From sculpting young minds through art to creating sculptures born from life’s most valuable lessons, Liezel Human is determined to live a vibrantly colourful life – no matter what it might throw at her.
From her early years, Liezel Human had an interest in creative expression. Making gift cards, clothes, jewellery, baking cakes, painting murals, arranging flowers, ballet dancing, and photography always felt like second nature to her.
“Art and creativity make me feel alive – I simply wouldn’t be able to exist without it. It feeds my soul, takes my mind off worries, and helps me process emotions on a much deeper level. I see beauty in everything around me, especially nature. Small things like tiny ice crystals, water drops on leaves, sunsets, rainbows, and all the little insects with their amazing colours, flowers, and birds always catch my eye. At the core of my being, I’m just a little child in an adult body.”
And as someone who chooses to see the world through rose-coloured glasses, Liezel realised there’s only one thing better than artistic expression – instilling passion in others.
Having always had a love for children, she decided to become a nursery – and later a primary – school teacher.
“The best part was seeing the pride on the children’s faces after they’d created an art piece that they never thought they’d be able to make. Later on, I started learning music theory to be able to teach it. Before I knew it, I was doing the choreography, scriptwriting, concert costumes, props, backdrops, and rehearsals for the school concerts. Seeing the joy it brought the kids when they were on stage was priceless.”
For two decades Liezel poured her heart and soul into teaching. Barely past the halfway mark, she received the news no one wants to hear. She had Stage 3B Lobular breast cancer.
“At that stage, the cancer had already spread to my lymph nodes under my arm. My children were 3 and 7 years old at the time. Since my dad passed away when I was 8 years old, the first thought that came to mind was – What will happen to my children? I knew what it felt like to lose a parent at such a young age, so I had to do everything in my power to beat this.”
“And so it was my children that kept me motivated through my treatment. After chemo, multiple surgeries, and radiation, the doctors informed me the cancer had spread to my lungs. To say it was the worst time of my life is an understatement. After some more chemo – in the form of tablets the second time around – I was officially clean. I now go for annual scans and tests and, by the grace of God, the disease has remained stable.”
During this time Liezel adopted the phrase Amor fati, meaning love of fate, as her life motto. She explains the phrase as the practice of accepting and embracing everything that happens in your life, including suffering and loss, as good or, at the very least, necessary.
She learned to focus on the positive, and the solution – rather than the problem. She always says to her children; ‘You can let the thoughts into the kitchen, but don’t serve them tea’. Couple this with finding joy and gratitude every day, and you’re much more likely to overcome any challenge life might throw your way.
It’s exactly this kind of go-getter mentality that carried Liezel through Covid, too. Instead of becoming a statistic, she looked for ways to rise above her circumstances and decided to pursue the art world full-time..
“I started doing some large paintings and got a couple of commissions from friends. I have always loved clay sculptures and decided to try making small sculptures from air-dry clay. Between orders for paintings and sculptures, I managed to generate a small income to cover some of our expenses during lockdown.”
Her style grew to become distinctively whimsical and enchanting, perfectly suited to illustrate a world filled with wonder and possibilities. And, before she knew it, her business, Sparkle with Liezel, was blooming!
“Most of my sculptures are born from a deep place. A life lesson or message of hope or love that I would like to send out into the universe. I would like to believe that they send out positive vibrations that will have some sort of healing effect on the person buying them. I often add wording to my smaller creations and my bigger, more premium sculptures all have names and some sort of story, poem, or quote explaining the inspiration behind it.”
Today she finds great joy in creating mixed media, water paint, and alcohol ink paintings, dot art, and air-dry sculptures and, offering workshops in all of these art forms.
“My goal is to continue inspiring people and send a message of love and hope into the world through my art. I am constantly working on improving my health, being a better mom to my kids – 16-year-old Luben and 12-year-old Danté, and wife to my hubby, Jacques. I will forever be grateful for this amazing life I’ve been given.”
Details: Follow @Sparke with Liezel on Facebook, and @sparklewithliezel and @liezel_humanart on Insta.
5 Essential tips for beginner artists
- Don’t expect immediate results. It takes a long time for people to start noticing you and appreciate your work. Some people never will, and that is ok. Eventually, you will find your tribe.
- An art degree or many years of training does not automatically make you a good artist. That being said, don’t just assume that you are great at what you are doing. The world, products, and ideas change all the time. Never stop learning and improving your craft.
- Don’t copy other artists or try to compete with them. Find your own unique style and stay true to yourself.
- Follow artists that you admire on social media, learn from them, get inspiration from them, and then create art from that place of inspiration.
- There are thousands of free articles, YouTube videos and social media pages where you can learn new techniques. Google is your best friend. Use it to your advantage. Sites like Domestika also sell good quality, inexpensive art courses.
7 Beginner tips for air-dry clay
- Buy good quality clay. You will not get good results with the cheapest clay.
- Don’t work in a room that is too hot or windy. It will dry out your clay.
- When it comes to adding water to soften your clay, less is more!
- Building a structure to support your clay project will save you a lot of time and effort.
- When it comes to bigger projects, work in stages. Let each layer dry before adding clay for the next layer.
- Sandpaper is your biggest friend. After drying your project, sand it to get a smooth finish before painting.
- Don’t make any parts too thin as they will break. Use wire inside to support thin parts like arms and legs.
- Use clear varnish to protect your sculpture after painting.
10 Must-know painting hacks
- Find reference photos of what you would like to paint.
- Use a grid when sketching your drawing before painting.
- When sketching on canvas, use a colour pencil instead of an HB pencil. It’s easier to erase.
- Move away from your sketch or painting or take a photo and look at it. It’s amazing how many mistakes you pick up if you look at it from a different perspective.
- Add finer details to your painting or sculpture with permanent pens and pencils. It is much easier than trying to do it with a fine brush.
- Buy good quality acrylic paint and paper.
- Buy different sizes of brushes.
- Don’t leave brushes in the water jar, clean them and place them upside down in a jar to dry.
- Practice mixing colours, blending and adding shadows and highlights.
- Spray your painting or sculpture with clear varnish to set any pen and pencil work.
Text: ALANICKA LOTRIET. • Photographer: HILDA MANS. • Make-up: HEIDIE FOURIE. • Hair: JANINE LATEGAN.
