The fabulous creatures on this page are the work of Sally Bruce Richards, and appear in her first solo exhibition at Northumberland Street’s Gallery on the Corner.
Richards is based on the Isle of Mull, but whilst the native fauna there may have inspired the hares and hedgehogs on display, the peacocks and hummingbirds here certainly originate further afield.
Her jewel-like world – the figures first drawn on Japanese rice paper, then applied to the surface of painted natural timber and gilded with gold or silver leaf – appear to have stepped out of Aesop or some Indo-European creation myth.
The results are beguiling. There are no explicit narratives accompanying her works, but each persuasively invites the viewer to supply a story.
And whilst her style lacks the austerity of Russian iconography, it shares some of the latter's powerful excitement – particularly on these dark winter evenings when, lit from above, the paintings appear to radiate a light and magical intensity of their own.
Dream Walking with Hares continues at the Gallery on the Corner (34 Northumberland Street) until 31 January 2015. AM
Paintings from top to bottom: ‘Hare with Hedgehog’; ‘Peacock’ in Blossom; ‘Huddled Up’; ‘Under the Hummingbird Tree’.