About

Hi, I am Helen Armstrong.

I was born and raised in the UK, I lived in the South East, moved to Essex and Bedfordshire. I now live in Guisborough in North Yorkshire in a home with views over the hills and access to the moors.

I have always enjoyed drawing and painting, but I was encouraged to pursue a different career other than art, so after many years I have now retired and can spend my time pursuing and creating art at my leisure.

LANDSCAPES

I joined a local art group, the Priory Art Society (PAS) and attended one of their workshops. During that workshop by Tracey Kuprianka I was taught how to paint a wonderful landscape. I could choose my own colour palette, iconic structure and local buildings of my own choice. So I painted the Guisborough Priory on the hilltop. I asked Tracy if I could put my painting in the PAS Spring Exhibition for sale and she was pleased I had asked and said ‘yes’.

Coming next year – I enjoyed painting the landscape, so I have decided to paint a few more pieces inspired by Van Gogh, Clarice Cliff and Freda Kahlo colour schemes. My daughter lives in Bournmoor, and requested a purple, gold and pink based colour scheme, so this will have the Penshaw monument on the hill top.

PORTRAITS

I have joined many portrait workshops online, and the majority of the time I was given a photograph of a person to copy stage by stage. These workshops taught me about different techniques and materials. Artists I have met say it is ‘good to copy’ because you learn so much about techniques from this method.

I have also read one of Julia Cameron’s books and I started doing ‘Morning Pages’ and ‘Memoirs’. Over the 12 week course I came to analyse my life and what inspires me.

With respect to portraits I feel inspired to use delicate pale colours, misty atmospheres, feminine themes, floaty materials, velvets and silks. Adding some metallic paint, Celtic patterns, yoga, symbolism though flowers, nature and spirituality. I want to try and put all these elements into pieces of my artwork.

NATURE

I love going out for walks in the countryside and I live in a home in Guisborough, North Yorkshire where I have lovely views of the hills and close access to the moors. I am very grateful for where I live. Nature refreshes us.

I went to Teesside University Fine Art Summer course and discovered printing. This led to making friends and setting up the ‘Creative Clusters’ group. We swap ideas and encourage each other and hence we discovered geli printing. I was proud to be accepted to exhibit a print in the Teesside Fringe Exhibition this year and the Spring and Autumn Priory Art Society Exhibitions.

In this collection of artwork I have created seasonal prints. I was amazed at the details captured from a fallen leaves from country walks or flowers from my garden. I then found I like to add a shimmer to the artwork with gold and silver paints. I hope you like them as much as I do, I have called this collection ‘Nature’.

The most recent additions to my Nature collection are some beautiful Koi fish.

Through my art I have been supported by close friends and have made many lovely connections with others who love art too.