Haley Heinen, mother of four, helped herself through a difficult time by relying on her own brand of art therapy as she cared for her son who suffered from daily seizures. Her lettering art has now blossomed into a fruitful business, along with a happy outcome for her son.
(See artwork below)
As a lettering artist, Haley has honed her art form right down to the letter (pardon the pun)!
Lettering art might not be something most people give much thought to, however, it’s an art form that is truly all around us. From the stylistic lettering in the Coca-Cola logo to the fonts we readily recognize on such products as Mattel’s Barbie doll, google and McDonald’s, stylized lettering helps us quickly make a branding connection.
Haley’s art story began in 2017 when her second son started having seizures around 8 months old. At that time, Haley was a busy wife and mother and her entire world centered solely on her family. Art was the furthest thing from her mind.
“My son’s seizures weren’t related to an illness or fever,” Haley recalls. “They struck him out-of-the-blue, several times a day, and were so severe that he’d go lifeless without any warning.”
She and her husband frantically sought help from the medical community, but when the time dragged by with no cures or clear-cut answers, she began feeling hopeless despite a highly qualified medical team’s support. For two years, her son needed to take a powerful prescription medication that controlled the seizures but with the unfortunate side effect of stunting his language development.
As a woman of faith, she turned to God for emotional support and to art as her coping strategy. Growing up, her artistic mother had taught Haley the basics, so reaching out to art for a way to handle her stress made sense.
She purchased a brush pen, watched instructional videos, and began teaching herself calligraphy. From there, she branched out to getting tips and tricks from lettering artists posting on Instagram.
Before long, she was gifting family and friends by placing her lettering on mugs or whatever items she could find including barn wood. Requests came in for her to make more, as she continued developing her lettering styles and building her skills.
Four years later, she has now designed 11 unique alphabet fonts, has a striking website complete with a shopping cart, and sells SVGs (Scalable vector graphics) of her work so that others can duplicate her fonts on their own items.
“I find lettering and revising their look so relaxing -- it’s probably because it is a slow process,” Haley explains. “I’ll take a letter like “B” and challenge myself to rework it 20 different ways.
Eventually, I’ll come up with a look that transfers well to every letter of the alphabet.”
For Haley, each stroke made in creating a letter is art. She adds that the ability to master lettering art is not based on the quality of a person’s actual handwriting.
And, when it comes to her son, there’s good news to report there too.
“When he turned 3, he was finally able to tell me he loved me,” she says. “As he got better, and could be weaned off his medication, I realized I had a front row seat to witnessing a miracle. His seizures simply stopped. Now, at age 5, he’s medication-free and seizure-free -- a happy, funny, five-year old enjoying just being a normal kid.”
For the faith-filled Haley, her business and her healthy son feel like true blessings – messages you’ll readily find in her inspired lettering creations.
Visit her website at: https://www.heinendesigns.com/home
