Maggie Jones - The Bug Collector
Ugly fairies are so much more fun than the pretty ones. Maggie’s Bug Collector is no exception. The googly eyes behind goggles and the buck teeth are the first thing you notice, along with the elf ears and the fascinated, geeky expression, and these create a bizarrely cute, appealing character. What I like most about this piece though is the texturing - the patterned, silky and shiny golden scarf, woolly sweater and velvety jester’s cap are all wonderfully warm and tactile - a really good example of how to paint different kinds of cloth and play up their textural contrasts while sticking to a very restricted colour harmony. The buttons and bells are nice touches along with the rough stitching on the cap. And take a close look at the background - the shadowy twigs are fantastic and the butterfly in the centre of the composition is not quite managing to camouflage itself against the woody background. It’s an image that really bears a lot of second looks - there’s a lot more to it than initially meets the eye…