Category Archives: Uncategorized

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.

Sunday Sketches

I had been struggling to find time to put time aside for art. Being a full-time mom as well as a painting instructor for Pinot’s Palette, it was a struggle finding time and motivation to work on art.

In the spring, I read a book called Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly. I read a chapter a day during Lent and it inspired me to make the time to create. One of the things Kelly suggested in the book was to keep something called a Mass Journal. The idea is that you bring a journal to mass every Sunday and write down one thing that connects to you during the service. This could be a line from a reading, a song, or something the priest says during the homily.

I liked the idea, but instead of using a journal I chose to do sketches. A friend had gifted me a set of artist tiles, like the kind used for zentangles, so I decided to use these to write and draw my mass reflections. Because the artist tile cards are small, they fit nicely in a small pouch with a couple of pens and pencils I bring along. I listen during mass, write down my connection, and illustrate my reflection.

I like doing these Sunday sketches because it not only because it makes me dedicate time every week to sketching, but it also has helped me connect during church and learn more about myself as well.

When you’re too busy to do art…

The last couple of months have been very busy months for me. November and December were filled with lots of holiday commissions for Christmas presents and weddings. Even though I didn’t have the time to work on getting my Etsy shop ready for the holidays and working on some holiday marketing and prep, I ended up having my busiest holiday sales season anyway. The popular items of the season were Colorado themed jewelry.

My favorite commission of the season, would have to be this pencil portrait I drew for a friend of the family. It was a present for his mother in-law depicting her dancing with her daughter, his bride.

Because of being busy with lots of commissions as well as my regular job working at Pinot’s and raising a toddler, I haven’t had time to work on my own artwork. I was able to do a fun watercolor and gouache painting at the very beginning of the year of my interpretation of Kim from the movie Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton’s art and movies always connected with me growing up (though honestly, what middle/high schooler didn’t connect to his characters). I remember watching Edward Scissorhands at a friend’s house at a sleepover and feeling completely wrecked emotionally at the end of the film. It spoke to feelings I was experiencing being somewhat of a misfit high school student. This movie, as well as his other films, inspired a lot of the kinds of emotionally driven art I was creating during that stage of my life and I wanted to create a piece that honored that.

Since then, all of my artwork has been work related. It’s good to be busy and earning money, but it’s been a little bit creatively draining. However, yesterday I was able to create some art for fun. My friend Conni, has been hosting “Inspiration” art gatherings. These gatherings are opportunities to be surrounded by other artists and art lovers and exercise our creativity. One of the things I miss most about college studio art is being surrounded by people who are constantly creating. These Inspiration get togethers are a way to put aside time to be creative, but in a fun and relaxed environment. It also provides people an opportunity to try new things and get to know new people.

At our get together in February, we had a “Wine Women and Watercolors” night where we had a flower still life and all played with different watercolors and water media while drinking wine. Yesterday, we drove to a natural area and hiked. We took pictures and sketched and then drove back to Conni’s house and created artwork based off of our sketches and photos using the media of our choice.

Conni took this photo showing the view of the natural area we hiked around for our March “Inspiration” get together.

I had no clue what I was going to create, especially since I don’t normally create art that’s nature inspired, so I walked around with my camera phone looking for inspiration. I took a couple photos of some dried up plants by a lake and sketched them in my multimedia sketchbook. I masked off my drawing with a new masking fluid pen I got and filled in each negative space with a variety of bright colors instead of the gloomy grays and blues of the actual sky. After I finished with watercolors, I removed the masking fluid, used pencil to re-draw the plants, and added some light gel pen branches to add more layers.

It was a lot of fun just to be sitting down and creating a project “just because” and reinforced the importance of creating my own art. Sometimes I don’t work in my studio because I don’t have an idea for a project of importance. I forget that the little sketches and doodles are just as important to do because art is just as much about the process as it is the final product.

New Colorado Jewelry

I’m excited to announce my new Colorado jewelry pieces! I now offer square pendant necklaces and beautiful quick release cuff bracelets featuring Colorado Columbines and our Colorado Flag. Simply click on a photo to be brought to the item in my Etsy shop:

Need more Colorado love? There’s also Colorado greeting cards available in my shop:

A Peek in the New Sketchbook

When I was in middle and high school, I used to draw in my sketchbook daily. My sketchbook went with me everywhere I went. It was a good icebreaker for meeting new friends, a good way to pass the time during class (don’t worry, I was a good student 98% of the time), and a good way to practice and create. I was constantly making up my own characters and stories. My sketchbook was almost like a diary or creative journal.

Sometime during college, I stopped keeping sketchbooks. Yes, we often had to have a designated sketchbook for each individual art course we took, but I didn’t really use them in the same way that I had before.

For my birthday, I asked my husband to get me a sketchbook for my birthday. He got me two different mixed media sketchbooks. The one I started to use is a Strathmore multimedia sketchbook that has a cover similar to a Moleskin sketchbook. I love it and have been trying to get back into the habit of working on art in the studio every night. Having a nice sketchbook definitely helps!

A couple months ago, and before I got my new sketchbook, I started trying to branch out and try new things with watercolor. For some reason, having a wash of color helps me figure out what I want to draw. Doing art this way kind of reminds me of doing a charcoal or conte drawing on toned paper.

I recently have been trying to get more portrait practice in. I do a lot of portraits in my personal work as well as commissions, so I wanted to make sure that I was staying in practice. I decided to get back into gouache and add it on top of watercolor washes to see what would happen. This was my first practice:

I remember finishing it and thinking, “This was a ‘practice’ piece? It’s better than some of the finished pieces I’ve done lately.” But maybe that’s the thing… When you work in a sketchbook, you take more chances and you allow yourself to experiment more. I think sometimes the pressure gets to you when you’re trying to do a finished “final” piece of art.

So right now, I’m going to continue sketching and practicing. Hopefully more of my sketches will turn out as nice as this piece. I’m hoping that over time, my new theme and style will start to show itself in my sketchbook pages.

New 5×7″ Greeting Cards

A common item I have been asked to start carrying in my Etsy shop has been greeting cards. I am happy to announce that I now carry blank 5×7″ greeting cards featuring my artwork!

Currently, customers have the option of selecting 1-2 greeting cards or picking a set of 5. All of the artwork I create is made in my home studio and the new greeting cards are also printed from home. There are currently over 20 images to choose from.

Pinot’s Palette First Friday Featured Artist – March

A little over 2 1/2 years ago, I started working as an art instructor at Pinot’s Palette in Old Town Fort Collins. Having just come from a job working as a middle school art teacher in Greeley, it was a nice change of pace. It provided me an opportunity to continue teaching, but to people who wanted to learn in a relaxed and fun environment.

Over the years, I have created some original paintings for both our Fort Collins location as well as for the franchise painting master library. These master library paintings can be taught at any of the Pinot’s Palette locations across the US.

Examples of some of the Pinot’s Palette paintings I have created for the franchise over the years.

On Friday, March 6 from 6-8pm, I will be working our First Friday open studio/wine tasting. You can also stop by and meet the artist. I’ll be selling prints and jewelry of my personal artwork (these items are also currently available in my Etsy shop).

Here’s the nice blog post work wrote about me:

AMY HEYSE is our featured Artist for March. Amy has been with Pinot’s Palette since opening in 2012. She has developed some beautiful paintings for us!

Amy will have her own personal art on display in Pinot’s Palette Monet’s Garden Room on First Friday March 6th from 6 until 8 pm. Amy has a BFA in Drawing and a BA in Art Education from CSU. In August she and her husband Kevin were blessed with a new baby girl.

Amy loves to introduce people to painting and get an understanding of what it’s like to be an artist. “Our customers get an opportunity to tap into a part of their brain that they don’t regularly use and they often surprise themselves throughout the process.”

The most challenging thing about working at Pinot’s Palette is convincing customers that they did a good job and also finding time for her own artwork – especially with a new baby! Amy works in watercolor and gouache – they are so experimental yet challenging to manipulate.

Being an artist takes a lot of work – like all things. It takes a lot of practice to hone your skills. Making art of personal significance to you, but that also connects with someone else is the greatest reward. The challenge is overcoming doubt.

Amy has three websites that display her work. Check them out – and come in to one of her classes at Pinot’s – she is a wonderfully talented teacher and artist. (And a great Mom!)

Amy Heyse

Catholic Artist