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”.

UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 2024
At the recent Kyneton Art Group Annual Exhibition Opening function on Friday evening 13^th September,  Helen was presented 3 awards.
She won ‘Best Painting’ in the Landscape/Seascape section for her seascape titled “Greek Island Dreaming”.
She was then presented two awards for her painting “Keen As Mustard”; Best painting in the Fauna section and also the People’s Choice Award.