I've taken a step back from my taxidermy art for a little while to indulge my passion for painting. There's something very cathartic about working with oil on board, primal even.

The first work shown below is 'Dogon and the flamingo' (139cm x 86cm), and is inspired by the carvings of the African tribe the Dogon - incredible art which is now highly collectible. The ancestral Nommo figure is a running motif in many of these tribal carvings.

'Via con dias' (139cm x 86cm) reflects on the special time I spend in the ocean - I love kayaking, fishing, surfing and wandering the shoreline looking for flotsam and jetsam to use in my taxidermy and assemblage boxes. See below for this painting.

The last two in this series are both titled 'Owl and the blue monkey' (139cm x 86cm). Proust's concept of 'the search for lost time' and linking memories to objects is the main driving force behind all of my art. In the painting below I'm examining where the natural world and spirit world cross over.