Artist Interview – Amy Hetherington

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Amy, the colored pencil artist powering Headspace Illustrations. I are living on the east coast of Canada, with my husband of 23 several years and our two gorgeous children.

Why do you do what you do?

I’m motivated to continue my journey in artwork for many motives. From a simple standpoint, it is a way I can assistance my family fiscally although functioning from my have household studio. Getting just a hug away from my youthful small children has been the finest conclusion I could have created. Practising artwork has also had a good influence on my mental wellness, it’s an work out in patience, and a quiet moment to mirror on the intricacies of our earth all-around us.

You use so a lot of vibrant colours, do you have any that you favor?

I’m most surely drawn toward the pure vibrancy found in florals, birds, and gemstones, so it’s tricky to choose a favored. But heading on how limited all my inexperienced colored pencils are, I most likely use them most often.

What evokes your artwork?

We have manufactured our property just outside the metropolis, on a spacious wooded large amount around the river. Staying below is a slower pace of daily life, wherever we get to stop and observe in wonderment the flora and fauna close to us. Through the warmer months, for illustration, we get up at the crack of dawn to check under our outdoors light to obtain hundreds of vibrant moths. We hold them in sheer astonishment, just take photographs, and then launch them again into the forest. I have illustrated a amount of them, and hope to do a lot more.

How and when did you get into artwork?

Right after virtually 20 a long time of no artwork, I stumbled throughout a coloured pencil portrait that sparked in me a strong desire to attract once again. Artwork was one thing I did in higher faculty, and did not pick up a pencil all over again right until 2015. I wasn’t extremely self-assured in my abilities, but I made the decision to just take a photograph of my very little boy’s eye, and try to draw it in graphite. It was exhilarating to see a little something occur alive just before my eyes. I desired to try something in color, and soon thereafter my spouse shocked me with my 1st established of coloured pencils. I have not stopped coloring because.

How has your observe modified more than time?

When I very first started out, I illustrated extra singular objects, but as my self esteem grew, I pushed my creativeness additional into more included compositions. Despite the fact that I’ve sustained a very similar aesthetic, I’ve enhanced in particulars and procedure.

What is your beloved piece of artwork that you have made? Why?

Unique assignments have distinct parts of my heart in them, in this kind of exceptional approaches that I really do not consider I can favor a single in excess of the relaxation. Not long ago a close friend went out of his way to enable our family members with ending up a renovation challenge that was so out of our access to do. I wanted to present our immense gratitude by illustrating his hand-tied fishing lures. I when astonished my partner with a drawing of our sweet pug that died, which I cried by the complete illustration. Doing the job on commemorative pieces for other folks is a sensitive process, and I sense honored to be asked. Staying commissioned to get the job done on a selection of national makes, and looking at that work in stores have been unimaginable experiences. I attach my thoughts to each piece and I’m not confident it is doable to grade a person emotion above a further.

What is the finest piece of artwork assistance you’ve been provided?

Art is not a level of competition. You are exclusive, observe your uniqueness. Also, check out each piece as an experiment, if it does not transform out as you hoped, it is all right, it was just an experiment.

What’s one particular artwork tip/system you can share with us that you find really practical?

Working with a marker base or Panpastels as your very first layer underneath coloured pencil preserves the tooth of your paper so you can go wild with the rest of your levels.

Do you have any magic formula recommendations or strategies you use to salvage a piece when you make a blunder?

I’m really skilled in getting to salvage pieces, all people blunders, or even just a alter of heart, have taught me it is doable to correct. Sometimes the composition requires a artistic adjustment. In the case of my Coleman lantern, my marker base bled onto the white qualifications, so I added a piece of rope tied to the tackle. Becoming open up-minded and adaptable to the approach can final result in a more enjoyable art piece than you at first considered.

What is your favored Strathmore paper? Why?

So significantly, my complete beloved is Strathmore Combined Media 400 Collection. It checks all the containers for me. The vellum area is the perfect volume of texture to grip my pigment, but smooth ample to retain my edges clear and crisp. The thickness can handle hefty-handed coloring, and the internet pages stay flat. The color is vivid white, it is got quick, tear-absent webpages, and it is out there from my local, compact organization, art shop.

That currently being stated, I have but to do a whole illustration on the Strathmore Blended Media 500 Series. I’ve also just started an illustration on Strathmore Bristol 500 Series, for the initial time, and it is DREAMY.

What artwork resources could you not reside without the need of?

A need to-have for me is a folding desktop easel. Doing the job upright has corrected my posture and almost eradicated neck and shoulder suffering.

What types of colours are you drawn to for your artwork and why?

Pink and eco-friendly, normally. Those people are the hues I encompass myself with in my have place, it feels like residence.

Who are your most important influences (or who were when you began performing artwork)?

MaryJo Hoffman is a skilled photographer who sees beauty in the compact and straightforward matters she collects on walks. She arranges the parts with vivid white backgrounds, captures them, and aptly phone calls them her Nonetheless assortment. I adore her awareness to depth and her generous spirit. She graciously offered her Bluejay wing picture to me to use as a reference, and I could not refuse! She was an inspiration then and nevertheless is.