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 partner of 23 many years and our two beautiful little ones.

 

Why do you do what you do?

I’m motivated to continue my journey in artwork for quite a few reasons. From a simple standpoint, it is a way I can aid my family members monetarily whilst performing from my individual residence studio. Being just a hug away from my young small children has been the very best conclusion I could have built. Training art has also experienced a positive outcome on my psychological well being, it’s an workout in tolerance, and a peaceful second to mirror on the intricacies of our entire world all over us.

 

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

I’m most surely drawn in the direction of the normal vibrancy uncovered in florals, birds, and gemstones, so it’s tricky to select a favored. But likely on how short all my green colored pencils are, I in all probability use them most usually.

 

What evokes your art?

We’ve manufactured our household just outside the house the city, on a spacious wooded lot in the vicinity of the river. Getting below is a slower tempo of life, where we get to stop and observe in wonderment the flora and fauna close to us. Throughout the hotter months, for case in point, we get up at the crack of dawn to verify underneath our outside gentle to obtain hundreds of vibrant moths. We hold them in sheer astonishment, take photos, and then launch them back into the forest. I’ve illustrated a amount of them, and hope to do far more.

 

How and when did you get into artwork?

Soon after just about 20 decades of no artwork, I stumbled across a coloured pencil portrait that sparked in me a sturdy motivation to draw again. Artwork was a thing I did in high faculty, and did not decide on up a pencil all over again until finally 2015. I was not extremely assured in my talents, but I decided to just take a image of my little boy’s eye, and check out to draw it in graphite. It was exhilarating to see a thing come alive right before my eyes. I wished to try out some thing in shade, and shortly thereafter my partner astonished me with my to start with set of colored pencils. I have not stopped coloring considering that.

 

How has your apply adjusted above time?

When I very first started out, I illustrated much more singular objects, but as my self esteem grew, I pushed my creative imagination further into a lot more involved compositions. Despite the fact that I’ve sustained a related aesthetic, I have improved in specifics and technique.

 

What is your favored piece of artwork that you’ve produced? Why?

Unique jobs have certain pieces of my coronary heart in them, in this kind of special techniques that I really don’t believe I can favor just one more than the relaxation. Just lately a friend went out of his way to aid our spouse and children with ending up a renovation project that was so out of our arrive at to do. I wished to demonstrate our huge gratitude by illustrating his hand-tied fishing lures. I at the time amazed my husband with a drawing of our sweet pug that died, which I cried as a result of the full illustration. Doing the job on commemorative items for other folks is a sensitive process, and I sense honored to be asked. Getting commissioned to get the job done on a wide variety of nationwide models, and seeing that perform in retailers have been unimaginable encounters. I attach my thoughts to just about every piece and I’m not positive it is feasible to grade one particular emotion in excess of another.

 

What’s the finest piece of artwork suggestions you have been provided?

Art is not a level of competition. You are distinctive, exercise your uniqueness. Also, look at just about every piece as an experiment, if it doesn’t switch out as you hoped, it is alright, it was just an experiment.

 

What’s a person art tip/strategy you can share with us that you locate really valuable?

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

 

Do you have any mystery tips or procedures you use to salvage a piece when you make a error?

I’m rather experienced in acquiring to salvage parts, all people blunders, or even just a transform of coronary heart, have taught me it is doable to deal with. In some cases the composition needs a inventive adjustment. In the scenario of my Coleman lantern, my marker base bled on to the white background, so I added a piece of rope tied to the deal with. Becoming open-minded and adaptable to the approach can final result in a a lot more enjoyable art piece than you at first assumed.

 

What is your favourite Strathmore paper? Why?

So significantly, my complete favored is Strathmore Mixed Media 400 Sequence. It checks all the packing containers for me. The vellum surface is the best quantity of texture to grip my pigment, but sleek plenty of to maintain my edges cleanse and crisp. The thickness can take care of significant-handed coloring, and the webpages remain flat. The colour is dazzling white, it’s acquired straightforward, tear-away pages, and it’s readily available from my community, tiny business, artwork store.

That becoming stated, I have nevertheless to do a full illustration on the Strathmore Mixed Media 500 Collection. I have also just began an illustration on Strathmore Bristol 500 Collection, for the very first time, and it is DREAMY.

 

What artwork resources could you not dwell devoid of?

A will have 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 forms of hues are you drawn to for your artwork and why?

 Pink and green, naturally. Individuals are the colours I encompass myself with in my have room, it feels like dwelling.

 

Who are your biggest influences (or who were being when you started out carrying out art)?

MaryJo Hoffman is a expert photographer who sees natural beauty in the little and uncomplicated matters she collects on walks. She arranges the items with vibrant white backgrounds, captures them, and aptly phone calls them her Still selection. I adore her attention to element and her generous spirit. She graciously made available her Bluejay wing picture to me to use as a reference, and I could not refuse! She was an inspiration then and nevertheless is.

 

Internet site/social media inbound links:

Instagram: @headspace.illustrations

Etsy: @headspaceillustrates