Contemporary, joyful landscapes
55@55 collection
It’s my birthday on 2 November and I think you’ve guessed my age. To mark this palindromic milestone, I plan on making a painting a week for just over a year, sharing the weather, light and extraordinary colours I see here on the Welsh border.
A lone tree stands sentinel on the ridge, over plum and ochre moorland. At the last moment I flicked blue across the open sky, and it scattered like birds taking flight, caught in a breeze. It's my first alla prima (wet on wet) oil painting on paper, and it surprised me: the mark-making is immediate and instinctual. The subject emerged as I experimented.
This work is the first in a weekly series called 55@55, celebrating my return to painting landscape every Friday.
Your painting comes carefully protected by board, ready to frame as you please.
Shipping overseas? Contact Helen for a courier quote. Or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see it in person and buy with no shipping costs.
The Temple Oak is an original oil painting by Helen Arthur, a landscape artist working on the Welsh border at Skirrid Studio in the Olchon Valley, Herefordshire.
Muted blue hills recede underneath a warm sky of apricot, ochre, rose and Naples yellow. I kept the distant Black Mountains thin and flat, then used a palette knife to lay thick slabs of sage and gold in the foreground. Look closely and you’ll find a flick of pink low in the grasses, a small echo of the sky.
This work is the second in a weekly series called 55@55, celebrating my return painting a landscape every Friday for a year.
Your painting comes carefully protected by board, ready to frame as you please.
Shipping overseas? Contact Helen for a courier quote. Or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see it in person and buy with no shipping costs.
The Ageless Morning is an original oil painting by Helen Arthur, a landscape artist working on the Welsh border at Skirrid Studio in the Olchon Valley, Herefordshire.
Medium: oil on paper
Size: 28cm square
Year: 2026
Framing: unframed, ready to frame
Series: No. 2 of 55@55
A soft sky of bruised peach settles over Hay Bluff, with a band of pale evening yellow light fading over the ridge. Below, I laid thick oil paint with a palette knife in tones of sage, slate blue and indigo. This created a mist over the distant hillside. A thin line of madder pink runs through the middle ground, picking up the warmth of the sky.
This work is the third in a weekly series called 55@55, celebrating my return painting a landscape every Friday for a year.
Your painting comes carefully protected by board, ready to frame as you please.
Shipping overseas? Contact Helen for a courier quote. Or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see it in person and buy with no shipping costs.
Green Mists is an original oil painting by Helen Arthur, a landscape artist working on the Welsh border at Skirrid Studio in the Olchon Valley, Herefordshire.
Medium: oil on paper
Size: 26 × 16cm
Year: 2026
Framing: unframed, ready to frame
Series: No. 3 of 55@55
Work developed for “treelines”, an exhibition planned for Hereford, August 2025
Part of the Wood Wild Web collection, acrylic on linen, 47.5cm × 32.5cm
I have been focussed on treelife and woodland scenes and am conscious that trees and woodlands have a close relationship with waterways here in the UK. This work is a response to flooding affecting our treelife as well as ourselves.
There is a tension between representative painting of treelife and expressive, gestural use of paint that abstracts the image a little further here.
Your painting comes in a bespoke neutral frame, ready to hang.
contact Helen for a quotation to ship overseas with a courier or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see in person and buy without shipping costs
Part of the Wood Wild Web collection, acrylic on linen, 47.5cm × 32.5cm
I have been focussed on treelife and woodland scenes and am conscious that trees and woodlands have a close relationship with waterways here in the UK. This work is a response to flooding affecting our treelife as well as ourselves.
There is a tension between representative painting of treelife and expressive, gestural use of paint that abstracts the image a little further here.
Your painting comes in a bespoke neutral frame, ready to hang.
contact Helen for a quotation to ship overseas with a courier or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see in person and buy without shipping costs
Tangled life collection
Three large format paintings celebrating the profuse life of hedgerows, woodlands and wild gardens
Part of the tangled life collection, acrylic and oil on board, 92 × 120cm 2024
On a cold frosty morning deep in the Welsh Borders countryside a skeletal hedgerow was covered in frost and lit up by bright sunshine.
I worked on a large scale for this – the original is 4ft by 3ft – and the piece evolved through many layers, first in acrylic and then with oil and cold wax. I was inspired by the wonderful tangled structure of a winter hedgerow. On one particular morning with bright sunshine after a freezing night, the hedgerow came alive with icy tinges of frost and sparkling light.
contact Helen for a quotation to ship with a courier or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see in person and buy
I offer a scheme to purchase with three payments over 9 months, £1K deposit and two further payments of £1K - please enquire
Part of the tangled life collection, acrylic and oil on board, 92 × 120cm 2024
I am drawn to abandoned green spaces and overgrown gardens. This piece is a response to nature taking back agency.
I worked on a large scale for this – the original is 4ft by 3ft – and the piece evolved through many layers, first in acrylic paint and inks and then with oil pastels.
contact Helen for a quotation to ship with a courier or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see in person and buy
I offer a scheme to purchase with three payments over 9 months, £1K deposit and two further payments of £1K - please enquire
Part of the tangled life collection, acrylic and oil on board, 92 × 120cm 2024
The creative energy in this piece, Sunburst, mirrors the flourishing and abundance you get in a British garden during June. I feel that you are at ground level here, in among the plants.
In this case, my a semi-wild garden on the Welsh border prompted me to paint with gesture and strong colour. I have tried to curate areas of dense planting with some wild flowers in among the cultivated species. This benefits wildlife and me, as I can let it do its own thing to some extent and maintain my time in the studio.
I worked on a large scale for this – the original is 4ft by 3ft – and the piece evolved over many months. The final motif of the sun only came in at the end though the playful splashes of bright paint probably arrived on the canvas in the first layer. A painting tells you what direction to take if you stay open to possibilities.
contact Helen for a quotation to ship with a courier or visit Skirrid Studio Gallery to see in person and buy
I offer a scheme to purchase with three payments over 9 months, £1K deposit and two further payments of £1K - please enquire
"Summer is blues and golds" 2024 Oil on board 60 x 60cm SOLD (Fine art print available)
"Waiting for rain" 2024 Oil on board 40 x 40cm SOLD (Fine art print available)
"Return to trees" 2024 Oil on board 35 x 30cm SOLD (Fine art print available)