The veil is thinning…
Drawings of The Unseen made manifest; invocations of Faerie and the crepuscular denizens of folklore and otherworldly arcane creatures that exist betwixt and between. Delightfully sinister unseelie nymphs and shadowy, spider-limb’d beings inhabiting the liminal shadows that shimmer just beyond our sight. The Hidden Company made corporeal. These beings are anything but painty-winged, wand-waving, sugar-and-shake-your-head impostors!
Long limb’d creatures with sharp teeth and talons emerge from the shadows; smiling, sneaking creatures flit amongst the mushrooms and dance under the pale moonlight; witches peer from rowan trees and cold winter breath manifests strange whisps in the night.
My work is conjured through time spent with the land and landscape; night-walks through the dark woods; hands sunk deep into mossy crags; fingers running over rock and stone and lichen covered branches forming spindle-finger’d sigils; misty autumn mornings; bone, teeth and fur; spider’s webs bejeweled with dew; the scent of damp, wet earth and rotting leaves; scheming foxgloves growing from crooked walls at Midsummer and mushrooms; oh, mushrooms! I’m inspired by folklore and fairy tale, ancient and dusty old grimoires, medieval marginalia, decaying ruins and graveyards overgrown with ivy, British folk magic and poisonous plants.
I create mostly with graphite, but I also like to play around with with ink and watercolour and I dabble in bookbinding.
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I’ve always known that I wanted to tell stories; My childhood was spent exploring hills, woodlands, churches and ruins and devouring tales told to me by my grandfather; stories told to me as we explored graveyards, tales of myth and legend, fairy and folk tale. I would devour as many books as I could lay my claws upon and I would eagerly illustrate my Grandpa’s poems and archaeology articles and write and illustrate tales of my own devising. I carry these stories inside me and I draw in an attempt to share them; to bring them to life, in one way or another.
I reside where Yorkshire meets Lancashire, a very liminal place, alongside woodland and moorland and a great many craggy vales and mossy cloughs. My studio, lovingly called The Belfry, is nestled in the eaves of my home in my adopted home of West Yorkshire where I live with a mischief of familiars.
I’m fond of gothic revival architecture, post-punk, darkwave and gothic rock, crisp autumn days, oakmoss and patchouli; I collect things that I find on the ground and I am forever getting snagged on things.
I’m also a member of People of the Hills: An Otherworldly Art Collective.
Portrait by Bryony Whistlecraft
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