About This Project

Mushrooms! That was the trigger for this painting.

And one particular type known as Fly Agaric. I just happened on a picture of them. With their distinctive red cap and white spots they’re visually striking and for some reason, in my mind, are linked to childhood memories of folklore, superstition, sorcery and fairies.

In late Victorian and early 20th. century Britain there was an infatuation with death. A time when notions of the supernatural, of the unexplainable, of the afterlife were embedded in the cultural subconscious.

And that ignited my imagination with an idea for a new work and subject matter I’d not encountered before!

This is the result. Rapscallion, Scallywags and Skulduggery.

It has nothing to do with the morbid or melancholic but more a celebration of imaginary worlds, of times when the English language was peppered with words like flibbertigibbet, hobbledehoy and kerfuffle.

A spellbinding time of enchantment, of mystery, malevolence and the underworld where imps, rascals and neerdowells would fleece your pockets and steal your imagination!

And the end result is nothing less than – Rapscallion, Scallywags and Skulduggery.

And that’s it! What does it all mean? Well that’s for you to decipher but remember keep your wits about you and watch out for the bogey-man!