Around ten years ago, I was given a skull that had been in the possession of an artist i met, in the what turned out to be the last couple of years of his life. He was a person I had grown a deep respect for very quickly. Mostly for his absolute love of painting but also his innate sense of humanity.

I know nothing of the skulls origin or how he acquired it. It remains in my studio, like a companion and i continue to find it astonishing to wonder that this was once a fellow, feeling, thinking person, and what kind of life experience they had. My experience of this is life affirming and the reason why i make this series of paintings.

Beyond its symbolic potency, It is a thing of beauty and a privilege to care for.