Flown

This is a painting in oil onto a handmade wood panel that I created back in 2015.

At that time, I had become interested in natural forms, particularly skeletons of small creatures and this was the result of finding one such skeleton of a seabird whilst on holiday in Wales.

Also around the same time, I began working part-time in my husband's wood recycling business and so had access to lots of old wood rescued from landfill and so I decided to create my own painting substrate from four end-of-life scaffold boards.

Sometime later, I plucked up the courage to enter the finished painting into one of the most prestigious painting prizes in history, The Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition, and was duly accepted!

This is a very short (poor quality) timelapse video of its creation and below are some photos of the painting on show at the Mall Galleries in London during the Exhibition and the accompanying publication.

Although sadly, the Columbia Threadneedle Prize no longer runs, this still stands as my best achievement so far on my journey as a self-taught artist and I hope to enjoy similar successes in the future!

Selected from 3,828 entries submitted by 1,973 artists from 29 European countries by a panel that included Emma Crichton Miller (journalist), David Dawson (artist, writer and
photographer), Dr Arturo Galansino (Director General at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence),Tim Knox (Director, Fitzwilliam Museum) and Lewis McNaught (Director, Mall Galleries).