Original Canvas - Animalia on Pale Ochre - 30" x 30"

Acrylic, Paper, Ink, Varnish, on Canvas.

A joyful celebration of the animal kingdom. The animals are set to a background of pale ochre, with washes of nut brown and canary yellow inks adding warmth and a vintage feel. Lily aims for her colour palettes to be vibrant without being garish.

In Lily's words - 'My kids went through a phase of filling pages and pages with felt tip drawings of animals. It made me want to fill a canvas with animals. Seeing the kids take so much joy from all these amazing creatures - I think it's easily forgotten as a grown up. I used felt tip pens for most of the animal studies while creating my collage material. I also wanted to create something which could make everyone in the household happy - wonderful creatures to fascinate the kids, teamed with a beautiful colour palette, to help create an inviting and homely space.'

Lily has developed a unique way of working, using reproductions of her own painting, printmaking and drawing studies as collage material on a canvas. Lily periodically adds to her 'library' of studies. The animals here have been carefully drawn, reproduced, and cut, ready to use on the canvas. The background is painted with acrylics. The use of collage allows the freedom to play with the composition in a way which would otherwise be impossible, allowing quick changes until a design is settled upon. When the collage is fixed in place, washes of ink have been applied. Finally, a glossy varnish enhances colour, adds protection, and offers an opulent shine.

Nature is common to all of Lily's work, however she would never claim to offer gritty realism. Lily describes it more like focusing on an aspect of its beauty and running with it, seeing where it can be taken. Simplicity is key, which to Lily means creating something which people can hopefully take some pleasure and enjoyment from.

The canvas is stretched on a deep edge wooden frame with painted sides. Included is a made to measure floating frame, which is easy to remove if preferred. The frame is finished with Littlefair's water based non-toxic water stain in 'Light Oak'. Ready to hang.

Please be aware that this canvas has a gloss finish, and some surface texture/relief as a result of the layered collage material and varnish.

Framed dimensions: 31.5 x 31.5 x 2 inches/80cm x 80cm x 5.5cm
Unframed dimensions: 30 x 30 x 1.5 inches/76cm x 76cm x 4cm

Price includes UK shipping. Please contact to ask for a quote for shipping internationally.