Painted from life,
built on both classical method and direct painting.
Heather Collins is a representational oil painter working between the studio and the open air, painting portraits, still and figurative work, and coastal plein air studies grounded in traditional technique.
Plein Air & Coastal Studies
Small studies painted on location along the Banana River and the Atlantic Space Coast, directly from observation. These plein air studies are used for larger paintings in the studio.
A studio built on observation.
Heather Collins trained in the classical atelier tradition, and each studio painting starts with a careful drawing and a monochromatic underpainting before color is introduced in layers. She also uses direct method for plein air and alla prima studies, blending the wet-on-wet paint all at once in one or a few sessions. Her work spans comprehensive portrait and figurative commissions, still paintings from life, and plein air land and seascapes on Florida's Space Coast.
“A painting earns its light. Nothing goes in until the drawing and the values can carry it.”
Richard Schmid
She is also the longtime host of the television series Portraits in Pastels and teaches ongoing portrait and drawing classes for youth and adults.
From Drawing to Final Glaze
Sight size or comparative measured drawings establish accurate proportions.
Monochromatic grisaille sets the value structure for light, shadow, and form.
Color is blocked in, keeping the shadows transparent and building up layers in glazes after each pass has dried.
After the finishing touches have completely cured over time, the painting is varnished to protect it and bring the deeper, rich colors into balance.
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