Flora and Fauna and Toys
This selection of images reflects a range of my work generally made as individual pieces rather than within a group theme. Here is a cornucopia of multifarious diversity featuring flowers, plants, animals, toys and things.
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Taking a Bee for a Fly
Taking a Bee for a FlyA strange creature has tied a buff-tailed bumble bee (bombus terrestris) to a red thread and taken it out into a garden of flowers inspired by a bouquet of hand-made flowers my son gave to me.
h:18cms x w:13cms (framed).
Pencil on paper
2015 -
Taking a Bee for a Fly
Taking a Bee for a FlyA strange creature has tied a buff-tailed bumble bee (bombus terrestris) to a red thread and taken it out into a garden of flowers inspired by a bouquet of hand-made flowers my son gave to me.
h:18cms x w:13cms (framed).
Pencil on paper
2015 -
Eat Me
Eat MeA toy red apple with one of my favourite little dolls’ house dolls. She has a lovely yellow ribbon, with red spots on her dress and red shoes. I handwrote her instructions and then overstamped them with my childhood printing sets. I don’t know if she is going to obey the instructions she has been given; but if fairy tales, novels and religious imagery are to be believed, she had better be careful.
h:44.5cms x w:31.5cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Eat Me
Eat MeA toy red apple with one of my favourite little dolls’ house dolls. She has a lovely yellow ribbon, with red spots on her dress and red shoes. I handwrote her instructions and then overstamped them with my childhood printing sets. I don’t know if she is going to obey the instructions she has been given; but if fairy tales, novels and religious imagery are to be believed, she had better be careful.
h:44.5cms x w:31.5cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Eat Me
Eat MeA toy red apple with one of my favourite little dolls’ house dolls. She has a lovely yellow ribbon, with red spots on her dress and red shoes. I handwrote her instructions and then overstamped them with my childhood printing sets. I don’t know if she is going to obey the instructions she has been given; but if fairy tales, novels and religious imagery are to be believed, she had better be careful.
h:44.5cms x w:31.5cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Twisted Hazel
Twisted HazelI was given a plastic toy butterfly: as fleshy and malevolent a butterfly as I have ever seen. In a cloud of shedding, powdery scales he stands astride a Twisted Hazel (Corylus avellana) stem regarded a doll and her apple. The buds leach viscous red ooze which the hazel stem sucks in and, in turn, feeds the butterfly with his thick, red tongue. The fallen red shadow flows into and from the apple and the little doll’s shoes.
h:45.5cms x w:30.5 cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil and pastel on paper
2015 -
Twisted Hazel
Twisted HazelI was given a plastic toy butterfly: as fleshy and malevolent a butterfly as I have ever seen. In a cloud of shedding, powdery scales he stands astride a Twisted Hazel (Corylus avellana) stem regarded a doll and her apple. The buds leach viscous red ooze which the hazel stem sucks in and, in turn, feeds the butterfly with his thick, red tongue. The fallen red shadow flows into and from the apple and the little doll’s shoes.
h:45.5cms x w:30.5 cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil and pastel on paper
2015 -
Twisted Hazel
Twisted HazelI was given a plastic toy butterfly: as fleshy and malevolent a butterfly as I have ever seen. In a cloud of shedding, powdery scales he stands astride a Twisted Hazel (Corylus avellana) stem regarded a doll and her apple. The buds leach viscous red ooze which the hazel stem sucks in and, in turn, feeds the butterfly with his thick, red tongue. The fallen red shadow flows into and from the apple and the little doll’s shoes.
h:45.5cms x w:30.5 cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil and pastel on paper
2015 -
Mothers Day Flowers
Mothers Day FlowersThis is the most lovely bouquet I have ever received. It was made by my son when he was very small as a Mothers Day gift. I added the toy fly.
35.5 x 25.3 cms, 14” x 10” (unframed)
watercolour and pencil and felt pen on paper
2015 -
Mothers Day Flowers
Mothers Day FlowersThis is the most lovely bouquet I have ever received. It was made by my son when he was very small as a Mothers Day gift. I added the toy fly.
35.5 x 25.3 cms, 14” x 10” (unframed)
watercolour and pencil and felt pen on paper
2015 -
You May Call Me Olive
You May Call Me OliveThis proud ceramic lady belonged to a marvellous old lady called Olive. I knew her for only a short time before she died, but her independence and no-nonsense personality stayed with me. Her family kindly gave me her embroidery silks (which I have used in another piece called ‘Ickle Ockle’, and I also have this little ceramic figure. So, in memory of Olive, I combined her lady with an altered and named Day of the Dead skull light switch I brought back from New York. This little tribute holds my memory of her still and was made for this lovely little vintage photo frame.
h:14.5cms x w:10.5cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil and sequins on paper
2014 -
Fly and Gold Leaf
Fly and Gold LeafThe gold leaf is a water gilded brush mark next to a toy fly
9 x7 cms, 3 9/16” x 2 12/16” (unframed) 13.5 x 10 cms, 5 6/16” x 4” (framed)
pencil and gold leaf on paper
2015 -
Orlando
OrlandoTwo dolls found in a bric a brac box: both identical except for their clothing and wigs signifying one is apparently male and one is female. I was reminded of Virginia Woolf’s novel ‘Orlando’ in which the protagonist changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries. So which doll is actually male and which female? An interesting question in the context of how children are expected to play with dolls and, by extension, how both children and adults explore gender and identity. I have also used these dolls in my 'Flowerplay' series (see artwork 'Flowerplay (Arrange them both)').
h:56.5cms x w:44cms (framed).
Oil with lace and beads on board
1999
In the background of the painting is a quote from the novel. The quote reads: “…of the complications and confusions which thus result everyone has had experience; but here we leave the general question and note only the odd effect it had in the particular case of Orlando… “. I painted it in gold using an old script called ‘English Courthand’ which was used in legal documents as early as the 14th century until 1733, although it was still read into the19th century. In this painting, the combination of legal text and ambiguous imagery references the current debate around the fluidity of identity. -
Aja
AjaAccording to her backstory, Aja was an Asian athletic guitar player.
h:185cms x w:122 cms (unframed).
oil and fabric paint and glitter on canvas
1994 -
Shana
ShanaAccording to her backstory, Shana was a fashion designer, drummer, then guitar player.
h:185cms x w:122 cms (unframed).
oil and fabric paint and glitter on canvas
1994 -
Rio
RioAccording to his backstory, Rio was Jem’s road manager and Jerrica's boyfriend.
h:185cms x w:122cms (unframed).
oil and fabric paint and glitter on canvas
1994 -
Lady and Camellias
Lady and CamelliasI have loved ‘La Traviata’ ever since I saw Zeferelli’s film version of Verdi’s glorious opera which was based on Dumas’ original novel ‘La Dame aux Camelias’ (Lady of the Camellias). In Dumas’ novel the ill-fated heroine is a courtesan called Marguerite, but in both the film and opera she is called Violetta. Early in the story she gives her aspiring lover a red camellia: “When can I bring it back?” he asks. “When it is withered.” she replies. It is such a short time until the plucked flower dies. I bought this Boudoir Doll (such dolls were fashionable accessories for young women in the inter-war years) at an auction: grey, dirty, neglected and well past her prime yet still with too vivid cheeks and vibrant pink dress I thought her most beautiful. She was certainly the sort of Boudoir Doll a dying courtesan would have had by her side. So there are three flowers in this work: Marguerite, Violetta and Camellia.
h:72cms x w:55.5 (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Beetles and Camellias
Beetles and CamelliasI dried some red camellia flowers and preserved them in an egg box sarcophagus. One summer later I opened their tomb and there they lay, desiccated and paper dry yet still slightly waxen. I was given some large toy beetles and I have a preserved Victorian rhinoceros beetle specimen (possibly Augosoma centaurus, from Africa) so I decided to bring them all together, Low down in the drawing, a brown beetle from the earth crawls towards a dead flower. Higher up, a blue beetle from the sky reaches a vibrant, saturated living red camellia flower while overhead the rhinoceros beetle looks on. There is an interplay between which subject is living, dead, preserved, plastic, resin, real, contemporary, antique, past and present. It is all the same and yet different in the interconnected world of this drawing.
h:72cms x w:55.5cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Vitae Cyclum Fritallaria Melegrais
Vitae Cyclum Fritallaria MelegraisIn making this drawing, I had in mind images from Maria Sibylla Merian’s gorgeous book ‘Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium’ of 1705. From two eternally entwined toy snakes a real purple snakes head fritillary grows. Its seed pod ripens as it journeys through a snakeskin (a corn snake called Elvis had shed his skin naturally) until it emerges out of the skin’s mouth. The seed pod bursts open and disgorges its seeds onto the lizardwoman who is climbing up the fritillary stem. The fertilisation flows back into the pair of snakes and the cycle begins again. There is an interplay between which subject is living, dead, preserved, plastic, real, contemporary, past and present. It is all the same and yet different in the interconnected world of this drawing.
h:72cms x w:55.5cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
The Parasol
The ParasolI found a wonderful old rag doll on a market stall and from her a beautiful skirt, blouse and jewelry I think she might be from India. She has a separate doll's face crudely sewn onto her cloth head which in some ways is rather poignant, but in others quite disturbing. Is she an expression of a thrifty use of materials for a child to love, is the dolls face European in which case it could provoke a culturally problematic discourse, or is this appliqued visage just plain creepy? Her dissonant appearance makes her more beautiful to me and I think she provokes questions better than I can answer them. I felt her delicate face would need protecting from the sun so I found this dead leaf (fatsia japonica?) on the pavement and decided it would make a lovely parasol for her. I liked the way it still looked so animated as if caught in the breeze. I bought a new watercolour tube of the most beautiful rich colour that reminded me of dried blood and used this for her shadow in tribute to the life stages of women and their tragedies and triumphs. The china doll's hand with painted nails came from my grandparents trunk. I don't know what it is doing here exactly, I just know the doll needed it to be with her. It could be reaching for the doll, or leaving her, it could stand in for the doll's owner, friend, the artist, or it could even be God... .
h:72cms x w:55.5cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
Broken Bombus Terrestris
Broken Bombus TerrestrisThe bee (a buff-tailed bumble bee: ‘bombus terrestris’) is gently turned this way and that and never falls. Walking to school a group of children rescued this dying bumble bee and were worried about what to do with it so I suggested I could put in a drawing: all concerns were soothed. Unfortunately it died soon afterwards and gradually took on this contorted position which inspired the composition.
h:15.8cms x w:15.8cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
The Encounter
The EncounterA while ago a group of children gently and carefully rescued a dying bumble bee and asked if I would put it into a drawing. Some time later I returned to the bee to find it had dried in a most peculiar pose and so I began this drawing. Out for a walk and holding a sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus), a strange creature encounters a buff-tailed bumble bee (bombus terrestris). Is the unidentified little animal carrying a knitting needle for safety, or is it an entomologist’s pin? All the element are shown 1:1 scale which I think enhances the drawing's specific oddity.
h:50cms x w:41.5cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2015 -
The Fallen Elytrum
The Fallen ElytrumA hand reaches out from beneath the emerald green turf to a beetle’s elytrum which has fallen from the glistening sky. I was researching the use of beetles’ wings in a historical textile conservation project and was given some jewel beetles’ (buprestidae) elytra (single forewing cases). I would not buy these wings, but decided to use the ones I was gifted because they are poignant and beautiful. They bring to mind many questions around the context of beauty, protection, adornment, seduction and value. They also raise considerations around exploitation, appropriation, conservation, preservation, consumption and being discarded as valueless. The drawing was done specifically for this little vintage photo frame.
h:18cms x w:13cms (framed).
ink and pencil and beetle elytrum on paper
2014 -
The Hatchling
The HatchlingI found this tiny egg shell which had fallen from a tree in my sister’s beautiful garden. What would hatch from such a small egg: perhaps a little sister? Both dolls are from the dolls' houses our parents made for us and which we played with together.
h:26.5cms x w:21.5 cms (framed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2014 -
Honest John and Friends
Honest John and FriendsI was given this group of toys. Crudely made, they are slowly falling apart and staining themselves and each other with discolouring, gluey oozings. Some of them seem to be based upon Disney characters. If this is the case, then they are surely the originals’ reflections come to life from the dark side of the mirror. As to the unidentified others, their identities may be known only to themselves and, possibly, to their maker. They are distorted in their strange familiarity but I love them, so I placed them together in their group so they can support each other. I have stood them upon a deservedly splendid patterned surface adapted from my original childhood Altair design pad to reference the splendid mosaic floors of Renaissance paintings.
h:30.5cms x w:45.5 cms (unframed).
watercolour and ink and pencil on paper
2015 -
Flauna Lepidoptera
Flauna LepidopteraA cloud of butterflies whirl around a pale upreaching hand. All the butterflies were painstakingly studied and painted from paper or plastic toys, except for one: the only real butterfly is the fragment of a tortoiseshell gently cradled in the hand. Originally conceived as a the first in a trio of paintings inspired by Dutch still life imagery, this became, in reality, a personal Memento Mori work for a beloved friend. Imagery of transformation, gentle protection, sacrifice, Christianity and the devil, salvation and death were all in my mind when I selected the subjects for this painting.
h:65cms x w:54 cms (framed).
Oil on board
2013
At the centre of it all is Flauna’s hand (goddess of flowers and animals). The butterflies are souls ascending, descending and tumbling around the transforming caterpillars. The bead skull, devil’s head and my child’s teeth reference mortality. The black butterfly made of beads clinging to the hand is a vintage millinery decoration: embodiment of fleeting vanity. The stigmata of falling antennae from the fragment of the tortoiseshell butterfly trace the beatific gesture of the waxen hand. In the background I have left in the textured silhouette of an over-painted butterfly; it emerges out of the black void revealed only by raking light. The original Victorian frame has a faux tortoiseshell finish. -
Ickle Ockle
Ickle OckleI have used this doll before in ‘Parasol”. She is a beautiful little Indian rag doll with a stitched-on face. I think the fact that her face is threaded on is very poignant and full of symbolic richness. Where is her beauty: in her removable face, her clothes, or her jewellery? Does she present a problematic discourse about female beauty? I decided to make a painting about her and where her fragile beauty lies. So, in this context, I was struck by a well-known nursery rhyme: ‘Ickle Ockle Blue Bockle Fishes in the Sea f you want a pretty maid Please choose me.’ I used shisha embroidery to attach glass mirrors to the painting. The reflections engage the viewers in seeing themselves as they gaze at the subject of the painting and consider her plea. I used Olive’s embroidery silks in this piece (see ‘You May Call Me Olive’). For centuries, women have put their stories, strength and dreams into the threads they have sewn, needles they have plied and the beads of their decorative crafts. In this painting the combination of doll, nursery rhyme, applied decorative embroidery and beads gives a context in which to consider a girl’s perceived beauty, worth or desirability.
h:40.5cms x w:41cms (unframed).
Oils and embroidery silks with Shisha mirrors and beads on canvas
1999 -
Fly and Flower
Fly and FlowerI used a yellow bead (my mother had kept some since my childhood) to apply a tiny fabric flower to the paper. I drew a toy fly next to it in the manner of Dutch 17th century 'Vanitas' (brevity of life) imagery.
h:13.5cms x w:10cms (framed).
Plastic bead with fabric flower and pencil on paper
2015 -
Grave Flowers with Everlasting Flowers
Grave Flowers with Everlasting FlowersTwo friends of mine have an art studio in a graveyard and it's wonderful. Helen keeps the old artificial flowers that visitors throw onto the rubbish pile when they refresh the flower displays and I thought this rather poignant and worthy of note. She used to work as a potter (she is now a painter) so it seemed a perfect solution to combine discarded flowers from the graves with living flowers from the beautiful garden they have established in the graveyard and to place them in some of Helen's ceramics. I painted two Everlasting Flowers (Helichrysum bracteatum or Xerochrysum bracteatum) because I loved the nuance of juxtaposing living 'eternal' flowers alongside the 'unliving' artificial flowers from the realm of the dead. Now Helen isn't making ceramics anymore I want to feature as many of her lovely creations as I can. I may do more of these drawings in due course-but they take a long time. Thank you to dear Irene and Helen for making this possible.
h:61cms x w:45.5cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2021 -
Pirate Panzy and Pansy
Pirate Panzy and PansyAs part of my dolls and flowers drawings of 2021 I made this in time for Hallowe'en. She is Panzy the Pirate who is one of the creations of the marvellous Queenie Black, maker of all things spooky. Queenie has a shop 'queenie_apocketfullofposiez' on Etsy and is also on Instagram and Facebook. Panzy's hair, dress, boots, face and pirate accessories are irresistible. Obviously, Panzy has to have her own pansy. Thank you Queenie.
h:42cms x 29.5cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2021 -
Sparrow
SparrowI found this perfect tiny dead sparrow on my front path. It was during the beginning of the Covid lockdown and I wasn't able to draw then so I put it in the freezer (hygienically) and returned to it some time later. It was so beautiful I had to record it to at least preserve it in art. I buried it and hope to be able to draw it's skull one day.
h:25.5cms x w:36cms (unframed).
watercolour and pencil on paper
2021