Skull Painting

Single Studies

2019- present day

Twenty years of my life was spent as a Diagnostic Radiographer in the NHS, I have always loved biology and continue to be fascinated specifically with the skeletal system and Skulls.

This series of work has been an idea I have been thinking about for a long time now. Initially my problem was where to start, so many birds to base a painting on….

When I started planning my solo exhibition at Ace Arts in Somerton I decided the theme would be birds thriving and declining on the Somerset Levels – suddenly I had a boundary to work within. I spent a great deal of time researching which birds fitted into the categories, speaking to photographers and experts to understand more.

So many birds are under threat and the image of a skull seemed a powerful way of visually illustrating this. In so many cases we are at a point of losing so many birds that were once common place in the UK.

Human skulls are fascinating but relatively similar, bird skulls however have adapted so greatly to suit their environment and food source. Birds beaks in particular are fascinating, beautifully adapted tools that I wanted to visually ‘show off’ giving the viewer a better understanding of just one aspect of the natural world.

I chose to paint directly onto black fabric, hoping to achieve the appearance found in a natural history exhibition. The skulls are painted to scale so the viewer can directly compare the varying sizes.

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