The Daily Muse: An Exclusive Interview with Heather Torres, Watercolor Artist

Heather Torres is an award-winning watercolor artist who lives in Orlando, Florida. She grew up in Clewiston, a small town surrounded by sugarcane fields in South Florida. As a child, Heather spent most of her time drawing, painting, and dreaming of the future.

Heather moved to Orlando to pursue an Art Degree at the University of Central Florida. After taking two years of art classes at UCF, she accepted a job working in marketing and decided to change her major to reflect her new career path. She worked her way through college and had a successful marketing career, eventually earning a Masters in Business Administration. In 2009, she started working at Full Sail University, where she has worked since as a marketing instructor and Department Chair. While finding success in business, she never lost her deep love of fine art, using watercolor painting as a daily escape.

Torres has been recognition from the Florida Watercolor Society, Central Florida Watercolor Society, and art festivals. She has exhibited her work in numerous group shows at the Orlando Museum of Art, City Arts Factory, and the Orange County Property Appraiser’s office. She has been commissioned to work on custom pieces for interior designers, as well as private clients.

Her paintings combine bright colors with geometric and organic shapes, creating interesting compositions with movement. She embraces the subtle nuances and unpredictability of watercolor by allowing colors to freely merge and develop a story of their own.

Torres continues to create new works for galleries and collectors. When she isn’t painting or teaching, she enjoys listening to live music and spending time her with husband and two young boys.

To see more of Heather work or to purchase something,
follow any of the links below:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | ETSY STORE

…And now for our exclusive interview with Heather Torres

How would you describe your art?
My artwork is bright and cheerful. I often use a combination of geometric and organic shapes to create interesting compositions with lots of movement. Most of my paintings are detailed but I love to embrace the painterly and unpredictable qualities of watercolor, which allows the paint to tell a story of its own.

How long have you been an artist and how did you become an artist?
I’ve been creating things my entire life. I always loved to draw and my mom, who is an elementary school teacher who loves to create things herself, always encouraged me to be artistic. She bought me drawing and painting supplies, would let me paint furniture, and took me to art festivals at a young age. I ended up going to college at the University of Central Florida to pursue an art degree. A few years into the program I ended up switching my major to Marketing but I never lost my love of art. I took up painting watercolor three years ago and I’ve been painting professionally ever since.

What is your favorite medium and why?
My favorite medium right now is watercolor. I love the challenge of working in a water-based medium. It takes practice to control, which makes each piece fun and exciting.

Pick one work of art from your portfolio and tell us the story behind it. Why does this piece have meaning to you? What steps did you take to create the piece?
Eternal Love is one of the paintings that means the most to me. It was inspired by a photo that was taken of my youngest son (4 years old) after a dinner date in our neighborhood. He is such a loving child. He loves to give hugs and kisses. Painting that piece has allowed me to capture that moment forever.

To create the piece, I did a sketch to start. I painted the background first in one color, Daniel Smith’s Shadow Violet. After that background was finished I used a combination of colors to paint the figures.

Tell us about one medium, technique or style that you would like to try working with (that you have not tried before) and why you would like to try this.
I’ve tried a lot – I’m always experimenting. I haven’t painted on silk or ceramic with watercolor before and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Painting on silk makes everything look like it’s bleeding together, where ceramic allows you to capture great details.

How do you make time for art?
It’s tough when you have small children, a husband, home, full-time job at a university, and friends, but I have a standing commitment to myself to paint daily. I usually paint between 30 minutes and two hours a day. If I miss a day, I feel like something’s off. It’s therapeutic.

If you could imagine the “perfect art day” for yourself, what would it be like?
My “perfect art day” would include waking up to a fresh pot of coffee, spending 1-2 hours answering emails, posting on social media accounts, filling out paperwork for shows/competitions, and 5-6 hours of painting. While many people wouldn’t want to do all of the administrative/marketing stuff, I truly know how important it is.

If you could spend 24 hours with one artist, living or historical, who would you want to spend the day with and why? What would the two of you do?
My artist hero is the very talented, Carol Carter. I was fortunate to spend a couple days with her in a workshop last year and she taught me so much. She creates incredible, vibrant watercolors. I admire her work so much and she’s the nicest, most down-to-earth person. I’d want to spend the day painting.

Do you have any tips or advice for aspiring artists?
I have two: paint daily and market your work.

Daily painting allows you to commit to your passion. You learn so much by constantly trying new things.

I know most artists don’t like to market their own work, but it is so important to be aware of the business of making art and to build relationships with others. If you want to sell your work professionally, you have to constantly look for new ways to connect with people. This includes posting daily to social media, looking for new opportunities for your work to be seen, answering each and every email, and commenting on every post.