Willow Heath

AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.

Willow Heath, featured in AQ Volume V, is a watercolor artist, illustrator, and art instructor. You can find her instructing watercolor courses at Gage Academy of Art and Pratt Fine Art in Seattle, WA. Born in the remote off-the-grid Alaskan wilderness, Willow honed her artistic skills by making her own art supplies and crafting her observations of her surroundings. With a career spanning 20 years, Willow has showcased her vivid, light-filled paintings in galleries, studios, and museums, and has illustrated three books with Seattle author Caroline Wright, published by Random House and Simon & Schuster. Lovingly called the Watercolor Witch of Seattle, Willow infuses her classroom and artwork with magic, passion for craft and community, and her whimsical sense of nonconformity. On any given day, you can find Willow painting in a Seattle café, instructing art courses in numerous schools, or tucked away with a cup of tea and her paints in her Fisherman's Terminal art studio. You can view Willow’s latest magical watercolor musings at her upcoming solo watercolor show at Axis Gallery in Pioneer, opening February 6th.


www.willowheath.com

What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?

Growing up surrounded by an incredible artist community and the beauty of nature has profoundly influenced my journey in the arts. My early years were spent off-the-grid in the remote Alaskan wilderness, where I learned to make my own art supplies, fostering both my imagination and survivalist skills. I mean, how can you not be inspired to create while living in the gorgeous remote wilderness? As a child, nature was the ultimate artist, and I was inspired by how the aurora borealis painted the sky and how the snow and ice transformed our landscape each winter. Those formative years were rich with lessons about nature and creativity, teaching me the value of resourcefulness and inspiration that came from the world around me.

My adolescent years were spent wayfaring often in a big blue school bus, traveling across the lower 48 states with my artist mother. This lifestyle provided a canvas for curiosity and wonder, reinforcing my love for observation while giving me an unconventional education. My mother encouraged me to engage with and take lessons from a variety of artists—dancers, jewelers, blacksmiths, designers, and other creatives—all of whom shaped my artistic perspective and toolbox.

There wasn't a definitive moment that declared me an artist; instead, it was an understanding and nearly stubborn drive to constantly create that emerged within me at a young age.


Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?

I am preparing for a solo watercolor exhibit currently, and my most recent paintings are inspired by capturing light and luminosity in my subject—an interesting endeavor with watercolor because it is a transparent medium. With the transparent medium of watercolor, I find it allows for even more reflection and color nuance as you thinly glaze each layer. I teach an art course called "Light in Watercolor" that focuses on painting metallic, water, glass, crystals, and other such reflective or form-building subjects. This has led to my current obsession with painting gold objects without the use of gold paint or metallic subjects without the use of metallic paint. You can see this in my upcoming solo watercolor show at Gallery Axis in Pioneer Square in February. For this show, rather than "niching down," I have opted to show a sprinkling of small inspirations, some tethered in theme and some seemingly random, but all showing my love of technique, exploration, and reflective light.


What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?

Balancing the artist, the art instructor, the business of art, and the illustrator has been a challenge. I have become extremely disciplined with my schedule. I have to be because on any given week, I might be instructing 10 art courses at 5 different schools while meeting an illustration deadline, while maintaining my art practice. My calendar tells me when I teach, when I illustrate, and when I have studio time, and even when I have paperwork time. We so often think of a life in the arts as a romantic no-guidelines life, but you still have to sign those contracts, set up those shows, pursue the business of art, and be constantly thinking ahead. There are a lot of moving parts in any business. Being a small business owner and being a career independent artist, in many regards, is the same.


What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?

As an artist, you have to experiment; otherwise, you can become extremely lodged in your own head and forget about the awe of discovery or the joy of accidental art. Experimentation really leads to discovery, and discovery leads to understanding. Often, as artists, we fear experimentation because we are afraid of failure or of bad art. But you've absolutely got to make bad art in order to find your voice and your method for creating interesting art. We have to get out of the mindset of pleasing everyone with our art. I believe, as artists, we should create what we like and be comfortable with others disliking it.


Do you have any start or stop rituals before creating?

I adore a good art ritual and admittedly couldn't paint without making a cup of hot tea first, setting my supplies up in a near-surgical manner second, and then visualizing my art or the intention and feeling behind my art. I also like to curate playlists for paintings to reinforce their themes. It's important to set the mood. After tea, set up, and visualizing... I sit with my subject, model, or reference and just observe. I believe our ability to observe is a vital tool in creating. I visualize a blueprint of process, colors, textures, and form before putting paint to paper. Because I am working in watercolor and it's less forgiving, planning becomes even more necessary. I will say, planning art is lovely; however, for me, the real magic and joy happen when I let the art change course and enjoy the process.


What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?

If, through my art, I could somehow reach the ear of the world, I would whisper into it to create art for the joy and create art with your community.

In my opinion, part of the chaos and beauty of visual art is that you cannot control another person's response to it. I can only hope my art inspires you to take a moment to observe around and within you. Finished art becomes something else to each observer than it was to the artist. There is a secret relationship between the artist and their work; we know all the intentions, techniques, challenges, and magic woven into each piece, however, we cannot know how that piece will be received in the world. Once I have painted a piece, that art becomes a child of the world and not my own, and I let go of the preconceived notions of what it should be.


What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

The path of an artist is not often easy. If we can see obstacles as an essential ingredient in our art and not a hindrance, they become a creative force propelling us forward rather than dragging us down.

Observation, technique, experimentation, and creativity are the ingredients to creating art. Couple this with persistence, practice, and resilience, and you are an artist.

Stop trying to prove something with your art and just create and let it unfold.