*To those who have been following my artist profiles from the beginning, you will notice I have decided to change how they are written and presented. I think it would be more appreciated to remove any editing on my part of the artists words, therefore the articles will be structured in an interview Q&A style format from now on. Thanks so much for your support!

Lisa Hewett is a U.K born artist with a BA in Education and Art, Minor in Art History at University of Tulsa and a MSED in English Language Learners at Walden University. I was honoured to be able to contact this brief interview with her to delve into her art and art practice.

What inspired you to start creating art?

As a child, I had a deeply ingrained faith and desire for adventure, along with a need to create.  Every encounter with wildlife or the wilderness filled me with the desire to draw and paint it, to capture it just as God did in all its glory.  It's like I wanted to hold on to that moment of discovery forever, so expressing it through art fulfilled that need.  I am so fortunate that my parents recognized my innate talent, so I never lacked for the supplies and encouragement to create whatever inspired my heart.  My dad would bring home a different media for me to try regularly, so that always inspired me to create even more.

What inspires your artwork now?

I am blessed to call Colorado home, one of the most beautiful places on earth, with the opportunity for never-ending exploration and adventure.  Additionally, I believe the outdoors give us healing and renewal in ways beyond what we can imagine; however, not everyone is able to climb and trek where I do. As all of my work is done from my own photography during my backcountry trips, it allows me to bring the sights and senses of what I see and feel while exploring to the canvas for everyone to experience the same wonder, joy, and renewal.  Thus, I create art that combines the technical expertise of contemporary realism with the mood, stories, and life lessons that the natural world has to share.  All of creation has a story; I seek to give each story a voice in my work.

What mediums do you work in and experiment with?

 I work with pencil, charcoal, mixed-media (generally Xerox transfer, collage, acrylic paint, and sometimes oil pastel or something else worked in), acrylic, soft pastel, and colored-pencil.  

Are there any particular brands of art supplies you prefer using? Why?

  I tend to use Blick studio acrylics because they have a good body to them that I can then keep thick, or prolong and thin out with a retarding medium. As a public school art teacher I had to find the best quality for the best price, and these are the paints I preferred.  I love Prismacolor Colored pencils because of their softness and layering ability.  Plus, they were the first set of colored pencils my dad brought to me as a child, so not only do I have every color and property of them memorized, but they also provide a lot of happy nostalgia.  For papers, I prefer the Canson XL Mixed Media for hyperrealistic pencil work because that paper layers better than an English trifle!  For charcoal, I prefer the Strathmore Drawing 400 series because it has enough tooth to layer a lot, but a smoother tooth to give it a hyperrealistic finish without all the graininess.  For painting, I don't have a particular brand because I stretch my larger canvases, and I prime and sand the smaller store-bought ones to get them smoother.  Finally, for pastel and some mixed media, I prefer the Canson Mi-Tientes paper.  It has a different tooth on each side, making it ideal for many genres of work, including a side with a smooth finish.  Its tooth is rougher than the Strathmore, which is ideal for pastel because it takes more layers than charcoal.

Do you have any particular ways that you work through a creative block?

Yes!  Not just when I have a creative block, but also when the process of art-making isn't always fun.  Yes, art has its joys, but creating high-quality art is hard work that takes a LOT of hours!  When I hit those walls, or when I'm feeling like I want to quit, I do three things (besides listen to great playlists): I get outside, and I pray.  That helps to put things in perspective and generates ideas I might not have previously considered.  Finally, I also talk to my fellow artist and dear friend, Catie Hinkle, because she invariably will see things I don't to help me solve my problem. When I was teaching, getting input from fellow artists was something I both cultivated in my students and practiced myself.  There is a lot of power in that.

Can you give any piece of advice to your fellow artists on what you have learned while you practiced your craft?

1. Give yourself the grace and freedom to make mistakes, both in your art-making process and your professional and personal growth.

2. Stop comparing your art and your journey to others.  Yes, there are thousands of people who may create work in your genre and your style; HOWEVER, you have a heart and soul that is uniquely yours, a voice to speak things only you can say.  So stop comparing, get in your studio and create and speak what only you can do.

3. The more you create, the better you will get.

4. Stay courageous and keep creating.  We live in a world where we are told to be ourselves, yet then in the same breath our authentic self is stomped on, so it takes a lot of courage to keep creating and putting our work out there.  It's a world where there is so much division, miscommunication, brokenness, blame and hatred.   That is why more than ever our world needs more creators and dreamers, more explorers and visionaries.  So stay courageous and keep creating because what you do MATTERS.

To view more of Lisa Hewett’s work

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