Kick Off Your Heels: a fundraiser for Women’s Heart Disease

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 these 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 on the inside.

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.

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

 Let the fun begin!!!

 Our goal is to raise $5,000 to donate to The Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Hospital . A core group of talented artists has created art shoes to be auctioned off for the cause in May of 2013. Information about creating and donating your own art shoes can be found here.