Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Helen Proctor, I am 34 and currently living in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I am originally from Sydney but have spent the last 4 years working in Europe. My current focus is on abstract landscape painting both in the studio and on large-scale mural projects. In my work I like to explore the use of colour and methods of abstraction to depict the emotional nostalgia that is revived from personal connection to place.
What’s your background?
I grew up in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I spent my days running around the bush, finding waterholes and building tree houses. I also developed my skills with a spray can and started doing large-scale street art projects. This eventually led me to travel and paint all around the world developing a distinct style that merges traditional landscape painting with an abstract street style.
How do you work?
I find most of my influence from travelling as well as locations that I have a strong personal connection too. I usually work from photographs or sketches I have taken myself. Lately I have been experimenting more with digital sketches and compositions.
What’s your work-day like?
Coffee, a walk around the park, then I get all the life admin out of the way like emails or posting things. Once I get into the studio I will listen to podcasts or the radio and paint away the day. If I’m working on a mural project then it usually involves a lot more coffee and being covered in a lot more paint.
Artworks featured in Sydney Road Gallery
Left: Shack on Inlet | Acrylic on Canvas Framed in Oak | 60 x 40 cm | SOLD
Right: House on Headland | Acrylic on Canvas Framed in Oak | 60 x 40 cm | SOLD
Describe the space where you create?
Before the lockdowns I had a studio in an old dental hospital that had been converted into a huge complex of artists studios. Now I paint in a little studio from home. With the size restrictions I have been creating smaller works that usual but it has been a nice challenge.
How have you developed your career?
I have always pursued an artistic practice but my style has changed throughout my life. It has only been in the last 6 or 7 years that I have been working on these particular themes. I have always worked on large-scale street projects and this has helped me get exposure in the local community.
Participation in group exhibitions and mural festivals has also led me to meeting amazing artists and curators that I get to now get to collaborate with. Moving to Europe has been a challenge but it has really made me put myself out there and push my practice in new directions.
What’s your favourite art work?
I am currently looking into the Impressionists and Fauvist movements as I have just come back from an artist residency in the South of France where many of the works where created. Looking at the colours and techniques of André Derain and Paul Cezanne has been very influential.