Tag Archives: art

How to Draw an Angel

In this tutorial, I walk you through how to draw an angel step by step. All you need is a pencil, paper, and something to color with.

Supplies needed:

Crayola Washable Super Tips Markers https://amzn.to/3R5lsRI

Crayola Colors of the World Markers Broad Tip https://amzn.to/3MRMBY0

Crayola Colors of the World Markers Fine Tip https://amzn.to/3CJR0rf

Micron Pens https://amzn.to/3EUvjrf

Paper

Pencil

(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 and Paint the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph

Today I’m walking you through step-by-step how to draw and paint the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph. You can follow along with me on my YouTube channel to create your own Chaste Heart.

Suggested supplies for this project:

Strathmore Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3x12ODo

Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3RfGU7v

Crayola Washable Watercolors https://amzn.to/3x1X0JU

Winsor and Newton Watercolors https://amzn.to/3qi5MzK

Master’s Touch Watercolors https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Painting-Supplies/Watercolor-Painting/Watercolor-Paint—48-Piece-Set/p/80881200

Winsor and Newton Colourless Masking Fluid https://amzn.to/3qi5ZTy

QoR Watercolor Iridescent Gold https://amzn.to/3x1jw5r

Trekell Synthetic Watercolor Paintbrush Set https://amzn.to/3TKBYsV

Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape https://amzn.to/3RLaHF3

How to Draw and Paint the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Today I’m walking you through step-by-step how to draw and paint the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You can follow along with me on my YouTube channel to create your own Immaculate Heart.

Suggested supplies for this project:

Strathmore Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3x12ODo

Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3RfGU7v

Crayola Washable Watercolors https://amzn.to/3x1X0JU

Winsor and Newton Watercolors https://amzn.to/3qi5MzK

Master’s Touch Watercolors https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Painting-Supplies/Watercolor-Painting/Watercolor-Paint—48-Piece-Set/p/80881200

Winsor and Newton Colourless Masking Fluid https://amzn.to/3qi5ZTy

QoR Watercolor Iridescent Gold https://amzn.to/3x1jw5r

Trekell Synthetic Watercolor Paintbrush Set https://amzn.to/3TKBYsV

Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape https://amzn.to/3RLaHF3

Salt

How to Draw and Paint the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Today I’m walking you through step-by-step how to draw and paint the Sacred Heart of Jesus. You can follow along with me on my YouTube channel to create your own Sacred Heart.

Suggested supplies for this project:

Strathmore Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3x12ODo

Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper https://amzn.to/3RfGU7v

Crayola Washable Watercolors https://amzn.to/3x1X0JU

Winsor and Newton Watercolors https://amzn.to/3qi5MzK

Master’s Touch Watercolors https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Painting-Supplies/Watercolor-Painting/Watercolor-Paint—48-Piece-Set/p/80881200

QoR Watercolor Iridescent Gold https://amzn.to/3x1jw5r

Trekell Synthetic Watercolor Paintbrush Set https://amzn.to/3TKBYsV

Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape https://amzn.to/3RLaHF3

Salt

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.

Holly

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Two things I’ve always known: I’ve always wanted to be an artist and I’ve always felt called to be a mom. I’m very blessed that I have been able to be both as my vocation. To date, this is the largest watercolor painting I’ve ever worked on. It’s a slightly larger than life-size portrait of my daughter, Holly, just shy of her 4th birthday. The final painting measures 24×36″.

I started off by sketching Holly on a separate piece of paper before transferring the final drawing to a hand stretched watercolor canvas I made. Because I’m on-duty mom during the day, I could only work on the painting after the girls went to bed (and after getting some “veg out” Netflix time with the husband). Most nights felt like chipping away at an iceberg, but I actually finished what I set out to accomplish.

Holly with an in-progress painting of herself.

There were lots of late nights after the girls went to bed, lots of tears throughout the painting process, lots of prayers, and a whole lot of love for my sweet daughter…

Two days before finishing this painting, I was in tears because I was struggling with part of the painting. I started to tell myself the lie that I’m not “good enough.” I struggle with anxiety and depression, and since things had been a little hectic over the last few months, I felt a little more on edge. My kind husband suggested that I take a “night off” from the painting and return to it with fresh eyes. When I picked up the brushes again, I painted feverishly while the baby napped. It was like my hand couldn’t stop moving. I told Holly she could watch all the TV she wanted while I worked and then I was done within the hour!

“Holly.” Watercolor, 24×36”.

Lots of people ask what Holly thinks of her portrait. In the early stages when I would show it to her, she was always excited that I was painting her, but she would point out things like, “Mom, you still need to paint my eyes” or “I need hair.” Four year olds… ha ha. The day I finished, she told me, “That looks great, Mom” and wanted to take a picture with the painting.

Kevin and I posing in front of Holly’s portrait.

I finished the painting a couple days before a call for entries for a regional art show at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland that I had been eyeing. The painting was accepted into the 2018 Regional Fine Art Show. Though the opening reception was a little bit rocky, it was a very positive experience. I was honored to be featured with all of the other INCREDIBLE artists. All of the pieces in the show were truly top notch. I felt really honored to be featured among such great talent.

My dad and grandpa standing next to Holly’s portrait.

We took Holly and Mayumi to the gallery to see the painting on display. Holly was acting really bashful, but enjoyed seeing the art and perked up a little bit when our family was offered candy by the gallery attendant.

Holly and Mayumi sitting on the gallery floor.

The experience has been a really emotional one for me. This is the first year that I ever dared to submit artwork to call for entries. There was a part of me that feared rejection and another part of me that would try to tell me, “You’re not good enough. Why even bother?” My inner voice isn’t always very kind, but I’ve learned a lot over this past year on how to quiet that voice and listen to God’s encouraging voice. I felt called to paint Holly in this simple moment in time, I felt called to enter this particular call for entries, and I was accepted. It was a big accomplishment for many reasons.

The closing reception was a few days ago, and when I went to pick up my painting, I received nothing but encouragement. The two staff members helping artists sign-out their paintings were very kind. When I entered the gallery, they said, “We were just talking about you! We loved having your painting. Everyone who stopped by loved looking at it and talked about how sweet the little girl and her pose was.” They proceeded to tell me that they would love to have my work in their gallery again and encouraged me to apply for the National Fine Art Show next spring. I can’t wait to make some new artwork, so I can hopefully experience this gallery adventure again.

Here’s some more details of the painting:

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.

Becca

It just kind of worked out that I finished my portrait of Becca the week leading up to her birthday. It’s a little crazy realizing we’ve been friends for almost two decades. We met in the lunch line the first day of sixth grade but didn’t see each other again until 7th grade. She has always had a great and offbeat sense of humor, a listening ear, and a generous heart.

Years later, I can still depend on her to make me laugh and offer an encouraging word. A lot of great memories come to mind: hot man lists, writing stories together, making mix CDs, hanging out in the basement making or watching movies, hours long conversations at sleepovers, learning that we’re “soulmates,” rooming together in college, hilarious postcards in the mail, escape room outings… I could go on and on.

The photo reference for this painting is from one of her many hiking adventures. As of late, she’s been tackling many 14ers, taking beautiful photographs from her adventures, and offering that great listening ear and empathy to the students she works with. I wanted to capture a sense of her adventurous spirit and optimism.

Watercolor and acrylic, 8×10”

Becca was painted using watercolors and white ink was used for some of the hair and highlights. The background originally was watercolor, but I ended up painting over it with acrylics. You can see a time lapse video of my process below.

Liturgical and Sacred Art Festival

I’m excited to announce that my piece “Psalm 91:4” was accepted to the Springfield Liturgical and Sacred Art Festival coming up soon!

My piece “Psalm 91:4” that was recently accepted at the Springfield Liturgical and Sacred Art Festival.

During the last few weeks, I had been working on finishing up two pieces to submit to a call for entries for a Liturgical and Sacred Art Festival in Springfield, Illinois. I personally have not heard of that many contemporary artists creating religious themed artwork, so I was excited to hear about the chance to exhibit religious work. I had a Joan of a Arc bible journaling sketch and a sketch I had done as a Pentecost mass reflection that I decided to revisit to create as larger scale paintings to submit for the exhibition.

Though my “Courage Under Fire” piece inspired by Joan of Arc was not accepted, I still am very proud of the time I spent creating the piece.

“Courage Under Fire.” A watercolor, acrylic and mixed media piece inspired by Joan of Arc.

My “Psalm 91:4” piece was based on a personal mass reflection sketch I created during Pentecost, but the title is from Psalms:

“He will shelter you with his pinions, anded under his wings you may take refuge; his faithfulness is a protecting shield.”

In my original sketch, I was reflecting on how we all have vulnerabilities or fragility, but we also all have an inner strength burning within us. I was drawing inspiration from the Holy Spirit and how it reveals itself in many different forms (feathers, flames, tongues, etc).

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit… To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

My original sketch that “Psalm 91:4” is inspired by.

My “Courage Under Fire” piece was originally a sketch and Bible reflection I did for All Saint’s Day. The reflection had been inspired by Beth Davis of Blessed Is She’s Teachable Tuesday talk. 1 John 4:18 was the verse she talked about.

“There is no fear in love…”

Joan of Arc had a great quote that I felt paired nicely:

“I am not afraid. I was born to do this.”

My original Joan of Arc “Courage Under Fire” bible journaling sketch.

It’s super special that these were the two pieces I created to represent me for this call for entries. Fear had been telling me to scale back, to keep it small, to keep it comfortable… Taking a step and risk sharing a vulnerable part of me, to put my art “out there,” and to celebrate the small sketches and baby steps that brought me to where I am at this moment has been very rewarding.

My piece will be at the Liturgical Arts Festival of Springfield at the Springfield Art Association in Illinois starting on April 28, 2018.

From the sketchbook…

Last week, I got the chance to meet up with two of my art friends from college. We met for coffee and sketching, but ended up just talking. My friend Liz, recently started a 30 day sketchbook challenge for herself. The purpose is to challenge herself to create artwork on a daily basis. She has an hourglass that she flips and when the last grain of sand filters out of the top, she stops. The point isn’t to create something amazing, the point is to develop a habit and put aside time to do something for fun on a daily basis.

The three of us all work as artists (an art teacher, a graphic designer, and a SAHM/paint and sip instructor), and when you do art for other people as a job, it’s hard to want to go home and work on more art no matter how fulfilling it is. I really was inspired by Liz’s dedication and wanted to do something similar to develop a habit. I recently started a routine of cleaning the house on a daily basis, and 15 minutes here and there make a big difference. I decided the same would be true if I set time aside nightly to work on personal art projects.

I’ve been spending time every night working on art. The husband and I put the girls to bed, we watch some iZombie on Netflix, and then I go upstairs and work on art. I usually turn on a podcast and start drawing or painting. I’ve been working on some commission and work projects, but while one project is drying, I’ll work on another piece that’s just mine.

After doing this for almost two weeks, I can feel the positive effects. I no longer dread going up to the studio. Everything is set up and ready to go at my desk. It’s scheduled, so I’m almost programmed to just do it. It’s enjoyable because I accomplish a lot (even if it’s just a little at a time), and I can see an improvement in my technical drawing skills.

When I don’t know what to draw, I do an exercise from my eBooks by Cuong Nguyen. They’re a great resource and a little bit of instruction, even when you enjoy art, goes a long way.

Here’s some sketches from the last few weeks: