Sculpture at Swansea - Helen then decided that she liked painting.  Went back to Derby and completed a fine art degree. 

When her husband was diagnosed with a severe condition Helen had to downsize and lost her kilns. Helen went into healthcare and worked through Covid then found painting again and particularly likes plein air painting.

It wasn’t until Helen found oils that she became professional. This was about 5 years ago. Big dramatic skies are her passion. Using a split pallet, one side for warm and the other cool. 

 

Colours used: 

Titanium White (zinc dries slowly and is prone to cracking) 

Naples yellow 

Jaune Brillant

Cerulean blue hue

Kings blue light

French Ultramarine blue

Cadmium hue (red)

Geranium lake 

Chinese white 

Titanium Buff

Payne’s grey

Blue pthalo primare

 

Helen uses a Linseed oil and liquin solvent free 50/50 mix. To start she mixed this with white 50/50 which allows the paint to move freely. This was applied loosely to the sky then brushed in. The board is slightly tinted with 3 coats of gesso and tint of light blue acrylic. Tape was applied for an horizon line and because she likes skies, Helen puts this very low down on the board. Tonight she was using a picture of a stormy seascape to inspire rather than copy. Having the base layer makes the paint really easy to move. Paint was applied straight from the tube using a pallet knife. This is used horizontally. A tissue was used for blending. 

Helen said it was important to let your clouds run off the edges. She used a cheap wide brush that is very thin and therefore ideal for gentle stroking of the paint. Paint is added in layers usually over several days. 

When painting in plein air, Helen will paint ‘like a normal person’, e.g. will premix colours on the pallet and look to build up starting with darks, then mid-tones. 

To ‘oil out’ you can add linseed oil to the whole board and then your paint will move. The paint’s normal consistency is that of cream cheese. When working in plein air some people use a solvent to make the paint thinner and it dries really quickly. 

With oils it’s possible to wipe it off if you don’t like it. With oil you start dark and work toward the light. Because oil stays wet you can have a few paintings on the go at one time. 

Helen added a very subtle layer of yellow at the horizon and switched to a 1” brush to have more control of the blending. 

Helen prefers to work on canvas because of its better yield. 

For brushes, many say you need hogs hair but Helen prefers the synthetic brushes for the softer work that she does. She gets though a lot of blending brushes. More expensive brushes are used for plein air or a la prima still life work. With a pallet knife, look for one that has plenty of flex to it. Remember to wipe each time before going into a new colour. 

A big painting will take weeks or months to do, with some layers being left to dry in between. 

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Using a painting started earlier with the sky dry, Helen started on the part below the horizon. Using the pallet knife, Payne’s grey was added to represent the landscape. A Rosemary brush was then used to blend the paint that had been applied. A lighter grey mix was made by adding some white. This was used to represent wet sand in the foreground. King’s blue was added to Payne’s grey and white. 

Oils lend themselves really well to watery pictures. To make the paint more viscous, for example to represent foam, you can add a bit of thinner medium to allow this. 

Helen told us that the more you observe your subject the better you will get to know it, the better you will be able to draw and paint it. 

You can keep paint in a pallet in a freezer and then take it out with you. After a few days the oil may be dry on top but still wet underneath. 

Helen said she found the process quite meditative and we agreed it was relaxing to watch as well. 

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Meg Grant