Day 24/100: Helaine Becker and Kate Taylor
Encouraging Two Artists with a Similar Color Vibe but Very Different Approaches to Materials
Today, I am celebrating Helaine Becker and Kate Taylor, two artists who create brilliant, colorful art with in some non-traditional ways.
I’m thrilled that they will be joining me in the online show, Square Foot Show: In Bloom with Debbie Miller & Friends, that starts on March 30, 2022.
Helaine Becker
Helaine Becker, a native New Yorker who now lives in Toronto, is an award-winning author of children’s books, including the international bestseller, Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 (MacKids Books).
Though she started painting in acrylics in her early 20’s, she set painting aside as she began her writing career. Now with over 100 titles to her credit, she has returned to visual arts – this time as a digital painter.
A peony about to burst open, or a branch etched against a winter sky — these golden moments inspire her to pick up a stylus (instead of a traditional brush). She creates with pixels instead of pigments.
Helaine’s process starts with a reference photo that she has snapped of a particular moment. She then interprets the photo using painting software (Corel Painter or Procreate) that lets her determine the position and character of each brush stroke, as well as its color and flavor. She can then alter strokes, adding and combining multiple layers to create depth and ambiguity.
Helaine believes that her style of digital painting fits somewhere between art photography and traditional painting techniques. And she loves this medium because she can paint anywhere, any time, in so many experimental styles. Plus she doesn’t have to worry about getting paint in her hair (or on the dog)!
Helaine wants to create joyful art that pleases the eye and delights the spirit. Making the most of technology, she is definitely achieving that goal!
Kate Taylor
Though she was born in Cambridge, England, Kate was mostly raised in Canada. Her father was transferred every 4 years when she was young, so she lived in Montreal, Sarnia, Kingston, Oakville, London and now Toronto.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western University where she was taught painting by Paterson Ewen. She comes from a family of professional artists, including her sister, Helen Utsal, who has a studio on Vancouver Island and her Grandmother, Salme Utsal, who was an artist originally from Estonia, with work in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Like Helaine, Kate is also motivated to communicate joy in response to nature through her work. But her approach is vastly different!
She begins with a Baltic birch panel because the wood reminds her of her cottage in Kingston, off Lake Ontario – a place where she feels most connected to nature and herself. She loves how the wood grain ripples and travels like water tributaries, which she discovers through the sanding, varnishing and meditative layering of fluid acrylic stains.
Kate eschews brushes. She builds up her vibrant colors in her painted compositions with heavy body acrylics, using palette knives and soft cloths as her tools. She sometimes finishes her work with resin.
Kate’s process is very hands-on and organic. She believes that the energy of her mood comes through in the work. So, she tries to work only when she’s joyful.
I’m not sure how she finds the time for it all, but Kate is also the host of the weekly Talking to Artists podcast & organizer of the pi ART squared Exhibition at Art Alchemy East.
All of Kate’s endeavors constellate around the message of finding resilience, joy, and our connection to each other and nature through art — a much-needed message for us all!
How You Can Be an Encouragement
Please check out Helaine and Kate’s work on social media, follow them, and send them notes of encouragement today.
Also, you can purchase some of their floral work at great prices at the Square Foot Show: In Bloom with Debbie Miller and Friends, starting March 30, 2022 through April 1, 2022.
Helaine Becker:
On Instagram: @helainebeckerart
Website: www.helainebeckerart.com
Etsy Shop: HelaineBeckerArt
Kate Taylor:
On Instagram: @katetaylorart
Website: www.katetaylorstudio.com