What We Carry: The Magpie Series

The Magpie Series

This series explores the magpie as a recurring presence — a witness, messenger, protector, and provocateur. Long associated with folklore, superstition, and storytelling, the magpie appears here not as an omen, but as a companion through shifting emotional landscapes.

Each work reflects on what we carry with us: sorrow and joy, loss and resilience, rebellion and connection. The magpie moves through these states freely, sometimes solitary, sometimes in pairs, often positioned at thresholds — between safety and risk, silence and song, stillness and movement.

The paintings combine layered colour, texture, gold leaf, spray paint, and, in some works, LED light. These materials create tension between permanence and interruption, grounding and illumination — echoing the way memory and experience accumulate over time.

What We Carry: The Magpie Series is an evolving body of work. Rather than offering fixed meanings, each piece invites quiet reflection, allowing space for personal interpretation and shared recognition.

  • One for sorrow – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • One for sorrow – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • One for sorrow – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas, acrylic, ink, gold leaf Framed in black wood, L shaped—32 x 32 x 5 cm. (12.5"x 12.5" x 2") One for Sorrow draws its title from the traditional magpie rhyme, where a single bird is often seen as a bad omen. Rather than leaning into superstition, this work quietly reclaims the idea of…
    • £290.00
  • Two for joy – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Two for joy – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Two for joy – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood, L shaped—42 x 32 x 5 cm. (16.5″x 12.5″ x 2″) Two for Joy reinterprets the familiar magpie rhyme through the lens of connection rather than superstition. While researching the bird, I learned that magpies often form long-term bonds, returning to the same partner year after…
    • £350.00
  • Loss – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Loss – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Loss – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood, L shaped—31 x 31 x 5 cm. (12.2″x 12.2″ x 2″) Loss explores the quiet, fragile spaces that follow change. Rather than depicting absence as emptiness, this work reflects on the tenderness that remains — the way memory lingers and how small details begin to carry…
    • £340.00
  • Between us – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Between us – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Between us – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood —31 x 26 x 1 cm. (12.2" x 10.2" x 0.4) Between Us explores the quiet space where connection forms — not through grand gestures, but through presence, attention, and shared awareness. Two magpies face one another in close proximity, their relationship suggested rather than…
    • £190.00
  • She Carries the Sky – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • She Carries the Sky – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • She Carries the Sky – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas. spray paint, Acrylic, gold leaf, oil bar 90 x 120 x 5cm. (35.4" x 47.2" x 2") She Carries the Sky explores inner landscapes — the emotional weight we move through, hold, and learn to live alongside. The central figure is abstract and shifting, suggesting transformation rather than a fixed identity, while magpies…
    • £1,000.00
  • She Sang Through the Flood – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • She Sang Through the Flood – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • She Sang Through the Flood – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood, L shaped—100 x 50 x 5 cm. (39″x 19.6″ x 2″) She Sang Through the Flood draws on a piece of folklore linked to the biblical flood — the tale that the magpie refused to board the ark, choosing instead to remain outside in the storm,…
    • £780.00
  • Thread Between Two Worlds – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Thread Between Two Worlds – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Thread Between Two Worlds – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board with LED light. - Acrylic, gold spray paint, led light Framed in black wood—60 x 80 x 5 cm. (23.6" x 31.4" x 2") Thread Between Two Worlds explores the delicate space between states of being — the threshold where movement, change, and connection quietly unfold. The magpie is positioned at this edge,…
    • £820.00
  • Oh Noah! – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Oh Noah! – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Oh Noah! – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood —16x 31 x 2 cm. (6.2 " x 12.2" x 0.7" ) Oh Noah! is inspired by a piece of folklore linked to the biblical flood — the tale that the magpie refused to board the ark, choosing instead to remain outside in the storm,…
    • £285.00
  • The Protector – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • The Protector – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • The Protector – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood —16x 31 x 2 cm. (6.2 " x 12.2" x 0.7" ) The Protector draws on the belief that a magpie perched high — on a rooftop or overlooking a home — brings good fortune and acts as a quiet guardian. Often misunderstood or cast…
    • £285.00
  • Come again? – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Come again? – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Come again? – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on canvas. Spray paint, Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf 30 x 30 x 4cm. (11.8"x 11.8" x 1.5" ) Come Again? captures a moment of interruption — a quick glance, a raised eyebrow, a question left hanging in the air. The magpie’s posture suggests curiosity and mischief in equal measure, as though it has just overheard…
    • £195.00
  • Peek-a-boo – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Peek-a-boo – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Peek-a-boo – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board. Spray paint, Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood —31 x 26 x 1 cm. (12.2" x 10.2" x 0.4 ) Peek-a-Boo plays with the act of appearing and disappearing — the moment of reveal that is both playful and slightly charged. The magpie is partially concealed, emerging just enough to be…
    • £180.00
  • Weathering the Storm – What We Carry: The Magpie Series
    • Weathering the Storm – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • Weathering the Storm – What We Carry: The Magpie Series

    • About the work Mixed media on board. Ink, Acrylic, gold leaf Framed in black wood —26 x 31 x 1 cm. (10.2" x 12.2" x 0.4" ) Weathering the Storm explores endurance in the face of upheaval — the quiet resolve required to remain standing when conditions are unpredictable and the ground feels unstable. The magpie appears alert and grounded,…
    • £180.00