HELEN
CARTER
ARTIST
Creating colourful, unique artwork with a personal touch.
Colour Pencil and other mediums
HI! I'M HELEN
Here's a little bit about me and my work.
I never know what to say in these things. I'm 51 now and it hasn't got easier to talk about myself.
I suppose the best place to begin is the beginning of my artistic endeavours, which isn't the beginning of my working life but the end of it....not that art isn't work, because boy is it work!
I rekindled my love of art and creativity in 2017 after leaving a successful and happy career in Local Government. It was the right time for me to go, and I had other plans at the time, not art related, but curveballs were thrown and I had to adapt. Even then though, I knew I wanted to draw.
Fast forward to 2019 and I'm drawing more things, and more pets and I'm really enjoying myself. I won an award, I joined some groups and I was learning from some of the best colour pencil artists out there. 2020 arrived and I won another award and I joined more groups and continued to work hard on my skills.
Its 2021 now and I am branching out (literally!) in to botanical art and I've found I love more than just the pets and the animals, finding so much joy in the details of flowers too. I love the intricacies of still-life, the swiftness of sketching, and the looseness of painting, and pastels too...I am an artistic nightmare to categorise. But I've always been somebody's nightmare!
I was invited to be a Brand Ambassador for Derwent this year, which was an honour, as I genuinely love their stuff and have been using it since I was in my teens. It gives me lots of opportunities to try new things, and play with those products and tell others my experiences too.
I love to help people and teach others what I've learned. I went to art college back in the 80's and received a pretty good technical skillbase that's come in handy. I am always up for a chat about coloured pencils, I've tried most of them - I own most of them!! - so I'm proud to be part of the team that runs the UK Coloured Pencil Society.
If you got this far, thank you and you can go have a lie down now.
Whilst you're laying down, you can browse my gallery to see completed work, or my 'in progress' page where you can see and read about the work on my board.
Read about my commissions process if you are interested that. I have prices and some handy hints to help you decide, or you can get in touch and we can talk about what you'd like.
Thank you!