Heidi Walsh, Hoodridge Drive, comes from a long line of creators, so it’s not surprising that she has pursued art as a vocation.

“I’ve never not been creative,” she said. As a child, she’d create “lines and doodles, more abstract. I didn’t like to draw figures.”

Growing up in Brookline, Walsh’s favorite class was always art. After graduating from Seton LaSalle High School, she attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where she majored in interior design. After several years of working in sales, Walsh got married and settled in Mt. Lebanon. In 2002, she and her mother, Kassy Henciak, opened Zzz’s … A Slumber Boutique, at 671 Washington Road, selling high-end women’s sleepwear and loungewear. Even then, Walsh said, “I always kept a sketchbook nearby.”

The store closed in 2007. Walsh’s daughter, Evelyn, was born later that year; Evelyn’s sister, Adele, followed four years later. As they grew, Walsh made sure to nurture her children’s creativity.   

“Our dining room always had – creative clutter, I like to call it,” she said. Birthday parties usually included a craft activity.
And once Evelyn and Adele started school at Foster Elementary, Walsh and other parents worked with students on lunchtime art projects.

Then came 2020 and pandemic lockdowns. Walsh and her family temporarily relocated to her parents’ home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where “they had a pool and we could at least walk around the neighborhood.

“I had always wanted to do abstract painting,” Walsh recalled. As the pandemic wore on, “it became a way to relax and put my mind somewhere else.”

While in Florida, Walsh entered a competition to create a community art project in downtown Hollywood. She suggested painting flowers and other designs on the sidewalks, so kids (or anyone) could color them in with chalk. To her shock, she won. “I never in a million years thought I would get picked for it,” she said.

That was the catalyst: Walsh began painting in earnest, using nature as her starting point. Until recently, she has worked with acrylic paint or mixed media on canvas. Her images are moody and impressionistic: some could be ocean views and sunsets, while others are more abstract.

Walsh set up a website to showcase her growing body of work. Once the family moved back to Mt. Lebanon in 2021, Walsh leased space on Washington Road, not far from Zzz’s old location, to use as a studio and gallery.

She also began working on commission, allowing clients a chance to be involved in the creation of a work.

“Sometimes people have a vision in their minds of what they want, and they can’t quite find it,” Walsh noted. Or they may see a Walsh painting that they love but would prefer a different color scheme. Walsh works with clients to bring their vision to life, whether it’s a painting or a wall mural. The results can be found in homes throughout Mt. Lebanon and the Pittsburgh area.

Closer to home, Walsh has recreated her Florida chalk art project for the Foster playground, delighting students. She closed her Washington Road location at the end of last year and changed her business name from Inkprint Studios to Heidi Walsh Fine Art. Most of her current work is commissioned, although she continues to paint and create ink illustrations on paper. Several galleries show her work, and she hopes to continue exhibiting at the annual Mt. Lebanon Artists’ Market.

When she’s not working, Walsh enjoys family dinners at Little Tokyo and Totopo. “My dad and I just had a beer and a burger at The Saloon,” she added.

Though she has succeeded in making her passion her profession, Walsh said she gets her most important validation from Evelyn, now 18, and Adele, 14.

“I know I’ve done a really good job with a painting when my daughters go, ‘Oh my God!’ That’s when I know I’ve done it right.”