Artwork Description:

Title: Seaweed Collection

These seaweeds were painted from the collections at the Oxford University Herbaria. I used layers of watercolour paint to describe the delicate folds of the pink seaweed (which were almost fabric-like in nature), in contrast to the pod-like structure of the surrounding brown seaweed specimen.

During the Victorian era, at the time when women were mostly excluded from education and were not allowed to become members of the scientific societies, the hobby of seaweed collecting allowed women to pursue knowledge of the natural world, to contribute to science and even to gain recognition for their expertise.

Watercolour on paper

Artist Bio:

I am a Derbyshire-based, artist/illustrator and art tutor.

I have a degree in textile design, and a masters from Central St Martins in Communication Design/Illustration.

My inspirations include natural history, explorers and naturalists, Hitchcock films, kitchen sink dramas, ghosts & haunted houses  and Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier novels.

I am currently working on a series of Shackleton illustrations which evoke the foreboding atmosphere and historic accounts of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, as well as developing an idea for a graphic novel inspired by Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.