Helwig Studios

I painted this in my studio when it was a snowy day.   It was a great way to revisit that glorious summer day when I took the reference for this painting.   I can remember the wind on my face and the sun on my back.  I remember that glorious day when Canola was Queen.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Homeward Bound   

I saw this view as I was driving back from the Leighton Centre, which is just south of Calgary.  I liked the high key of the palette and knew immediately that I wanted to paint it.  It would be a great challenge. 

So many of us won't be going home for the holidays this year, but this reminded me of those snowy trips home on prairie roads.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

The Beaver Moon is the full moon in November. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, this full moon marks, “the time of year when beavers begin to take shelter in their lodges”.  It is also when trappers would trap beavers as their pelts were at their fullest. 

I like the mystery of night paintings.  There is a richness in the dark values of the colours. 

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio. 

It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Last Light

I spend a lot of time cloud watching. The reference for this was taken from my balcony. I love the movement in the clouds. The blue palette indicates the day’s last light on the clouds before the sky shifts to night.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my Studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

The Promise of a Sunset
To me, a sunset is a promise of a new day. It can be a celebration of a good day or the relief of getting through a bad one. But always you know there will be another one that promises a clean slate.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Looking East 

Does it look windy? It certainly was. I actually used my truck as a windbreak! I painted this one at the Leighton Art Centre, south of Calgary. They are known for their mountain views in the west, but I turned eastward. I loved the way the hills just caught a bit of light. And that pink in the sky!

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Connected

I started this painting at a day use area in Bragg Creek Provincial Park, about an hour from my home. Patrick and I went there for a picnic seeking solace. I’ve heard this is also called forest breathing. It’s a way to connect with nature. I love the subtle tones and colours in the trunks of the aspens.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Goodness

Pomegranates are rich with symbolism. They represent fertility, beauty, and eternal life in Greek mythology. They can also represent the good things created by the gods. I love their rich juicy taste. 

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

An Oldie but a Goodie

Many consider geraniums to be commonplace. I like them because they remind me of our European travels. I’ve seen them growing with abandon in Italy, England, and Spain. I loved the red of this variety and it was a lot of fun to paint. 

This painting is on a 6 x 6-inch cradled wood panel. It is on a wider profile, being 2 inches deep. I’ve used eye hooks and wire for hanging so that it will hang flush to the wall. You can hang this painting as is or frame it for a more formal look. 

Treats in a Chick

My grandmother had a little glass dish like this one. It was usually filled with humbug hard candies. I loved the blue cobalt glass; it’s something I collect. What types of things do you collect?

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

I Put that @#@*& on Everything

I’m thankful for all the condiments in the fridge. They add spice and variety to my life. You can turn a mediocre cooking experiment into something quite wonderful. This painting can remind you to add some spice to your life!

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 1 1/2-inch profile. The edge of this painting is painted a mustard colour. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

Penny—Part of the Chicken Icon Series

I started following a Facebook page called Chickens, Chickens, Chickens because I was tired of the divisive political posts on social media. The people in this group love their chickens. They generously offered photos when they discovered I was an artist. I added the gold leaf to reflect the love and admiration they have for this humble bird

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. I have used composition gold leaf (imitation gold) as well. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

Omen of Magic

Besides garlic’s use for protection against vampires, many say it wards off the flu and the common cold. I didn’t grow up with garlic, but we cook with it a lot now. One of my favourite chicken dishes is 40-Clove Garlic Chicken. Now that’sgood! If you love garlic this could be a great painting for your kitchen. Or you may want to ward off those vampires in your life.

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

Every year I take time to paint sunflowers. I have a tough time growing them in the yard due to certain squirrels who love their seeds. I love how the flowers turn their heads to follow the sun. To me, they are the messengers of sunshine, adaptability, and fun. 

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

When Life Gives You

Lemons are so healthy for us! You might be offended by their sourness, but they are an important part of our pantry. I enjoy them with a cup of tea. And then there is lemon meringue pie. Yum! This would be a sweet painting for your kitchen. 

This painting is a 6 x 6 cradled wood panel with a 3/4-inch profile. The eye hooks are placed so that it sits flush to the wall when hung. 

This Plein Air painting was completed between Cochrane and Calgary. I pulled over onto a side road and this scene caught my eye. I love those summer greens. What attracted me to this site was the rhythm in the road and hills. The road disappears, but we know it continues.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Sometimes you don’t need to go far from home to find inspiration. I painted this from the view across the street from where I live. It was high summer. I loved the buildup and stacking of the clouds. I used a vertical format so that our eyes will follow the longest side of the painting and look up. I was feeling fortunate and lucky that day. We live in a beautiful part of the world.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Quiet and Solitude.

I was out on this country road painting before the rain came in and finished it just before the rain started. Often when I paint, I listen to audiobooks. On that day, I was listening to Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. One of the best things I like about books is how they afford you a different viewpoint. I’ve heard the mountain parks were busy this summer. I was glad to spend time out

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Back to Reality

The day before painting this picture, I was at the Leighton Art Centre just south of Calgary. My large painting Going Home won the competition. The next day I found myself in a parking lot behind Reilly Park in Calgary. I painted on concrete that day, which accounts for the name.

I liked the changing fall colours in this scene. That glory of colour heralds the coming of winter. That day was quite smoky due to the California wildfires. It’s amazing how something so far away affects us. We are all interconnected.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Reflecting

In many of my paintings, there is a passage, a passing through. In this one, it is water. I was fascinated by how the sky is everywhere, even reflected in the water. I used a variety of tools—brushes, palette knives, a silicon spatula, even an old credit card—to push the image towards abstraction.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Parked at Nose Hill

It was a cold day when I painted this. I have a car easel. It slides over the steering wheel when the car is in Park. I can paint in comfort when the temperature drops. Acrylic paint behaves better in warmer weather. This was painted from the parking lot at Nose Hill Park. The skies were very active that day, so I had to work quickly to capture the layering of clouds.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Peril

The smoke in the atmosphere really affects the colours in your palette. This painting was done on Nose Hill when our skies were smoky because of the California wildfires. There are a lot of grays in this picture. The smoke adds to the mystery because it obscures and pushes back the picture plane. This was also the day that a wasp bit me. He had crawled into my red backpack. When I tried to put a brush into it, I was attacked. Damned wasps! Another peril of Plein Air.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Heaven’s Blue

It was a beautiful summer day when I painted this at Dewitt Pond, north of Calgary. It’s a popular place for fly fishing. The anglers and I worked in silence, all absorbed in our work. I can’t believe the blue that is in these prairie ponds. At one time the paint colour ultramarine was more costly than gold. It was derived from the gemstone lapis lazuli that was sourced from northern Afghanistan. This blue was nicknamed the colour of heaven and saved for special applications on the canvas. I was thinking of that colour’s history as I painted this intimate pond.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

The Long Road, Nose Hill

This Plein Air painting was done at Nose Hill. One of my favourite hills for climbing is close to Edgemont. From there you get a fantastic view. I had to quickly paint this one as the weather was blowing in a huge rainstorm. The clouds were building up. It was time to take cover.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

St. Patrick Homage

I painted this painting on St. Patrick’s Day as part of a challenge I set for my students. Green is a difficult colour to control in landscape painting. It often can be garish. So, I asked them to paint an entire painting in green. The reference for this painting is Lloyd’s Pond, located just outside of Calgary’s city limits. It’s a great place to go birdwatching. There is a hint of the moon appearing above the treeline. The pond is quiet as the night approaches.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

The Road In
The reference for this painting is from a residency I did last summer in Saskatchewan. This road leads to Fort Walsh. I liked the stretch in the sky. The space there seems to go on forever. The road was patched and repatched. I think those prairie winters can be tough on our man-made structures. It was a day made for driving.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed while attending a residency at Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Summer Mountain Blues

This is a studio piece that I based on other sketches and photos. Sometimes the blues in our mountain lakes and streams defy our expectations. Those turquoises are really there. I like the way this painting stretches towards abstraction.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Last Light

This is a common motif in my work—a row of trees set against the last light of the day. Often, I think I am painting something new and then these images of windbreaks creep back in. The reference for this painting is skies over Lethbridge, my childhood home. I think this series of paintings is about death, life and hope.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my Studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

The Bow at Glenbow Ranch Park

Glenbow Ranch Park lies just north-west of Calgary. I love this place. It’s a wonderful place to take the dog for a long walk. If you go early enough, you’ll see lots of birds, including bluebirds. On that day I painted from the top of the park. It’s looking towards Cochrane along the river valley.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Stormy Skies

Canola fields are a gift. Who doesn’t love that combination of blue and yellow? It makes me think of the colours I’ve seen in Provence, France, but without the costly airplane ticket. There is beauty everywhere. I often find it in my prairie home.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Conjuring Storms

This Plein Air was painted at Nose Hill in the evening. The evening light is one of the hardest to paint, but I love this time of day. What makes it difficult is that the light quickly shifts as the sun sets. The added drama to this painting trip was that the clouds were gathering for an evening storm. I wanted to capture the luminosity of the sky.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed on location.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!  

Craving Calm

I painted this during one of the beginning days of the Pandemic. It is based on a prairie pond I discovered while on an evening drive. I liked the reflection the rising moon had on the pond. It was a calm moment to gather my thoughts and paint my way to the peace I was craving.

This is an original acrylic painting that was completed in my studio.

 It is made of artist-grade materials and painted on un-stretched canvas.  This is so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.   I first started this series as part of the Artist Support Pledge, which started in the UK.   It is my hope to offer affordable art to you.  Thank you for your support.     I will use the money to buy more paint so I can continue painting!