Who are you and what do you do?
I am Amy, the coloured pencil artist driving Headspace Illustrations. I are living on the east coastline of Canada, with my partner of 23 yrs and our two beautiful little ones.
Why do you do what you do?
I’m determined to continue on my journey in artwork for a number of reasons. From a simple standpoint, it is a way I can help my spouse and children fiscally whilst doing work from my very own property studio. Currently being just a hug away from my younger little ones has been the very best determination I could have produced. Practicing art has also had a positive impact on my psychological health, it’s an workout in patience, and a silent second to mirror on the intricacies of our environment around us.
You use so quite a few vibrant hues, do you have any that you favor?
I’m most definitely drawn to the purely natural vibrancy observed in florals, birds, and gemstones, so it’s complicated to decide a beloved. But heading on how shorter all my green coloured pencils are, I in all probability use them most frequently.
What conjures up your art?
We’ve produced our dwelling just outdoors the town, on a spacious wooded lot near the river. Getting right here is a slower tempo of existence, where we get to end and observe in wonderment the flora and fauna all around us. Through the warmer months, for case in point, we get up at the crack of dawn to check out less than our exterior mild to discover hundreds of colorful moths. We hold them in sheer astonishment, just take images, and then launch them back again into the forest. I’ve illustrated a variety of them, and hope to do additional.
How and when did you get into artwork?
Just after nearly 20 many years of no artwork, I stumbled throughout a coloured pencil portrait that sparked in me a potent drive to attract yet again. Artwork was anything I did in high university, and did not decide on up a pencil once again until eventually 2015. I was not overly self-confident in my skills, but I determined to choose a image of my minor boy’s eye, and try out to attract it in graphite. It was exhilarating to see a thing appear alive prior to my eyes. I desired to check out one thing in colour, and shortly thereafter my spouse astonished me with my very first set of coloured pencils. I have not stopped coloring because.
How has your practice transformed in excess of time?
When I first started off, I illustrated extra singular products, but as my self esteem grew, I pushed my creativity additional into a lot more concerned compositions. Even though I have sustained a related aesthetic, I have enhanced in details and technique.
What is your favorite piece of artwork that you’ve developed? Why?
Distinct projects have unique pieces of my heart in them, in these distinctive techniques that I really don’t feel I can favor a person more than the rest. A short while ago a friend went out of his way to assist our loved ones with finishing up a renovation task that was so out of our attain to do. I wanted to demonstrate our huge gratitude by illustrating his hand-tied fishing lures. I after surprised my spouse with a drawing of our sweet pug that died, which I cried by means of the whole illustration. Working on commemorative items for others is a delicate procedure, and I really feel honored to be requested. Getting commissioned to do the job on a variety of nationwide models, and viewing that perform in merchants have been unimaginable encounters. I attach my feelings to each piece and I’m not confident it is achievable to quality 1 emotion more than a different.
What is the most effective piece of art information you have been given?
Artwork is not a competitors. You are exclusive, apply your uniqueness. Also, look at every single piece as an experiment, if it does not change out as you hoped, it is all right, it was just an experiment.
What is a person artwork idea/method you can share with us that you locate really valuable?
Making use of a marker base or Panpastels as your first layer beneath colored pencil preserves the tooth of your paper so you can go wild with the relaxation of your levels.
Do you have any top secret strategies or strategies you use to salvage a piece when you make a slip-up?
I’m fairly expert in owning to salvage items, all people mistakes, or even just a alter of coronary heart, have taught me it is feasible to fix. From time to time the composition wants a creative adjustment. In the circumstance of my Coleman lantern, my marker foundation bled on to the white track record, so I included a piece of rope tied to the take care of. Staying open up-minded and adaptable to the course of action can consequence in a far more satisfying art piece than you originally assumed.
What is your preferred Strathmore paper? Why?
So considerably, my complete preferred is Strathmore Combined Media 400 Sequence. It checks all the boxes for me. The vellum floor is the ideal amount of texture to grip my pigment, but sleek plenty of to maintain my edges clean up and crisp. The thickness can take care of hefty-handed coloring, and the webpages stay flat. The colour is vibrant white, it’s got quick, tear-away pages, and it is readily available from my neighborhood, tiny business, art store.
That remaining reported, I have nevertheless to do a comprehensive illustration on the Strathmore Blended Media 500 Sequence. I have also just commenced an illustration on Strathmore Bristol 500 Sequence, for the very first time, and it is DREAMY.
What art elements could you not stay with out?
A have to-have for me is a folding desktop easel. Doing the job upright has corrected my posture and almost removed neck and shoulder suffering.
What forms of hues are you drawn to for your artwork and why?
Pink and inexperienced, normally. These are the hues I encompass myself with in my possess area, it feels like house.
Who are your most important influences (or who ended up when you began doing art)?
MaryJo Hoffman is a qualified photographer who sees elegance in the tiny and uncomplicated items she collects on walks. She arranges the parts with vibrant white backgrounds, captures them, and aptly calls them her Continue to assortment. I adore her attention to detail and her generous spirit. She graciously available her Bluejay wing picture to me to use as a reference, and I could not refuse! She was an inspiration then and continue to is.
Web page/social media hyperlinks:
Instagram: @headspace.illustrations
Etsy: @headspaceillustrates
