Heather Neill is a Contemporary Realist painter. Her oil paintings include detailed still lifes, interiors, landscapes and figurative works which can be found in museum exhibitions and collections around the country. In this site you can browse her portfolio, take a tour of her studio and studio gallery, get info on upcoming shows, and see what other galleries represent Heather's work.

Musings
6 June 2008

          9 am Sunday Morning
          95 degrees
          And counting….

                Many thanks for the overwhelming response to the web site launch. We have heard from friends and patrons far and wide and begun to add new folks to the mailing list. Your feedback has been noted and, as we continue to tweak and tease the site to make it more accessible and user friendly, I wanted to catch you up on the upcoming exhibitions and events and show off a couple of our newest studio additions.
          Our newest member of the studio family dropped in this week. Little Oliver brought his brand new smiles and dimples, along with his parents Brad and Diane, for his first visit  … and my bristly-anxious-pre-show-hibernating-self was melted into a puddle by the softness of his chubby edges. I’ve been smiling ever since.

          Another new addition came last month when Jon and Tonya visited for our annual Sheep and Wool Festival weekend and brought new chairs for the studio garden. To go along with the upgrade, Jon, the stone guru, was pressed into service to fix up the old fireplace out back. The perfect Mother’s Day gift and it was a proud pleasure to watch him build with the quiet patience that has become his trademark.
          That corner has now become our favorite place to sit after a long day of painting, or a swim in the lake, and watch the birds fly across the studio sunset.

          As the biggest show of the year approaches (Opening July 20th at the Granary Gallery – see more info on the Exhibitions page), the studio has become a maze of paintings and frames with an ever narrowing pathway through which Gully and I have to maneuver.
          A teaser of sort was published this week in the June issue of American Art Collector magazine and featured in their annual Marine Art section. An almost 8 foot rendering of the swordfishing boat Quitsa Strider, this painting took the better part of the winter to complete.
          The entire collection of paintings for the show will be previewed here on this web site and on the Granary Gallery web site a few days before the show.

                I was honored to be among the artists chosen to have work selected for the upcoming Fort Wayne Museum of Art show, Contemporary American Realism: Biennial 2008. They will be including two paintings, Where There’s Smoke, and Just a Spoon Full and will be publishing a catalogue to accompany the show which opens in September of this year.
          We will be updating the On the Horizon page on this site with more information about this show and how to view the catalogue.
          Here it is almost 4 o’clock and I’ve been working on this all day. Pat has taken herself up to the lake and I am going to take her cue and close for now and head back to the easel.
          Stay cool, keep in touch, and we’ll do the same,  Heather