Grace - Original - SOLD

In 'Grace', Becky Smith places the skull at the heart of an extraordinary abundance of flowers, butterflies and birdlife, creating a striking balance between mortality and the beauty of the natural world.

The skull is rendered in cool, tonal greys, surrounded by an almost immersive field of colour. Vivid blues, pinks, oranges and violets compete for attention amongst delicate butterflies, birds and densely layered florals. The contrast between the permanence of the skull and the fleeting nature of everything around it gives 'Grace' both its strength and its name.

The inspiration for 'Grace' came from the largest commission Becky has created to date: a monumental 10 x 6 ft painting commissioned for Ikonick Motors in Miami, where it is displayed within the collector's supercar showroom. Flowers, birds and butterflies filled the background of the original commission, and Becky wanted to take the richness of those elements and explore them again within a more intimate composition.

That idea became 'Grace', created alongside its sibling work, 'Growth'. Where nature constructs the skull in Growth, in Grace it surrounds it, two different treatments of the same enduring motif that make the works particularly compelling when viewed as a pair.

Created in acrylic paint, gold leaf and spray paint on canvas, the original also incorporates Becky's specialised UV glow-in-the-dark paint. The combination of detailed painting, metallic elements and contemporary materials brings texture and depth to the surface, with selected details taking on another dimension under UV light.

At 60 x 60cm, Grace is a unique original and the source painting for the subsequent limited edition. While the edition allows the image to be enjoyed by a wider group of collectors, there will only ever be one original 'Grace', with every painted mark, layer and material belonging to this canvas alone. For collectors of Becky's work, it offers the prestige of owning the original artwork behind the edition, together with a direct connection to one of the most ambitious commissions of her career.

Specifications

Medium: Original acrylic paint, gold leaf and spray paint on canvas, with specialised UV glow-in-the-dark paint, finished with spray varnish.

• Medium: Original acrylic paint, Gold Leaf and spray paint on canvas, with a specialised UV glow-in-the-dark paint and finished with a spray varnish.
• Image size: 60 x 60 cm / 23.62" x 23.62"
• Boxed canvas strung ready to be displayed.