Some works hold personal meaning and are of particular significance for me.

Created on a wood surface with marks evident that it was, before, ‘a tree’ … lines of growth-rings; indentations where from the protective bark has been stripped; and a wound from which a branch once grew.

I had attempted several compositions. None sufficiently authentic.

Keeping it close I hung it on a solitary crude nail above my work desk, for three years.

Then quite suddenly, during the 2020 lock-down, what it needed became clear: A figure. A dog. Birds.

The process was a simple, quiet one. Work was executed then sealed. It was done, finished. I hung it back on the wall, holding it close.

A figure surrendered both to the air and the earth. Exposed. Rising. Still. Liberated.

The companionship of the wolf-dog; loyal, watching, protecting. Always close by. Still but fierce. Birds in the air. Where do they come from, and where do they go? We are here. And then we are not.

To surrender to the Still, is perhaps how we rise; above ourselves, and all that would hold us.

And then. Simply. Waiting. We find. We are free.

War-weary, dusty footed itinerants and perhaps a whole lot battered and scarred. But free.