One of her latest “The Gnome Ladies of Berry Cottage”. “The berries featured are Strawberry, Elderberry, Honey Berry, and Jostaberry. All berries I would love to grow.” says Heather. This is an 11z17 comic style ink on watercolor paper.“Whisper and Wish” an 11×14 comic style ink and watercolor is one of her latest.
Whimsical Fantasy Art Inspired by Nature, Myth and Lore by Heather M Hart
I met Heather in Port Townsend, WA when I lived there. My son and I were getting his passport photos done at the mail store across from QFC and I noticed some cards for sale with her art on them. She worked behind the counter and had been working there for something like 13 years. I wasn’t downing her choice to work there but I told her how lovely her work was and encouraged her to get her art out there and really do what she loved. She now has a ton of art and a website and is doing well! Woohoo, go Heather! I am so happy for and proud of her.
A note from Heather: “Since we last met I have started making letter writing sets containing 8 pages of very nice notepaper featuring 2 custom designs as well as 4 lined envelopes featuring designs from the notepaper. Along with the set comes 4 self-adhesive wax seals. The “Whisper and Wish” image is a follow up to a very popular letter set of these two foxes playing in autumn leaves. I also will be releasing my new magnetic bookmarks in this shop update. Sadly I do not have a picture of those.”
The Zapatista Women Weavers’ Collective that I visited and bought many beautiful and brightly woven linens and clothing from was the one in Oventic, Chiapas. Visiting is the best way to see and purchase all there is to offer in that region and beyond but I also found this website online which sells some things:
Weaving for Justice supports Weaving Collectives and Solidarity Connections. Here is an example of the beautiful work and one you can buy through them:
Chiapas is a lovely vibrant region with such amazing people and life. I was drawn to visit there after a sweetie took me to Cancun and I saw some of the beautiful colourful native Mayan Chiapan women, with their long black braided hair, selling their textiles on the streets. Each village has their own unique designs they wear and create. If I can find it I have a map that shows such. The official name of the state is Chiapas, which is believed to have come from the ancient city of Chiapan, which in Náhuatl means “the place where the chia sage grows.”
I rented an apartment in San Christobel de las Casas and traveled to many places in the mountains and to the coast. I had so many lovely encounters especially having been so lucky to have met my good friends Raymundo and his mother Marguerite. Raymundo and I helped each other with our Spanish/English, respectively. With them I traveled to many of the villages via Collectivos and was able to experience their family and friends in their own ‘homes’.
Visiting his 80+ yo grandparents was a bit of a ride and quite a hike into their property. They had the most humungous avocado tree I had ever seen and it was full of big yummy creamy ones! It was like a dream come true. LOL. They also grew all their own food including corn and more. Raymundo’s grandmother was in her cooking tent, which at that point folks called black tents due to the fact that they were smoky and black inside from the open fire that they cooked over. Although it was uncomfortable for me breathing it in I sat still, watched and listened. She showed me how she cooked the corn in a pot of water hanging over the fire and then how she worked the kernels off with cloth mit like things and then made them into a mush, which she then made tortillas with. I have always loved Mexican food and homemade tortillas! I heard great stories as well from grandfather such as how he used to walk for 3 days to bring and sell their fresh eggs, and other foods they grew, in the city. I so enjoyed this visit.
All the visits were special in their own way. I remember another at a different village entering a cook house where the woman squatting on the ground was cooking. She had just made homemade tortillas and filled them with mashed black beans and local cheese. Yum Yum Yummy! Working while squatting was very common and the people were very agile in turn.
That story reminds me of my favorite little store in San Christobel, which had yummy local cheeses, homemade yogurt and ice cream. Which reminds me of how much I enjoyed the locals’ schedules. Store fronts etc were open early in the day, closed for their afternoon meal and rest time and then open into the night which made the place very lively and fun in the evenings. Ok, sorry to go on but that reminds me of the super fun Latin dancing that would go on until 3 and 4 in the morning. These people were just so alive. I loved watching them do their line dancing when certain songs would come on such as the ‘It’s Electric’ w/ the Electric Slide and the ‘Mokarena’. I also really appreciated how strong of leaders many of the men were that I partnered with. That was important for me as I was used to leading and had trouble not doing so. LOL.
Raymundo and I also visited a special Lacandon Jungle/rainforest community by traveling very near to the Guatemalan border in a very old and rusty school bus that had so many holes in it I had to cover my mouth and nose with a scarf so that I didn’t have to inhale all the exhaust. The usual riders didn’t mind the exhaust and we enjoyed the whole character of it all. When we returned home our backpacks were completely covered in dust. LOL. The particular community we visited wore these lovely long cream colored tunics, females and males. I was hoping to see a jaguar and so some took us on an evening walkabout. I was saddened to realize how little rainforest was left due to oil interest government sell-outs which forced the people to give up much of their lands. Not enough to really support bigger species like that.
I loved my apartment in San Christobal. I painted the walls lovely colors and loved my balcony. I also was lucky to live above a wonderful vegetarian cafe owned by a German couple. Anuschka made THE MOST AMAZING cheesecake using one of the local cheeses. Unfortunately they are no longer there last I heard.
Two more treasures to add were seeing the native women weaving using simple looms that went around their bodies and they could attach them anywhere and seeing the native peoples, including ones who would walk barefoot to town often carrying big sacks of corn or other grains on their backs. I once saw one woman just weaving away attached to a telephone pole on the side of the road outside the city.
I also had a sweet time in a small town on the coast of Chiapas. The place where I hung my hammock to sleep in made the most amazing mango lassies with mangos that grew on their property and their homemade yogurt. oh my were they good! That was a daily ritual. I also enjoyed some dinners at a nice little place in town. Sorry that I don’t remember the name at this point and by now maybe it has changed.
La Ciudad de Oaxaca was my first stop in Mexico besides flying into the Tijuana airport and some time visiting a friend who lived in Mexico City. I do not recommend trying to drive there. I do highly recommend their yummy Aqua de Jamaica pronounced Hamica -ish (Hibiscus tea with sugar). Of course these days you can also make or buy such many places. I rode on a more modern bus for 24 plus hours to get to Oaxaca. I loved the El Zocalo in Oaxaca City. It was so so so alive! It is very large and made of beautiful old stone and filled with beautiful and colourful people and their creations. I was so lucky to see some live Capoeira. I had never seen or heard the music and movement– flips in the air and more on the hard stone. I later was able to study some in the states.
My first evening I went out dancing and a young woman, noticing I was traveling alone and unafraid, asked me if I would join her on a trip to the Oaxacan Coast. She was nervous about traveling alone. I said sure and off we went the next day in a big Collectivo van. Hearing about the extremely winding road to the coast, I chose to sit in the front seat. When we reached the crazy switchbacks on the edge of extremely high and steep canyon or ravine walls, the driver continued to drive fast. This was crazy in itself, looking down, as that was not a fall anyone could survive. I was a bit prone to motion sickness especially if I was not the driver. Hilariously and Ironically I was throwing up while a German woman in the back was reading a book.
I also loved the coast of Oaxaca. The beaches were pretty and I loved that the land there juts out in a way that you can see the full moon rise as the sun sets. We slept in hammocks. The main beaches were a bit crowded for me at the time so after my new friend left I decided to walk south to the next town which was a much smaller and quieter less touristy place- San Agustinillo, at least back then. By now that might be different.
Well those are some of the treasures I experienced, saw and bought on those Mexican travels. I also had an adventure driving from San Christobal to Mexico City and back to pick up a friend at the airport, which even the Mexican men I knew wouldn’t do. I am not trying to brag nor make light of some of the situations that caused such concern. I just was fearless and have always had great experiences and met wonderful people wherever I go. In fact I got a flat tire just south of Mexico City and a super sweet young man stopped to help followed by a sweet police man who had the tool we needed since the wheel nuts had been power screwed on.
Always Follow Your Joys, Callings & Dreams! and please allow the children & Youth & All life to do the same. Trust, Love, Be And Believe in Yourself, them and others! 