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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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Werke
Lucy Boydell
…and is there honey still for tea?Charcoal and Chalk60 x 60 cms / 23½ x 23½ inchesDescription
Lucy Boydell’s work often combines observation with personal narrative. The bee depicted here is identifiable as a female, indicated by the presence of pollen baskets on her hind legs, a detail drawn from direct study. The title references Rupert Brooke’s poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, recalling the artist’s upbringing nearby, with the abundance of bumblebees in Grantchester’s Orchard.
'and Is There Honey Still for Tea' depicts a close study of a bumblebee in flight, its wings buzzing and pollen gathered around her busy hind limbs.
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