Words Jo Barnes
Photos Jeremy & victoria heryet
“There is no magic in magic; it’s all in the details.” When Walt Disney was talking about the magic of his characters and theme park, he was trying to draw our attention to the aspect of art that draws in the viewer.
Local Peninsula artist Victoria Heryet achieves the same thing with her hyper-realistic and detailed paintings of architecture, scenes, flowers, still life and assemblages.
“I am consumed by detail,” shares Victoria. “People who see my work often comment ‘I can’t believe how detailed it is!’”
Victoria’s award-winning artwork includes painting, illustration, lettering, chalk work, and figure drawing. Nowadays, she uses watercolour and pen and ink. Her works have been exhibited at various sites including the Port of Vancouver, Fairmont Hotels, and Timeraiser, and are currently on display at Sidney’s Peninsula Art Gallery.
Regardless of the art piece, Victoria’s fascination with detail is captivating. Her “The Den Upstairs,” a watercolour of Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown, is a great example. The roadway and architecture are so finely delineated that a viewer can almost feel the pavement under their feet or the gritty surface of the stone walls.
The granular watercolour paint Victoria uses sometimes offers a way to achieve detail. “The paint is quite granular. It has bigger particles of pigment. This lends well to my technique,” she relates. “This kind of paint is not pure, not totally smooth or flat-looking so can give you the feel of a building’s surface.”
Victoria works from photos she has taken and draws the images on watercolour paper. She fills in the image with colours and finally outlines it in pen and ink. Her paintings vary in size, some eight by 10 inches, others up to 16 by 20 inches. Victoria talks about how the act of watercolour painting is endlessly fascinating. “I love to see the paint and water react with each other. Watercolour has a mind of its own; every pigment behaves differently. I just surrender to it.”
It is in the outlining that the detailing is heightened and the magic begins. “I outline every nuance as it has dried. It’s not a pure colour. There might be an extra dot of pigment. Each is like a happy accident and gives more detail.”
Victoria often likes to paint a collection of items such as a set of teacups. There are similarities and differences simultaneously. Again, details are paramount. “I like a collection of things that are the same yet different,” she says. “It requires technical skills so that the picture is photo realistic.”
Victoria’s keen eye and appreciation of form and structure are traits and abilities that go back to her training. She took art courses at high school and completed a diploma in Graphic Design at the Kootenay School of Art. Victoria honed her skills when she worked in the production department for the Oak Bay Star and Vancouver Magazine. With the advance of technology, the landscape changed and so did Victoria’s direction in art. “By the late 1980s and early 90s, everything went digital,” she relates. “So, I decided to pursue fine art as a painter.”
Victoria became aware of a new art trending in Vancouver: chalk art. She had a good sense of her own skills which included lettering; that prompted her to entertain the idea of doing chalk art as a business. “I knew I was good at hand lettering,” she shares. “Even as a kid, I would write in italics a lot.”
Eventually, Victoria became a highly successful chalk artist in Vancouver and was hired by numerous companies to provide creative material like advertising campaigns or menu boards. “I did many corporate projects for Fairmont Hotels and Safeway, as well as other community events, weddings, and even television series like Hallmark movies,” she says. “I was very lucky. It was the height of the chalk art trend and it was popping up everywhere. It was great and every job was different.”
With the arrival of Covid, and restaurants or retail settings closing down, again Victoria had to shift her art direction. Since moving to the Peninsula, she primarily focuses on watercolour painting from her North Saanich studio. She enjoys images of flowers and old buildings as her subjects. “Painting flowers is very relaxing, it’s meditative,” she shares. “I really like painting worn out buildings. I like the history and the details in them.”
Victoria’s art is beautifully executed and eye-catching. It might be the way the water and paint blend unexpectedly or how she shows the extraordinary in the ordinary. It’s in the magic of the details.
www.victoriaheryet.com
