Heather Brown

Heather Brown is a tal­ented artist liv­ing the dream in Hawaii. Her vibrant and graphic paint­ings cap­ture the joy of the glide and the rich col­ors of our surf­ing land­scape. Heather talks to us about her many inspi­ra­tions and what she appre­ci­ates in her life.

When did you get your first surf­board?
When I moved to Hawaii a lit­tle over 10 years ago. I still have it today and it’s one of my favorites, it has light green, yel­low, orange, and blue pig­ment stripes, 5 stringers, 9’4 sin­gle fin.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
It was exhil­a­rat­ing, and I couldn’t wait to do it again

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I was all over the place, chang­ing my mind all the time… One day I wanted to be a marine biol­o­gist, the other I wanted to be a para­medic (which I actu­ally did for a while) I always made art, but never thought I could actu­ally make a liv­ing at it, so I was always look­ing for the right job that would make me happy, none really fit the bill, so after many dif­fer­ent career choices, I finally decided to pur­sue what I loved most, and I enrolled at the Uni­ver­sity of Hawaii to study fine arts.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young woman?
I really loved Jane Goodall.

Where did you study paint­ing?
Uni­ver­sity of Hawaii, Manoa

What is your process when cre­at­ing your art?
I paint with acrylics on can­vas, silkscreen prints on paper, and I paint on the occa­sional surf­board or sin­gle fin too! Lately I’ve been paint­ing these really cool hand planes used for body surf­ing that my boyfriend has been mak­ing under the name Hawaii Alaia.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
I liked Tahiti a lot, so much beauty there. In Jan­u­ary I’ll be tak­ing a trip to Namoto Fiji, I’m really look­ing for­ward to going there!

What is it that makes you such a nice per­son? What code do you live by?
Love and hap­pi­ness are the most impor­tant things in life, I try to stay aware of what makes me happy and appre­ci­ate it every day, the peo­ple I love, the beau­ti­ful island I live on, fun surf, enjoy­ing paint­ing, I try to live by doing what I love and never tak­ing it for granted.

Who/what inspires you?
I get inspi­ra­tion from many places – nature is what inspires me the most, also art and music.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Learn­ing to read and inter­pret color

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
No, I wouldn’t be where I am now if every­thing didn’t hap­pen as it did already, and I’m very happy with where I am in my life now, so I have no regrets and am happy with the path I have cho­sen, I feel that it has made me a more well rounded per­son and I appre­ci­ate more that I’m doing what I love and liv­ing where I want to be.

What are you most proud of?
My artis­tic talent

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is great for me in many ways, its a great way to have fun, clear your mind, good exer­cise, inter­act­ing with nature, being in the beau­ti­ful ocean and feel­ing it with all of your senses.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My boyfriend, my dog Mar­ley and my cat Char­lie, good waves, good food, liv­ing in Hawaii, travel, adven­ture, and stay­ing happy.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Every­one who surfs has a role in shap­ing the path – we are all responsible.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is your favorite board? Your favorite surfspot?
Bing Love­bird 9’0
Don­ald Takyama — in the pink 9’0
Bing Zeph model 9’4
Dick Brewer 10’0
Strong Cur­rent 9’4
808 by Kohei Chiba 7’8
9’6 by Kimo Green
Tom Wegener Alaia — The Anchovy 7’4
Hand­plane by Hawaii Alaia

Favorite surf spot is Waikiki

What’s your favorite meal?
Acai bowls

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your ipod?
Reggae

What causes/ projects/ orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
Surfrider Foun­da­tion and Kokua Foun­da­tion, Keep A Breast

What’s next for Heather Brown?
Hmmm… Not sure?

More infor­ma­tion about Heather Brown can be found here.