Another busy week in my French art studio this week as I complete a large garden painting commission as well as begin an oil painting of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. My elaborate underpaintings have taken a lot of time this week as I use geometric pattern to create a base for my unique landscape paintings. And this week I am heading to the South of France to check out Arles and the home of Van Gogh and Gaugin in their Yellow House, so make sure you subscribe to my channel to see updates of my art history tour this week.

Beatriz Milhazes is a Brazilian artist with an exhibition on currently at Tate St Ives (until September 2024). I am particularly drawn to her paintings because of the similarities I see in my own work. Milhazes' studio is in Rio de Janeiro and as such she is influenced by the landscape around her and the botanical gardens of Rio de Janeiro.

Open Art Studio in Alston this Bank holiday weekend. I am opening the doors to The Old Police Station to show a range of large abstract landscapes as well as small original art works and limited edition art prints too. Some of my most popular paintings are now prints so this is not to be missed if you can make it.

We will be opening the doors again to The Old Police Station on Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th and Monday 26th August to show you an exhibition of smaller works from 2019 to my most recent works. There will be huge offers and discounts for subscribers to my mailing list so please don’t miss it, as well as this painting being on sale and show for the first time.

What a whirlwind of a week I’ve had this week! With one painting finished, I’ve found time to visit art galleries and see other peoples amazing art work in person. I've been to Rheged in The Lake District, as well as The Gallery in The Hills, otherwise known as the Dennis Kilgallon Gallery. I have also travelled down to London to visit CasildArt Gallery in Connought Street, to see my painting Crossing Over, in an exhibition there as part of a celebration of the recent International Women's Day. The exhibition EmpowerHer: Creativity, Courage and Magical Thinking runs until 24th March. Please visit if you can. My painting ‘Oxygen’ is also there, in reserve.

A very varied week this week. I have been out seeking landscape inspiration for my next painting along the beautiful River Nent in Cumbria as well as framing my large abstract painting called Somewhere In Between and smaller abstract paintings that are now finished, which are all looking fabulous in their Farrow and Ball Winbourne White frames! These smaller pieces are definitely Affordable Art, due to their size and would also make great gifts for an art lover. I have also been stretching canvases ready to start my next painting based on the River Nent and finishing off a couple of small experimental pieces, and experimenting with pattern as a structure to help with composition, also experimental, in readiness for this next painting.

I explore the Church of the Paraclete at Kirkhaugh in Cumbria, the only church with that name and the only one with a 'Fleche' Spire, which translates to 'Arrow'. As I am interested in the piercing of the space in between earth and sky, this seemed a fantastic subject for my first abstract landscape painting of 2024. Using a fluorescent pattern to fill the space between top and bottom, I have then begun to paint over this using sketchbooks and photographs from the church as a starting point, in mainly greens and reds. Additionally, I have been preparing some Limited edition prints for Rydal Mount and Gardens, which re-opens on 8th February.

This week I travel back from France to my studio in Cumbria, and use the travelling time to think and plan some ideas for my next set of large abstract paintings which will be based on the North Pennines. I am having an exhibition in July at the Dennis Kilgallon Gallery and these paintings will be painted specifically for the exhibition. Of course, if anyone wants to buy one before the exhibition, that will be fine! I hope you like what I've been up to! Please subscribe to my channel if you do!

Sketchbook work and thinking time this week @helenalicejohnsonartist as I begin to explore in more detail my next series of paintings. I am interested in children's landscape painting, when they paint the sky and the ground, but then leave a space in between! Join me as I look at how I might use this in my large abstract paintings, as well as Islamic pattern and of course - fluorescent paint!