"Songbird notes affect me like music, affect the flow of my thought, my imagination. Their effortless flight a symbol of freedom and grace. Capturing wild birds in my paintings is to me something I need to do for my soul."
As a child, Carolyn Heffelfinger loved to draw. She watched the many backyard birds with her family at the feeders near the breakfast table.
Majoring in Fine Arts at Kent State University, she emphasized her studies in drawing and painting the human figure, this proving valuable later in her anatomical renderings of birds today. Carolyn has photographed and categorized hundreds of birds in the wild. She has studied privately with a number of painting instructors throughout her career and worked for seven years as a commercial illustrator.
Watercolor has been her main medium for over 20 years. A recent change to acrylic then oil paints has been an exciting, inspiring change. The texture, richness of color and even the smell of the oil paints is a pleasure to explore and has been like opening the page of a new book.
Ms. Heffelfinger's paintings have been exhibited at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, and the National Zoo's wildlife arts exhibition. She has exhibited extensively throughout Ohio including numerous one woman shows receiving many awards for her wildlife paintings.
Lilies, trumpet vine, foxglove and columbine amass in the flower gardens she tends to attract birds for her inspiration. She believes her home the perfect setting for the many wild visitors for which she provides food and shelter. Springtime finds temporary residence of the migratory waterfowl and songbirds she studies from her studio overlooking the ever changing Big Walnut Creek. Forest birds are sheltered in the pinewoods, along with varieties of the owl family.
Carolyn's love of nature and intense desire to absorb and capture the magical subject of birds shines through in her uniquely conceived and beautifully rendered paintings.
