For Jamie

For Jamie

For Jamie

For Jamie

Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends?

My Lost Captive

These pieces are based on the exploration of drawing with light. I was working with the theme of confinement and imprisonment, but also safekeeping. I was interested in the idea that these creatures, or appendages of creatures, have been preserved and put on display, subject to scrutiny. The idea came from curiosity cabinets that were popular during the Renaissance, and also the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, where freakish abnormalities of nature are preserved and housed in jars, put on display for their spectacular qualities.

When the lights turn: character sketches

Albino Portrait Series

These works are a series that I recently completed for my portrait painting class. The subjects of the paintings are all individuals who have been affected by albinism, which is the lack of skin pigmentation. Albinos often suffer from medical complications and are seen as social outcasts or even associated with witchcraft. In some African cultures, albinos have been murdered by witch doctors for the use of their bones. All the individuals that I selected come from different racial backgrounds and yet because they are afflicted with albinism share these same physical characteristics, which I personally believe to be strikingly beautiful, and yet eerie and somewhat other-wordly.

For Megan and Tessa with greatest love and devotion...

Newly completed illustrations for my book.

Nanny Tales and Papa Stories

These drawing are the first batch of illustrations that I have been working on for my drawing class. When my sister and I were young, our grandmother, Olwen, would tell us stories about all the adventures she had as a child. Before passing away, she wrote them all down for us in a beautiful scarlet coloured notebook. The drawing is an investigation of my personal history. I reread all the beloved stories from my childhood, selected a few favourites and decided to illustrate them. The drawings are not currently in their proper narrative order, as I still have several illustrations to complete and have yet to bind my book. More to come soon.

In The Spirit of Hallowe'en...

I've been spending a lot (probably too much) time thinking of different possible costumes for the upcoming and in my opinion, most spectacular and notorious holiday. It was my intense anticipation and excitement which inspired this masked self-portrait.

Creature sketches

Black Swan: Odile and Odette

The story of Swan Lake and the ill-fated princess Odette has fascinated me ever since childhood. The story is about a woman who is forced by and evil sorcerer to take the shape of a swan, lest any other man look upon her. For a few hours every night however, Odette becomes real and alive again. One night, Odette meets Prince Siegfried who vows to marry her and free her from the curse. The sorcerer becomes aware of the two lovers however, and tricks the prince into marrying Olide, Odette's wicked and sinister counterpart. It is the relationship between Odette and Odile that I wish to explore, focusing on their opposing personalities and the treacherous betrayal that leads to the tragic denouement.

"We're creatures of the Underworld, we can't afford to love..."

These works are part of an on-going series of drawings that I started last summer. The work explores the relationship between the animal kingdom and modern society, focusing on contemporary man's mutable conception of nature. With the deer, the idea is that a very gentle and harmless creature has, by the replacement of his legs with knives and blades, been simultaneously made dangerous, fearful, and yet incapacitated. A juxtaposition of sympathy and terror are explored whilst depicting a world in flux, a nature imploding and dissolving.