Terrie Hevrin

​My choice of art medium is acrylic although I have created few watercolor pieces. My husband, Jack and I have lived in Haddam, CT for 40 years and raised our three children there. Our sons both live in Haddam and our daughter lives in Washington state with her husband and three children...our grandchildren!
 
I had always wanted to paint, but I was sure I wouldn’t be able to create something beautiful, so I gave up before I even started. Then when I retired, my husband gave me a small starter set of acrylic paints and I found out something about myself. I could paint something beautiful and I could push myself to get things right and not give up. I started seeing the world around me a little differently. I began to notice that there are so many more colors that make up the objects around us. Snow is not strictly white. Its made up of blues, lavenders, pinks, etc. A lakes water is not strictly blue. It’s made up of many different hues of blue, greens, lavenders, browns, yellows and so many more all depending on the time of day and the way the lights hit them.
 
I remember as a kid, watching a sunset as it changed colors before it set, the way the morning sun hit the spring grass, the way the water moved on the lake making green, blue, purple, sparkling when the sun hit the crests. It really was awe inspiring then and it is now. And the challenge to get all those aspects on canvas is deliciously time consuming.
 
I can get lost in the process and loose all track of time. It’s amazing how trying something new can change your perspective of things and sort of make you see a different person in yourself. I can spend hours in my studio trying to get just the right shading and just the perfect color on my latest painting. I love the challenge. Just one perfect brush stroke in the right place or the ideal color makes all the difference. And when I get it just right...wow!
 
I have taken a few art classes but am mostly self taught. I have sold a few of my paintings. And that’s difficult to do. Those paintings are like my babies and, even more so, my proof to myself that I can do what I set out to do. But if they make someone else smile, I am so grateful.