Plymouth Guild Members' Gallery

Heidi Mayo                          

heidi@heidimayo.com
www.heidimayo.com
                                                      
artist's bio

About the artist: My early training was at Vesper George School of Art in Boston, and with Gay Youse in Duxbury, where I worked alongside her and assisted with instructional programs. I studied filmmaking at Emerson College. Everything is art to me. In earlier years I worked mostly in oils, 3D, and later acrylics, not giving much thought to creating anything unless there was a direct need for it such as stage sets, costumes, holiday gifts and cards, or illustrations in my multimedia work. I was in the process of writing a book, and began sketching illustrations for it, when suddenly the need to create in the purest sense struck me, so I got some pastels and took an intuitive leap. I now teach pastels to adults and kids privately and for the Plymouth Guild.

I love the immediacy of pastels. A medium that seems so delicate is really very hardy; the luminescent quality, portability, and
forgiving nature make them the perfect medium for both painting and teaching. Our landscape is changing so rapidly, just as the light changes during any given instant. What I do with pastels is catch brief moments in time and place - right here, right now. Along with teaching the ins and outs of alla prima and plein air painting, the biggest thrill of all is sharing my enthusiasm for seeing everything in this world as a cause for creating art, so much so that I’ve even turned teaching fine art into an art form! In addition to learning about mediums and materials, color, values, composition, perspective and such, my students learn how to release judgment and get lost in the divine creative process, while I find as much joy and fulfillment from teaching as I do from painting.