My Work
Victoria Harrison BA (Hons)
I work in a range of mediums, from gouache and gold to imitate medieval illumination, to the stark contrast of white pastel on black paper and the muted tones of coloured chalk to render the softness of fur.
As a farm girl with a big imagination, I spent the formative years of my childhood exploring the natural world: digging up fossils, collecting animals bones and imagining the landscape before the arrival of the modern world. I am drawn to subjects who carry their history in their eyes, where with careful rendering the viewer can grasp the intersection of vulnerability and strength behind the gaze.
Charcoal and pastel
'Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself must die; but I know one thing that never dies: the fame of a dead man's deeds.' (taken from Hávamál)
Divine battle madness, transforms the warrior, shedding fears and inhibitions. Changed, he takes on the primal spirit of the wolf, devoted to Odin, god of frenzy, ecstasy, wisdom and death.
The stark white pastel against the black textured paper is confrontational, enabling us to distill timeless emotional truth from a subject so alien, yet so familiar.
The Norseman
The Great Heathen Army
"He is a fool who trusts to his own strength, if he does not also seek to win land for his kin." — The Saga of Olaf Haraldsson
This photorealistic pastel portrait is one of a series exploring the motivations of The Viking Great Army. Executed in white pastel, the monochromatic palette emphasises the raw terror of a figure emerging from darkness, as invaders must have appeared to loom out of the countryside, a seemingly unstoppable force.
Eliminating the distraction of colour enables clarity, its starkness allowing the viewer to engage fully with the subject’s humanity.
Alike, yet paradigms apart - familiar, yet utterly alien.
Drengr
Hervör
"There were once women among the Danes who dressed themselves to look like men, and devoted almost every instant of their lives to the pursuit of war... they courted military celebrity so zealously that you would have thought they had unsexed themselves."
Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum
She has shed her name to reclaim her lineage. The white pastel provides a stark contrast between the softness of her features and the cold, unyielding texture of the iron she carries, suggests duality: a woman living as a shadow, carving a man’s name into history while her own remains a secret.
Memory
"Huginn and Muninn fly each day over the spacious earth; I fear for Huginn, that he come not back, yet more anxious am I for Muninn."
Grímnismál
Using scratchboard removes the softness of plumage. He is Muninn - Memory - rendered not in flight, but in a moment of static, heavy vigil, the silent observer, a literal 'shadow of the past.' In the absence of color, the raven becomes a silhouette of heavy remembrance.
Portraits
Renatus
This charcoal study explores the intersection of the fragility of life and cold, clinical intervention to save it.
The heavy, dark application of compressed charcoal creates a stark contrast against the paper, mirroring the harsh reality of the stitches that bind the subject's neck. It is a portrait of a man held together by thread.
Непохитний
The Unshakeable
"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." Zelenskyy
Rendered in white pastel and based on the famous photo by Alexander Chekmenev in Time magazine, this portrait captures the emotional turmoil of a man who refused 'a ride' choosing to stay and risk death with his countrymen.
Isolated in the composition; though he leads millions, he is alone. His eyes tell his story and his set jaw betrays his resolve.
Coloured pastel
Inspired by the photography of Dick Van Duijn, the velvet nature of soft pastel transforms this moment of beauty into a whimsical celebration of innocence.
The squirrel is rendered with a gentle, plush warmth, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
Inviting the viewer to step into a playful, quiet corner of the forest where even the smallest creature finds time to stop and embrace the beauty of a bloom.
Tiny Peace
This soft pastel work captures a quiet, moment in the garden, where curiosity meets innocence. A sensory journey - the scent of daisies, the tickle of a petal against a whisker and the warmth of summer sun. A tiny magical pause that happens when we take the time to notice it.
Nature's
Spell
Gouache paintings
Illuminated borders
River Jewel
Set against radiant gold, the kingfisher is a sacred icon of the waterways. Rendered in gouache, this piece blends the sharp, electric beauty of the natural world and the divine inspiration of the Medieval painter, lending a spiritual quality to this jewel of the river.
The irridescent Rose Chafer shimmers with metallic greens, coppers, and golds, a living emerald nestled in the warmth of the gilded background.
Painted in a mixture of gouache and shimmering inks the princely treatment of this tiny garden visitor invites the viewer to see divine craftsmanship at work the natural world.
Garden Treasure
Painted birds
Monarch of the Skies
The high contrast of this gouache painting captures the raw intensity of the eagle as an elemental force of nature.
He is primal - a creature of reflex and instinct - the absolute ruler of his domain.
Midnight visitor
Silent, feathered sentinel of the countryside, the barn owl is one of my favourite birds. Painted in gouache on warm brown paper evokes the rafters and fields where it can be found.
Capturing the owl in a moment of playful curiosity, this friendly barnyard visitor seems as interested in the viewer as we are in it.
