Collection: Helen Utsal

Vancouver Island based artist Helen Utsal paints with acrylics, oils and cold wax, interpreting nature's exuberant and vital spirit onto canvas, striving for energy and light in each painting, Helen celebrates colour, showing a natural world that is expressive and emotive.

Helen’s creative curiosity was supported and fed by her artistic family on car trips, woodsy adventures, and exposure to culture and history.

"I developed a deep connection to natural places as a child; camping, swimming, and playing in the garden. My paintings are impressions of how I feel in the woods, or by the water; resonating with pleasure when the sunlight shines through the trees and exhilaration near the pounding surf of the ocean."

Early influences shaping her own approach to painting were artists using energetic mark-making and dynamic gestures (Tom Thomson, Karl Appel.) Bold colours of the Fauvists and emotion of the Expressionists also informed her creative awareness.