Creating Motion Through Stillness | Featuring Naomi Haverland | The Open Palette Podcast Ep. 9

What makes a piece of art feel alive?

In this episode of The Open Palette Podcast, host Brian Camacho sits down with artist Naomi Haverland to explore the power of realism, visual storytelling, and the emotional impact of art. Known for her portrait work and large-scale chalk art, Naomi shares how she transforms still images into experiences that evoke movement, connection, and reflection.

Together, they discuss the discipline behind realistic artwork, the importance of observation, and how artists communicate stories, identity, and emotion through a single moment captured in time. The conversation also dives into public art, community engagement, creative growth, and the role artists play in shaping culture through their work.

At its core, this episode is about finding meaning in the details and understanding how art can move people without ever physically moving itself.

In this episode, we discuss:

•  Naomi Haverland's artistic journey 
•  Realism and portraiture as a storytelling tool 
•  Creating emotional impact through visual art 
•  Public art and community engagement 
•  The relationship between technique and expression 
•  Finding purpose through creativity 
•  The power of observation in the artistic process 
•  How still images can create movement, emotion, and connection 

About The Open Palette Podcast

The Open Palette Podcast is where art, culture, and community come together through authentic conversations with artists, creatives, cultural leaders, and changemakers. Hosted by Brian Camacho, each episode explores the stories, experiences, and perspectives that shape the creative landscape and the legacy we leave behind.

Hosted by Brian Camacho

Listen, subscribe, and join the conversation as we explore the people and ideas shaping art, culture, and community.

#OpenPalettePodcast #BrianCamacho #NaomiHaverland #ArtPodcast #ArtistInterview #VisualArt #PortraitArtist #ChalkArt #CreativeCommunity #PublicArt #ArtAndCulture #CreativeProcess #VisualStorytelling #CommunityThroughArt #ArtsAndRhymes #CreativeConversations #ContemporaryArt #ArtistJourney #RealismArt #CultureAndCommunity

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Life is the canvas we paint. Yeah. Opening the dialogue, removing the barriers and restraint. Uh-huh. It's the open palette, insight, access, and the human story. The palette is open. Open now.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome back to the Open Palette Podcast, where art, culture, and community come together through real conversations. I'm your host, Brian Camacho, and today's episode explores how artists create movement, emotion, and energy through still images. From hyperrealism portraits to large-scale mural installations, we're diving into the power of visual storytelling and what makes artwork truly feel alive. We'll be speaking on emotion through color, composition, detail, lighting, and the way art can stop people in their tracks and create human connection. This conversation goes beyond technique and explores how artists communicate feeling, memory, and energy through their work. I'm excited to have today's guest with us here, Naomi Haverland. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

It's a pleasure having you here today. Thank you for joining us. Let's get right to it. Tell the people a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and where'd you get your start?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

I'm from Colorado originally, but I've lived in Florida for about six years now. Um I got my start um back in my early 20s when I started trying to paint murals and homes just for some extra money. It was just uh out of necessity. Um, and it just sort of evolved from there into more larger scale murals. Um uh another step in that path was chalk art that I started doing, chalk art on the ground, which led to doing anamorphic art, which is the 3D art that looks like you're gonna fall into a hole. Yes. Um, and that was just large scale, which I think kind of segued into doing murals.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Oh, that's nice. That's nice. And what ultimately drew you into hyper-realism as the form of artwork that is the language that you speak through?

SPEAKER_02 1:56

I think I just I I don't know that this is necessarily the best um strategy to take, but I just did more of what I knew I was good at. And I was doing good at um at creating realistic, believable textures. And so I got a lot of positive feedback on that aspect of my artwork. And so I just started maximizing on what I was good at and trying to emphasize what I knew I could um please people with. And um, that's how I just got better at it, because whatever you do a lot of, you're gonna get better at. Um, and so that got better and better. My I have some other weaknesses that I try to, you know, minimize in my artwork, um, such as uh illustration or um uh like I'm not really not good at like lettering, stuff like that. So those are the things I don't repeat as much and probably don't end up mastering.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Understandable. Understandable. And at what age was it that you found yourself as an artist? How did this all start for you?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I remember as early as kindergarten um coloring with the crayons and layering the colors um with the crayons and thinking that I'd learned a cheat code that I could layer the colors and come up with a new color, and thinking no one else had ever discovered that and I'd learned a cheat code. But um, I just always have been drawn to art. If there ever was an art project in school or something, I was always all over that.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Nice. So since then, you've been able to build your style, build your skill set to the to the artist that you've become today. Your artwork speaks for itself. When people see it, they're definitely stopping in their tracks, they're definitely connecting. Let's speak to that. Where do you draw your inspiration for the work that you that you create?

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Um it's hard to know where inspiration comes from because a lot of times it just, you know, comes into my mind and I don't know where the idea came from. And then maybe later on I'll I'll realize, oh, I was exposed to certain themes or something that then I ended up incorporating into my artwork. But sometimes at the time I'm I'm unaware of where these ideas are coming from. It's just like a conglomeration of whatever I've been exposed to lately. Sometimes things come about in dreams or in that state when I'm like half asleep, half awake. Um, but ultimately I'm just creating what I want to see. And so a lot of times it's just something that I thought was funny and it made me laugh. So I'm like, I want to show other people this. So I'm just doing what I'm personally drawn to and hoping that other people will be drawn to it as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

That's great. And when was it for you that you started realizing that this artwork is, you know, inflicting emotion more than just impression on people that were, you know, being able to see your artwork and appreciate your artwork?

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I think um one of the greatest feelings I'll get is when someone comes up behind me and I'm doing live artwork and they laugh because that's just such a genuine honest reaction. And that means that I successfully evoked an emotion through my artwork. It wasn't through like the skill or something. They weren't like analyzing the skill or analyzing the lighting or composition that it just is the most honest reaction, is a laugh. So um, if someone laughs at my artwork, uh that's the best feeling I can get. I feel like I'm I've succeeded.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, that's great. That's great. And your artwork is technically still, but feels so alive. Let's speak to that. And and and as you said, it is not the technique, but ultimately the technique is what pulls that out. And that moment, it's the emotion and the connection for that individual. But the process that it takes to bring that to life, let's speak to that and how how that plays on it. I I look at your work and I find it's similar to as a magician who's able to do something in front of you, but make you feel like it whatever they just did is real. They may be hiding a card or whatever the case may be, but it just makes it feel so real. And looking at your artwork makes me feel that way where I feel like it's real, I'm there. You have that one piece of I believe it's like a kid coming out of the building, the side of the brick building. And that one for me is the one that really, you know, put me in my, you know, stopped me in my track. So I want to speak to that. Like, how are you emotionally connecting and facilitating these processes?

SPEAKER_02 6:16

I mean, I put meticulous time into the design stage. Um, once I'm actually painting, there's not a lot of improv improvisation, improvisation. Um, I'm pretty much going straight along what my plan was. Um, and I spend so much time pre-working the design and testing it out, seeing if it looks good in a thumbnail, because that's kind of how it'll be seen as a mural from far away. Um, and movement is something that you you talk about saying that my work's still, but it has a sense of movement. And um, that's something I'm really going for, not so much with like uh a depiction of action, but I'm wanting your eyes to move around the piece. Um, and that would be with through the composition and balancing out colors, balancing out values, textures, um, just doing something to pull your eye in a motion throughout the piece that um feels dynamic. Um, so it yeah, just a lot of work in the pre-stage of trial and error and experimenting.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Nice. And how do you find balance between, you know, technical skill and artistic freedom?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

I mean, that's a really hard balance because a lot of times I feel like I get sucked into the skill aspect and perfecting the realism of something and the um emotion and whatever kind of suffers. So I really am pushing myself to leave some brush strokes, um, leave some swirls of color where you're seeing how the paint is mixing. You're like actually seeing the medium instead of just doing a Xerox of a photo or something like that. So it's definitely something I think I struggle with and that I'm very intentional about trying to combat is not just becoming a Xerox machine, um, still leaving the emotion in the brush strokes and everything, because ultimately um emotion is what uh makes the artwork compelling.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Do you ever feel compelled to outdo yourself with the next mural? I mean, your work is very broad and it is large scale. So, I mean, and you work very fast, I must say, working with you on that project that we completed in the city of Kasimi. I was very impressed to see how you know clean you work and how fast you work. But how are you working mentally? Are you looking to outdo yourself with every project?

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Definitely. Like, I'm I'm always looking to the next one to, I don't know, maybe get the next high or something. Because, you know, every every time you finish a mural, there's a sort of a this state of like elation that you completed it. It's very rewarding, and I'm always working for that next reward. But um also I I have a lot of feedback groups um that I work with, artistic feedback groups that where we discuss, you know, what could have been better, stuff like that. And so I'm always looking to improve different aspects of it and figure out how I could create something that would maximize on what the last mural maybe had a weakness. So yeah, I'm definitely always looking to improve and always looking for um uh yeah, the next murals. The next mural's always gonna be the best one in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Gotcha, gotcha. Now, with regards to your work and and the depth within the work, I know a question that you must hear all the time while working is how do you do that? How did you do that? How did you do that? And I can say, and I being there, it's like, okay, how do you answer that question, right? For them to get to the understanding of what has been put together here. Is it through color? Is it through tone? Is it through depth? Is it through lighting? I know those all play a factor. Right. But what is the key to this?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

I mean, I think I have learned that one of the easiest things you can do to create depth is to add a cast shadow. Um, and it's like one of the simplest things, but most impactful things you can do for making it pop off the wall. And so I do that a lot. I just um I just add a cast shadow and it's like uh instantly a little bit better. So that's one of the easiest things I do, but also um atmospheric perspective, um, you know, having my perspective lines right, um uh different colors and making what's what's uh in the foreground crisp and what's uh in the background a little blurrier. Um so there's lots and lots of little tricks to add depth to a painting, but um, sometimes I just go for the low-hanging fruit and add a cast shadow.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Nice. So um I also have a question with regards to impermanence. What is your thoughts and your feeling with the with the idea of the work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

I mean, I feel like all art is impermanent, like nothing's gonna last forever. It's all just something material in the end. So I and with my background being in chalk art, I'm totally used to um the impermanence of the art. In my mind, um, the internet is what's not impermanent. The internet lasts forever. So if I get my picture posted on the internet, I can always go back and see it. I don't know. That's right. For as long as I'm alive at least, probably.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

For the most part, yes, understandable. As you're building that digital footprint, it is very important. And that is something that's to take into consideration. And I and I appreciate that perspective. Um, has your artwork changed the way you observe people in real life?

SPEAKER_02 11:53

I think in different ways, yes. Um, for sure, I'm constantly like observing lighting and observing texture, um, and thinking about how I would paint that if I were painting somebody while I'm talking to them, like even looking at you right now, you got all these lights in here, and I'm like thinking about how that's the light's so diffused right now. How would I paint that? Um, but uh beyond that, I feel like as an artist, there's some people that look at me and think I'm a master at my skill or something. And I look at other people that are so farther along than me and think they're a master at their skill. And so whoever I encounter in life and whatever they seem to be amazing at, I'm like, there's someone that they're looking up to too. Um, so I just try to always keep that in mind and kind of it's kind of a humbling thought that no one's at the top of their game. Uh everybody's, you know, being humbled by somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Understandable. Yeah. And it's there's a time and a place as you keep building that that skill set, you keep building that style, everybody gets to that point that they need to be. So it's it's it's great to understand balance and position and place. So that's great to hear. Where do you as an artist stand when uh or or where do you what do you feel and how do you want people to feel and perceive your artwork when they're standing in front of it? What is the message that you want them to take?

SPEAKER_02 13:20

So I I I don't really have a message like through my artwork. I I know there's a lot of artists that have like a social change message or some deep philosophical message. And um, I admire that a lot. And I I just feel like me personally, I don't have anything super deep to say, but I'm trying to create more of a vibe or a feeling. And I kind of think of myself as like a metaphorical like florist, and like I'm collecting these flowers, and the flowers are actually just colors and images, and I'm making a bouquet. And no one ever asks like a florist when they put out a bouquet, like, well, what does it mean? They just enjoy the beauty, and so I kind of feel like a mural is like a bouquet of images that I've put together, and I'm wanting people just to first off enjoy the beauty, and I want it to make them happy, I want it to make them feel good. Um, so my primary message is just um a visual language um of beauty.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

That's great to hear. That's great to hear. We definitely are enjoying the work that you're putting out there, and it is a beautiful collection thus far. So thank you for that. Um where can the people find you? Where can they touch base with you and be able to tap in and collect some of your artwork as well?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Uh, I'm on Instagrams, and that's where my most comprehensive gallery is at. Also on my website, which is just my name, Naomi Haverland.com. And um I don't really have much for sale right now. I've been concentrating on murals, although I am putting together a series of paintings that are um that kind of go along with the style I've been doing uh the murals of lately. Um, and that will be in a show at Florida Rama in October.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Nice. Well, make sure to come out and check that out. It's a pleasure having you here today. Thank you for joining us here on the Open Palette Podcast. For those tuned in, make sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Thank you for tuning in.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yes.