3 minute read
Artist Feature: Evie Shoeman
EVIE SHOEMAN
A MATTER OF HEART
A PHOTOGRAPHER BY HEART, EVIE WAS LOOKING TO RECONNECT WITH HER HAPPY PLACE AFTER SUFFERING A BACK INJURY THAT PUT HER ON THE SIDELINES. BEYOND THE BRUSHES ANSWERED HER PRAYERS.
Evie fell in love with photography and Photoshop, and they quickly became her happy places. Her family noticed her entire demeanor changed when she got behind a camera. The world came into clearer view looking at it through a lens. However, tragedy struck when Evie hurt her back and had to have surgery, preventing her from doing photography, but that didn’t stop her artist heart. She had a desire for something more and courted different options.
Experimenting with other programs proved to be frustrating for Evie. She felt like she had to relearn everything every time she decided to paint. Then one evening, Evie and her cousin happened across Beyond the Brushes while looking at different styles of fine art. The paintings spoke to her, and she knew this was a style she wanted to learn. As soon as the class opened, Evie joined, and from there, the rest is history.
With time, patience, and practice, Evie progressed to the point of being able to happily paint in Photoshop. The added bonus was only having to work in one program took hours off each painting. And speaking of hours, Evie happily spends them with her precious grandchildren, who were the inspiration for this series. She wanted to perfect her painting skills, but once she started to have grandchildren, that desire turned into a flame. No more flirting. She wanted to be committed to learning techniques and creating paintings for her grandchildren that would last a lifetime.
The biggest struggle has been what started her passion in the first place. Breaking the photographer’s habit of attention to detail is a struggle, especially when it comes to loosening your brushstrokes. To work on this, Evie will get the facial and main details down and then paint freehand. Animals and still life afford her a lot more freedom in that department, but there are other factors that apply too, like the brushes. Brayer and Brushy Goodness are her favorites with Brayer playing a key role in this series. Evie believes they both help to break up the paint and give the effect of real oils on canvas.
Evie also finds painting images that touch her heart make a difference. When she paints something or someone that matters to her, she can see a difference in the way she paints and the outcome. It helps when the original capture is in focus, but Evie has learned not to draw everything from the capture. Instead, she does a lot of compositing to make it the way she envisioned.
And the last word of advice from Evie?
“Art is so individual and each piece is beautiful and different. This quote is so true: ‘If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.’ - Marc Chagall.”
EVIE ENJOYS FINE ART AND PAINTING AND EXPERIMENTED WITH OTHER PROGRAMS BEFORE FINDING BEYOND THE BRUSHES. FAMILY IS HER MOTIVATION, AND SHE STRIVES TO SPEAK FROM THE HEART.