Retro Swim

January 17, 2015

vintage swim cap illustration by tracy hetzel

vintage swim cap illustration by tracy hetzel

vintage swim cap illustration by tracy hetzel

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Words to live by!

Christmas Leftovers

January 8, 2015

christmas illustration by tracy hetzelChristmas Illustration by Tracy Hetzelcommissioned christmas illustration by tracy hetzelNew Year's Eve illustration by tracy hetzel

I was actually too busy this holiday season to care for my blog (sorry about that blog)… I guess busy is good right? So here they are, a bit late… Christmas 2014’s illustrations. Happy New Year everyone!

Santa Baby

December 18, 2014

fashion illustration by tracy hetzel

Come and trim my Christmas tree with some decorations bought at Tiffany’s;
I really do believe in you;
Let’s see if you believe in me…

The Season of Giving

December 15, 2014

presents chair fashion illustration by tracy hetzel

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston S. Churchill

Merry Christmas to Me!

December 9, 2014

She Magazine Christmas Issue  cover illustration by Tracy Hetzel

She Magazine Illustrations by Tracy Hetzel

Christmas is just around the corner and it’s anticipation is overwhelming. But yesterday, for me, Christmas came early. This year, She Magazine gave me the great honor of being on the cover and featured throughout their Christmas Issue. When I opened that package and saw a giant stack of glossy and glorious magazines with my art on it, well, Wow!

What a wonderful warm and fuzzy feeling! Eggnog for everyone!

She Magazine Facebook Page

She Magazine On-line

Wolfe Island

December 3, 2014

wolfe island novel cover by tracy hetzel

So honored to be commissioned to do this beautiful cover art for the novel Wolfe Island by Giulia Torre. Working with the author was a pleasure. Her description of Meredith, her heroine, and how she was to be portrayed on the cover, well… I just adore the way it turned out. So here’s a synopsis of the book. I hope you all rush to Amazon and purchase yourself a copy!

Set against a lush American landscape in 1893, Wolfe Island is the story of two people deeply connected to the region and to each other.

What is Meredith Wells to think when her erstwhile friend, Tristan Wolfe, son of a Russian shipping tycoon, fails to reappear for five full years after a childhood of island summers spent together? Until his yacht capsizes her skiff, she assumed he had forgotten her.

Meredith is an accomplished botanical illustrator sketching New York’s native island plants. Wolfe’s return brings intimate memories to the surface, and with them an expansion of her artistic repertoire. Wolfe and Meredith’s reunion is a spectacle, but nothing compared to the accidental circulation of her anatomical studies. Of him.

Meredith is convinced her titillating drawings will lead to a lucrative career, and even progress the woman’s movement. If only she could persuade Wolfe to assist with her scientific rendering of his anatomic detail.

But an entourage of city socialites have arrived to witness the unveiling of the most spectacular plan the region has ever seen…an international seaway that will introduce big, brilliant ships to the river. Wolfe is prepared to sacrifice everything to see the seaway realized.

Reunited with the young woman he has known since she was hip high, Wolfe is faced with a choice: a marriage contract with the wealthy daughter of his business partner, one that would secure the seaway and prosperity for the only place he’s ever called home. Or succumb to the maddening distractions of a native girl who plays baseball in bicycling pants and swears like a sailor.

Can Meredith persuade him to bank diamonds on the water?

Happy Thanksgiving

November 27, 2014

portrait illustration by tracy hetzel

Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go.

Every year on Thanksgiving my mother calls me when the Rockettes are on, dancing away in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year… we will be in the same room, can’t wait! And as I wait for the parade to start I will dream of the upcoming scrumptious dinner that wouldn’t be complete without my mother’s kapusta, yum!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!thanksgiving illustration by tracy hetzel