Helen Glassford 'Every Waking Moment'

HELEN GLASSFORD Every Waking Moment

Scotland, with its breath-taking terrains and diverse weather affects many people in many ways, but no-one does it impact more than landscape artist Helen Glassford. One of the country’s most captivating and thought-provoking artists, Helen captures the soul of the Scottish environment through her painting.

After studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee in the late 1990s, followed by a Masters of Fine Art, Helen settled in Newport-on-Tay in 2003 where she lives and works to this day. Having built a strong following for her work, Helen’s career continues to go from strength to strength and she has received a number of deserved awards and accolades over the years.

For Helen, landscape painting goes far beyond the portrayal of the physical landscape we all see to something much deeper. Having been brought up in the Lake District and exposed to the great outdoors from an early age by her parents, Helen has always felt emotionally connected to the landscape. Whether it be the dramatic weather she experiences close to her studio in North-East Fife, or the remote wilderness of North-West of Scotland and its’ Islands, Helen thrives on being out in the environment, drawn to some of the most inaccessible and isolated areas, the landscape offering a sense of connection, comfort and reassurance.

Using several different techniques to bring together the sensory and visual world, Helen’s work will sometimes take on a more abstract expressionist approach. Other times being a more precise and finer distilled handling of the paint - contours of the land suggested through a wash representing light rain or mist. Horizon lines coming and goingappearing and disappearing as distance becomes momentarily tangible and land masses float.

This is the essence of capturing fleeting moments on a specific day and representing the personality of a place - every brushstroke bringing atmosphere and emotion to the painting so that others can experience the feeling of being there.

The finished paintings are generally not of particular locations, instead portraying Helen’s experiences and memories of places visited and creating a real sense of being in a moment, fully immersed. When viewing Helen’s paintings, it’s easy to get lost in these profound, emotive pieces and transported off to another place.

Susan Bennett, May 2023 Strathearn Gallery

Every Waking Moment

‘Each landscape, has an atmosphere and climate of its own. As you turn the corner and face the sun, the wind now at your back, the ambience shifts. With you and you within it.

This is an exhibition, about these moments, the natural language of nature and the connections we have with it. Noting the shifts in air, light, wind, the fast and fleeting flurries, interspersed with slower, timeless pauses. Light diamonds dance on the lochan, choreographed by the north wind. Disappearing as quickly as they came by the orchestration of passing clouds. Almost imperceptible changes but there all the same. At other times peaty darkness drives through with January squalls leaving a noisy presence that lingers. Later, a silent twilight which has an awareness of its own. Every minute the atmosphere changes we are simply the participants or perhaps custodians of those moments. They are there to be sensed, there to be noticed and to be part of and inspired by.

These oil paintings are my way of communicating what I see and experience when in the landscape whether it be in North East Fife where I live or in the more remote areas that I love to explore, in the hope that others may see it and experience it too.’

Helen Glassford, April 2023

Embers, Oil on Board, 60 x 60cm

Gentle Storm, Oil on Board, 60 x 60cm

Drifter, Oil on board, 50 x 120cm

Channel, Oil on Panel, 50 x 100cm

Light Catcher, Oil on Board, 120 x 120cm

Every Waking Moment, Oil on Board, 80 x 80cm

Early Start, Oil on Board, 30 x 30cm

After Dinner, Oil on Board, 30 x 30cm

Headland and Mountains, Oil on Board, 22 x 29cm

Gift, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 60cm

Soundings, Oil on Board, 70 x 50cm

Soundings II , Oil on Board, 70 x 50cm

Wanderer, Oil on Board, 90 x 150cm

Closing Time, Oil on Board, 35 x 28cm

Where the Wind, Oil on Board, 40 x 40cm

Moor, Oil on Board, 20 x 20cm

Moor II, Oil on Board, 20 x 20cm

March Winds, Oil on Board, 22 x 29cm

Keeping, Oil on Board, 25 x 25cm

Future Perfect, Oil on Board, 50 x 100cm

Déjà Vu, Oil on Board, 60 x 80cm

Last, Oil on Board, 20 x 20cm

Reminder, Oil on Board, 50 x 50cm

Shimmer, Oil on Board, 61 x 51cm

Secret, Oil on Board, 25 x 25cm

Slow Motion, Oil on Board, 25 x 25cm

August, Oil on Board, 25 x 25cm

Rannoch, Oil on Board, 25 x 25cm