Artist Interview: Amylee Weeks

Name:  Amylee Weeks
Name of Business:  Hidden in my Heart
Creative Influences: My grandma (Nanny) and Hallmark (yes, the card company)
Preferred Medium of Creativity:  Painting: acrylic and paper (mixed media), Digital 

:about amylee::

::i am:: a follower of Jesus.  HE directs my paths – literally.  Through many life experiences, through all life experiences, He has amazingly molded my life, my heart – and given me this gift of artistic ability.  The quote that explains this best is by my favorite author, Oswald Chambers.

"My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings,

altogether insignificant.

But if I obey Jesus Christ

in the seemingly random circumstances of life,

they become pinholes through which I see the face of God."

::i am:: a mother to 2 little girls (ages 7 and 5) that have pure hearts and active imaginations that require many props – and my life’s mission is to love and grow those imaginative hearts .  My girls are my life.

::i am:: a wife to an amazing husband.   I was so blessed to have found him in this crazy world.  After losing my fiancé when I was 24 because of a car accident, I was able to open my heart and find the love of my life again.   He is an amazing dad, amazing husband – and my anchor in this crazy, crazy world.

::i am:: an artist. It is my therapy and my passion.  I battle with depression --  and combining my faith and my art together helps heal my heart.  My hope is to bring that same peace to others through my art.

::i am:: a country girl – an IOWA girl!!!!  I love fishing, camping, and need a lot of open space around me to breathe.  Oh and cannot live without my country music twang.  

Links:
Blog: http://hiddeninheart.blogspot.com
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hiddeninheart


Did your creative habits make a smooth transition into your adult life?  What did the evolution look like? 

My creativity while growing up was geared more towards writing and crafting (floral arrangements, mosaic creations, collages, cross stitch, candlemaking).  I have files and files of poems, short stories and music lyrics that I have written throughout my years.  Many family members have  floral and other crafty art creations from me throughout their homes.  Not until after business college did I find this ::love:: for drawing, sketching and painting.  I dabbled in many art forms but it honestly wasn’t until I enrolled in an art college in 2006 did I really, seriously, take the leap from casual crafter to artist in my heart.  My creative life has definitely been an evolution … taking with me all that I learn from one creative endeavor to the next.  
  

If you had a creative hiatus, what event/circumstance brought you back to your creative lifestyle? 

A few years in business college I wasn’t that creative or crafty.  I was so busy, busy, busy!!!  My creative life came back when I started writing again.  I wrote many, many song lyrics. I even had some looked at by a record company in Nashville!  ;-)   Other than that, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating something.

How has GOD been a part of your creative process/lifestyle?
Everything that has been brought into my life, good or bad, has a purpose. He has a plan for my life.  He breathed into me this desire.  He continues to whisper it into my heart.   If the shouts return, stating “you are not good enough to be an artist,” and I turn away from my art – the whispers always bring me back.  My favorite quote by Oswald Chambers explains how I view God in my life …

"My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings,

altogether insignificant.

But if I obey Jesus Christ

in the seemingly random circumstances of life,

they become pinholes through which I see the face of God."

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