Today’s artist is Helen Harris, a collage and mixed-media artist from the East Coast.
Helen creates some amazing textural watercolor and ink paintings by using layers of torn and crumpled paper for her painting surface.
In some of her artwork, like The Old Dock, above, that torn paper becomes the perfect textural base for a realistic painting.
Not only do the wooden pilings and watery reflections look more realistic because of the paper’s uneven, naturally random surface, but I’m sure it took far less time to paint than if Helen had meticulously created all that detail without it.
In Tribal Lands II, Helen’s multi-layered collage-work is much more abstract, imparting a strong sense of movement from the right side.
With rich, primary colors, the vibrant pieces of this collage do impart a very elemental, even tribal, emotion that makes for a beautifully chaotic work of art.
And as you can see, Helen often blurs the line between abstract and realistic art, many times letting a realistic scene deconstruct in such a way that you don’t even realize it’s happening.
This last painting, for example, does just that.
Take the bottom half by itself and you’ve got a completely abstract work of art. Take the top half; a landscape. Put them both together and you’ve got a unique Helen Harris painting. . . and the best of both worlds.
To see more of Helen’s work, visit her website at helenharrispaintings.com.
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