Blake Henkel

My name is Blake Henkel and I was diagnosed with autism when I was three years old. I am not very conversational, so I let my brush strokes speak for me a lot of the time. I am 31 years old now and I have been painting since I was 10 years old. I started taking art lessons at The Arc of High Point, when I began to be homeschooled. When I was in public school, I hated art and would break crayons and markers and throw them, because that was all they ever gave me—-it wasn’t until I was handed a paint brush that I began to really enjoy creating art.

I like to paint with bold, bright colors and frequently, animals are my subjects. Most of the time, I end up painting only a portion of the animal or subject because I just focus on those parts instead of the whole subject.

I don’t like to let autism hold me back from achieving the things I want to accomplish. I like to let my canvas speak for me, to tell the story of what I see in the world and around me. Despite my challenges with verbal communication, my paintings give viewers a glimpse into how I view the world.

I want to continue to paint, learn new painting and art styles, meet friends who enjoy art and give my mom daily challenges with getting paint out of my clothes! It’s only fun when it gets messy!–and I want to sell more art work and raise awareness about autism!

Website: ARTBYBLAKEHENKEL.COM

Facebook: FACEBOOK.COM/ARTBYBLAKEHENKEL

Instagram: instagram.com/artbyblakehenkel/

Image is of an original painting of an owl's partial head and face, painted in broad strokes with pastel colors of violet, lilac pink, amber, alabaster, baby blues, ivories, yellows and other pale colors. The owl's eye has a striking black pupil with amber iris surrounding it staring ahead and a sharp charcoal colored beak set against an indigo background.
“WHOOOOO” Acrylic on Canvas (16″x20″) 2017
This is an image of an original painting of a field of wild flowers set against a sky of lavender, baby blue and carnation pink. In the foreground appears wild flowers of teal blue, canary yellow, crimson and indigo with emerald green and forest green leaves.
“Purple Skies” Acrylic on Canvas (16″x20″) 2024
Image is of a smiling young man with blond hair, wearing a burgundy and indigo striped shirt and blue jeans. He stands in front of a wall bearing 5 art canvases of his art work. The art work is of a coral pink partial pig face and snout, a chocolate brown cow partial face, a jet black and alabaster partial cow face, both with blue backgrounds. A partial snow white horse face, with flowing alabaster mane with sky blue accents. A field of abstract wild flowers, appearing as circles in shades of coral, pink, lavender, indigo, amber, crimson with bright green leaves, set against a sky of coral pinks and azure blues.
Blake & his artwork.