Flowers from the Garden and Passion Fruit

Objects preserve a wealth of significant emotion and connection, serving as physical embodiments of identity. The narratives of these objects project a sense of self while sharing stories of lives lived in other places and times. They hold a physical representation of experience, speaking of familial ties and the story of who we were, who we are, and where we have been.
The featured flora comes from my garden, a space I have nurtured from a rocky cow paddock. Each plant is imbued with personal significance. I hail from a long line of passionate gardeners, and the plants in my garden are often chosen as tributes to friends and ancestors.
I painted a series of still life which celebrate my home and those I have and do love.
This painting was made in our dining room, the first to be made outside the bathroom. The flowers in the vase are all from my garden. I planted roses as a reminder of my parents and Grandad and I am still surprised roses grow in Queensland. The pink pentas remind me of Peter Carpenter in Bermuda. I painted in his gorgeous garden at "Hideaway" during my first years living in Bermuda. Peter had started the garden from scratch with some gifted pentas which had produced roots in their vase and were then successfully transplanted. The modest penta started his gardening journey.
I was so surprised I could grow buddleia known as butterfly bush in the UK, I love the scent and dinky flowers. The myrtle makes me think of those novels set in the far south of the USA, all languid ladies, swamps, mint juleps and parasols.
The fruit in the small bowl is passion fruit, and these were grown in my garden. I usually miss harvesting any as the possums invariably get to them first. I tasted my first passion fruit in the tiny settlement of Wallilabou on St. Vincent in the Caribbean. I was sailing with David's parents and friends, which sounds so glamorous but was not and is a long story. After we sailed into the bay at Wallilabou, the eponymous Jules led the group to a local waterfall and swimming hole and appeared with passionfruit. Passionfruit seemed like an imaginary, exotic and forbidden fruit. I was flabbergasted by their ordinary brown outside, the wet seedy inside, the perfumed scent and the surprisingly sharp taste. Jules has been featured in an artwork before.
The Poinciana tree in our garden started life as a $1 stumpy tube stock from Closeburn Nursery. I often bought the $1 plants from the stand-by-the-road while I was getting our garden established. I had no idea that it was a poinciana tree. It is now huge and provides essential shade. I have a particular fondness for poincianas. On the same sailing trip to the Windward Islands, where I met Jules, the islands were dotted with the red of the poinciana blossom. It was the first time I had seen them in flower.

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Helen has been a practising artist since completing an MA in Textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a full-time artist and tutor, working and teaching from her purpose-built studio set on 9 rural acres in Cedar Creek, northside of Brisbane.She lived and worked in Bermuda for many years before settling in SE Queensland. Her work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions in the USA, Canada, The Caribbean, the UK, Bermuda, Europe, Russia and Australia, it can be found in private, corporate and public collections.

Helen's art is bursting with exuberant colour and texture realised in acrylic on board.Her work begins with observational drawings on location developed into lushly layered paintings in the studio. Her work explores genius loci, seeking to find echoes and connections to other places and spaces. Her love of landscape and gardens nurtures ancestral connection and is a central theme of her practice. Her textile training is evident in the marks, pattern, texture and colour of her work.

She completed a year-long artist-in-residence at a local flower farm in May 2024. Her time at the farm produced a major body of work of plein air landscapes and botnical studio paintings. She spent the year drawing and painting on location. Her drawings were developed into richly textured paintings in the studio.

Helen's practice is realised in acrylic on ply. The majority of her work is finished with 3 coats of gloss medium. This enhances the complex layers of paint and colour in the work. If you would like a stain finish please message Helen and she can apply a soft wax to render a satin finish.