Summer Newsletter

News From Helen's Studio

Happy Midsummer to all Northern Hemisphere pals!

The foxgloves are finally out and I hope this finds you well and ready for some sunshine, picnics and daisy chains. As I write, Mike and the boys are setting up our paddling pool. This normally happens a lot earlier in the year but anyone who’s been to Britain recently will know how cold and wet it’s been.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been drawing a lot, mainly with neocolor pastels and have felt productive. I’ve also started a big commission on 18th C plants and have been to Paris and back, developing my travel journaling skills. I’ve also been to an incredible earth pigment workshop. So it’s been a busy time!

a fascinating door in Paris and some earth pigments from the workshop in Huddersfield

Here’s a little (very unedited) chatty update from my studio desk, if you’d like to listen/watch to this in the background, while you’re working on a project…

And sharing a little flip through the last few days of my larger, play Pith sketchbook explaining where I got some inspiration for this week’s visual journal which I’ll be sending out tomorrow.

LITTLE BITS and BOBS

Little treats to enjoy…

• Homemade elderflower cordial. It’s the best.

• This Chronicle Books edition of Little Women which I received for my birthday. It has lots of letters in it, hand folded, it’s so cute!

• A wonderful conversation on overcoming self-doubt and continuing to show up on the Creative.Inspired.Happy podcast with author Pierce Brown, interviewed by Evelyn Skye.

• YouTube video by Marie Noelle Wurm “The Power of Ugly Art”. I say more on this in the video above, it was such an interesting challenge.

• I cut my fringe (“bangs”) myself this morning to celebrate this solstice. We’ll see how long I can keep it.

• YouTube video by The National Gallery on Vincent van Gogh “The colour and vitality of his work” . His art, his dedication, the heartache.

a double spread in my Pith sketchbook

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A BIT OF NEWS

As seen or heard in the video (so if you’re more of a reader this is for you)…

• Come September I am hoping to launch a club here on Substack. I can’t wait to tell you more about it… very soon.

• In our home, 2 of our 3 boys are moving up schools, the youngest to primary school, the eldest to high school. This does mean more time for me to get deep into projects in the studio which I’m so thrilled about. I also want to be available for my boys after their school days so I’ll be pretty strict about no work in the evenings and weekends (I hope I can stick to this).

• Last week I went to a wonderful workshop in Huddersfield with earth pigment experts Ed and Lucy from The Old Mill up in Scotland. It was everything I had hoped for and more. All the guests there were giddy like it was Christmas Eve, we were so excited to finally get our hands dirty making earth pigments.

• I mentioned in the video the commission at Epworth Rectory linked to John Wesley’s Primitive Physics, it’s been such a source of blissful joy! I will update you on this later this year and the actual launch is planned for spring 2025.

• For a while now, I’ve been considering sending 4 newsletters per year (instead of 12), one per season, starting today. This would replace the 1st of the month newsletters. I’ve been feeling this year (especially since I’ve been keeping up a weekly visual journal) that it can be tricky to get all this sent out. And yet a newsletter is wonderful to revisit work, share launches or dates of workshops or retreats so I’d still want to continue but just 4 times a year at the change of seasons. This way we can continue to celebrate the seasons and months of the year. Let me know what you think.

  

  Drawing and breakfast in Paris, just before jumping onto the train back.
  

As always, thanks for reading and watching. Your support means so much to me and my art practise. I would love to hear from you. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, I wish you a cozy day with lovely woollen fair isle socks.

Have a great summer! xx