heatherwatts

[heatherwatts]

It's my birthday! But strangely that's not why I'm thinking about cake...⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Threads are weaving together towards a new body of work that spans the thematic gamut from religion to the French Revolution to the history of capitalism to societal collapse to... you guessed it: cake--though not so much the sweet birthday confection as a sort of bread & circuses let-them-eat-cake symbol of lavish twenty-first century excess. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Will it bake into finished work or am I merely stirring my creative batter? Time will tell but in the meantime, images of another thread of this work are coalescing through a few early photographic studies this week. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Along with cake, figurines of enlightenment-era European aristocrats have recently sunk their teeth into my soul. Picking them off thrift-store shelves, one can watch the history of twentieth century international capitalism unfold in the different countries inked on their bottoms--Japan, Taiwan, China. (I'd no doubt I'd have to hit an antique store for France, England and America.) ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Something is swirling up from all this. I feel like I know where its going but, as I already said, only time will tell. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ (PS--check out the dog under the arm of the figurine in the first picture. At least... I think it's a dog.)⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ * * *⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Whew! Now that the art's out of my system, happy new year to you all and thanks for following me. My health continues to improve--I probably sound like a broken record with that but I honestly had a long ways to come back from! ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Still a ways to go, but a tipping point has been reached. ⁠ https://www.instagram.com/p/B7H6KmuhQQq/?igshid=g39hqmi0ly5q

[heatherwatts]

This "Altered Jesus" is part of my afterlife series "You Drift Away Closer and Closer: Fieldnotes from the Modern Afterlife." ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ This is the Jesus of secular life, descended from the shining, bearded, white-robed and white-skinned mythical being I believed in as a kid. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ He's a beautiful ghost now, a post-human Jesus, possessing strange storybook powers and an ancient connection to the great mystery. In this incarnation, he welcomes all faiths to an afterlife where heaven and hell, death and life fold in on each other in a perfect swirling circle of eternity.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ****⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ My email list is reincarnating this fall. DM me or hit the link in my profile to join.⠀ ⁠⠀ ****⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠#heatherwatts #heatherwattsart⁠ #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist ⁠#contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart ⁠#mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist ⁠#smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #mementomori #afterlifeartwork #afterlife #deathart #jesusart #alteredjesus #christianityart (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1KzWLaheku/?igshid=rhodspcp6dmn

[heatherwatts]

"From less to less and vanish into light" is the title of this piece on a book page from the 1930s. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ I love the magic of working with old materials, but it can make you scared to create! It's not like a sketchpad where if you mess it up there's a fresh page exactly like it waiting underneath. With decades--often more than a century--of "patina" each page is already a work of art in itself before I even begin to transform it. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ But I'm on a quest to be less precious with my work, to trade perfectionism for flow and shift from fetishizing results to honouring process--not just in art, but in everything I do.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ (Seems like a tall order from where I stand so if you've got any tips I'm all ears!)⠀ ⁠⠀ * * *⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ PS: Thanks for following me. My email list is reincarnating soon with more pretty pictures and #deepthoughts. DM me your email addy to (re)join. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ * * *⁠⠀ (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0UuogZhTKp/?igshid=13qbmcseg3xqy

[heatherwatts]

One of the things that blew me away during my long social media hiatus last year was, once I seriously picked up a camera, how quickly I caught the photography bug (excuse the frog pun.)⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I'm still learning the equipment and have just started finding my voice but photography is becoming a whole new medium for me and I can't wait to see where it takes me!⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ As for this photo, I've always been fascinated by wildlife, but I don't have a lot of access to it in the city, so this little guy isn't typical of my work--though he is an early favourite. He’s from my husband’s family cottage last summer in Ontario.⠀ ⁣⠀ Luckily I'm also drawn to geometry and layers (both plentiful in an urban landscape) and of course my favorite things to photograph so far are anything and everything old! ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ I'll be sharing more on here this year mixed in with my other artwork so stay tuned.⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwYYSAPhfKI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1uf0ev0zh2rv

[heatherwatts]

“I spoke fire, laughed smoke, and madness spilled forth from my inspiration.” ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Whoa! I found this gem of a quotation when I was looking for something to pair with this figure form my afterlife series. A line from Hungarian writer Arthur Holitscher, a man I know nothing about. Yet.⁣ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ While it's definitely not what I was looking for, it's a perfect description of how I feel when I manage to truly tap into the depths of my creative source--something I've struggled to do over the last number of years. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ As my health continues to improve, it gets easier. Sparks are starting to rekindle my muse. I can't wait to see what finally spills forth from my inspiration when it's fully back. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist ⁣⠀ #creativeprocess #artisticprocess #cbcarts ⁣⠀ #collage #collageart #collageartist #analoguecollage⁣⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvsnTi9h1xu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1pyrw6nzzcynf

[heatherwatts]

"Other fragments of himself made their appearance" is the title of this piece, a line form a 1947 Aldous Huxley novel Time Must Have a Stop (what a name!) ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ It's also the fragment of text that stretches down the right side of the piece. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Titles have become even more important to me since I began adding text to my works. What's fascinating is to look back at these pieces (this one's from 2018) and see this verbal aspect trying to burst through. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ In the past few months I've taken up writing fiction from the same creative source that spawns my art. The results aren't anything I'm ready to share yet, but I'm trying to evoke verbally what I hope my art evokes visually--a sense of mystery, fragmentation, beauty, ephemerality and ultimately peace with life's great everythingness. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Maybe I'll get brave and share some one of these days... ⁣⠀ ⁣ (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvIj_0gh1S7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rxr58ux9vcaz

[heatherwatts]

"In our world, in which religious images are losing their meaning, in which our customs are getting more and more secular, we are losing our sense of the eternal. I think it's a loss that has done a great deal of damage to modern art." --Antoni Tapies ⠀ Detail image from my ongoing series "You Drift Away Closer and Closer: Fieldnotes from the Modern Afterlife" (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu2ibeDh-Sz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10r44lwbukuap

[heatherwatts]

You may have seen me post her before (she's my IG profile pic after all) but this little figure from my ongoing afterlife series "You Drift Away Closer and Closer: Fieldnotes form the Modern Afterlife" is one of my absolute favs.⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ She's untitled, which is rare for me. The mixed media pieces I'm doing now all draw their titles from scraps of found text. But these afterlife figures are all very anonymous, so in a piece without text to anchor it there's nothing from which a title can emerge for me. ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Do we take our names into the afterlife? Or do we leave them behind with our bodies and our loved ones? ⁣⠀ (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BukmYbUhT1C/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=194cbvchc51s2

[heatherwatts]

A friendly little collage-based spirit from my afterlife series, with acrylic, lace, thread work, colored pencil and yes, that’s a pumpkin seed for her head. ⠀ ⠀ Aside from the connection to Halloween, I just love how the symbolism of the seed plays out against the larger thematic backdrop of the afterlife. I can almost imagine this beautiful little ghost drifting through the cosmos like a dandelion seed, ready to land and sprout a new life somewhere.⠀ ⠀ #mementomori #afterlifeartwork #afterlife #deathart #collage #collageart #collageartist #analoguecollage #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #theartshed #magicgallery #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #canadianart #vancouverart #contemporaryart #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #canadianartist #vancouverartist (at Vancouver, British Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuSkLJHBudA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pyw7sl696n6g

[heatherwatts]

Antlers in progress... My whole life seems like a work in progress right now, but I feel like I'm finally starting to get a sense of where I'm going. I know it's been ages since I've posted new work and I haven't been mailing my email list either... but yeah, like I said, work in progress. :-) ⠀ ⠀ I've actually been a bit like a pupa these past few months, gently curled in on myself in quiet transformation. I'm thankful I've been able to take this bit of time away from things--to think in new ways, cut myself some slack and come back with fresh perspective. ⠀ ⠀ I'll post more about my life goings-on on my @selfchangingcolors instagram feed when I get back to that, but for now, here's a mixed media explosion of antlers which are part of my afterlife series. They actually form a sort of wing-like structure on a girl. Lots of insights have arisen in this series as I've been plugging away at it this fall, and I'll do my best to start sharing those again regularly here! ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

[heatherwatts]

The difficulty of working with found materials like these is that they're unique. You have to be thoughtful about how you use them. I had plans for both of these figures to be included in larger pieces in my afterlife series, but they are such perfect partners, I struggle with the idea of separating them. ⠀ ⠀ I particularly love how the irregular shape of the white parasol matches the dark base on which the other figure sits. This is the kind of repetition or relation that compels me to pull certain objects or images together when I'm making art. It is how disparate things become cohesive for me, a big part of how art is made. ⠀ ⠀ The assemblages shown are wood, bone, ceramic, cloves and a very old pocket bible. Will they greet the afterlife eternally together or be separated from each other forever?⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist⠀ #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #mementomori #afterlifeartwork #afterlife #deathart #sculpture #canadiansculpture #sculptureart #blackandwhiteart (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

[heatherwatts]

#imaginarymenagerie5 just opened at @archenemyarts in Philadelphia and included this little guy ("Psychopomp") who flew in from Vancouver. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ A "psychopomp" is a guide who helps usher the newly deceased into the afterlife. Here one arrives in the form of an otherworldly vulture. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ On the broken ouroboros (snake biting it's tail): We know the universe has, at least on some level, a unity to it, yet it rarely feels that way in practice. We live out our lives as little sections of the whole, parts of something greater yet somehow feeling totally separate from each other. Maybe in death the separation disappears? Or is it in death that we're severed from each other completely? ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ This piece felt like a natural extension of my afterlife work. The small circles are inspired by tiny micro-organisms / particles / life-stuff. Arising out of an interest in scientific illustrations, they're not only a nod to the sense of dissolution I imagine around the recently dead, but also a reference to the language/marks of my culture ("modern" culture). In a society which views everything as material, the transformative experience of death can only be understood and represented by the breaking down of matter into smaller and smaller parts. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ Contact @archenemyarts for purchase inquiries⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #archenemyarts #contemporaryart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist #buyart #artforsale #originalart #originalartwork #buyoriginalart #artsale #mementomori #afterlifeartwork #afterlife #deathart #vultureart #artexhibit #artshow #groupshow #galleryshow #commercialgallery (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

[heatherwatts]

Studies will often sit on the wall like this for months, caught at a certain point in their progress. I develop my favorites, or the ones that give me a feeling of what direction they want to go in, but often these things change over time. ⠀ Pieces that I thought I would not work on again sometimes become very inspiring after a while. I think in part it has to do with time dissolving my initial judgement of the work. When I'm able to look at things with fresh eyes, I find potential I couldn't see before. ⠀ ⠀ #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist #workinprogress #artstudies #creativeprocess #artistatwork #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #artstudio #artiststudio #drawingart (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

[heatherwatts]

For me, art is always more about feeling than thinking. I begin with things I'm drawn to, gathering together ideas, images, objects and colors to see how they fit with each other. I look for elements that speak to the theme of the work, but also to each other and to me as an artist. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist⠀ #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mixedmediaartist #workinprogress #artstudies #creativeprocess #artistatwork #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #creativeprocess #artisticprocess #artistseye

[heatherwatts]

Dancers are a huge part of my afterlife series for reasons I have yet to understand. Maybe it has something to do with letting go--that you have to be present when you dance and give yourself up to the greater rhythm of things. ⠀ Like art, music makes the soul perk up its ears and pay attention. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart⠀ #vancouverart #vancouverartist #canadianart #canadianartist⠀ #contemporaryartist #emergingartist #artcollectorsofig #selftaughtartist #selftaughtart #cbcarts #surrealism #surrealart #contemporaryart #paintingart #dancer #dancerpainting #smallart #delicateart #intricateart #detailedart #mementomori #afterlifeartwork #afterlife #deathart #acryliconpaper #artandmusic #musicthoughts #soul

[heatherwatts]

"Self Changing Colors" is an art project with real world effects and it's helping me recover my health. ⠀ ⠀ I don’t often talk about it but I actually have food sensitivities which are so severe that I’ve been drinking most of my nutrition in the form of an unflavored tube-feeding formula for the past three and a half years. I get symptoms in multiple systems of the body (gut, brain, nervous system, muscles, joints…) including severe mood swings. ⠀ ⠀ Late last year I had begun to lose hope so I came up with this ongoing project. One painting is generated each month by a simple rule: every day I will do things that are good for me and record how I feel before and after–in the form of a color.⠀ ⠀ Every column in the painting represents one day, and every square in the column represents a positive activity. Seen here are the first three paintings: January (I am holding that one!) February and March. ⠀ ⠀ As time passes the accumulated positive actions should gradually improve my life, changing how I feel and thus causing the colors themselves to change. If all goes as planned over the course of 2017 and 2018, this project will generate a series of 24 works (one per month) that look dramatically different at the end of the project than at the beginning.⠀ ⠀ In the meantime, I’m finally on what looks to be the right path towards diagnosis and treatment with my doctor. Things are looking up and in part I have this project to thank!⠀ ⠀ If you are inspired by this project, please leave me a comment and/or re-post images with the tag #selfchangingcolors ⠀ ⠀ #rulebasedartprocess #dataart #generativeart #heatherwatts #heatherwattsart #canadianartist #canadianart #vancouverartist #vancouverart #artandhealth #healthyart #healthart #selfcaresunday #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #geometricart #emergingartist #foodsensitivities #chronicillness #colorfulart #colourfulart #inspirational #instagood #beautifulcolors #moodswing #datavisualization

[heatherwatts]

A sneak peek today of a little mixed media piece that should be available soon. Click here for more info if you're not on my email list: https://heatherwatts.com/buy-original-art/