Written by My name is Helena Edwards and I live in a beautiful village in Cheshire, England, called Lymm (I’ve just started blogging, you can visit my website here). I took up painting 25 years ago, soon after my son was born – the main attraction of the class being the creche (or nursery that they had there)!
I now enjoy sharing what I have learned with others, and run painting workshops in care homes. My aim is to encourage people to express themselves, whether or not they think they can paint, and to contribute to colourful displays which reflect their individual interests. I often carry a sketchbook with me, together with sketching pens of different thicknesses, and watercolour crayons. I use the sketches to paint pictures later.
The inspiration for these pictures was a painting my husband admired of a shelf full of books by Agatha Christie – he is a crime writer and avid collector of detective fiction. I assured him, “I could do that!” and then found it was harder than it looked. I have included a skull because I felt the rounded shape contrasted well with the angles of the books, as well as reflecting their subject matter.
From there it was a short mental hop to a composition featuring teddy bears (a favourite subject of mine), some children’s books and an apple, which could suggest the fairy tale of Snow white. For both subjects, I started with a pen and ink sketch, coloured in with watercolour crayons, and then added water.
But in the versions shown here I have reversed the process, starting with watercolour washes and adding the ink afterwards. For simplicity, I kept my colour palette limited to one yellow, one red and one blue, and I used a big flat brush (one inch wide.)
Helena Edwards
Art for All
Helena, your delightful art is so appealling. Thank you for sharing. Thank you Charlie.
Thanks so much Sharon!! Glad you Helena’s work! 💕😃
Thank you, Sharon, I’m so glad you liked it
The watercolors contrast beatifully with the angles and the subject matter! I love your art, and thanks for the encouragement.
pastryexperiments.wordpress.com
So happy you liked this feature! 😃
Thank you – and your blog is very apppealing!
Helena
Thanks so much!
Really beautiful work, Helena, and must be so rewarding as well. Thanks, Charlie, for the intro!
Yay! Happy you liked Helena’s feature. Thanks Laura!! 💜😃
Thank you, Laura. I love your work too – so colourful.and confident.
Thank you so kindly! 💜
Such a clever idea to paint books and toys! These are so sweet!
Aren’t these great?! Glad you liked them too, Teresa! 💕😃
I’m glad you like them, Teresa. I see you are a writer too.
Lovely paintings. Delightful to see how the watercolors dance with the ink drawings. Great feature post, thank you Charlie for sharing.
Thanks so much Haunani!! Glad you liked this one!! 😃
Thank you for taking the time to comment. It’s lovely to be in touch with so much creativity!
What a beautiful light hand! Very refreshing.
Isn’t it?! Glad you liked these Cathe! 😃
Thanks for the comment. I love your sketchbook – very inspiring.
I love the washes of color over the bears!