Helen Utsal

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get so much pleasure from being in the outdoors, and want to bring it inside.

At times paintings are developed on the canvas from a basic idea, and come together quickly. Other times a picture needs to be developed on paper, planned and researched, a pose captured by a model, or a small reproduction made to map out the scene, or the light. Starting with an interesting composition in mind, I am open to what direction the painting will take. My computer has also become a starting point for a new painting. Sometimes I will take an existing painting that I feel has been successful and play with it in Photoshop. By adjusting contrasts, looking at it as a grayscale, or cropping to exaggerate symmetries, I start to see the painting differently. The result may be used to base out a new work.

Do you work from photos, or from life?
Both. Working from life 'en plein air' is the best in many ways, but not always practical when you are working on large canvases. Sometimes I will do a smaller painting first, and then a larger version in the studio. Photos are amazing at capturing a moment and very useful as reference. You can take a little from here, a little from there. I never see the point in recreating a photograph literally.

What is your process?
I like to put my energy into the whole object. I stretch the raw canvas thinking about what it will be. The canvas gets two or three coats of gesso. I capture the basic idea with acrylics, preferably metallic’s in a fast loose way. Then with oil paints I pop out negative shapes, and drag complementary colours across the underpainting. I love the look of scumbled oil paint and use it liberally to capture the energy of the subject matter.

What compels you to create large paintings?
I really want the viewer to feel like the painting is a window. Or a door. Larger work encourages the viewer to 'enter' the work - it brings the vibrancy of the forest into a home environment. Particularly when working in Whistler, I found that the grand and dramatic homes were the perfect backdrop to the large dramatic paintings.