Helen Utsal Fine Art

In my paintings, you will find trees and tall ferns bathed in early morning pink light or the long shadows before nightfall. Expressing the many moods of Nature, with mixed media and oil paint, I explore the forests, lakes and rivers. Hiking and paddling, cherishing the quiet sounds, the wonder, the awe… With my camera and my painter’s mind I mark moments…capture images of the Sun shining, bright chartreuse on stirring leaves and golden reflective moments on the water. I try to convey the earthy scents of moss, and wood, and my sense of awe next to towering conifers. This is a sacred kind of inspiration for me.

As an artist, it is my privilege to witness and reflect the exceptional Canadian landscape that manages to convey both an ancient power and newborn vitality.

 I am drawn to the wonderfully wonky diversity found in nature, and the authenticity of the imperfect. One way I achieve that in my paintings is to contrast the idiosyncratic marks and movement of fluid acrylics with more considered fat brush strokes of oil paint and cold wax. I love the vivid depth of colour oil paint provides and the matte finish and impasto texture of cold wax medium. My paintings are realism-based pieces that leave a little space for the possibility of enchantment.