about the little wren – helen barnard

I moved to Tasmania in 2011 and was enchanted and inspired by the beautiful and unique flora and fauna on this fascinating island. It evoked a curiosity and want to explore and understand this new landscape and it’s inhabitants – there is always something different and surprising.

I am particularly interested in studying and painting wildlife, the closer you look the more you see. I get drawn in to this kind of detailed work and love painting.

I hope my work invites people to take a moment, see something that they hadn’t noticed before and reminds them of their connection with nature.

exhibitions

I have no formal fine arts training, I have been painting in watercolour since 2011. My first exhibition “Bird Nerd: Exploring Tasmania’s Avifauna” was held in 2013 at INKA Gallery in Hobart, the second exhibition and first sell-out show was ‘Once Upon a Branch’ at Wild Island Tasmania, Hobart in October 2016, I then exhibited new underwater artworks ‘Small Island Big Sea’ at Wild Island in May 2018. I have created a range of products (cards and prints) from my work, supplied through various retail outlets in Tasmania, under the name The Little Wren.

contributions

I donate to the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal through sales of my cards. I have auctioned artwork to raise money for the Save the Orange Bellied Parrot appeal, made donations from artwork to Team Swift Parrot and the University of Tasmania to the projects to protect the Spotted Handfish.

I have contributed work to the book “Birdsong – A Celebration of Bruny Island Birds”, and ‘Cockatoo’ – the Thames and Hudson and Birdlife Tasmania collaboration.