Category Archives: Uncategorized

Word of the Year and Saint Name bracelets

For the last few years, instead of picking a New Year’s resolution, I have liked picking a “word of the year” instead. The idea is to pick a word for a year and see how God is speaking to you through that word.

In the past, some words I have picked have included “be” and “discover.” For 2022 my word of the year was “teach,” which ended up playing out with me teaching Catholic inspired art tutorials on YouTube.

There are different ways to discern your word of the year, but my go to method has been picking a word at random using Jen Fulwiler’s Word of the Year generator. To me, it takes the guess work out of deciding my word or at least gives me a place to start and further discern my word in prayer.

I thought with 2023 right around the corner, it would be fun to do a Word of the Year inspired craft tutorial. I used Jen Fulwiler’s Word of the Year and Saint’s Name generator to randomly select a word and a Saint and I used a bead kit I found at TJ Maxx to create a matching word beaded bracelet.

Supplies needed:

Holiday DIY Bead Kit (I found mine at TJ Maxx) https://jewelrymadebyme.com/ (Here’s a similar type of option on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hMu3Nz)

Elastic Stretch Cord (mine was part of my kit)

Scissors

Masking Tape

Super Glue https://amzn.to/3HXxXxY OR https://amzn.to/3WhLDrD

Toothpick

(Note: Amy Heyse Art is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.)

How to Draw Mary for May Crowning

Happy May! The month of May is often the time families honor Mary with flowers, so I thought it would be fun to offer a video tutorial of how to draw Mary with a flower wreath crown. All you need are a pencil, paper, and something to color with. I used colored pencils, but you can use any media you desire! The nice thing about this project is you can change up the colors however you would like. Perfect for budding artists and the young at heart.

I did this project with my 4 year old and 7 year old. My oldest, Holly, gave Mary a flowing veil and depicted her surrounded by angels. My youngest drew her twice.

If you have children who are too young to draw along but like to color, I have a copy of the line art listed below that you’re free to print and use for personal use.

Feel free to tag me on Facebook or Instagram and use #artwithamyheyse so I can see your finished Marian masterpieces! You can find a few more drawing tutorials on my YouTube channel. I also have a St. Lucy painting tutorial available in my Etsy shop.

We Shepherd Together

Sometimes a project is just meant to be. My dear friend, Elizabeth Zelasko, got me in touch with a lovely lady named Anne who felt called to commission an artist to create an original piece of artwork. The idea for this image was of a priest holding a lamb and Jesus guiding the priest. She knew the title would be “We Shepherd Together.” The image had been on her heart for years, but not being an artist herself she wasn’t sure where to begin. Elizabeth was one of the artists she got in touch with, but when she was unavailable to create the image, she got Anne in contact with me.

On the phone, I had a pretty clear idea of the direction I wanted to take for Anne’s piece and the sketch came together very quickly. In my personal experience, I have always found that there is a certain rhythm and flow to a project when it’s meant to be. It’s like my hand is drawing or painting faster or with a skill level I shouldn’t have. Though it’s hard to know for sure, these moments definitely feel guided by the Holy Spirit.

After I sent Anne the final image for her to approve, I can remember the feeling of elation I had when she said, “You nailed it!” It felt good to be part of the process of collaborating together to create a piece of art meant to inspire our clergy. If there’s a will, then there’s a way, and God always will find a way to make it happen.

Prints of “We Shepherd Together” are now available in my Etsy shop.

Pianos About Town 2019

For the Pianos About Town 2019 season, I had the opportunity to paint my third piano for the city, “How to fold a paper crane.” I had always loved origami growing up and wanted to make a nod to my Japanese heritage. I love that the pianos encourage spontaneous music making, so I thought combining two art forms together would be a fun take.

This is one of my favorite pianos to date and I hope that people enjoy trying to follow along with the directions.

Wedding Season

I’ve been busy creating a lot of portrait pieces to celebrate weddings and other occasions. I even had the opportunity to paint some custom cornhole boards for a reception.

I love it when I’m asked to create portraits whether it’s for a wedding, anniversary, or other occasion. I truly believe that art is a ministry, so being able to paint something beautiful to be shared in the home of a family is really a blessing.

Many of the podcasts I have been listening to lately have discussed the theme of beauty. It is so important to be surrounded by beauty because it shapes our souls and it shapes our culture. I’m so thankful that I get asked to be a part of the process

Mayumi

A goal of mine had been to paint close-to-lifesize portrait paintings of my two daughters, Holly and Mayumi. In 2018, the completed painting of my daughter Holly was finished and was accepted into a regional fine art show. I started working on the painting of my youngest, Mayumi, a little over a month ago.

The painting depicts 18 month old Mayumi in her velvet and tulle Christmas dress. You can practically hear her saying “Cheese” as you look at her toothy toddler grin. A lot of nights were spent painting chubby toddler fingers, her sweet little face, and the different textures of her dress.

Even when the painting was in the early stages, just a sketch on a piece of paper, Mayumi recognized herself. She would proudly point to the painting and say, “Me” throughout the process. She was excited to see the finished product which I will be hanging up on the wall next to Holly’s portrait. I’m hoping to enter it into the National Fine Art Show at the same gallery later this season.

Transformer Box: Complete!

It took a little over a month, but I finally did end up finishing my koi transformer cabinet for the city. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I’m thankful that the weather cooperated during the last few weeks.

When I first started the project, it was incredibly hot. So hot that I got sick one of the days I was working on it. The following week, it was so cold that I had to wear long underwear and two coats for shorter painting sessions. That’s Colorado for ya!

I’m so thankful that I had this opportunity to create art for the city and the friends/family who supported me by visiting, bringing me cookies, and helping assist. You can see photos from the process below!

Transformer Cabinet Week 1: Some Like It Hot

I started working on my transformer cabinet mural for the city of Fort Collins on Friday and worked through Sunday. The box is located by the Burger King drive thru on the north end of College and I made pretty good progress on my koi fish mural.

Unlike the Pianos About Town Project, I don’t see too many people. I see everyone who goes around the drive thru and I’ve talked to some of the Burger King staff. They’ve all been super nice (one of them upgraded my drink and said I could stop in for free refills to beat the heat).

The largest side of the box is about 4ftx6ft. I’ve painted large-scale paintings before (pianos for Pianos About Town and my daughters’ nursery mural), but you never quite realize how long a painting is going to take until you start it. I like to mentally visualize what I plan on accomplishing everyday, and I’m definitely not as far as I imagined. That being said, I’m still making good progress and ended in a satisfactory place at the end of my Sunday shift.

The cabinet starts off pre-primed, so it’s ready for paint. I taped off the concrete at the base of the box, grabbed my can of blue house paint, and started rolling the paint on. I was hoping that one coat would be enough for a base coat, but I needed to add a second layer. Setback #1.

Next, I sketched out the design on 3 of the 5 sides with chalk. This took longer than anticipated too because it needs to be identical to the concept sketch. Setback #2.

Setback #3 was definitely the heat. The weather was in the 90s the whole weekend, so it made for interesting painting conditions. There’s a large wall behind the box where the Burger King garbage cans are, so this helped create some nice shady spots but only during certain times of the day (and sometimes only for a few moments at a time). On the second day when I was working on the shading for the crests of the waves, the heat would make the paint dry within seconds. This made for some really interesting “beat the clock” painting sprints.

2 of the 3 days I worked, I also had shifts at Pinot’s Palette. After putting in time Saturday morning on the box and working a class at Pinot’s Palette afterwards, I ended up getting sick. I thought I was going to pass out, my legs felt like I had competed in a cycling race, and I felt slightly nauseous. I collapsed on the couch when I got home, fell asleep for about 3 hours, and finally started to feel better after dropping some electrolyte tablets into my drinking water and taking a bath. Even though I had been taking regular water breaks and wearing my big sun hat while working, the heat still really took it out of me!

On my last day of work for the weekend, I vowed I would head home if I felt heat exhaustion coming on, packed a bunch of electrolyte tablets (“it’s what artists need”), and brought some beef jerky to snack on. I got caught up on all of my podcasts and started listening to an audiobook of The Disaster Artist (hilarious so far).

I’ll be back at it again next weekend! I’m hoping I can finish all the shading on the waves next time, but we’ll see.

You can learn more about Art in Public Places and check out my concept sketch (and the other boxes for the city) here at the FCGov website.

Sarah

My new piece, “Sarah,” is an acrylic and watercolor painting I made as part of a new series of portraits I’m developing. Sarah and I first met our freshman year of high school while working on the school musical, “Singin’ in the Rain.” She is extremely generous and has a heart for adventure and being out in nature. We’ve been friends ever since.

I always love seeing what new adventures she’s on whether it’s snowshoeing with her adorable husky Mochi, climbing 14ers, paddling down the Amazon, swimming with sharks, or running races in Utah. I really liked this photo reference of Sarah because I felt like it was a good representation of her in her element. She also likes Elsa from Frozen, so y’know… snow ❄️

Sarah’s face is painted with acrylics, but everything else is watercolor. While working on this portrait, I struggled with the background. I ended up painting over the entire background with white acrylic and starting over. I recently started using a new product called Daniel Smith watercolor ground. You can paint it on any surface to make it watercolor friendly. I’ve used it a lot on Bible pages when Bible journaling. It’s not as great as real watercolor paper, but it definitely did the trick in this painting!

“Sarah.” Watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media, 8×10”.

Leggo My Eggo

When my husband and I first watched Netflix’s Stranger Things last year, I remember thinking it was one of the best new shows I had seen in years. There was that great mix of humor, suspense, nostalgia, etc that made it like a combination of my favorite Steven Spielberg films combined with The X-Files and Stephen King’s The Body.

I knew I wanted to create a piece to show my excitement for the premiere of Stranger Things 2, so I made this Eleven watercolor painting.

“Leggo My Ego.” 5×7″ watercolor and gouache painting of Eleven from Stranger Things.