Bismuth & Phosphenes 2026 by Helen Boardman
One of a series of just three paintings, Bismuth & Phosphenes captures the Edale valley in the Peak District at its most luminous — painted during the Heatwave Summer of 2026. The landscape shone gold and rainbow, arcing across the moorland with startling clarity. This painting holds that moment: hot, vivid, transient, and deeply felt.
The title draws brilliantly on two vivid phenomena. Bismuth is a lustrous metallic element whose surface, when oxidised, blooms into extraordinary iridescent colours — peacock blues, golds, and purples — a natural spectacle that mirrors the shimmering heat and light of a midsummer landscape. Phosphenes are the luminous shapes, rings, and flashes of colour that appear when pressure is applied to closed eyes, or when the visual cortex is stimulated by intense light — the inner light we see when the outer world becomes almost too bright to bear. Together, the words evoke both the physical dazzle of the Edale valley in extreme heat and the subjective, bodily experience of being immersed in it.
Developed from plein air sketches made on location and finished in the studio with artist's professional UV satin varnish and wax. Part of a small Summer Heatwave series, 2026.
- Artist: Helen Boardman
- Title: Bismuth & Phosphenes
- Date: 2026
- Medium: Acrylic on board
- Artwork size: 30 × 30 × 1.5 cm
- Framed size: 32.5 × 32.5 × 3 cm
- Framing: Inset white tray frame
- Presented: Framed, with signed Certificate of Authenticity
Helen Boardman is a semi-abstract landscape artist based in Stone, Staffordshire. A keen walker, her work is an emotional as well as visual response to the landscapes she explores — from the Staffordshire Moorlands to the Peak District. Her paintings are held in private collections across the UK and internationally.