All posts tagged: artist

Paint from your head

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When your leggings match your work… Going through a bit of a purple phase over here at the moment 🙋I don’t know what it is about purple, pink and orange together to make a sunset, but I kind of want to live in those colours!! Anyway this piece is straight from my head with no reference photo today. I flit between using reference photos and not, because certain paintings I don’t want the pressure of ‘capturing’ an existing scene, but instead want to share a bit of my mind and my thoughts in the medium of brush strokes and colours 🙏

What is it like being an artist?

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Hello to the new faces around here, and thank you for supporting my work! I’m Emily, and I’m an artist from south Wales  I thought I’d share a few thoughts on being an artist from my own experiences. Pursuing the ‘path’ of being an artist, is a bit of a funny one. Over the years it has brought me joy, fear, pride, shame, certainty and more uncertainty than I thought possible all rolled into one weird little cocktail of determination. We are often discouraged to pursue careers in the arts, because of course nothing is certain, and financial stability does not go hand in hand with being an artist. I cannot guarantee that I will sell X amount in any given month. Many people find this whole aspect of being an artist enough to run for the hills. Sure, it can be stressful, and I will admit that it is a bit of a roller coaster. Some months, your sales are up. Some months they are down. It is the nature of being an artist (and …

Control the unicorn inside your head

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Finding your flow as an artist is an ever evolving journey. It’s like chasing sunbeams dancing off walls. You can touch them, watch the light reflect off your skin, magical and illuminating. It’s inspiring, distracting, frustrating and like drowning in oxygen all at the same time. There’s a whole wealth of things to create, and your heart wants to express them in so many ways. The trick to being a successful artist and developing your ‘style’ is learning to control the distracted child, entranced by shiny things, trying to play with them all. It’s something I’m still learning, evolving and trying to control. After several years of battling I’m starting to feel like I have a bit more of a grip on the reigns, to lead this frigging art unicorn inside my mind to the place it needs to go. I’m working on a new collection, inspired by and building on a recent 30 day painting challenge I completed. 🦄🎨❤️ You can watch this here: 30 Day Painting Challenge – YouTube

Do what you love

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Art is a journey. A process, an experiment, an expectation of what the next piece will be. It’s full of emotion, self criticism, doubt, hope, joy, apathy, frustration, bliss, shame and pride. Next time you look at a piece of work by an artist, know that you are not just viewing brush marks on a canvas, but fear of failure, judgement, bravery, a labour of love and an undying drive to never stop fighting to do what you love. http://www.emilylouiseheard.com

Find your voice

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It’s not until very recently I’ve found the art I want to keep creating. My path as a self taught artist hasn’t been easy, and at times I’ve berated myself, criticized everything about my work and almost given up. I didn’t have a defined voice or ‘brand’ even though I was desperately trying to find it. The moment I stopped frantically asking myself ‘what defines me as an artist’ and just painted straight from my heart I found the answer. If you’re struggling with the same thing, stop judging yourself! Let it happen naturally ❤🌈 It’s a journey.