It began with a light-bulb moment. Really, it began again with a light-bulb moment.
As a child, Heather Eck loved art — sketching hands and fingers, noticing colors. In college, however, she majored in human resources, afraid she couldn’t make a career out of her passion.
“I dove headfirst into what I felt would give me stability and stepped away from what actually made me feel really happy,” Eck said.
Holly Springs artist Heather Eck consulted a spiritual teacher before leaving a career in human resources to paint full time. She is pictured here with “Hallelujah.”
A few years ago, the Holly Springs artist began painting again with purpose, looking to reconnect with her creative essence. And about six months ago, she left her job as human resources manager for Cary-based Epic Games to paint full time.
“I was feeling kind of lost. I was at that point in your life when you are like, ‘What am I supposed to be doing? What am I here for?’ I worked with a spiritual teacher. She reminded me that my gift is creative, artistic expression,” said Eck. “And it was like a light bulb went on.”
In Eck’s studio, she’s surrounded by bottles of paint, colorful canvases and pieces of inspiration from other artist friends. A tarp on the floor is speckled with paint splatters, creating a beautiful kind of art in itself. Her dog, Rudy, gnaws a bone at her feet.
Eck’s dog, Rudy, keeps her company while she works in her home studio.
Eck’s style is full of movement, bold colors and intense feeling. Many of her painting sessions begin with meditation to tune into the spiritual energy that serves as her inspiration.
“There is a spiritual aspect to my work where I can see and sense color around people,” she said. “I tune in to people’s energies and the colors that surround them. Then I’ll create a personalized painting that is essentially their color energy on a canvas.”
Eck practices intuitive painting, a method which encourages artists to create using intuition around colors and forms. Her medium is largely acrylic paint on canvas, but she also incorporates plaster, gold flake, mica chips and resin into what she calls her portraits, “because they are a snapshot of the energy at the time,” she said.
“My approach to (painting) comes from a place of healing. I want to help others understand where color plays a role in their lives and how color can help them heal,” says Eck, who has started making videos to explain the story behind her paintings.
“When I first started, I was very much into paint pouring. Then, it evolved into a series of circles, and now it’s evolving into more lines and scraping,” she said. “I honestly don’t know where this will go next. It’s been really fun to watch my work evolve as I’ve stepped more firmly into it.”
Amy Way says her healing journey began when Heather Eck gave her “The Awakening.” The painting now hangs in Way’s bedroom.
Eck has never heard of another artist who senses color the way she does, but color interpretation has always fascinated her. She is particularly drawn to the concept of chakra colors, studying how a person’s emotional, spiritual and physical energies can be represented by color.
“My approach to (painting) comes from a place of healing. I want to help others understand where color plays a role in their lives and how color can help them heal,” she said.
Amy Way acquired the first of her 10 Eck paintings at a particularly low point in her life. Still recovering from a divorce, Way had moved to Cary to care for her aging parents. Eventually her father passed away, and within five months, she lost both of her two dogs as well.
The grief-stricken Way was “just going through the motions in life,” she said, when Eck gave her a vivid blue, peach and cream painting called “The Awakening.”
“She was telling me about the color association, and the spiritual meaning behind it. Every word that she said resonated with me, and I felt it to my core,” said Way. “That was the very start of my healing journey.”
“She said it spoke of a reconnection in faith, rediscovering who I was, and trust that I was not alone.”
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The painting hangs in Way’s bedroom, so she can begin and end her day with it. Five years after that first healing step, Way says the painting still has the power to comfort her.
“It feels like a friend showed up when I needed it the most, and like a good friend, it never leaves my side,” she said.
Eck feels strongly that people will find her art when it is right for them.
“There are people who will be connected to my work; there are people who will be connected to other work,” she said. “What I appreciate so much about art now, is how it allows people to experience and perceive what’s meaningful for them.”
Amber Keister contributed to this story.
Original Art by Heather Eck
(919) 230-4371
heathereck.com
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