Hunt Museum Exhibition

 Falcons are one of nature's most deadly and efficient predators but they too are in danger when they hunt. Diving from great heights at incredible speed, I used glass as a medium to convey this dangerous vulnerability.

I thought the shadows were very interesting as they change with the angle of the light making the piece become sinister and eerier 

I also wanted to show the watchful waiting aspect, how some of the birds of prey are camouflaged, and unseen.

This is what inspired my project for the Hunt Museum. A 400 year old Falconry Hood, the sport of Kings, or in ancient times the cooks would use a lesser hawk to catch food to cook for dinner. Even to this day these birds transcend geographical limits and are status symbols for elite hunting, still the sport of rich and royalty. I researched the different birds and found them fascinating and very beautiful. Their hunting techniques ranging from waiting and watching quietly in the twilight to the hawks soaring at great height with keen eyesight waiting to drop from the sky at incredible speed. As the hawk plummets   towards its prey at speeds of 100 mph, it needs split second timing as it descends otherwise it may end up dead itself.

Oil on board primed with gesso. various layers and thicknesses applied then later worked into and scrapped off. 

This series of works are developed from memories invoked by these thorny bushes. As a children we would pick the fruit from these wild bushes, sometimes pricking fingers, or looking deep into the pattern of tangled growth. Some memories are clear others are more hazy. I chose to distort some of my work and leave parts sharp.

Here cling film applied as an extra layer adding more thorny interruption to my memories.

Spray paint and oil on canvas. The dense tangle comes from one initial thorn reaching light.

Happy New Year to you all. 

From a single thorn  to a tangle, the growing struggle and forms produced evoked certain interest and memories which I wanted to explore, using various mediums. I took many photos at different times of the day. From these I worked on several thorny studies. Research works were collage and spray paints. I also used collage with oil paint which worked well.

This collage incorporates some of my images which I enlarged then distorted by dragging it through a photocopier, the background is a single colour sprayed to achieve a beginning of a dark tangle.