This series of Silver Lining Sketches started its life in the early weeks of the Coronavirus lockdown here in the UK. These pieces were a ray of sunshine for me during that dark and worrying time as working on my beloved birds in charcoal had been high on my ‘to do’ list for many a year but until that time there just never seemed to be enough hours in a day to indulge in experimentations in a new medium.

I chose to start this series with Raptors, their strength and dignity were qualities that I wanted to hold close in that difficult time. So far I’ve chosen birds that are fairly common in the UK or America and as the series progresses I plan to widen my net to add birds from all corners of the world, a global series of strong wings to carry us through these strange days.