Helen Orton Artist

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Helen Orton Artist

Figurative Oil Painter

18/08/2026

I was thinking about the divided self, the gap between who we are and who we want to be, the brain confusion of looking at a face split in this way, the potential of the open door and much else. I was inspired by Sylvia Plath, Dorothea Tanning, Jasper Johns and how the brain recognises faces to name a few. I hope it resonates in some way.

Oil painting on canvas 55 x 70cm

Draw Brighton Gracie

11/08/2026

Nobody Asked Me
Oil painting on canvas 24 x 30cm

Draw Brighton

06/08/2026

I really loved painting this, though I was never sure where it was going to go. I was going to add some additional detail to the grid-like wallpaper, now I’m not so sure. Would love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Oil painting on canvas 60 x 50cm.

20/07/2026

Fear Wakes Her Up
Oil on canvas 50×60 cm
A painting from last summer before I started my MA. Inspired by Agnès Varda’s French New Wave film Cléo de 5a7, I wanted to explore the idea of how we see ourselves being observed. How does it make us feel when we notice other people looking at us?

Draw Brighton Wi******er School of Art

07/07/2026

A painting from last summer…

Fear No More
Oil on canvas (40 × 50)
Most times when I start a painting, I have a general idea what the painting means to me but I don’t know what the final image will look like. I don’t really do much planning, I enjoy the process of seeing where the painting will end up after countless decisions along the way. To me, this painting now has a foreboding atmosphere that wasn’t intentional when I started. The inanimate coldness of the bust on the left seems to be seeping into the woman on the right with the colours from the bust appearing in the flesh tones of the woman’s left side. But then maybe the woman’s lively expression shows a determination or maybe she is doing a doubletake after seeing something out of the corner of her eye. Who knows?

Draw Brighton Nomi Vaila McLeod

29/06/2026

A painting from a while ago but still a favourite. Available if anyone is interested. It’s based on a cast in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, a reinterpretation and a response in paint.

If I Could Speak
Oil paint on board
30.5 x 20.3cm

08/06/2026

Another shadow portrait painting. Small this time, only 30x24cm and in oil paint.

After months of working hard for my MA at Wi******er School of Art, I’m taking a break and just painting for the fun of it.
artmodel

05/06/2026

I think this one might be finished.
Really enjoyed painting the shadows.

Oil painting on canvas 50x60cm.

.artmodel

01/06/2026

This painting was shown at Wi******er School of Art back in December. For me, the sepia background reflects memory and the knotted cord linking the figures suggests a troubled connection. The connecting cord was inspired by Frida Kahlo’s ‘The Two Fridas’.

Inseparably Connected
Oil on canvas 40x50cm

29/05/2026

A small painting for a sunny evening.

The title is my decades long mishearing of the lyrics of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus.

Reach Out and Touch Me
Oil on canvas 24x30 cm

Address

Newbury

Website

http://helenorton.uk/

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