About
Helena Tarn is a self-taught abstract artist based on the coast of County Down, Northern Ireland. Inspired by the rhythms of the sea and the surrounding landscape, her work explores the balance between control and surrender—how intention and unpredictability can coexist on the canvas. She works primarily with acrylic and natural pigments, allowing fluidity, gravity, and chance to shape the foundation of each painting.
Each piece begins with loose, watery layers that move freely across the surface. From there, she builds intuitively, responding to what emerges rather than following a fixed plan. Her process reflects quiet, organic transformation—echoing natural cycles of erosion, growth, and change.
Rather than depicting specific scenes, her paintings are atmospheric responses to place, texture, and time. They offer a contemplative space for stillness and reflection, inviting a deeper connection to the natural world.
Helena’s work invites contemplation. Her paintings suggest something felt rather than described—textural spaces that honour the subtle power of the natural world.
She has work held in private collections across the UK and Ireland, and continues to develop a practice deeply rooted in material, memory, and sense of place.
The Creative Process
Walking, Gathering, Noticing
Each piece begins with a walk, collecting natural pigments and observing the landscape. These pigments are suspended in water and applied in translucent washes that move, pool, and fracture, shaped by gravity, evaporation, and the texture beneath.
A Dialogue with Earth
Using natural pigments like ochres and charcoal sourced from places like the Lake District, Yorkshire, and Ireland, Helena’s work carries the geological memory of the land. These materials ground each piece in something physical, lived, and ancient.
Layered Like Landscape
The process mirrors geological rhythms—sedimentation, erosion, pressure, building layers that capture moments of time, thought, and feeling. What emerges is a slow unfolding where intention meets chance.
Material as Memory
These paintings reflect both outer landscapes and inner emotional terrain, revealing unseen layers shaped by memory and experience. They are visual maps of transformation, rooted in place and time.
Helena Tarn Art 