Back to School Week

It's back to school week here in Derbyshire which means one thing.....it's the Wirksworth Festival at the weekend! In Derbyshire we are good at making the summer last and this year I will be exhibiting at both the Wirksworth and the Melbourne Festivals.

I've had a good break over the summer (more to tell of that in other posts) and now the boys are back at school I am getting my wares ready for the weekend. There'll be special festival prices on prints and originals so come and see me at the Wild Cherry Bed and Breakfast up the very steep Greenhill. It's worth the walk as I will be exhibiting alongside Tracy Cuppitt and our host is a cafe stop for festival visitors. From up there the views are amazing, not too dissimilar to this....

Then it's a quick pitstop at home before the Melbourne Festival Art Trail on the 17th and 18th of September where I will be at 49 Church Street. Don't forget to buy your trail guide from one of the sellers in the village centre. Fingers crossed that the sun keeps shining! 

I look forward to seeing you!

Memory Lane

When I turned forty I felt a need to understand myself. I felt the need to look back, to ask questions and to find the pieces of me. Last year I read a book called 'The Rescue Man' by Anthony Quinn. It was a book I wouldn't have usually chosen for myself ( I read it with my book group). I found myself transported to Liverpool in two tales that intertwine. My own tale begins in Liverpool, the city of my birth, though I moved away when my parents moved south when I was two. So I have only abstract memories of the place I was born and no solid connections there now that my grandparents have passed away. And yet in reading of Liverpool in the 'Rescue Man', I felt a yearning to visit the place that I had been born to. So at Easter we had a family break there and I walked in the footsteps of my parents and grandparents.

The house my parents built in Liverpool

Mersey Avenue

I have asked myself what relevance this trip has had to me and to my work. And it turns out to be about time. I stand at the midpoint of my life, and in journeying alongside my children, I have looked back to my own roots and formative years. I've realised that life speeds up and that time slips away, memories are not solid and my life is not even a blink of an eye in the history of humanity. Somewhere along my journey, I discovered what I am good at and what I love to do. I became 'me'. In choosing to make art (or art choosing to make me) I decided to try to stop time. I decided to stop, to look, to listen and to create something tangible out of the transience of life. My landscape art is about connecting to the earth on which we all stand. It is about capturing a moment. I want others to stop and notice.

Although my work is rooted in nature, I love to travel to cities. I find them stimulating in their architecture, culture and colour. I love art galleries and quirky shops, world food and independent cinemas. Liverpool has them all.

In Liverpool, I found a part of my jigsaw that was missing. I felt very at home. I found the people to be warm and friendly with a sense of humour I recognise in my family. It is a vibrant city that is rich in history and culture. I felt that Liverpool is on her own journey and there is much there to notice.

In waiting

There's a stillness just before Spring bursts forth, and that is where I am, in that stillness. I'm waiting with the trees to put on a fandango of colour! As the days have drawn out I've enjoyed a couple of trips out...to Lincoln and to Oakham to visit galleries (find me at Itch Gallery in Oakham) and to seek out the new.

My bid to give up plastic for lent has led me down some new paths too. I've been enjoying home-made bread and home-made yoghurt. Shopping has become a different experience and I've sought out interesting farm shops and markets. I've also had a deeper appreciation for the handmade and hand mended. It's important to me to create art that is made from the heart with processes that tread lightly on the earth. 

As I have crossed the landscape I have been inspired by the bare trees, layered up. Some conceal what is behind them. Some cast shadows. Some play with the light and create a dance of negative and positive shapes. It has been a fruitful time creatively and I have felt at peace with my creativity.

Looking Through

Midnight Trees

But now I'm looking forward to the growth, the colour and the energy that comes with the longer days. I'm looking forward to being outside soaking it all up. I'll be sharing time in nature and my creative techniques and response to nature on my Summer Sketchbook workshop on Saturday May 21st in Long Eaton. And in July there's my Back to Nature art holiday when you can join me for three idyllic days in the hills! And I've a Mark Making studio day on Saturday June 25th. I hope you can join me!

Over Easter I'm looking forward to getting my seeds planted. I have been shirking my responsibilities on the allotment but already Mr Hallows has some lettuces popping up in the polytunnel. I hope we get some warm days and to be able to get out on some new adventures. I'm taking part in 100 Happy Days to bring my attention to the small, joyful details of my life. There are many but I need reminding to stop, to look, to appreciate. You can follow my #100happydays on Instagram or Facebook where I'm also having a give way!

Visit, and like, my Facebook page to enter the giveaway.

Sunshine and Showers

So Spring is teasing me with sunshine and showers. I can smell the hope in the air and I'm filled with a sense of purpose. The reflective time of winter has fuelled new ideas and I've been scribbling them down in the hope they will come to fruition this coming year.

My creative flow is amazingly balanced at the moment. I find that to be true in Spring and Autumn. They are my favourite seasons because of that balance between night and day, light and dark. I work best then. In the summer I tend to be a bit skittish and high energy and in the winter I feel like someone has switched off all the lights and find it hard to get things done. So the pace just now is just right. I've been enjoying planning my gardening year too. Last year I didn't grow much but found I felt disconnected from nature. This year I have already had my fingers in the soil and planted lettuces and beans in our polytunnel. I'm determined to preserve as much of our crops as possible. I've been challenged by a friend to give up buying plastic for Lent. It has meant a journey of self-discovery and a hunter-gatherer style of shopping as I skit between farm shops, markets and super-markets trying to find unpacked or paper packed goods. It has given me a new drive toward being more self sufficient. This week that has meant making marmalade and pickling onions. You can find my favourite recipes here. There's something wonderful about stacking up jars of coloured produce in the Spring sunshine.

Connecting with nature is fuelling my workshops too. I had such a wonderful day with my students on both the 'Rest with Nature' workshop and 'Spring Sketchbooks'. There was a real sense of enjoyment of process and having time to experiment and try new things. That's what art is all about isn't it?

If you'd like to join me for a workshop, I'll be running a 'Summer Sketchbooks' day on Saturday May 21st and a mixed-media 'Mark Making' day on Saturday June 25th. And don't forget that I'll be running my 'Back to Nature' Art Holiday in July. It'll be a total immersion in beauty and art - a wonderful treat for your creative soul.

Amongst the planning for workshops I'm creating a new series of landscapes. I'm currently exhibiting at the Ferrers Gallery and will be demonstrating my techniques and giving a taster of my workshops on Sunday 6th March between 12 and 3. Come along and say 'hi'!

A Year of Inspiration from Nature

I've been busy getting my workshops planned for 2016 and they are all available to book in my shop and Eventbrite page.

I've planned seasonally inspired workshops throughout the year that will share the techniques and ideas behind my mixed media landscapes. Designed to fit together to give you creative confidence and help you develop your visual language, the days can stand alone or be booked as a set of four.

Book all four workshops together and receive a gift of my 'I am Nature - Working with Nature as Inspiration' CD and a mini print from my range (RRP £25)

Spring Sketchbooks - Saturday February 6th 2016

Mark Making - Saturday June 25th 2016

Evoking the Seasons - Saturday October 1st 2016

Stitch techniques with Paper - Saturday November 12th 2016

The flow of life is ever onward

So it is October (already!) and we are betwixt and between seasons. It has been a fine September of misty mornings and sunny afternoons and I've been absorbing the sun's rays as much as possible. I suffer from seasonal adjustment disorder and so it is a bitter sweet time of year. I love the sense of change of autumn. I love the sense of letting go. I love the rhythm of the days that equal the nights and the sense of sunrise and sunset that keeps a gentle beat to life. But in there I feel the retraction of the sun, the shift to cloudier days, nights drawing in. And so I try to find solace in capturing the memories of late summer, of capturing the sun in my work as a talisman to use on darker days to ward off the dragging greyness that winter can bring. I use the sun in my work to keep a light burning in my soul.

Radiant Light -visit my shop at www.helenhallows.com

And it is that sense of capturing the sun, the autumn trees, the intense palette of reds, yellows and ochres that will inspire my next workshops, 'Shine Like the Sun' on Saturday October 10th in Long Eaton and 'Grow Your Own Art' on Saturday 17th October at Focus Gallery in Nottingham. Using multi media techniques with paint, inks and collage, students will create a collaged block, inspired by the season.

This is me

I am a mixed media artist inspired by the seasons. I find myself in nature.

I run holistic creative workshops to share my processes and offer inspiration for a creative life.

I make painted and collaged art that reflects on how good it is to be alive.

Inspired by eclectic pattern and colour. Blown away by the miracles of life. Made from stardust.

I journal to find my inner voice and I sketch to capture moments of connection to nature.

You can follow my journey on my blog, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Find ways to connect and my prints, products and workshops at www.helenhallows.com

Thanks for joining me. It means everything to have you here!

Grow Your Own Art

I've a whole new program of workshops planned for 2015, the first of which is on Saturday 27th June  and is called 'Grow Your Own Art'. It is the first of a year of workshops connected to the seasons. My work is inspired by the seasons and I feel a strong connection to the seasons. Last year I became disconnected. I suffered a period of creative block. As I gained success with selling my work I had less time for the areas of life that connect me to my soul, for gardening, for walking in nature. There was a lot of doing and not a lot of being. The journey back to myself has seen me falling in love with all those activities that I had forgotten about, or prevented myself from pursuing in the busyness of life. So I have fallen in love again with yoga, with pursuing my spirituality. I have taken the time to reconnect with nature, to embrace it, seek out the abundance of life. And oh, that nourishment has been good for me! As I have filled up on inspiration there has been a gentle sing song from within as new ideas sing forth. I'm currently translating that creative song into new work to show later in the year.

I have discovered that creativity cannot be lived in a 9-5 format. It can't be a 'job' with a clock in and out time. It is a calling from the soul. And answering your soul when you are juggling life can be hard.  In my new workshops I want to share my process for connecting to yourself and your creativity. I want to share my techniques and help you nurture your own visual language and confidence on your creative journey.

The first of these workshops will be inspired by growth. 'Grow Your Own Art' is about growing your creative confidence and expressing that in a collage that is an affirmation of life. You'll create a collaged artwork inspired by summer and the fervent energy of nature.

This workshop is held in Long Eaton, just off junction 25 of the M1. Easily accessible by train or bus. More information on my workshop programme for 2015 is here.

Getting ready

Ive been getting ready for Spring. More than ever I feel a connection to the seasons and through the Winter felt obliged to hibernate! It's been a time of reflection. I've been taking stock of who I am and where I want to be and as these dreams grow with the energy of Spring, I look forward to sharing them.

I am delighted to have had my work included in a watercolour technique book, 'Just Add Watercolour" by Helen Birch. You can have a preview here (I'm at 1min 04 seconds!): 

The image featured 'A Slow Spring' is available to buy as a print in my shop:

A Slow Spring

I'm now on Instagram if you'd like to keep up to date with how I'm seeing the world!

New work

Inspired by a recent trip to Snowshill National Trust property, I've got some new work underway.

I loved the warm palette of ochres and amber with highlights of rich puce pinks and magenta reds. This is the underpainting for a new landscape piece, capturing a layered landscape. I'll build this up with another layer of paint or ink before adding collage and also a layer of stitch.

Back in Stock

I've been restocking my Folksy shop, and it seemed apt to share this image of my print 'Autumn Day'. It was a day just like today, sunny one moment, raining the next and in those blustery moments of glorious late Autumn sunshine, everything seemed to be blown around in gusts of intense colour.