Artist Interview With Heidi Mayo
Today’s Artist Interview Is With Heidi Mayo From Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Whopple: How long have you been an artist?
Heidi: All of my life – everything is art to me.
Whopple: Tell us about your first attempts to be creative.
Heidi: I remember being about three and pretending to knit, and making a nest instead.
Whopple: Do you make a living with your art?
Heidi: I make part of a living with my art; what I don’t make in cash from classes and sales, I make up for in joy and fulfillment.
Whopple: How many hours a day do you create?
Heidi: Making art, teaching, marketing, planning and scheming, imagining, writing, and even cooking, is all creating to me, so I’d say pretty much all of my waking time – and often in my dreams.
Whopple: How did you pick your creative medium?
Heidi: Originally an oil painter, I stopped painting for some years (still did a lot of creative stuff and artwork, though very pragmatic in nature) and, in the process of making illustrations for a book I was writing, the need to create simply for the sake of creating struck me. With a studio in a corner of my bedroom, oils were out of the question. My husband suggested pastels. Within the year I had a solo show and began teaching pastel painting by the seat of my pants.
Whopple: What are your inspirations?
Heidi: Nature, light, beauty, joy, and whimsy.
Whopple: What is your favorite art related book.
Heidi: I have many favorites. Here are three:
Wolf Kahn Pastels by Wolf Kahn – I love his studied looseness.
Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson – a great all around book on landscape painting.
The Poetic Landscape by Elizabeth Mowrey – I recommend this book to all of my students.
Whopple: How do you recharge when your creativity hits the wall?
Heidi: Moan and groan and gnash my teeth and force myself to carry on.
Whopple: What was your first job?
Heidi: Aside from babysitting, it was teaching art to kids alongside the painter Gay Youse for the Duxbury (MA) Art Association. I also did the blackboard menus every afternoon at a local restaurant.
Whopple: What are your favorite snacks when you are creating?
Heidi: I do like a few pieces of Green and Black’s organic 85% chocolate and tea.
I feed my kid students animal crackers, and I’ll eat those too.
I like a bit of Bombay gin with a couple of olives after a long day of painting and teaching. 
Whopple: What gives you hope in the world?
Heidi: As an idealist, I am noticing a wonderful trend toward the realization that our universe is nothing but infinite possibilities, and we have choices about where to rest our attention, and hence what we manifest – what we create in our world. Within that realization is also the awareness of the oneness that is everything. I think this awareness has the potential to bring peace to the world. And, as the creator of my own reality, my world is blessed with a slew of wonderful, talented, loving people, and having these people in the world gives me hope, too.
Whopple: What do you wish you could do?
Heidi: Travel more often and travel to paint.
Whopple: What are your artistic goals?
Heidi: To paint much more quickly and often than I do. To offer some workshops in exotic places. To become a signature member of a couple of swanky organizations such as PSA. To finish my Top of the World Studio Gallery so I can work and teach in there all year around. To publish my novel NELSON TELSON – THE STORY OF A TRUE BLUE BLOOD and have it become a blockbuster movie. The list goes on and on.
Whopple: What has been your most exciting moment as an artist?
Heidi: Being lost in the process – and subsequently manifesting some good art and being juried into some heavy duty national and international shows, and making good sales. I also get very excited when I put on the annual show of my students’ work. They make me look really good.
To See More Of Heidi Mayo’s Artwork Please Visit The Following:
Russell Gallery of the Plymouth Guild, 11 North St. Plymouth, MA
Gallery representation may look good on the resume but it really doesn’t do much for the bottom line.
2 Responses to Artist Interview With Heidi Mayo
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Hi Great studio. I recently built a new one after using a big shed for about 20 yrs. I think creativity is all about inspiration and working from an unconscious level but also about your environment.
Lyne Marshall artist and author´s last blog ..Finding the right combination
Hi great interview – I’m a piano teacher/pianist here in the UK and can relate to being “lost in the process” and how for me that produces good music (sometime..:))