Something old, something new....

A few months ago I moved from Corfu - where I had been living for the last four years - and returned to the UK.

One thing that happens when you move house (hopefully for the last time!) is that you find things that you thought you had lost or forgotten

I have never been very good at documenting my work but I have managed just now to find some old photographs of earlier work

Let me share them with you

Persephone's Summer Garden - Mike Healey

This large work first appeared in an exhibition I had at John Ruskin's former home - Brantwood, Lake Coniston (Lake District, UK)

This beautiful house had what was once an artist's studio and it was there that I regularly exhibited my work, at least once a year during the 1990's 

Topiary Garden - Mike Healey

This small water colour (above) was first shown at Brantwood. It is meant to be an elaborate topiary garden based on the celebrated topiary gardens of nearby Levens Hall, Cumbria

It was one of the first paintings bought by a regular patron of mine - Alan Davis

Venus - Mike Healey

I have always believed that religion - any sort of religion - was a pernicious force in this world and should be avoided. However, I have long had a strictly historical interest in paganism

This little painting (above) is an early draft of  Venus - not the Venus of classical, Renaissance art but the real thing - a creature that is both passionate and malevolent

This little fellow (above) is a pagan Creature of the Forest and not someone you would like to encounter at night!

Me? I'm rather fond of him!

The above collage was an early study for a stage set. It never got made but the format was used later in one or two dioramas I made for clients

The tree forms are created using just a palette knife on liquid graphite

This picture (above) is an early version of Persephone, a classical mythological figure I have depicted many times since. The foliage is hand drawn using coloured crayon and charcoal

Dionysus - Mike Healey

This pencil study was an early version of  Dionysus (better known as Bacchus, the God of Wine). I think I subsequently sold it under the name of Ariel (Shakespeare's Tempest)!

Dionysus - Mike Healey

In antiquity, Dionysus was an extremely potent yet violent god whose women followers became hysterical and tore men apart, limb from limb!

Forbidden Forest - Mike Healey

Nature for me has always been a powerful force - and not always for the betterment of mankind, as a glance at the news will often tell you

In this painting (above) I have tried to capture both Nature's mysterious beauty and its often sinister character

Dionysus - Mike Healey

Mike Healey