Heather Michelle Chinn was born with a paintbrush. From early on she would paint anything with any medium within reach from food to nail polish. Her earlier masterpieces were found on ceilings and cafes in professional murals in Fredericksburg, Virginia. For several years, Heather painted whimsical watercolors for the international stationary company Mon Petite Chou. She eventually learned how to paint photographic backdrops on physical canvas thanks to her master artist and photographer mother. Working large scale became second nature as if it were akin to writing in a notebook. It was small papers that became too confining. When she was introduced to digital tools in the early 2000s it made sense to translate tools to the computer. Fighting this for a decade, Heather built thousands of custom brushes through trial and error. You may have seen them within Corel Painter’s many releases. Obsessed with “background” space Heather would navigate vacation time around two things: museums and the best vantage points for sunsets. Studying light and composition and the elements that brought them together through paint was a lifelong fascination. Her backgrounds are built through custom elements. She will take physical brushes, actual organic paint, and substrates to create brushes, textures and papers before even starting the digital canvas. This is one of the many reasons her backgrounds stand out. Her history with physical oil painting has given her an edge on understanding true color harmony when it comes to photographing skin tones. You might notice hints of the impressionistic Masters speaking through her backdrops.

“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts - such is the duty of the artist.” - Robert Schumann