Pilliga's Song 4

The Pilliga Forest is a unique Australian landscape in North West NSW. It is a beautiful rugged bushland, with stunning sandstone gorges, sandy gullies, a refuge for plants and an abundance of wildlife of rare birds and animals and rich in Aboriginal history. 

The Pilliga’s Song Series of 4 works on paper, is the artist’s interpretation of days spent in the forest, exploring the sandstone caves and gorges, the haziness of county side as the summers heat begins to beat down on the sandy ground, the silence of the remote bushland broken only by the gentle mummer of insects, the call of birds and the rustle of the dry forest floor under foot.

Medium: Acrylic, Pastel and Pen on Paper

Size: A3 Unframed

Year: 2022

About the artist

Helen was raised in country NSW and maintain a strong emotional connection to rural landscapes. She loves wandering on the family farm collecting discarded objects such as wire, mesh and hessian, which add layers and texture to her artwork. 

Her work incorporates a variety of mixed media, mostly on canvas using oils, acrylics, pastel, spray paint, charcoal, sand and collage.  The process of adding layers of paint or through collage, then rubbing, using a blow torch, scraping, scratching and mark-making, produce a feeling of grounding to her. This allows her to open up to emotions, vulnerabilities, resilience and strengths which contribute to her work’s unique characteristics.