© 2022/25 by HelenzArt2021. Helen Williams
HelenzArt 2021
ABOUT
Who is Helenzart.
Paused in play, to squat as kids do and watch a busy ants nest moving eggs to safety under a beaming sun. Born at the begining of the 1960's, with no other neighbours, she grew up in the solitude of the fields and trees of the countryside. Shaping an abiding passion for the natural world. When weather stopped outdoor play she would take out her pencils and pens and draw from those observations or pick up a book.
Educated through a small village school to a large comprehensive Helen continued her drawing and sketching gaining an 'A' level.
With her mother leaving home in her early teens and her brother, eager for the bright city lights, leaving at a similar time, she took to helping her Dad more around the home, on leaving school she went to work rather than follow a career in art.
Finding love and marrying a good man, to become Mrs Helen Williams in her early twenties, and start her life with a serving soldier. Life followed its course. 2 children and running a home, and working kept her busy.
Following the death of their youngest, a son aged 28, life and living became more precious.
Now calling Lancashire, U.K. her home, she and her husband Dave and 3 dogs live in a semi rural area. Their daughter lives nearby with her husband and two boys. Helens sharing of her love of the natural world with her grandsons brings deep joy, as does painting in her studio at the end of the garden.
More about my process
All my paintings come from a lifetime of watching and experiencing the infinite variety and energy of our natural world. Whether that is from the world in my view or from the inner sight of heart and soul. A connection that was awakened through the opening of grief. There is an expressing through the layering in paint of elements to create a wholeness of image that is without a narrative. Yet once complete there can be a reading of what is held there. As with any book time needs to be spent with it to allow it to transport me.
Just as a book is so much more than the words on a page, these images are so much more than simply paint on canvas. Once completed I can feel into the symbolism of those elements. The forms and shapes, the grasses and trees and their relationship in the landscape. The moon and her phases, elemental and ever present. The colours used in a restricted palette and their combinations or the glorious riot of the whole paintbox.
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A combining of ancient lore and modern concepts to bring together that which helps me to make sense of, and to balance, the world in my view.
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Images that may take many moments to create and yet are a timeless moment of space. That space between one breath and the next in which to still the busy-ness of thinking in the modern mind to contemplate and reflect.
We are living in a fast paced and quickly changing world and we are hearing the buzz words these days of being 'mindful' and of taking 'self care'. Yet what does that mean? What could that look and feel like?
​For me, being mindful starts with paying attention to me and my inner workings. How I am feeling and the thoughts those feelings can bring about in my daily life. The paradox is that mindfulness can actually be a mind-less-ness. A stopping of the thinking in the head-mind and listening more to the heart-mind. That well-spring of emotional content and connection to what keeps us human in an electronically centered world. Meditation is one mode of reaching that pausing, yet for me, simply sitting still in nature does the same thing. We all have little glimmers of that pausing, when we become engrossed in doing something, especially if its something we enjoy, or a physical task where we have to settle into what our bodies are doing. ​
When I paint, I suspend that thinking mind. I sink into the spaces between breaths, between heart beats, where there is a stillness of solitude and serenity in which to listen to what arises to be painted. The why is to bring that sense of space to a canvas. To allow the thinking mind to rest, offering me and you, the viewer, opportunity to breathe in respite and quietitude.​
What do I listen to? I listen to how this painting wants to be expressed. Allowing my body to become a conduit, connected to my soul space, to bring forth an image. Brush and paint, extensions of being creative. Working in layers, each a complete image that will become more than the sum of its parts. Energetic sweeps and swooshes, more considered detail. Colour, intuitively selected to bring a depth of nuanced meaning to the theme.
Painting for me is something that is as essential as breathing. It hasn't always been that way, but family circumstances that flipped my known world upside down have brought about a change.With all the potential busy-ness of day to day life, the demands of survival to have a roof over head, food on the table. To cater to family needs of young and old alike. To service work commitments and friendships. All takes its toll. All potentially reducing the time we spend on loving and nourishing ourselves, our self care, our soul enjoyment in and of the natural world that is the essence of us. Leaving us with only a few days of holiday in which to unwind and take a deep breathe of freedom.
You recall that deep sigh we have when reaching a holiday destination? Or even when we arrive home after a hard journey, or difficult day. ​With my paintings you can experience a respite. Somewhere in the comfort of your home to rest your busy mind and take a breath.​​
This is me
The Studio
Inside
I'm winning by living.
For me there have been many successes over the years. I'm still married to the same man, our wedding in 1983, not all plain sailing, yet here we are. To have raised two children, who came to be exceptional, independent adults. To have survived the sudden loss of our son, Gavin, through a blood clot on the lungs in 2018. An embracing of all the emotions that brings to the surface and to become a space where others take their own time to grieve in their own way. That event that has very much been a catalyst to coming back to myself. To see with survivors eyes all the past that shaped who I thought I was but now know I am not. Yet there is still a reshaping going on within, and that will continue for the rest of my days. A growing in confidence of the opportunities and possibilities that come my way. The almost daily practicing and playing with paints, Taking over the conservatory with all my art paraphenalia. Finding that this is an abiding passion that offers those opportunities and possibilities to help others. Shaping a confidence to put my work out on show to others. To that end, I joined an on line art group on face book. Then as I felt that more was possible I joined United Art Space, exploring through those 7 keys to become more defined in who and what I am as an artist and where and how to move it to more than simply a hobby. All supported by my husband, Dave, and the rest of my family and friends.
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At the turn of the millenium I was involved with the creation of A Parish Plan for the local Parish Council. A document about moving forwards into a new century. All art works with in were created by me. The published plan was then delivered to every household in the Parish.
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2021 was the year the wish to have my own studio space and the idea of a log cabin in the garden shaped and solidified and, after nearly a year, it came to fruition in February 2022.
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I entered a local art competition in 2021 held by our local MP Katherine Fletcher for her constituents. She was looking for an image that represented our local area and what could be lost through climate change. To my huge surprise my image was chosen. A copy of this image was then presented by Katherine to the Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma in his role as President Designate at the COP26 Climate Summit 2021.
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