When Nature Meets a Little Human Control

In this episode of It’s a Colorful Life, artist Helen Alice Johnson visits the beautiful Les Jardins de Haute-Bretagne in France for the first time, discovering a wealth of inspiration for her colourful, semi-abstract garden paintings.

Settling in the English rose garden, Helen is particularly drawn to the contrast between rambling roses and carefully controlled topiary. It reflects one of the ideas at the heart of her garden paintings: the fascinating relationship between the freedom and energy of the natural world and our human desire to shape, structure and control it.

Working directly in the garden, Helen creates a preparatory painting using vibrant inks, paint sticks, paint and pastels to capture the intensity of colour, shape and form around her. Rather than creating a finished representation of the garden, the study records an immediate response to the experience of being there.

Back in the studio, this plein-air study will become the starting point for a much larger painting, where colour, abstraction, pattern and structure can develop further.

Watch the latest It’s a Colorful Life and discover how a visit to an inspirational French garden begins its journey towards a finished painting.