Lil Tudor-Craig
Dandelion 18” x 24”
Black Knapweed 18” x 24”
Itford Hill 18” x 24”
Hawthorn 18” x 24”
Blackthorn at Walberswick 18” x 24”
Marram 18” x 24”
Creeping Thistle 18” x 24”
The Edge of the Marsh 18” x 24”
Lil Tudor-Craig
Ecology into Art
Lil Tudor-Craig uses painting as a way to explore, understand and celebrate the natural world of the British Isles. Her interest is in ecology, or the relationship of living things to each other and to their habitat.
Each painting shows a particular place at a particular time of year, with the creatures that would be found there at that time. Some of the creatures depend exclusively on the plants illustrated. For example, the caterpillars of many butterflies and moths rely on just one food plant.
Some of the paintings are concerned with the beauty of what is often overlooked: simple places such as reed beds, brambles, nettles, field corners and thorn thickets, with the incredible diversity of species that live there. Others portray more complex long-established plant communities such as old meadows, and their web of intricately dependent species.
The paintings celebrate plants and animals that are still common, and are also an elegy for those that are passing into history.
Lil makes her own paints by mixing very pure pigments with egg yolk. Intense colours and fine detail are possible with this medium. The pictures are painted in thin layers on wooden panels, which are prepared using gesso to provide the ground. Each takes at least three months to complete.
Lil has had a number of exhibitions, but she also welcomes people to her studio in Wales to see her work.
