This week has been yet another fantastic week as I travelled down to the AKA Contemporary Gallery in Cambridge for the preview of their Winter Exhibition where I have the painting 'View From The Tool Shed'

I have also spent the week preparing my canvas for painting my large abstract landscape inspired by the church in Kirkhaugh, Alston, and boy, am I excited!

I have used my Rabbit Skin Size for the first time and can't wait to apply the colours and pattern using natural materials wherever I can.

Can't wait to see the colours come to life on this baby!

AND, don't forget I still have work in a variety of exhibitions up and down the land - so please either call in store at AKA or The Old Cinema, or check out my work online at www.helenalicejohnsonartist.com

I am having a week off for Christmas, which will be the first week off making videos all year! This is week 51 and in week 52 I will be eating mince pies and enjoying family and friends - I hope you are able to do the same, and then I am hugely looking forward to sharing the journey of my next painting series with you in 2024.

It has been a great week for meetings this week - I started off on Monday at the Dennis Kilgallon Gallery to check out the space - and WOW - what an amazing drive to get there - up high in the North Pennines, it really is a gallery like no other!

I have also been to Rydal Mount this week to collect my work and bring it home for the winter - they are closed over December and January and re-open on 9th February - where the tea shop will be stocked with my art work and prints ready for the new season, and of course fantastic coffee and lots of delicious home made cakes!

And don't forget the other exhibitions I have going on at the moment -

• The Old Cinema, Chiswick, London - November to December - Routes Into Nature

• AKA Contemporary Gallery, Cambridge - Winter Open - View From The Tool Shed - December 20th to 27th January 2024.

• Cista Arts - Immersed in Nature: An Artistic Exploration - December 2023

The launch event for AKA Contemporary Winter Open is on 20th December 6pm to 9pm. If you can make it, it would be fabulous to see you there.

This week I travel back from France to my studio in Cumbria, and use the travelling time to think and plan some ideas for my next set of large abstract paintings which will be based on the North Pennines. I am having an exhibition in July at the Dennis Kilgallon Gallery and these paintings will be painted specifically for the exhibition. Of course, if anyone wants to buy one before the exhibition, that will be fine! I hope you like what I've been up to! Please subscribe to my channel if you do!

Sketchbook work and thinking time this week @helenalicejohnsonartist as I begin to explore in more detail my next series of paintings. I am interested in children's landscape painting, when they paint the sky and the ground, but then leave a space in between! Join me as I look at how I might use this in my large abstract paintings, as well as Islamic pattern and of course - fluorescent paint!

This week I have been busy with a secret commission so am unable to share that with you, but instead I have a treat instore as I show you around the area and talk through some thoughts about my next series of large abstract oil paintings based on Spaces Between. I am interested in the relationship between people and nature and how we seek power from that Space In between. I have always been fascinated by children's paintings of landscapes, and how they paint a sky and the earth and then how they leave a big vast space in-between! What do the children know that we don't?!!

Experimenting with materials - This week I have been experimenting with natural pigments, different canvas surfaces and single use plastics - all part of a thought process for my next series of large abstract paintings which will be on show in July 2024 at the Dennis Kilgallon Gallery.

Following the successful launch of my Routes Into Nature exhibition at The Old Cinema, it's time to move onto thinking about my next series of paintings!

I have given myself the whole of November for thinking time, with no actual paintings being produced - although, that said, I have a commission to do, and will always be available for commissions if you want one! Get in touch if you do, I'd be delighted to paint something for you.

See here what I am up to - from making my own paints, to boiling up natural primers and creating Islamic eightfold patterns, there is something for everyone this week!

And don't forget to call into the The Old Cinema if you can - exhibition runs through November and December, and is also available to view online through my website 

And don't forget to follow me on Instagram to be eligible for the weekly Free Giveaway.  

This week I have been at The Old Cinema in Chiswick for the preview evening and meet the artist event of my Routes Into Nature exhibition, where 27 of my abstract landscape paintings inspired by rivers are being exhibited.

Join me as I show you the show in The Old Cinema and chat to interested people about my work. The show is on for the whole of November and December, so if you can, please view it instore, or if not, it's available online either on my website at www.helenalicejohnsonartist.com or at www.theoldcinema.co.uk

I have now finished all 27 of my abstract landscape oil paintings inspired by rivers both in the UK and Northern France. Join me here as I wrap and pack them all ready for a major exhibition in London at The Old Cinema in Chiswick.

I have also been experimenting with homemade pigments and show you my method, as I begin to think about a more sustainable option for my next set of paintings.