Ellie Moore
Fine Art
Collaborations
Coming soon...
Jewels in the hand...paintings on the body...
I am incredibly privileged to be working with one of the most exciting high art jewellery creators to grace the British jewellery scene. Natasha Wightman's exquisite NVW art jewellery pieces are a synthesis of British arts and crafts, united by Natasha's vision of bringing the power of the wild to the body, through ancient materials and timeless crafts. Her work marries the power and story of miniature art with the best of British goldsmiths, to produce one-of-a-kind pieces that speak to something deeper, and older, than their glittering surfaces. I am deeply humbled to bring miniature painting into this dialogue, under Natasha's creative direction. Launching soon is a collection I have painted for.
'The Hawthorn'
I was tasked with taking this exquisite hawthorn carving, created for Natasha’s piece by a British Master Carver, from bare wood to luminous white: through careful layers of oil paint, the intricate carved form became a white raven, before a top British goldsmith gave it its jewels.
Natasha’s vision for this piece was for a luminous, delicate effect to be achieved with the oil paint, working in harmony with the detailed textures of the wood. I worked closely with her to refine down the colour palette and technique for exactly the right effect.
The colours were deceptively difficult, as it needed to be much more lyrical than pure white, more subtle than completely opaque, and with a play of warm and cool.
The inner glow of alabaster was a great inspiration, with its luminous translucency, and so a subtle warmth in the chest and back transitions softly to cooler greys and purples, with pure white at the wing tips.
This piece, featured in Tatler's Watches and Jewellery Guide 2024, and has been worn with aplomb by Vanessa Redgrave and Poppy Delevingne.
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In the solitude of my studio working away, totally absorbed by the piece in my hands, it's easy to forget the lives these pieces are going to touch out in the world; I'm coming to realise that's what makes jewellery such an extraordinary art form: that they rise to another level in tandem with the person wearing it.