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Overview
"No one gets the softness of fur like Lucy. Or the hardness of pangolin scales. Or the whiteness of white, which, considering her medium is essentially black, is nothing short if miraculous" - Lizzie Riches, painter.
Lucy Boydell is a Norfolk based artist recognised for her large-scale charcoal drawings of animals, rendered with precision and expressive detail. Born and raised in Cambridge, she developed a strong connection to both nature and draughtsmanship from an early age. Since completing her studies at Central Saint Martins in 1995, Boydell has exhibited extensively across the UK and Europe, with her works held in private collections internationally. Boydell's practice is grounded in direct observation. Often visiting farms, smallholdings, and zoological settings to study her subjects firsthand and meet the farmers, breeders and zookeepers responsible for looking after them. Lucy aims to capture not only the physical form of her subjects but also their character and presence. Working primarily with compressed charcoal on Fabriano paper, her drawings convey the nuanced textures of fur, feathers, and skin through a monochromatic palette. Her approach balances detailed representation with expressive mark-making, resulting in works that are both anatomically accurate and emotionally resonant.
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Works
Lucy Boydell
Spring HareCharcoal and Chalk67 x 90 cms / 26½ x 35½ inchesSigned 'Lucy Boydell' (lower left)Further images
Description
The hare stops Lucy dead in her tracks. There's an urgency to it, a raw, electric energy she can't ignore. In the artwork, it surges toward you, one foot planted firm before launching into another enormous leap. This is a creature mid-decision, caught in that precise moment it chose to run. Spring Hare was inspired by a chance encounter while the artist was walking through the countryside, when a hare was observed sitting in the open landscape. As the animal suddenly bounded away, Boydell captured the moment of movement that followed. Encounters such as this underpin her work, which centres on observing wildlife directly in its natural environment and recording the energy and physical presence of animals that remain largely untamed.1of 4Contact FormSend me more information on Lucy Boydell