Helamen's Blog

Due to the failed transfer to the new website for Dawn by using AI, we have shut it down We dipped our toes into the water to try the all new AI building website. However, it was too cold but we bravely plunged in and nearly drowned. We had heard so much about AI, how it enhanced productivity and saved time and money. So, we decided to use it to create and separate Dawn’s Fibre Art from her…

Preparation Day at Rare Arts Centre Before the spinning workshop began, Dawn spent time carefully preparing each wheel so the day would begin smoothly and calmly. She checked every spinning wheel one by one, making sure the drive bands were sitting properly, the treadles moved freely, and the flyer and bobbin turned as they should. She tested the tension, looked for anything loose or out of…

Handwoven Heritage Meets Modern Style Dawn’s first handwoven coat experience At the kitchen table, with a single skein of deep purple and an idea that would not let go, Dawn’s first woven coat began to take shape. There was something familiar in the making of it — slow, careful, and comforting — like opening an old family recipe worn soft at the edges. It recalled her Scott and French Huguenot…

A closing reflection on the Cameo Comrades exhibition at Gallery 10 — what has been learned, and where portrait and abstract painting are heading next. Celestial Glory Summer Blush These two abstracts are two of Dawn’s strongest Abstract painting with layered colour and expressive mark-making. When an exhibition comes to a close  Every exhibition has a quiet ending.  There is no dramatic…

A reflection on the questions people ask during an art exhibition — and what those questions reveal about how we see and understand painting. The value of a simple question  One of the most rewarding parts of showing work is not the painting itself.  It is the conversations that happen around it.  At Gallery 10, people have asked thoughtful, curious, and sometimes unexpected questions. Each…

Exploring the turning point in abstract painting — the moment when one decision shifts the entire work and defines its direction. The moment you don’t plan for  Every painting has a point where it changes.  It doesn’t happen at the beginning, and it doesn’t happen through careful planning.  It happens in a single decision — often unexpected — that shifts the entire direction of the…

A New Online Home for Handwoven Stories  I’m so pleased to share the launch of Dawn’s website dawndavislimfibre.com.au — a new online space dedicated to handweaving, fibre art, workshops, and the quiet beauty of making fibre by hand.  This website brings together the many threads of Dawn’s fibre practice: woven works, creative learning, and a deeper connection to materials, process, and story.…

A reflection on how abstract paintings change when they leave the studio and meet light, space, and people in a gallery setting A question for you  Have you ever seen something in person — a painting, a place, an object — that felt completely different from how you expected?  When a painting leaves the studio A painting is one thing in the studio.  It is something else entirely once it is…

A reflection on balancing structure and movement in abstract painting, using colour, space, and rhythm to hold the work together.  Holding something steady while letting it move  Every painting needs something to hold onto.  Even when the work feels loose, spontaneous, or intuitive, there is always an underlying structure — something that keeps the painting from drifting apart.  This piece…

Exploring how abstract paintings can suggest human presence without depicting literal portraits — through form, space, and memory. As We WalkPortrait likeness without the actual face When a painting begins to feel like a presence  There are times when a painting seems to hold someone — even when no face is painted.  This work sits somewhere between abstraction and portraiture. There are no…

An inside look at mark-making and how abstract paintings evolve through layers, colour, and intuitive decisions. Letting a painting begin without a plan  Some paintings begin with a clear intention.  Others don’t.  This work began with a few simple marks — nothing more than colour placed on a surface to see what might happen next.  There was no plan for what it would become.  Only a…

Portraits Begin Before the Face: What I Look For First “When you meet someone, what do you notice first — their face, their posture, or something else?”  “Portrait painting doesn’t begin with eyes or features — it begins with noticing people in space, how they stand, how they hold themselves, how they occupy a moment.”  Dawn at Dunolly Country Market Dawn said “Portraits begin before the…

Gallery Wall Moment Gallery 10 has been a wonderful place to see art do what it’s meant to do: live in a room with people. As part of the Cameo Comrades group exhibition at Gallery 10 (10 Bridge Mall, Ballarat Central), I’m sharing work that moves between two modes of painting — portraiture and abstraction. The exhibition listing shows it running until 30 May 2026, with free entry and disabled…

Look out for Dawn at Dunolly Country Market (Broadway Dunolly, in front of the town hall) and some regional areas. The present health issues she had did not stopped her from going out to paint or play music. Art that connects not just decorates.