Artist Helen Alice Johnson visits Newcastle's Laing Art Gallery to sketch, explore sublime landscapes and find inspiration for her North East landscape paintings.

Join artist Helen Alice Johnson for an exhibition at The Biscuit Room in Newcastle, painting sales, charitable fundraising and life as an art teacher.

Go behind the scenes with artist Helen Alice Johnson as she delivers paintings to The Biscuit Room in Newcastle and reflects on exhibiting original art.

This week I am busy preparing for my Online drawing course titled Principles of Drawing. In this course we will cover the basics through to the experts in drawing, looking at the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Tracey Emin and Ewan Uglow to name but a few of the great artists throughout time. Join me as I cover a range of dry and wet materials to draw with - including Oak Gall ink as used by the art masters as well as Jane Austin and the Magna Carta! All my courses are recorded so you can view them again and again - have a look on my website for more details www.helenalicejohnsonartist.com

I am delighted to have been selected as a winner for this prestigious art award and so happy to share that success with you here.

This week I prepare my paintings for an upcoming exhibition in February  at The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle. All the paintings have to be gallery ready, with smart frames as well as correct fittings for hanging in a gallery. They then all have to be labelled, a certificate of authenticity generated and I also write a letter accompanying each painting, which provides a little information on provenance for the collector.

I am back in France and loving having a painting on my easel once again. I am currently working on a painting commission as well as starting a diptych of my new painting series inspired by gardens. I recently visited Kew Gardens, in particular the Waterlily House and the Palm House and will be using this as the inspiration for my next four paintings at least. My underpaintings have taken their pattern from the roof of the Glass house that houses the giant waterlilies and echoes the circular shape of the waterlilies themselves.

In this video I show the making of my latest painting called The Footbridge. The artwork is a colourful large abstract painting and is inspired by Teddington Lock near Richmond in London. I used a hexagonal pattern to run through the painting as a connection to sacred geometry, as I am interested in the relationship between people and nature, as well as the power of nature and its spiritual mystery. I spent a morning sitting in the outside cafe alongside the footbridge of the lock working in my sketchbook and making preparatory studies to make into this painting. The painting is a show piece for the Landmark Arts centre Spring Art Fair at Teddington and I will be showing it on stand 67