Helen Glassford RSW studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee in the late 1990s, completing a Master of Fine Art before settling in Newport-on-Tay in 2003, where she continues to live and work. Over the years, she has built a strong following for her evocative landscape paintings, receiving numerous accolades and growing recognition for her distinctive approach.
For Helen, landscape painting is more than a depiction of the physical world - it is an exploration of emotion, memory, and connection. Raised in the Lake District, she developed a deep affinity for the natural world from an early age, an influence that continues to shape her artistic practice. Whether capturing the ever-changing weather near her studio in North-East Fife or immersing herself in the wild, remote landscapes of the North-West Highlands and Scottish islands, she is drawn to places of solitude and raw beauty.
Helen's work balances abstraction and realism, blending sensory impressions with expressive mark-making. At times, her paintings take on a gestural, abstract expressionist quality, while in other pieces, delicate washes of paint suggest light rain, mist, or shifting horizons. Contours of the land emerge and dissolve, evoking the fleeting nature of a moment in time.
Rather than depicting specific locations, Helen’s paintings embody the essence of places she has experienced - distilled memories of landscapes infused with mood and atmosphere. Each brushstroke conveys a sense of immersion, inviting the viewer to step into these profound, contemplative spaces and become lost in their depth and emotion
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