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Michelle Clare


I work mainly in pen and ink as I love the freedom and discipline of this medium, although I  also work in water colour and gouche, and struggle with acrylic--I find it like trying to paint with treacle.  When not actually interpreting a piece for illustration, my inspiration comes from the natural world, folklore, mythology and music.  My work may thus be divided into three main areas:

1)  Natural images, animals, birds, plants and how nature heals and reclaims given half a chance.  As a child I played mainly on derelict land, and learned to see beauty in the weeds which grew amongst the rubble, and the patterns and textures of brick and rusting metal.

2)  The spirituality of nature.

3)  The weird stuff with skulls and masks.  Lord Byron has a lot to answer for, bless him!!  I love gothic imagery, and the idea that a mask can express more than the face, releasing the personality, as it does for the shaman and the carnival reveller.  On the darker side of masks - well... "the executioner's face is always well hidden"...