Back in 2001 (yes!! the Stone Age) I illustrated the poem Darkness by Lord Byron. I made and bound a single book that contained a series of linoleum block prints, copper etchings, and monoprints illustrating each scene in the poem.

This linoleum block print, on the inside front page facing the title page, is a man eating a serpent. It is in reference to these lines from Darkness:

–the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl’d
And twin’d themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.

I am currently revisiting this series with new works which I will eventually make the subject of a solo show. As the book’s creation was in 2001, the pieces in this solo show will all be dedicated to my wonderful father, who introduced me to this powerful poem.

The print looks curved because this is a photo of the book page. I have no other copies of the print and no good way to photograph it again, as it has been damaged in a flood. The exploding planes at the top of the picture were achieved by me physically cutting the top of the linoleum block apart and then printing from the pieces!