Harriet Halstead’s obsession with elemental landscapes, light, colour, and the weather began with a Cornish childhood. Watching the movement of water, streaming down the cobbles in the rain, bouncing along in rivers, the endless waves of the sea and the patterns of ripples on the sand, captured her imagination. She often seeks out subjects with ambiguity of scale created by natural forms which repeat themselves in small details and monumental forms. She uses watercolours for plein air painting and can often be seen perched in somewhat awkward places to find a spot where the dynamics of the forms arrange themselves into a balanced composition. In her practice, she uses the fluidity and transparency of paint to reflect the transience of the seasons and the weather, studying the way light colours, reveals or melts away forms. Pure colours are layered to create muted tones or greys and richer shadows. Luminosity and aerial perspective are achieved using the white paper rather than body colour. Harriet trained in Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and Bath Academy of Art, followed by an Art teacher training course at Brighton. She has combined art teaching in secondary schools, family and art gallery education with drawing and painting. 
“Logan Rock from Pedn Vounder Beach” “Forrabury Stitches”
“Porthcothan” “From Forrabury”
“Stormy Sea Boscastle”