"The subject matter was inspired by the vanitas still life genre of art. A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death. I feel that the candle in my painting indicates this through the melting wax. The flame is not immortal, and once the wax has melted, the light will go out- a reference to the brevity of human life."

"For this drawing, I wanted to portray the infamous grim reaper in an ambiguous, somewhat positive light. For many, the grim reaper has connotations of being evil and sinister. However, in some beliefs, the reaper is only a psychopomp - a spirit whose responsibility is to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over how or when the victim dies. I, therefore, portrayed the reaper as being almost protecting and empathetic of the woman in the drawing, emphasised by the skeleton’s hand on her shoulder. I also sketched the reapers cloak as enveloping the woman to not only convey this protection but to also symbolise the woman’s transitioning from Earth to the ‘afterlife’."

"This painting is based on the theme of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. After Macbeth murders the King, he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. I named this painting ‘Blood will have Blood’ to represent the fact that the blood of a murder victim will seek out the blood of their murderer, and thus a murder will always be brought to light. The drawing of the castle below the skull represents the setting of Macbeth’s first victim."

"I wanted to push myself to draw more architecture, as I predominantly draw portraits usually. Because I love making art with intricate detail, I drew a church that I once saw in Venice, called the Basilica of Saint Mary of Health (in English). After finishing the drawing in ink, I painted a light wash of watercolour over it to add some vibrancy."

"This drawing was largely inspired by my boyfriend - he loves dragons (I think they’re pretty awesome too) and so I decided to draw one. It was fun drawing in graphite - when I was younger, I drew in pencil all the time, so it was good to get back into the practice of it."

"This painting was inspired by Italian Renaissance art. Five years ago I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where I saw the art of masters such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. The majority of works at the Uffizi were done in oil paint, and since then I have practised using the medium. I love how the smoothness of oil enables you to paint skin in such a flawless way, and I wanted to try and capture that in this painting."

"This painting is inspired by Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy ‘Macbeth’. This play tells the story of a man consumed by ambition, leading him to murder the King and take the throne for himself. I represented the guilt of Macbeth’s actions by painting the crown above his head with blood trickling down from it. This symbolises the fact that Macbeth’s kingship is tainted by his crimes, all of which stem from his hamartia. A hamartia is a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero- in Macbeth’s case, his hamartia is ambition."