Close-up of a human skull resting on a dark surface.

SKULL & BONE PORTRAITS
Drawings and Paintings

An ongoing understanding and exploration

A pencil drawing of a leopard skull on gray paper, taped to a woodworking workbench.

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My journey with skulls began with quiet, contemplative drawings, worked in short sessions as time allowed after my daughter was born. These first drawings grew into a profound conversation with my work and became the catalyst for new, meaningful bodies of work that encompass my deep connection with nature and its cycles of renewal.

Like my floral paintings, these works begin with quiet observation. Looking back, I realize I wasn't simply studying skulls—I was learning about myself and trying to understand our fear of death and the complicated nature of the human experience. That quiet period of observation became the foundation for everything that followed.

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Explore the other skull collections→

The one true certainty in life is that we will one day die. There is never enough time. We live to live. We will always want more time and we do not know how much we will have.

I had the opportunity to study from a real human skull for an entire year. The experience was both fascinating and unnerving. Holding the skull of another human being in my hands was a deeply contemplative moment. I stood before the skull of a person I knew nothing about. Who was this person? What was their story? How had their skull come to rest here as an object of study? I felt somewhat somber in its presence.

Spending as much time as I have with the bones of animals and one human has taught me that death is a lot of things. While the unknown moment of our demise can fill us with fear, it can also be a very vivid reminder that we are in fact, alive.

Falling under the spell of complacency is a death we seem to be more comfortable with—but we shouldn’t be. Yet as that final moment draws nearer, many are filled with fear and regret—for all they have not done, and perhaps for what they have.

Many people find skulls to be frightening, filled with omens, or morbid. I find them to be filled with inspiration and motivation to always keep my mortality in the back of my mind. Death is a motivator for life, which most people realize much too late.

skull: human / 10×8 inch graphite on bristol

A detailed graphite drawing of a human skull on a dark background.

The Human Skull

I stood in front of a real human skull for weeks and months on end—contemplating my own mortality.

Cranium, Facing Right / 6x6 inch oil on panel, 🔴 SOLD / Prints Available, Click Image

blue skull / 6.5x9 inch oil on paper, 🔴 SOLD / Prints Available, Click Image

skull in profile / 3x3 / oil on mini canvas panel, 🔴 SOLD

Animal Skulls & Bones

All of these drawings and paintings were made from life, from real animal skulls—and with the exception of a few, from my personal collection. Each one became a moment to reflect on the life of a beautiful animal and the stories held within its bones.

Across many cultures and throughout time, animals have been worshipped and revered, hunted and killed—a polarizing spectrum. A rabbit hole to fall down.

Bones store information about the life they once held. Observation reveals some details; scientific study reveals others. I am not a scientist, but I am filled with the same curiosity.

While my other skull and bone collections explore narrative through the stories, mythologies, and symbolism associated with bones, these works are quiet conversations with my subjects—observing, reflecting, and contemplating impermanence, mortality, and death as a catalyst for meaningful living.