Amelia Royce Leonards

Animal house The fantasy artist on why her studio looks like a taxidermy shop imploded...

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When a new person comes to my studio, I beam, open the door, and then watch their increasingly flabbergasted gaze travel around the room. If they look hostile, I leap in front of them and wave my arms frantically while declaiming: “I didn’t murder anything – the bones were found in the woods, the pelts are old and were salvaged from antique stores, even that coral is from the 70s… please put it down, THANKS!”

Usually they’re stunned into acceptance, probably more from my flashing arms and lack of grammar than anything approaching a well reasoned argument.

I beam, open the door, and then watch their flabbergasted gaze travel around the room…

Unfortunately, I can’t wave my arms and jump up and down for this feature, so I’ll focus on explaining myself (hopefully coherently) instead.