Tag Archives: amy heyse art

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:

rachaelI 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.

hannah

Pianos About Town – The Finished Results

I finished my piano for the Fort Collins Pianos About Town project last week. I put in a full day on Sunday, July 12th and wrapped up the small details on Monday, July 13th. The piano was approved and has since been moved to a new location. I’ve heard that it’s currently sitting at “Jazz Alley” by the Food Co-op and the Mitchell building. I plan on dropping by sometime to take a picture of it in the new spot!

There was a big sense of accomplishment when the last details were added as well as a big wave of relief. I had painted a four wall mural in my daughter’s nursery before this piano project and I feel like this piano took a lot more work. Part of it is you have to fill up all of the space on the piano, which takes a long time, but I think the other part is interacting with the public and working with the elements while you paint. The best part about getting the piano finished was knowing that I would be able to have my weekends back to spend time with my husband and daughter. I had missed them so much during the three weeks of this project.

I feel very thankful to have been selected by the city of Fort Collins to share my art with the public! It was definitely a worthwhile experience – one I hope to have the opportunity to do again in the future.