An artist who lived in a world of colour
Helen Barnard was an abstract landscape artist passionate about the colours of nostalgia and childhood memories. She worked in oil and mixed media, including metal leaf.
Helen's highly pigmented and textured abstract landscapes (oil and mixed media) show in London and selected galleries across the South East of England. Helen's approach was to connect with the natural environment on a much deeper level.
She felt the act of painting allowed her not only to observe landscapes but also to truly connect with the hidden silhouettes, abstract shapes and incredible colours that one might miss at first sight. It really was a voyage of discovery for her.
Helen believed art should play a dynamic part in any space, through vibrant colours or by reflecting light. She was fascinated by intense colour pigment, contrasting textures as well as the way light falls throughout the day.
Her final works were inspired by the holidays of Helen's childhood, typically always spent by the British seaside or in the countryside and filled with memories of anticipation, the excitement of being by the sea with the promise of good weather always seeming a step too far. But in her mind, Helen always saw everything through a lens of heightened sunshine.
Helen's landscapes were always painted with a sensibility of childlike optimism and hope, in a candy palette of peppermints, sherbet lemons and baby pinks, with accents of comforting and shadowy teals and soft nostalgic greys.