Here’s a fun coloring page of Mt. Rainier with a towering pine, garland and ferns and flowers. Send me a picture of how you colored this and I’ll share it on my IG. Happy Holidays! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Coloring Eggs for April
Quick note about current times
( As I write this I just learned that school in WA has been canceled for the rest of the year. On the bright side it’s only 3 months of homeschooling. In the timeline of our lives this is a very small chunk of time. Hopefully our country will have a handle on COVID-19 by the fall with better knowledge of the virus as well as treatments for it. We live in a time with some very smart people. We will figure this out. We are constantly changing, evolving and moving forward. For us to think things would forever be the same would be foolish. It’s okay for things to change and be different. We are an adaptable species and very capable to handle more than we give ourselves credit for. My heart goes out to everyone that is struggling with this new lifestyle as well as to everyone that is sick or knows someone that is sick with COVID-19. Also to those families working in the health field thank you from the bottom of my heart.)
OKAY! Last month’s coloring pages were such a hit I wanted to make some fun egg coloring sheets for this week. Check out these FREE coloring pages below. Enjoy!
Egg 1 Click HERE: This egg screams Spring! Fill in this garden of pretty, hang it up then smile!
Egg 2 Click HERE: This one reminds me of ocean waves. You can color it as you choose or I thought it could be really fun to color this one in different shades of the same color. If you have kids pull out that box of random broken crayons and find all the yellows or blues and go to town!
Egg 3 Click HERE: This one is the FRACTAL CHALLENGE! I love drawing with fractals so here is how I do it! There’s a little note about what a fractal is and how to make them. See if you can turn this egg into a beautiful mesmerizing fractal masterpiece. For me it is very relaxing to make these repetitive marks. Put on a podcase or your favorite playlist and have at it!
I hope you enjoy these!
Coloring during Quarantine
I started writing a huge long post about COVID19 and what I’m going through and was getting depressed so I decided screw that! The point of this post was to tell you I made some FUN coloring pages for you and your kids and they are FREE! If you do them send me a picture or tag me in your post! Love you all and I hope you enjoy these! The mountain one is my fav!!
Page 1 Geometric Circle 1: This one is for the little person who just wants to color with whatever colors they choose. I gave my older daughter a bit more of a challenge with it by telling her to select 3 colors and see if she can color in the drawing with out the same color touching.
Page 2 Geometric Circle 2: This one is a little more challenging. Lot’s of little spaces to fill in. Use colored pencils or gel pens for the best results.
Page 3 Mountain in Spring: LOVE THIS ONE! Good for all ages! Bring on those spring vibes! Fill in the wildflowers, grassy fields, pine trees and rays of sunshine! Oh and Mt. Rainier too of course!
Enjoy! xoxo
Natalia
I read your letter...
I was thinking about making a different kind of art. Art evokes a response. Even being non-responsive to art is technically a response to it. I was thinking of a chain of letters. The first letter (below) makes a statement. A response to this letter will be made by someone anonymous…maybe you? You can respond with advice, a reflection, a different perspective, a critique or a story. Whatever you are moved to say…say it. Your response will then be responded to by a new anonymous writer. The chain of letters will go on and on until it ends. Your responses become the project and the project is the art. The first letter is here below. The author will remain anonymous. Please email me at cottonwoodcanopy@gmail.com with your response if you have a response to the below letter or if you have a letter you’d like to write to help move things along. I will select the letter that is most interesting to the integrity of the project and publish it on my blog for the next writer to respond to.
Sometimes I feel so completely and utterly ordinary. When having conversations with others I often focus on the fact that I have nothing to say about what they are saying. Is it me? Am I hollow? Or is it them? Perhaps being hollow is my way of being deep? Every “normal” conversation bores me. I want to hear something good! Something juicy, something worth celebrating, something worth crying over, something maddening, something that makes my jaw drop. Something that deserves a hug…or a slap! Tell me something good. Am I allowed to make such demands when I feel I have nothing “good” to say myself. It’s like inside I’m saying “entertain me!” Me. Me. ME. Maybe this will entertain you?
Geometric Series
Evolve II, 2016, Natala Heiser
My inspiration for most of my work comes from nature and modern design. They each have their own sort of rawness and simplicity yet can be very complex. Take a tree for example and all it's different parts. The deep roots in the ground keeping the trunk anchored. The outstretched branches with fluttering leaves from the wind. I can hear them. Have you ever listened to the leaves of a tree as they are blown by the wind? I find it to be one of the most relaxing sounds I've ever heard. Experiencing nature like this reminds me of how small I am and that mankind is just another fixture on this planet. I like to stay in this place of awe when I can but I'll be honest. If I've been allowed to get to this blissful state of awe someone in my house is probably drawing on a wall or eating hand lotion out of the bottle! So I take these moments when they happen and I say to myself "remember this."
What I love about modern design specifically Mid Century Modern are the lines. They are clean, crisp, smooth and minimalistic. You know it's good design when it's been around for 60 plus years and hasn't gone out of style. It could be architecture, decor or furniture; there are so many good designs that are being replicated and reproduced because we realize that era got it right!
My love for nature and for modern design is what brought forth the Geometric Series.
This is my first geometric drawing on reclaimed wood. I took an image of a Cottonwood tree and broke it down to a simple outline then started filling in with individual sections. What I love about this process is it breaks the image down to a simple almost unrecognizable form and then as I fill it in with more lines it becomes a beautiful rendering.
After trees I was intrigued and wanted to see what different shapes would look like with these geometric fractles so I tried circles. After making this drawing below I knew this series was going to be something special. For the first time in my artistic life I felt truely inspired on a larger scale. I could see that my work was going to evolve and that this was the beginning of a collection!
Evolve I, 2016, Natalia Heiser
I wanted to see these on a larger scale so I made the two pieces below. They use the same technique but turned out very different. I was torn on which direction I wanted to go in. I enjoyed the complexity of the image on the left but also loved the larger scale of the geometric shapes of the piece on the right. I wanted to explore though and see more segments; more fractles on an even larger scale.
There was something about the repitition and seeing the negative space becoming filled in that made the work more interesting to me. It was almost mesmorizing. So I decided to take it to the next level and make it bigger and create more movement. I wanted the viewer to stop and stare as I found my self doing while I made this piece below.
"Stare", 2016, Natalia Heiser
From here I'm going to explore more ways in which these lines alone are simple but together are becoming chaotic. I'm also exploring what adding another dimension does to the movement and flow of the sparatic pattern by adding in projections of wood. Here are a couple samples I've recently done as studies for some larger works I have in mind. I'll be spending these next few months getting ready for a couple shows this Spring in Seattle. Follow me on Instagram for some behind the scenes to my process & some sneak peaks! Thanks for reading!
Wood Wall Art | Chevron Series
With the launch of our website and shop this month I'd like to do a post for each of the series in our Home Collection. The first is our Chevron Series wood wall art and home decor made from reclaimed wood. This series was born the day my husband tore down our fence. Yes this really happened but a few things happened because of it. The first is I got a way better fence! Our yard feels so much bigger now that we can see the seemingly endless green forest and blackberry bushes!
Yum!
Another thing that happened was that I now had a huge supply of wood! I wanted to make something with it but wasn't sure what so we covered it up and waited for an idea to develop. Fast forward a few months later: I'm browsing Pinterest, as usual, and find this cool way to display Instagram photos.
Image from The Crafted Life
I decided I'm going to do this and use the wood from our fence! Only...it doesn't happen. Somewhere between me ordering the photos and buying the paint I started getting inspired by quilt squares. Random? Yes. But this is how my brain works. I was noticing how in quilt squares you have a little pattern or shape that works with the others around it. I started thinking about my squares of wood in this way. I could see modern & bohemian patterns emerging as the pieces came together. I had my carpenter husband cut me a few squares and these samples were born.
The first editions of the a Chevron Series used gold foil tape but I later moved to gold paint.
From there I kept having what my husband called design orgasms. I started getting more ideas for home decor and art to go along with these wood squares. Shelves, candle holders, blanket ladders (coming soon) and more!
I could see a collection in my mind and wanted it so badly to become a reality. The only thing left to do was to make it happen. From there Cottonwood Canopy and our Chevron Series emerged. I now have a website, an etsy shop, a blog and I'm almost up to 200 followers on Instagram! I realize that some people have tens of thousands of followers but for me this is amazing! I think social media is a wonderful way for artist to get exposure and it's really encouraging to see people from all over the world like what I'm doing.
So that is how the Chevron Series came to be. You can now add shelves to the wall art and order custom sizes from our Etsy shop. You can even use Command strips to install them if you are in a rental or dorm. Check out the gallery to get more ideas on how the Chevron Series can be displayed and subscribe to the right to stay in the loop on when we release new items. Thanks for reading!! Use CHEVRON10 for 10% off any Chevron Series item in our shop! Happy shopping!
Shop this item in our shop!
THE TREE PRINT GIVE AWAY
I'm so excited to share this give away with you! This print is going to be available in our shop very soon but you have the opportunity to get one for FREE before anyone else can buy it! I'm a fan of trees and nature (if you couldn't tell by our name). They are a sort of inspiration for me. This drawing is an ink drawing that I made many years ago. It's been living in my portfolio forever. Each time I come across it I tell myself "you need to frame this one" so I finally did! I love how it looks and hope that you will love it too! The black and white drawing looks amazing with a white matte. I bought this frame at Target, in case you want it, but it would look good with just about any frame finish. The beauty of black and white art or photography is it's versatility to go with any style. It's an easy addition to any room or it can be that one piece you plan your space around. I'll talk more about this in an upcoming blog but for now subscribe to the blog (located on the right side of the screen) for a chance to win this print! I'll be giving away 5 of them so sign up! I can't wait to see who wins!
*The give away is for the print only. Frame not included*
A LETTER TO MY READERS
Perhaps I should call this a letter to my family and few close friends because that is probably who my readers are! (For now at least.) Anyway welcome to Cottonwood Canopy's first blog post ever! My name is Natalia and I live in beautiful WA state. I have been a stay at home mom of two for the past 2 years. Being a stay at home mom has been a blessing but it can also do strange things to a person. For example I recently got a strong urge to start a business and blog! Not that I have tons of time on my hands with two wild kids or anything but my creativity was calling. I haven't really embraced it fully so perhaps that is what I'm doing now. I heard once that if you work a job doing what you love then you will never work a day in your life. That is my goal.
I have been pondering what I would do with my life when my kids start school full time and I always come back to design. I have a degree in art and prior to becoming a stay at home mom I worked in high end kitchen and bath showrooms. I would assist interior designers, builders and homeowners in making selections for their projects. I don't have an interior design degree specifically but I have my eye and my experience. One of my top clients once told me "you don't need a degree to do this." She was self taught and very successful. Would I like a degree? Maybe if I had the time and an extra load of cash sitting around but I don't. I also don't want the fact that I don't have a degree to stop me from moving forward so that is why I'm doing this. It took a little nudging from a few good friends and an inspirational walk on the Mill Creek trail for me to start believing that I could do something. For me that is the most important step. Believing in yourself. I've already made a ton of changes to what I want Cottonwood Canopy to look like and I haven't even launched my site yet. But I'm okay with that and I hope that you come along this journey with me to see what will be.
Natalia