Heather Dixon Wallwork's Blog, page 11

Mary Poppins in the Park

I have 3 favorite things:
Mary Poppins
Disneyland
Art
When you put them all together...you get this!


This is a 5x7 print I made for the unofficial Disneyland event "Mary Poppins in the Park".  {{It's basically a great big Mary Poppins get-together for all those who are obsessed...like me!}}  Do you want one??  Will you be there???  I'll be giving them away at the event for FREEEEE!!
It will be August 27th--the day the movie was released ^_^  I hope you can make it!!  
And if you can't...well you should totally print it out and hang it on your wall anyway :D

I’m a Jerk! {Episode 318}

{I really earned that one.  Hahaha.}

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how my sister Katie is doing.  She’s doing…great!  She really is, too–they’re making sure she’s stable for 6 months before they move ahead with the bone marrow transplant–and she’s been stable for nearly 4!  I know it’s thanks to all your kind prayers and thoughts, and the help of doctors & family and friends.

If you are interested, Kimberly Sams from Origami Owl has set up a link where you can buy super cute things, and 100% of the profit goes to Katie’s bone marrow transplant!  To say I’m touched by this sweet offer is quite an understatement.  Plus it’s like a build-your-own-jewelry site, which I’ve never tried but looks like a blast.  Here’s the link! 

I'm a Jerk! {Episode 318}

{I really earned that one.  Hahaha.}

I've had a lot of people ask me how my sister Katie is doing.  She's doing...great!  She really is, too--they're making sure she's stable for 6 months before they move ahead with the bone marrow transplant--and she's been stable for nearly 4!  I know it's thanks to all your kind prayers and thoughts, and the help of doctors & family and friends.

If you are interested, Kimberly Sams from Origami Owl has set up a link where you can buy super cute things, and 100% of the profit goes to Katie's bone marrow transplant!  To say I'm touched by this sweet offer is quite an understatement.  Plus it's like a build-your-own-jewelry site, which I've never tried but looks like a blast.  Here's the link!  

Debutante {2015}

If you've been following this blog for a while, or have had the temerity to read back to the very first blog post {you gutsy thing you} you've probably noticed that I've {hopefully} gotten better over the years.
There's one piece I keep going back to, and it's this li'l French girl.  I drew the original version in 2006 for Ryan Woodward's character design class:

It was one of the few pieces my classmates posted on the "good" wall...my other artwork always got put on the "medium" and "bad" walls. {Yes, this really was a thing--our homework was judged by our classmates and taped on the walls accordingly and I'm a better artist for it, by george!}
A few years back, in 2010, I decided to revisit the thing again:


I'd gotten much better at digital media and Illustrator at that point, and it definitely has a lot more motion, but it feels a lot less appealing to me.  The design lost its cuteness.
A couple weeks ago, I decided to give it another ol' college try:

D'aaaaaaw.  I think she's definitely more appealing this time around.  
I'm looking forward to trying her again in a few years.  ^_^

I’m a Jerk {Episode 594}

 There are some swanky apartments in Orem that were being built when the housing market crashed a few years ago, and so for years they’ve been standing like this:

One day I was driving past them with my cousin, Angela.

That’s why I never leave my house!

I'm a Jerk {Episode 594}

 There are some swanky apartments in Orem that were being built when the housing market crashed a few years ago, and so for years they've been standing like this:


One day I was driving past them with my cousin, Angela.














That's why I never leave my house!

Childhood Dreams

The one where there are giant pancakes in the living room.

{I thought about this one the most.}
The one where I've been shrunk down and am trapped in a fridge.

A magical fridge with donuts.






A similar one...where I'm trapped in the freezer.




And...the one where I'm the size of a bug and living in the garden's raspberry patch!





I'm sensing a theme here...


{I still daydream about the pancake one.}

Revenge of the Nice People!!

{Pre-note:  I was messing around with the order of blog pages and accidentally deleted the header at the top.  Whoops.  I am so smrt and can't figure out how to get it back--so for now there's a blank space, baby.  Back to your unregularly scheduled blog post.}

I've had a lot of people ask how the fundraiser went!

I'll tell you how it went.

It went



AWESOME!!!


The forecast for the 16th was rain.  We still had high hopes, and when everyone arrived at the park at 6 AM, it was already a gorgeous day.

At 6:15 AM, as we were setting up, it began to sprinkle.


At 6:30 AM, the temperature had dropped into the 40's and the clouds began to let loose.

My youngest sister--who is someone you don't mess with--was lousy with umbrage.



Completely unrelated note:  this younger sister also looks exactly like Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift: 
Little sister:
Crazy, right?  I keep telling her she should go on a crime spree while pretending to be Taylor Swift.

Anyway, back to the fundraiser.

I think if I could have one word to describe the weather, it'd be soggy.  We had the pavilions and set up a billion canopies, but it was still so, so wet.  Every step we took squished.  We were scared that no one would come.

But people came.

Soooo many people came!!




















Even though it was miserable and soggy, people still came to donate and to buy and to see my sister and to help out.  It was amazing.





{But it really was the rain!}

I was in the furthest pavilion out, drawing caricatures with my buddy Lauren.  She's only 17 but did an amazing job!  I'm glad I got to work with her.

Poor Lauren, though.  She was freezing.  It was soooooo cold.

The moment you realize you're turning into your mother.

We still had a great time with the kids!




Soooo...the girl had just been at the nail painting station.




Oops.

I missed the live auction, which was too bad, because one of my sisters had designed and sewn dresses for it.


I would've bought ALL OF THEM.

My Taylor-Swift sister won the middle one.  And my director, Bryan {who came all the way from Bountiful!}, won the dress on the left.


It wasn't for him, though {though he'd look great in it!}  It's for his 3 daughters--in a few years.  They're not teenagers yet and don't fit into it.  But he told me that he was so touched a sister would sacrifice and make dresses to save her sister that he bought it and gave it to his girls, and told them that whenever they wore it, they would remember how sisters bore each others' burdens.
*sobs*

Anyway :)

But I know what you're all really wondering.  You're wondering:  Did she get those chocolates she wanted??

YES I DID!!

And the Disney Artist Jumpstart Kit--it sold!!!  It sold with flying colors!!  In fact, it sold for so much, I think I might actually fly the kid to Disneyland and teach them there, just to make it worth it.  Hahaha. :)




Here are some pictures from the event:

My nieces and nephews singing with the band that came.
My sister Katie, and her husband Robert.  Their wedding pictures were also taken in the rain with a red-and-white striped umbrella.  So I think this is pretty sweet :)
Here's me :)
 Katie's family, ready to launch their balloons.
They sang: "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" before they launched the balloons.  I heard it was so touching--I wish I'd been there. {I was...still drawing at the pavilion hahaha}  {But it was great!}

 Love it :) :)

It was all a smashing success.  We sold all the bake sale items, we sold all the live auction items, we sold all the baskets!  With everyone's help and kindness, we raised over 100,000 dollars!!!

That will buy a big part of a bone marrow transplant!!!

So now I'm getting all weepy again {it's the rain :)} but I just want to say thank you.  Thank you so much for all your help, your donations, you prayers.  It means the world to all of us.

Thank you. :) :) :)




Addendum.  Remember the biker dude?  It turns out he actually looks more like this:


{He may or may not wear a bow tie.}

People are SO NICE!!

My oldest sister, Katie, is the bravest person I know.

My mom once dared her to wear a giant bow in her bangs all day, including to her violin lesson.  And she totally did.


The teacher kept staring at her hair, but didn't say anything.  haha.

Here's a picture of Katie now:


Here's a picture of her beautiful family.  {She has 6 kids!!}




{The road was abandoned, so nothing to worry about.  Still, funny :D}
You might notice in that first picture that she's wearing a headscarf.  That's because she has an aggressive, fast-growing soft tissue cancer, leiomyosarcoma.  The chemo she's been doing for the past few years makes her hair fall out.  {I told you she was brave, right?}
Sometimes she gets so sick from the chemo, her kids dress up and entertain her to keep her mind off of it.

Sometimes she's so worn out, she can only crawl up the stairs.


I only know this because my other sister knew it, and she told me.  I have never, never heard Katie complain about anything.  She is incredible.

Cancer is the worst.  I don't know of anyone who hasn't had their heart broken because of cancer.  It has been so hard to see it hurt my sister.   The chemo hasn't been easy on Katie, and now she's developed leukemia as well.  So she needs a bone marrow transplant.

BUT GUESS WHO HAS TWO THUMBS AND IS A MATCH???


THAT'S RIGHT!!!  THIS GIRL!!

Now all we need to do is raise the money, get the transplant, and she'll be cured!  Nothing to worry about!

We're in the process of raising the money.  {Insurance won't cover the transplant.}  So we decided to organize a fundraiser.

It's been an incredible project to help out with.  I've been so touched and floored by all the sweet, kind people who have offered to help.  {Geez...I'm tearing up now just typing it!}  I was a wreck the first meeting...so many people had shown up to help!

You'll never guess where I'm sitting.
A couple of guys at work heard that I needed help, and by George, they came to my sister's house with cameras and microphones and recorded her kids so they could cut an internet video together.

A sweet lady at church heard we would be having a bake sale, and even though it's a lot of work, she offered to make some of her amazing chocolates.

{Side note: I've had these chocolates before.  She gives them out at Christmas.  So help me, if you buy them before I do I will KILL YOU.}
My friend Aubrey is a manager over several Cherry Berry stores, and they've offered to donate a percentage of their sales on the day of the fundraiser.


I'm never getting ice cream anywhere else again.

Someone at work left an anonymous donation on my desk.


Ugly cry/happy tears for the rest of the day :')  :')

These are only just a few of the many, many people who have offered to help, donate, organize...people who've been sacrificing and giving their time and talents for this fundraiser.  I'm so touched, I just start to cry when I think about how kind these people have been.  It makes me think of how many times I've been not as generous as I could have been, and how I want to be like them.  People are amazing.

Here's the basket I'm donating to the silent auction:


It's a "Disney Artist Jumpstart Kit".  {I had to draw it because I forgot to take a picture before I entered it in.}  It has a brand new wacom splash tablet, an {older, used--but still great!} version of Photoshop, and 6 1-hour art lessons from a Disney artist!  {That would be me!}  
I'm a little nervous it won't sell.  West Point, where the fundraiser is being held, is a kind of small town, and this is pretty niche.  But, I grew up in West Point and I would've sold my soul for something like this!  So hopefully I won't get it back after the fundraiser...

Yeah.  Don't let this happen.  Come to the fundraiser.

Here's the flyer :)



Here's the link to register/donate/etc: http://www.anythingforafriend.com/index.php?cID=285
That's right!  It's this Saturday!  And it's gonna be a kick.  I'll be doing the kissing booth.  
Just kidding.  There's no kissing booth.  We're trying to raise money, not scare people away.  I'll be doing caricatures with my assistant, Lauren Williams, who is a super talented artist :)  {Assistant!  That sounds fancy!}
If you live in Utah, you'll definitely want to come.  If you live in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, California, etc, you'll definitely want to come, too.  Everybody just come :)
Here's the video.  You'll want to watch it.  Have tissues handy :)

Addendum:  A biker dude saw this video on facebook...





...and now he's organizing a motorcycle rally.  That'll be June 13th.  I'm totally buying a Harley :)

Popcorn Habits

You do this.  Don't lie.