in the payment schedule. In hopes of simplifying payments, I would like to go to an eight week installment program. Therefore, the length of the sessions are eight weeks. Every eight weeks is a new installment. The schedule is below.

Classes are for students ages 6 - teenagers. Also available for portfolio consultation.

Please call with questions! 740-9302

Each Eight Week Installment is $120.00 per child

Installment I
January 6 - February 24th
January 8 - February 26th

Installment II
March 3- April 28
March 9 - April 30

Installment III
May 5 - June 23
May 7 - June 25


Summer Camp (tentative)
July 5 - July 9
July 19 - July 23

Breaks

March 31st April 2- Good Friday, June 30th

Mark your calendars!

STARTING CHERI

SMALL PIECES

The following are some pieces, one of which is older, that I am experimenting with. I a working with layers and techniques with lace and blackwork. The pieces are smaller so they don't take as long. After that I will try to incorporate what I have learned into some larger pieces. The first to the left is some of the materials I used and set out before I began. I wanted to make sure I did not forget anything.
This one you will probably see again in some different forms. I love the way it turned out.

You may recall this one. This was done on putty and plaster and coated with wax. The painting is done in oil.
This is the 'sketch' for Smoot. I wanted you to be able to see the painting effect on the images. This crackle is something I am working on. I will hopefully use it on a large scale in some new pieces.

NEW WORK...NO TEXT!

MORE PROGRESS ON GIRLS
As you can see I have been doing some work on this piece. It is not going as fast as I had hoped but I sort of have two jobs. Raising the family seems to be the one that wins out most of the time....why is that?? One to think about. Anyway, the portrait is primarily done. If you are observant you may have noticed I cut them from their painted background. This actually caused me to pause with scissors in hand for a moment. Once the fist snip was made I just went fast and was pleased with the result. Part of making this work for me is about letting go of preconceived notions of how things should be done/created. Cutting my portrait was very cathartic. After I have pieced the whole thing together I will add finishing touches to the portrait. I have pieced the sides to the pleated middle and have free-motion stitched the girls to the background. I added ribbon to their stomach sashes in order to balance color, and in their sleeves. Again, having to cut the portrait. Yeaks! ...but I love it.

I have tried to include some dress making techniques and think the ribbon in the sleeves is very child like so suites the piece. In this photo you can see a detail of the ribbon work on the sleeve.

PAINTING AGAIN

So here is the almost finished portrait of the girls. I will add some details and then get to work figuring out how to attach it to all the other fabric elements. What do you think so far? Right now I think it is a bit washed out. I have to add more contrast. I have not gotten to the much darker darks and lighter lights.

CHANGING IT UP

I decided I needed a little break. I have been running hard lately and have been a bit tired at night. Night is the time I have typically gotten my more serious work done. So I had to change it up a bit. I started work again on my leaf series. I really enjoy painting, my garden and nature and the result is my leaf paintings. Hope you enjoy them and know that if you should desire one, they are yours for the cheap prices of $40.00 each. Each original painting is gouche on "9 x 12" archival paper and comes unframed. If you should ever be interested in purchasing or finding out more about my art please email me. You can find my email at the top of this site.