Oil on panel
53 x 33 x 1.5 inches
Oil on paper mounted on panel
21 x 27 x 1 inches
Cover, detail: Climbing (#2) , 2025
Yellow Tallness, 2025
Family Open House Saturday, September 27, 2025 2 - 4 pm
September 4 – October 4, 2025
An intimate exhibition of paintings from Ellen Heck’s newly released children’s book, Sunflower Seeds.
Paintings and books will be on view and available at the gallery.
Ally Village, 200 Spring Park Drive, Suite 105, Midland, Texas, 432.687-1268
Sunflower Seeds, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel 13.5 x 21.5 inches
Thinking of Names, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel
18 x 18 x 1.5 inches
The Last Day of School, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel
13.5 x 27.75 inches
From Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower Seeds tells the story of a Kindergarten class that plants sunflower seeds and watches them grow. It’s told from the perspective of a boy who notices things, and the reader follows the growth cycle with him. Because so much of the magic in this story comes from paying attention, the illustrations offer those discoveries to readers who are also looking closely.
For the paintings in the book, Heck uses Oil on brown paper in order to zoom in, as the students do with their magnifying glasses, and notice something new. With Oil paint, the viewer is able to see how a bumblebee from a distance can be made from swirling, abstract brushstrokes. The warmth of the brown paper is a storytelling color that gives substance to negative space.
While making Sunflower Seeds, Heck looked to artists from the past who had painted with Oil on paper and also painted sunflowers. She considered the way numbers and math can be hidden in structures, how brushstrokes add meaning to composition, and how both positive and negative space affect the arrangement of a picture.
Climbing, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel
15.5 x 22.5 inches
Hands Holding Magnifying Glass, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel
10.5 x 14.5 inches
We Watered Them, 2025 Oil on paper mounted on panel
15.5 x 12.5 inches
Climbing (#1), 2025
53 x 33 x 1.5 inches
Framed: 54 x 34 x 1.5 inches
Oil on panel
Oil on panel
53 x 33 x 1.5 inches
Framed: 54 x 34 x 1.5 inches
Climbing (#2), 2025
16 x 12 inches
Cupped Hands Holding Sprout, 2025 Oil on paper mounted on panel
Title Page, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel 12 x 19.75 inches
Three Buds, 2025 Oil on paper mounted on panel
16.75 x 28.5 x 1 inches
Palette Painting (240409) , 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel
24 x 18 inches
Detail: Palette Painting (240315) , 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel 24 x 18 inches
Back cover, detail: Hidden Mantis, 2025
Oil on paper mounted on panel 17 x 10 inches
