All posts tagged: creative

Vulnerability

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I’ve recently decided to start tackling portrait work, as my love of art started with trying to draw people. The only problem I find with learning how to paint portraits is that you can leave yourself a little vulnerable as an artist. People are more likely to spot flaws and when the proportions aren’t quite right. I know I make all of these mistakes when my paintings first start out, but I like to share these early stages anyway. It’s part of my learning process and helps me try harder. Sometimes you can get so close to your work that you fail to spot the mistakes. Until you take a photo and suddenly it’s so obvious! #awkward My point is, art is a journey, a process and a challenge. It’s all one great big work in progress – whether you’ve signed and varnished it or not. ☺ It’s part of why I love it.

Painting the future – A wedding gift

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  Earlier in the year, I posted that I was working on a secret painting. That painting was commissioned by a customer who wanted to surprise her sister with a unique wedding present. She asked me to paint the bride and groom on their wedding day, before the wedding had actually occurred. So I got out my artistic crystal ball (all artists have one on stand by) and tried my best to paint the future… With the brief of a teal theme, white dress, the venue, and a few Facebook photographs of the couple to work from, I had to try and imagine the scene. The most difficult part was deciding what to paint the bride in. Would she be wearing her hair up or down? Veil or no veil? Big dress? Lacy dress? Ivory, white, diamantes, plain or silk dress?? I really didn’t want to get it catastrophically wrong, so aired on the side of caution, aiming to keep it as simple as possible. Painting a couple I have never met, and creating a scene from …

Colourful art exhibition – London February 2016

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I will be taking part in the Parallax Art Fair in London on the 12th – 14th February 2016. The free event is taking place in the Chelsea Old Town Hall with a wide range of talented artists exhibiting their work. Definitely worth a visit – come say hi if you are in the London area and fancy a colourful day! You can book FREE tickets by visiting the Parallax Art Fair website. Emily xx http://www.emilylouiseheard.com

It’s nearly Christmas!

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I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas! Just to say thank you SO much for all your support and encouragement throughout 2015. It’s been a year of colour, exhibitions, and excitement with lots of paintings and prints headed to loving new homes. I’m packing up my paints again for the festive season, and exchanging them no doubt for mulled wine and mince pies… I have my first exhibition lined up for February in Coventry and a group show in London. I can’t wait to see what magical excitement the rest of 2016 brings. Merry Christmas all 🎄☺ Emily x

My paint pallete

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I like to think there’s method in the madness of my disorganised paint pallete. In reality there probably isn’t.  I always begin a new paint pallete with the best intentions, and arrange the colours beautifully like a rainbow.  Twenty minutes into a painting and I’m so absorbed I don’t even notice that my paint pallete now looks like a unicorn has sneezed on it. Still, as long as I subconsciously know where I’ve squeezed the new blobs of colour that’s all that matters right?

Life changing thoughts

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“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.” – Alan Watts. “No one is more dangerously insane than one who is sane all the time: he is like a steel bridge without flexibility, and the order of his life is rigid and brittle.” – Alan Watts. “We do not “come into” this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.” – Alan Watts. “…tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live.” – Alan Watts

Artist appreciation month

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Did you know that August is Artist Appreciation Month?  I was recently informed by my friends at Patience Brewster that this month is Artist Appreciation Month! Patience Brewster is an artist herself and if you haven’t yet heard of Patience Brewster I would really recommend taking a look!  This talented lady designs collections of original and endearing ornaments full of character, life and charm. This is the month to celebrate and start a conversation about the artists that have inspired your work and impacted on you personally as an artist! Where it began When I was a child, my parents would sit and read picture books to me every evening before bed.  I was completely enraptured by the illustrations and colourful illustrations. I remember being utterly fascinated by the fact that an artist could tell a story and convey an emotion without any words and cause the viewer to become absorbed in a world of make believe.  The artist who first inspired me the most and began my obsession with drawing and art was Jane Hissey, the author …