Featured Artist "I Heart Shade"

Today's featured artist is Mindy, she has been a friend on Facebook since I started all this. I've always loved her necklaces and her work, it is really beautiful. She's also one of those people who is just really nice and cool. I was trying to think of someone to feature on here and finally the light bulb went off and I thought why the heck haven't I featured her shop? I sad over site on my part for sure. Here's more about her and her work:

I Heart Shade was born out of an overflowing of creativity that couldn’t be contained among my family and friends any longer.  I’ve always dabbled in art and craft: my walls are filled with my attempts painting, my young friends have come into this world with bare feet waiting to be cloaked by my knitted booties or bodies warmed by sweet garments.  I am lucky to live in a community rich with creative and generous people willing to share their art and craft.  I’ve taken classes on cake decorating, beading, sewing, watercolors, acrylic, and my current loves, encaustic and glass fusion. 

I wanted to take the encaustic medium to a whole new, albeit scaled down, level by making wearable art.  I love that encaustic is so flexible and versatile. You can paint with it, sculpt within it and add collage to it.  I chose the wooden domino as my base because it’s the perfect size for a pendant and having grown up in a family where any gathering of two or more constituted a game night, the domino seemed fitting.  On my pieces, I add bits of nature’s love that I find on hikes around Oregon or right in my backyard.  I’ve always loved stumbling upon cairns, or rock towers, in unlikely places.  They invite you to slow down, even stop for a moment and reflect or meditate.  That’s what I love about my Zen Rock Tower pieces.  When I wear one, I’m reminded to slow down, even to stop for a moment.  You’ll often find me rubbing the pendant when I’m in need of a physical reminder to get my zen on.

I’ve been playing with warm glass for the last four years.  I’ve finally purchased my own kiln and now I’m going crazy with small pieces.  My favorites right now are the Baby Footsteps and Twin Baby Footsteps that incorporate tiny copper feet within the glass, and the Stripes pendants where I’m loving creating different pairings and groupings of color.  I’m working on expanding my glass line of wearable art beyond the chest to include bracelets and hair pins.  Look for those out in the next month or so.

Because I’m just starting out, my customers are mostly friends and friends of friends and, well, you get the picture.  I’d love to reach more people so please find me on Facebook and Twitter at iheartshade. And of course, stop by my Etsy shop to browse or just say hello. http://www.etsy.com/shop/iHeartShade