“Hope With Wings”

“Hope With Wings” by Susan Brubaker Knapp

Susan Brubaker Knapp here. I just completed a pair of art shoes I am submitting for the Kick Off Your Heels fundraiser. There is a lot of heart disease in my family, which is part of why I wanted to help out by making a pair of shoes. I have one grandmother I never got to meet because she died of a heart attack at age 61. It is amazing to me that so little heart disease research and education has been focused on women. This is my small contribution to rectifying that situation. 

Here’s how I made my shoes:

I started with blue pumps purchased for $2 at a local thrift shop, sanded them lightly with sandpaper, and painted them with gesso. The shoe in the front is the original color, and the shoe in the back is painted with gesso:

I painted them sky blue with brown tree branches:

I bought the nest, eggs, silk dogwood blooms and the bird at local craft stores, and auditioned them:

The birds did not resemble any I’d ever seen in nature, so I trimmed their feathers and repainted them to look like chickadees, my favorite bird. Then I glued wads of paper inside the shoes, and glued or pinned in the moss, lichens, nest, eggs, birds and dogwood blosssoms. Here they are, all done!

 

It's time to start submitting your shoes!

Just a reminder about the deadlines to submit your shoes for the Kick off Your Heels Fundraiser.  The Art Call submission process is now available and you'll find that here.  

Important dates to remember:
December 1, 2012: Call for art shoes issued
February 15, 2013: online registration opens here  
March  29, 2013: submission deadline extended
April 8 , 2013:  Artists notified of acceptance  
May 1, 2013: Sale begins on line

Important information about photographs!

It's is absolutely imperative to take good photographs of your shoes!  A neutral colored background such as white, cream, gray or taupe is best for photographing your shoes.  A dark or black background makes it very difficult to see the details of the shoes.

Be aware of shadows and flash marks on the shoes, especially if they are shiny.  If at all possible and safe, take your pictures outside in natural light.  

Photographs should be high resolution photos (at least 300 dpi) measuring 8"x10" so that we will be able to resize the photos without distortion.

We will need 3 views of your finished high heels. 

 View 1: front view

View 2: inside, and side

View 3: side and heels

The Art Call submission process is now available and you'll find that here.  

Ruby Slippers

I'm Jeannie Palmer Moore and I decorated this pair 

of heels with flowers using my favorite black, red & white palette. 

What fun to let your imagination go wild on a pair of shoes for such a great cause!

I used some canvas flowers that I have free-motioned stitched and

cut out. My friend Leslie Tucker Jenison die cut some flower shapes from her vast supply of red fabrics for me while I was visiting her. I added buttons and pearls.

Inside the shoe I glued some green wool roving and

a few small flowers and one heart!

JPMArtist.com

Heart Soul Shoes by Yvonne Porcella

                                                   "Heart Soul" shoes by Yvonne Porcella

I assembled a variety of trims, beads, silk and ribbons from my
vast collection of "stuff" 

Stuffed wrinkled silk in shoe. 

Shoe stuffed with silk and decorated with stickies. top of

silk is attached to heel with wire. I made tiny stuffed hearts to

attach to ribbons, yarn, to layer over the

wrinkled silk in the shoe. And beads, small heart

buttons strung onto nylon thread. 

A pair of shoes! The center embellilshment
is intended to lay over the stuffed silk or
rearranged by the owner. 

The back of the shoes are decorated with a nice
black and white bow. The ribbon matches the
small black and white stuffed hearts at the inside
heel of  each shoe.

"Heart Soul" is the name of the shoes by
Yvonne Porcella  

Heart Beats

(Lyric here.) Listening to the sound of a heartbeat can be so comforting.

I lightly sanded these shoes and painted them with gesso.

You press your ear to your little one's chest and hear the life force stolidly plugging away within those little bones.

Next - photoshop & a Leonardo DaVinci anatomical drawing.

The strong steady rhythm as you watch the slightest movement of a pulse where an artery runs close to the surface in his neck. The sound and rhythm of life. A heartbeat.

I painted the shoes white with acrylic paint, sketched my design, and drew it in with ink.
It needed a little something so I rubbed in a little pink.

Except sometimes it isn't right. I am troubled at times by an arrhythmia. My heart will loose it's beat, skip and founder. It's disconcerting and certainly uncomfortable but not life threatening by any means.

The DaVinci hearts were screen printed onto two layers of organza which were fused together to create some added stiffness. Fabric stiffener was also brushed on to give the cloth even more body and the edges were beaded by hand.

There are times when hearts stop beating and they don't need to. WE can do something about it here. There is so much to learn. Cancer gets a ton of attention - and rightfully so. But I was shocked to hear how many more women die of heart disease than of cancer. I think we have a lot yet to learn. 

E-6000 adhesive was used to adhere the wings to the shoes.

Join us in helping to raise awareness and some funds to research the causes and cures for women's heart disease. Keep hearts beating. Keep the rhythm going. Tell your friends. 

Get your fancy on, let your creativity take flight, and makes some shoes of your own for the cause!

(let the fun begin!!!)

Kick Off February - Wear RED

Friday, February 1st is National Wear RED Day

- click here for details  

Love your Heart!  Here are a few ways to live a longer, stronger life:

1: Be Active and get moving!  The American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity.  Studies show that for every hour of walking you may increase your life expectancy by two hours.

2: Quit Smoking! Click here to learn about how the Amercian Heart Association can help and quit today. 

3: Eat healthy! click here to visit the American Heart Association online nutrition website where you'll find help getting started on a healthy diet as well as recipes, shopping tips and cookbooks.

4: Manage those stress levels!  Laughter is one of the best medicines for stress management and there are lots of others too.  Click here for more resources on fighting stress with healthy habits.

5: Manage your weight!  Burn more calories than you take in.  Learn about your body mass index and why it matters here on the American Heart Assocation website.

How I did it ... and why.

Linda Teddlie Milton here and  I'm so pleased to contribute my art shoes to this cause.  Although many people think of heart disease as a man's problem, in fact, heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. It is also a leading cause of disability among women.  Let's do something about it!

Mossimo "Pernella" black velvet pumps were my starting point.

First - remove strap; apply a black glitter paint on the heels,
prep bottom edge of shoes with clear gesso,
and add zebra-striped duct tape ... yes, duct tape!
The toes were filled with a mixture of gel medium and
glass beads, for added weight and stability.  (That step
had to dry for weeks!)

Floral foam was added as a base for the moss.

The shoes were taped off with newspaper
to provide protection for the next steps.

"Moss" (model railroad scenery) was added.

"trees" (also model railroad scenery) were added,
and everything was sprayed with a glittery silver paint,
followed by black paint for shadows.

Silk flowers, nubby yarn, crystals, beads, coins,
and trinkets were added to create the "Treasure Hunt"

Here's the Monkey King, perched on top
of one of the shoes.

A scary little skull tops off the other shoe.

A teeny tiny vehicle is on its way towards the treasure.

Jungle-y treasure hunt!

The End.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the other art shoes created for this fundraiser.  Thank you, Sue Bleiweiss and Jamie Fingal, for organizing it.