Helen Atherton

Helen was born in the UK, but was brought up in coastal rural Victoria (Inverloch) where she developed a love of rural landscapes, streetscapes and fauna. She cannot ever remember not being able to draw, and she was lucky enough to have an excellent art teacher in Secondary school who introduced her to oils. As an adult she began taking lessons in pastels with Kim Hope-Balmain. She has also taken part in a number of workshops with pastelists such as the late Agata Lalek,Jo-anne Seberry and Margaret Evans (Scotland) to name a few. Helen has been a member of the McClelland Guild of Artists, the Victorian Pastel Society and Woodend Art Group. She was named “Victorian Emerging Pastel Artist of the Year” in 2012 by the Victorian Pastel Society. After taking a break due to family commitments, Helen has now rekindled her passion for her art and pastels and has also recently been experimenting with other mediums. She exhibited for the first time in the Kyneton Art Groups Annual Exhibition in 2023 being awarded Best Fauna for her pastel painting of a rooster entitled “Tiddles the Pekin Cross”, and “People’s Choice” for her pastel painting entitled “The Italian Fisherman”.