Study of a Hare's Head -SOLD
By Lynsey Cleaver
Original artwork
Graphite on paper
Framed
Image size: H: 50cm x W: 66cm
Framed size: H: 69.5cm x W: 87cm
Lynsey draws and prints the wilds animals and birds who inhabit the countryside round her North Oxfordshire home.
Versatile and inventive in the printing techniques she prefers, she also produces large graphite drawings of wildlife, for the practice of drawing is the backbone of everything she does.
This sensitive drawing of a young hare, with an alert head and folded-back ears, is bursting with life and movement, like we've just caught a glimpse of her before she bounds off again.
ABOUT LYNSEY CLEAVER
After completing a BA and an MA in Fine Art and Art History respectively at Coventry University and the University of Warwick, Lynsey spent over 20 years working as a muralist, scenic artist and commission-based artist for private clients, leading interior designers and the theatre industry, in the UK and abroad.
She freelanced for the publishing mogul Felix Dennis as an on-site artist at his country estate in Warwickshire and has been involved in various prestigious art projects, including being part of a team that created work for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Russia and creating boxed artworks for the international touring ‘surviving history’ holocaust exhibition in London, Lithuania and South Africa.
The influence behind her current work is closer to home: she's inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of the North Cotswolds border and nearby.
"I like to combine mono printing techniques on a gelatine plate with paint and collage to create mixed media depictions of my local landscape, focusing on aspects like the effects of weather. Sometimes, I zoom into small sections and get inside the landscape."
"Her recent works have focused on the habitats of birds in the hedgerow. Using a gelatine plate, she prints directly from nature using twigs and leaves from the hedgerow, overlapping and layering them and then painting directly onto the surface with acrylic paint.
"My passion in depicting birds and wild animals stems from my upbringing. A fascination with birds and nature has been woven into the fabric of my childhood, growing up on the edge of an ancient woodland. My parents' obsession with bird watching, their collection of bird books and specimens meant that I’ve often felt almost compelled to paint birds: they're part of a language that speaks of home."